A Second Sermon for Easter – 'The Festival of Christ's Resurrection': “Where there is faith, God no longer sees sin” – by Dr. Martin Luther

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A Second Sermon for The Festival of Christ's Resurrection

Where there is Faith, God No Longer Sees Sin
by Dr. Martin Luther¹

Text: And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet. And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat? And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. And he took it, and did eat before them. And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, and said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. (Luke 24:36-47)

The incidents of our text also occurred on Easter, when the two disciples had returned from Emmaus to Jerusalem, and had narrated to the others what had happened to them and told them that they had seen the Lord. They are in fact the same which John relates, and which form the text for next Sunday, making no mention, however, of Thomas and his experience, which occurred eight days later and is presented to our consideration by the lesson of the following Sunday. Our text, which contains much important matter, might be considered under various heads, but inasmuch as we have already dwelt upon the resurrection itself, we will now confine our discourse to two main points presented by our lesson.

A Sermon for Easter – 'The Festival of Christ's Resurrection': “The Power and the Benefit of the Resurrection of Christ” – by Dr. Martin Luther

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A Sermon for The Festival of Christ's Resurrection

The Power and the Benefit of the Resurrection of Christ
by Dr. Martin Luther¹

Text: In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow: and for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men. And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you. And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word. And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him. Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid: go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me. Now when they were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city, and shewed unto the chief priests all the things that were done. (Matt. 28:1-10)

The present festival directs our attention to that consolatory and joyful article of our Creed, in which we confess that Christ on the third day arose again from the dead. This requires us, first of all, to know and consider the Easter narrative, then also to learn why this has happened and how to enjoy its benefits. The Easter events were these. On the evening of Thursday before Easter, when Christ had arisen from the Supper and had gone into the garden, He was betrayed by Judas and taken prisoner by the Jews. These dragged Him from one high priest to the other, until they finally concluded to give him over into the hands of Pilate, who as governor had the power to pronounce judgment. About the third hour of the day sentence was passed upon Him, when He was led forth to execution and was crucified. At the sixth hour, about noon, or an hour later, an earthquake occurred and the sun was darkened. Towards the ninth hour, which would be nearly three hours before sunset, Christ died upon the cross. This is according to the statement of Mark; the other Evangelists do not state so definitely the hours in which these events took place.

In our Creed we confess that Christ arose again on the third day, which is far different from saying that He arose after three days. The Lord was not dead three entire nights and days. On Friday evening, about three hours before dark, He died. These three hours are called the first day. During the whole night and day of the Sabbath He remained in the grave, and also the following night until the next morning. This night counts also a day; for the Jews begin their day with the night, and count night and day as one whole day. We reverse this method of counting and call the day find the night one day. In the Church, however, the old Jewish method of reckoning the festivals was retained, so that these always begin with the evening of the previous day.

Very early on Sunday morning, which was the third day after the Friday on which Christ was crucified, at the first dawn of day, when the soldiers were lying around the tomb, Christ, who had died, awoke to a new, eternal life, and arose from the dead in such a manner that the guards around the grave were unaware of His resurrection. From the account which Matthew gives of this event we must infer that Christ did not arise during the earthquake, which evidently began when the angel descended from heaven and rolled away the rock from the entrance of the tomb. Christ, however, passed out from the closed grave without disturbing the seals put upon it, just as on the evening of the same day He also came to His disciples through the doors which were shut.

When the earth began to quake and the angel appeared, the soldiers were so terrified that they lost all consciousness. As soon as they recovered they all ran from the grave, some in this, others in that direction; for the coming of the angel was to them no occasion of rejoicing, but one of terror and distress. There were others, however, who should be comforted by the cheerful tidings of the angel.

Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead - Sermon for Easter Sunday

This sermon was written for the saints at Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Las Cruces, New Mexico, to be preached on Easter Sunday, 2012.

Mark 16:1-8 + Psalm 16 + Job 19:23-27 + 1 Corinthians 5:6-8

Brothers and sisters, fellow believers in Christ Jesus: Christ is risen! He is risen indeed. Alleluia! Jesus lives!

He really does, you know. He lives – not in our hearts, not in our dreams or in our imagination. The real Son of God, with his real flesh and blood, born of the virgin Mary, who truly suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried has really come back to life, stepped out of his tomb, and appeared to his disciples, who were all very surprised and overjoyed to see him alive again.

It really shouldn’t have surprised them quite as much as it did. He told his disciples how he would be killed and rise on the third day, which was the very same thing that was prophesied about the Christ in the words of King David in Psalm 16 a thousand years before, “I have set the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure. For you will not abandon my soul to the grave, or let your holy one see corruption.”

As the apostles pointed out to the Jewish crowds later on, King David, who wrote those words of the Psalm, most certainly died and most certainly decayed in his grave. But the Holy One about whom he was writing, the Son, the offspring of David, the Christ – he was not abandoned to the grave or left in the tomb. He was raised from the dead.

That’s what the angel announced to the faithful women who went to the tomb that first Easter morning to finish taking care of Jesus’ body, which, they assumed, was already beginning to be corrupted by decay.

How wrong they were! Instead of the big stone blocking the entrance to the tomb, they saw it rolled away and an angel waiting there to give them the good news. Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him.

Wouldn’t you like to have seen it, too? The place where they laid him? The stone rolled away, the empty tomb, the folded linens, the angel sitting where Jesus had been? Or what if you had seen the empty tomb? Then what? Then you would have been just as alarmed, just as terrified as those women were. Because an empty tomb, all by itself, isn’t good news.

The fact that Jesus’ tomb was empty, the fact that the offspring of David, Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, rose from the dead is neither good news nor bad news. It just is. It’s a fact. It happened. But what does it mean? Is it a fact that saves or is it a fact that damns? The only way to know what it means is to hear what God reveals about it in the preaching of the gospel.

And what does God reveal in the gospel about the offspring of David, Jesus Christ, risen from the dead?

In the words of Psalm 2, Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him. So those who take refuge in the risen Son of God are blessed! But those who do not seek refuge in him will perish.

According to the gospel, then, the empty tomb of Jesus means that his enemies and all who hate him had better be very afraid. The resurrection of Jesus is terrible news for the devil and his demons. It’s terrible news for the one who wants to get to heaven by serving some other god, or by offering God his own merits. It’s also terrible news for all who refuse to repent of their sins. Because if Jesus is dead, then you get to decide what’s right and wrong for your life, and then when you’re dead, you’re dead. That’s it. But if Jesus is alive, then there will also be a resurrection of all the dead and a Judgment Day for all. So for the impenitent and unbelieving, the empty tomb of Jesus is cause for fear.

But for those who want a sure refuge from God’s wrath, for those who want to be reconciled to God, for those who want Jesus for a Savior, the gospel reveals this truth: that Jesus was delivered up for our sins and raised to life for our justification. His death was sufficient payment for all sin, for every sin, for the worst sinner, for his most bitter enemy; and his resurrection means that all who hope in him, all who trust in him, all who look to him for forgiveness of their sins are absolved before God’s courtroom in heaven. The empty tomb means the justification of all who believe in the risen One.

And with justification comes every gift and benefit of Christ: the adoption as God’s children, the full acceptance into eternal life, the daily forgiveness of sins in this Christian Church, and the promise of your own empty tomb when Jesus returns, for judgment against all who refused to repent, and with salvation for his believing people.

No, Jesus’ empty tomb all by itself is still a scary thing, and those faithful women who visited Jesus’ tomb on Easter Sunday remained afraid until, later that day, they saw Jesus for themselves and, more importantly, heard his gospel, his word of peace. Then they rejoiced with a joy that even the bitterest persecution couldn’t take away.

You have to see Jesus for yourself, too. But not with your eyes. Blessed are they who have not seen and yet have believed, Jesus said. Believed what? Believed in the empty tomb? No. Believed in God’s promise of forgiveness in Christ. Believed in his Gospel. Believed in the word of God the Father who emptied Jesus’ tomb by raising his Son from the dead. This word from God that he has commissioned me to preach to you today is better than seeing a thousand empty tombs. Because here in the Word you don’t see the place where Jesus isn’t. You actually get to see Jesus. Because here in the Word of God, here in Sacrament of Jesus, the risen Lord Jesus comes to you today with a message intended for you: “I was delivered up for your sins and raised to life for your justification. Repent and believe in the good news that He who believes in me will live, even though he dies. And whoever lives and believes in me will never die.”

All week long in our Holy Week services, I’ve been giving you certain things to remember above all else. Today it’s very simple. Today I tell you, as I told our confirmand last Sunday, in the words of the Apostle Paul to Timothy, Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel.

Let his enemies remember and repent! Let his people remember and rejoice! Amen.

The Festival of Christ's Resurrection – Sermon II (by Dr. Paul E. Kretzmann)

The Festival of Christ's Resurrection – Sermon II

St. Paul's Easter Hymn
by Dr. Paul E. Kretzmann¹
Text: “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Cor. 15:55-57)

In one of Luther’s powerful sermons for the Easter season he brings out, in a very effective way, the relation between the Lenten season and Easter, between the power and the effects of sin and the manner in which sin was overcome by the victorious Christ. Speaking of the sacrifice of Jesus, the true Passover Lamb, Luther points out that this sacrifice was indeed most necessary if the redemption of the world was to be effected. We can never fully understand and appreciate the Easter victory unless we first consider in its full extent the power of sin. The Easter miracle, with all its glorious comfort, must cause us to think of the great and terrible wrath of God against the sin of all mankind, a wrath so great that it could not be appeased in any other way, and payment could be not be made in any other manner than through this singular sacrifice, that is, through the death and blood of the Son of God. “Christ was delivered for our offenses,” writes the Apostle. It was our transgressions, the sins of all mankind since the days of Adam, that brought the wrath of God upon sinners, that were the cause of His sacrifice on the cross, with the shedding of His holy blood. This fact should produce in us true terror on account of our sins; for it was indeed not a little indignation on the part of God which could not be satisfied with any other satisfaction but that of His own Son’s sacrifice. And could we possibly think that we might endure this wrath of God, or stand before its fury, if we do not acknowledge or realize the unspeakable power of sin?

However, we have the glorious comfort that Christ was raised again for our justification. What unspeakable mercy and love is evident in the Easter miracle, since it calls to the heart of all men to leave behind the terrors of the Law and remember why God raised His Son from death. It is a miracle of comfort which St. Paul well pictures in his song of triumph in Romans 8, when he writes: “If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth, Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us” (Ro. 8:31-34). And then the Apostle’s triumphant hymn rises to its overwhelming climax: “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors, through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (v. 37-39). Truly, what greater love, what greater benefit can possibly be thought of than that connected with the Easter miracle? And it is for this reason that this sacrifice of Christ is set before us, that we might have a true and certain comfort against our sin; for surely the Easter miracle, with all that went before, must cause us to be convinced that God does not want us to be condemned on account of our sin; for does He not give us the assurance of His love in the sacrifice of Calvary, which is the highest and the most precious earnest of His grace and of our salvation? Therefore, although our sin, and the wrath of God on account of our sin, is great and terrible, we have the assurance that the sacrifice and the death of the Son of God is much greater. For all this is given to us for a sure sign that God, for Jesus’ sake, is gracious to us and forgives us our sins. These are the thoughts with which we are to comfort ourselves and have the full consolation of Easter.

These considerations are summarized in a most beautiful and impressive way in the text which we have before us. For this has rightly been called an incomparable hymn of victory. And this hymn is to be the basis of our Easter meditation, as we, with the gracious assistance of the Holy Spirit, consider:


ST. PAUL’S EASTER HYMN.
We see,

1. The role of sin and death in connection with the Easter miracle;
2. The Easter victory to which the Apostle points; and
3. The expression of the believer’s gratitude.

I.
The role of sin and death in connection with the Easter miracle
As we proceed to study St. Paul’s great Easter hymn, we note, first of all, the parallel verses: “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” And we have our attention called to the fact that the quotation of the Apostle is from an acknowledged writing of the Old Testament, for he states: “then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written” (1 Co. 15:52-58). We have here an instance of the manner in which the Holy Ghost, the true Author of Holy Writ, casts an Old Testament saying into a form that just suits the present argument. For in the Prophet Hosea (Ho. 13:14) we read, in the original: “Where is thy plague, O death? Where is thy sting (or, destruction), O death-realm?” In the Greek translation of the Old Testament, as it was in general use at the time of the Apostle, the literal rendering reads: “Where is they penalty, O death? Where thy sting, O death-realm?” The version chosen by the Apostle under the Spirit's guidance is at the same time an explanation, for the plague of death is its supposed victory, and the death-realm includes all that is suggested by the idea of death.

What, then, is the role of sin and death in connection with the Easter miracle? Our text says: “The sting of death is sin.” We note that the article “the” appears in the original, indicating that sin in general is meant. Whatever is sin, wherever it is found, and whosoever commits sin is here included. The declaration goes back to the Book of Genesis, where we have an account of the Fall of man, of the coming of sin into the world. God had told our first parents, specifically Adam: “Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Ge. 2:15-17) And because both Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, they became mortal, subject to death. And God Himself gave the explanation of the punishment pronounced upon our first parents, when He had His holy Apostle write: “By one man sin entered into the world” (Ro. 5:12). The sin of Adam and Eve corrupted their entire nature, made them enemies of God, changed their hearts to be always inclined to that which is evil, and so inherited sin is being continued from one generation to the next by natural procreation and birth. This natural inclination toward sin results, in the case of every human being, in actual sins. The Apostle writes: “Death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” All men are guilty in the sight of God. The series of quotations which the Apostle refers in Romans 5 is of such a nature that, as he writes elsewhere: “No flesh should glory in his presence.” For, argues St. Paul, Jews and Gentiles are all under sin, “as it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable: there is none that doeth good, no, not one” (Ro. 5:9-12).

So then, because sin is a fact, a terrible fact and reality, because all men are guilty before God, therefore death passed upon all men. It is both by reason of inherited and of actual sin that we are under the condemnation of death. “The soul that sinneth, it shall die,” writes the Prophet (Ez. 18:4,20). This is but saying in other words what the Lord had told the children of Israel through the mouth of Moses (De. 27:26), as St. Paul puts it: “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them” (Ga. 3:10). The curse of God invariably finds its culmination in death, certainly in physical death and, unless the grace and mercy of God interfere, also in spiritual and in eternal death. When the Lord says: “It is appointed unto men once to die” (He. 9:27), He excludes not a single human being. It is not that God created men for death, but that His holiness and righteousness compel Him to pronounce the sentence upon every transgressor of His holy will, that is, upon all men. The Law demands a complete and full obedience; this obedience is not rendered by men. Hence “the strength of the sin is the law.” How is this meant? The Apostle explains: “Where no law is, there is no transgression” (Ro. 4:15). But now God has given the gist of the Moral Law into the hearts of all men, so that even the heathen show the work of the Law written in their hearts (Ro. 2:15). Therefore, since men did not keep the Law, in fact, could not keep the Law, therefore death came into the world, and all men must go through the experience of death except those who will yet be living on Judgment Day.

But now the Easter miracle has placed an altogether different aspect on the situation. Christ, as the Substitute for sinful mankind, as He who took upon Himself our iniquities and bore our trespasses: “He was delivered for our offenses,” thereby paying the debt which we had contracted. But note, He “was raised again for our justification” (Ro. 4:25). That is what the Easter miracle tells us regarding the role of sin and death on the day of Christ’s resurrection.


II.
The Easter victory to which the Apostle points
This is the Easter victory to which the Apostle points in our text, when he so triumphantly declares: “Death is swallowed up in victory” (1 Co. 15:54). He does not merely say: Death has been overcome, or, the victory over death has been gained, but he uses the far stronger expression: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” By and through the Easter miracle death is consumed, has been completely put out of the way as to its power. Victory has taken the place of defeat, and therefore death has lost its terrors.

This may, indeed, seem strange to us, as we daily see before our eyes the unmistakable evidence that men are still mortal, that even believers succumb to its power. We read of King Hezekiah and his earnest pleading that the Lord might grant him further time before he should be taken away. We find the Psalmist uttering his earnest prayer: “O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days” (Ps. 102:24). David apparently has the same thought when he prays: “Lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death” (Ps. 13:3). And there are many other passages of this kind in the Bible.

However, over against these statements we have the many declarations that the children of God do not really go through the experience of death in the form in which it strikes the unbelievers. This is indicated in passages like that of Ps. 116:15, where the Psalmist declares: “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.” And why is this? Because the righteous, the believers, are in the hands of God, and no torment can touch them. Because “blessed are the dead that die in the Lord from henceforth” (Re. 14:13). Because death, properly understood, is the severing of the fellowship between God and man, whereas, in the case of the believer, it is the very opposite. It is, as Holy Writ so frequently describes it, a sleep in and through which the soul of the believer is transported to the presence of the Savior and will at the last day be reunited with the body, to live with the Lord in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, taking part in the glory which belonged to the only-begotten Son of the Father. It is for that reason that St. Paul can speak of his approaching death in such a calmly objective way, when he writes: “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain... having a desire to depart and to be with Christ; which is far better” (Ph. 1:21,23).

All this is the result of the Easter victory, a consequence of the resurrection of our blessed Savior. For, as we by faith are partakers of His death, are, in fact, in Holy Baptism buried with Christ into death, “that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection... Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him” (Ro. 6:4-5,8). Thus we become partakers of the Easter victory, and death has lost its terrors for us.


III.
The expression of the believer’s gratitude
And for that reason we join the Apostle in his grateful song: “Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ”. Here we truly have the very heart of the proper Easter celebration. The account of the miracle itself, as recorded by the Evangelists and so frequently alluded to by the Apostles in their sermons and in their letters, can have but little significance if we merely accept it as an historical fact. The description given by Paul Gerhardt in his well-known Easter hymn Awake, my heart, with gladness, correctly pictures the defeat of the devil and his satellites, and the evil Foe is certainly painfully aware of the fact that his head is now fully crushed. But that knowledge avails him nothing more than to intensify his suffering in the abyss of hell.

And so it is with all those who do not accept the Easter message and do not, by faith, make the Easter victory their own. They may be amazed at the Easter story, they may even admit the truth of the Gospel account that Jesus truly rose from the dead. But if they stop there, the Easter story will be to them like a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. All the splendid Easter hymns, all the beautiful Easter music will not bring to the heart of such people the comfort and the power of Christ’s resurrection. No, we must place our trust, our personal faith, in such words as we find in 1 Thess. 4:14: “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him” We boldly confess, with St. Paul: “The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Ga. 2:20). And to that true thought we add the words of our text: “Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Let every believer confess as the inmost conviction of his heart: My Savior arose from death to bring me everlasting life. And we can summarize the thoughts of our hearts in the prayer:

O death, where is thy victory?
Where is, O grave, thy sting?
No longer canst thou to my heart
Thy fears and terrors bring.

Though many are my sins and great
And grieve the righteous Lord,
Yet He forgives for Jesus’ sake,
As promised in His Word.

Like sand upon the ocean shore
My trespasses are found;
Yet this is comfort for my heart:
Much more does grace abound.

The strength of sin is in the Law,
The sting of death is sin:
Death is consumed in victory
And peace now dwells within.

Thanks be to Christ who by His death
Has set the sinners free;
Thanks be to God, who, for His sake,
Has brought the victory.

And so our Easter hymn rings forth
In accents bold and strong;
To us the spoils of victory,
Of boundless grace belong.

AMEN.

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Endnotes:

1. Kretzmann, P. (1956). Jesus Only: A series of Lenten and post-Easter Sermons. Milwaukee: Northwestern Publishing House. pp. 76-85.

 

The Festival of Christ's Resurrection – Sermon I

The Festival of Christ's Resurrection – Sermon I
Text: "So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up on victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord." (1 Cor. 15:54-58)

He lives! Hallelujah! "He is not here, for He is risen as He said!" (Mt. 28:6) This is truly the glad Resurrection message, assuring us of Christ's total and complete victory over Satan, death, and hell, and our absolute freedom from sin and its eternal effects! We can say without a doubt, "I know that my Redeemer lives!" (Job 19:25)

Yes, the resurrection of Jesus gives us powerful assurance and wonderful comfort about our faith. So also, Paul tells us this morning that –

CHRIST'S RESURRECTION GIVES US PROOF!
We Have Proof Of The Truth Of Our Faith, and
We Have Proof of the Victory Of Our Faith!
Faith and religion go hand in hand – I think just about everyone will admit that. But what is "religion" anyway? Well, religion is any teaching that attempts to answer any or all of these questions: "Where did we come from? Where are we going? Why are we here?" and especially, "What happens to us when we die?" Any religion that cannot rid people of their fear of death – or at the very least diminish it – is, in the end, worthless and useless. A religion that cannot take away the "sting" of death, which is caused by sin, but allows people to die and suffer all the horrors of death, without peace or solace; any religion that only pretends to save people from the terror of death is false and deceptive and not a true religion at all.

Such is not the case with the religion of St. Paul – indeed, OUR religion! He says, "For me to die is gain!" (Ph. 1:21) He triumphantly proclaims, "Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and power of sin is the Law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!" (vs.54-57) Paul knew that the Law of God reveals sin in all its true and terrible black light. And he knew that he too was, by nature, under the Law, and because of His disobedience of that Law, subject to death, just as every single human being is also! So, Paul finds no comfort in himself or in his own righteousness in the face of death. His confidence comes because of the victory which Christ has gained for him. It is to this victory of Christ over death and the grave that Paul devotes so much of this last portion of his letter to the Corinthian congregation.

So, Christ is indeed "the lamb of God which takes away the sins of the world!" (Jn. 1:29) And "the blood of Jesus Christ [does indeed] cleanse us from all sins." (1 Jn. 1:7) Christ, by dying in our place has truly and really removed the sting of our own death. Now, death, which threatened always to swallow up the whole human race, has itself been swallowed by Christ's resurrection. This was God's plan from the very beginning – even before the beginning of time. And this was all accomplished as Paul reminds us, "According to the Scriptures!" (I Co. 15:3)

Yes, according the Bible Christ had to rise again. The Victor over death could not remain a prisoner of death. Peter told the Jews, "God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the FACT!" (Ac. 3:15) God did this because He was pleased with the Son's work on earth on behalf of all people. And through Jesus' resurrection God made known His divine pleasure. "Christ was raised for our justification," Paul tells us. (Ro. 4:25) We know that God has totally forgiven all our sins. Therefore, by our faith, given to us through the Means of Grace – the Gospel in Word and Sacrament – Christ's resurrection assures us that our religion, which preaches Jesus' resurrection, brings to us sinners victory over death. We do indeed have the "sure and certain" hope of everlasting life!

Thus, in proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ and Him crucified – yes, and Him also raised from the dead – we are not being false preachers of a false religion in a hopeless world, but rather are giving all sinners everywhere the one and only true Gospel of salvation. Our faith is not pinned on a dead man, but on the sinless Son of God, Who, through His innocent suffering and death overcame death for us, and Who as our living God and Savior now blesses us and give all who believe eternal bliss with Him. It is this Jesus Who says to each and every one of us, "I Am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die." (John 11:25,26) This is the truth of our faith. Jesus is true. Our religion is true. Christ's resurrection proves it beyond any shadow of a doubt!

Christ's resurrection assures us of the truth of our religion in His victory over death, and it also assures us of the victory of our religion over this evil world. Christ is the savior of the world, that is, He has covered the sins of all people of all time, yes, even those who reject Him. No one goes to hell because of their sins. Those that go to hell do so because of their unbelief. This is why He commanded that His Gospel be preached to everyone everywhere until the end of time. There is no reason for anyone to be damned. All sins have been paid for. All can be saved. But the true and beautiful Gospel of Jesus Christ must touch them so that the Holy Spirit can do His work and turn their hearts to faith and salvation. This is the work of Christ's Church here on earth, and of every congregation of believers, and indeed of each and every individual believer. And every single soul that is turned to faith is a marvelous victory for Christ. It matters not if it is one or a hundred or a thousand, each soul snatched from the claws of Satan means victory for Jesus and all His children!

And Paul knew we need encouragement in this work. Jesus rose from the grave nearly two thousand years ago. Billions have been brought to faith and entered heaven, but three fourths of the world's population still reject Christ as Savior and Lord. These people are on their way to hell. But to us Jesus has given His resurrection Gospel which is able to save them. We have the joy of reveling in Christ's resurrection this morning. We can rejoice. We exult in our faith.

But are we acting on our faith? Could it be that indifference, materialism, the ridicule of the world, the mockery of rank unbelievers, and persecution – slight as it may be around us at the moment – discourages us, and keeps us from living our faith, exercising our faith, and sharing our faith? Have we given up, or are we ready to quit because the work is difficult and our successes, measured in numbers, seem so small and inconsequential? May it never be!

Paul did not think like this, and neither will we if we but listen to him today. He tells us that we must "always give yourselves fully to the work of the LORD." (v.58) Why? How? He answers that with the first word, "therefore," that is because of all that he was already written and said in this section of his letter. All he has said is true and reliable, and because it is, we must go forth and carry it in us and with us. This command of Paul's to do this work is based on nothing less than Christ's own resurrection itself! And, in addition, he instructs us to "Stand firm!" If we are to preach salvation to others, we must ourselves be firm in our faith and not let anything move us away from it.

There are, of course, many things that would try and move us away from our faith, and we are often sorely tempted to give it up. Sad to say, many around us have given in and given up their faith. But why should we do so, if we believe that Jesus rose from the dead and that in Him and His saving work we have the full and complete redemption from all sins, death, and the devil?!

Oh yes, the devil and the world are making a lot of noise trying to frighten us; but theirs are not the shouts of real victory, but only the cries of despair and defeat; the sound of routed and fleeing army – loud yes, even scary at times – but really helpless and harmless in the end. Let us remain steadfast and unmovable, for our risen Lord is with us and He has promised, "I am with you always, even to the end of the age." (Mt. 28:20)

With Christ as our captain we know we will have successes – be they many or few, the amount does not matter! Paul assures us, "You know that your labor in the LORD is not in vain." We need at all times to be reminded of this wonderful promise. Our preaching of the Gospel, our prayers, our missionaries, our work in God's kingdom of any and all kinds shall never be for nothing! Time, effort, money, given to the LORD is never wasted. It will always bring returns. Take it from the LORD. We have His promise. And we know from glorious experience that His promises never fail!

Our job now is to go out into the world – our world, the world around us, the people around us; as we have opportunity – and rescue sinners using the life-line of the holy Gospel of the Risen Christ! This is not a side-line, and not something we do half-heartedly, but completely dedicated in every way to the work of spreading the Good News of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

God has not failed us. God will never fail us. He has already given us the victory over death. He has given the power and the ability to proclaim this victory to the world and He has already blessed our efforts in every corner of the world. Let us commit ourselves anew to go forth and tell and death-ridden humanity the glad resurrection message. We know we will be successful, because we know our religion is true, and we know this because Christ's resurrection proves it. Yes, Jesus lives! Hallelujah and Amen!

Rev. Steven Spencer