Isaiah 12:1-6; James 1:16-21; St John 16:5-15
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Dear people loved by God, as it was last Sunday, so once more, dear friends, the Holy Gospel takes you into the upper room that fateful night. The night of bestowal and betrayal. The night of humility and dishonor. The night when our dear Lord Jesus was betrayed into the hands of evil men, hauled before cruel leaders, and viciously hoisted upon the gruesome Tree, derelict and still to bleed and die before all the world.
Just the thought of those horrific events fills your hearts once more with sorrow. Knowing that His obedience to the will of His Father and His love for you, put Him on that Cross; that life-giving, death defeating, torturous plank. St Paul writes to the Galatians that through his preaching, it was as if Christ Jesus was crucified before their very eyes. You are given to see the same, not only through the Word, but in sacred art, such as the Weimar Altarpiece print we dedicate today. Thus it is that your song, this Cantate Sunday, is again, as always, tempered with sorrow over a love unknown. Your Savior’s love to you. Love to the loveless shown that they might lovely be.
In addition you have the daily sorrows of your guilt and shame, your struggles against temptation and addiction, your besetting sins sinking deep into your flesh, wounding your very souls. Examine yourself. Own up to it. You are convicted of sin. You feel guilty because you are guilty. And this is the gracious work of the Holy Spirit, as our Lord Christ declares. He will convict the world concerning sin.
And it is indeed gracious. For the convicting work of the Holy Spirit is the will of God, who through His Word, read and preached in the stead and by His command of our Lord Jesus Christ, brings you to repentance.
You heard from the prophet Isaiah regarding the return of the exiles from Assyria. Our Lord had used the armies of this pagan nation to punish the wickedness and sin of His own people. He showed them the seriousness of His wrath; the fury of His anger. He allowed His people to be hauled off into captivity, to be put to death, and for Jerusalem to lay desolate. But He would restore them. He would bring back His remnant, His chosen faithful. And they will say in that day: “I will give thanks to You, O Lord, for though You were angry with me, Your anger turned away, that You might comfort me.”
The Lord does not caste off forever. He does not willingly afflict and grieve His people. His Holy Spirit convicts you of sin, cuts you to the heart, and slays you, in order that He may heal you, restore you, comfort and help you. This is the proper and joyous work of the Holy Spirit, beloved, upon your heart and conscience. He not only convicts you of sin, He also convicts you of righteousness. This is a righteousness not your own. It is imputed. That is, bestowed upon you, by grace, through faith, by the preaching of the Word of His Gospel of the forgiveness of all of your sins. This is where the Holy Spirit is at work.
Through the Word, read and preached, by the Office of the Holy Ministry, the Holy Spirit proclaims, that is, preaches to you the righteousness of Christ, which is for your comfort. He preaches the righteousness of your one Mediator and Atoning Sacrifice, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who bears away the sins of the world. Who by His death has destroyed death. Who brought Life and Immortality to light. The Lamb who was slain, yet behold, He lives. As depicted in the other piece of sacred art we dedicate today: The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb from the Ghent Altarpiece by Jan Van Eyck. The Christian Church of all ages is called and gathered by the Holy Spirit around the Lamb. Come and see what God has done; He is awesome in His deeds toward the children of man (Ps 66:5). Sacred art, stained glass, crucifixes, icons and architecture preach more memorable sermons than any pastor. They are splendid gifts.
Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights. Jesus Christ, Light of Light, very God of very God, is the Good and Perfect Gift, bestowed upon you from above by the Father and Who bestows the Holy Spirit, not only at Pentecost, but from His Cross and after His Resurrection. He hands over the Spirit in His death. He breathes the Spirit upon His Apostles after His Resurrection.
For the truth is, dear Christians, (one and all rejoice) you and I would know nothing of the person and work of Jesus Christ, the God-Man and one Mediator between God and man, who atoned for the sins of the whole world, apart from the preaching and proclamation of the Holy Spirit, sent from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and Son together is worshipped and glorified. In a sermon on this same text, Dr Luther taught,
Here Christ makes the Holy Spirit a Preacher. He does so to prevent one from gaping toward heaven in search of Him, as the fluttering spirits and enthusiasts do, and from divorcing Him from the oral Word or the ministry. One should know and learn that He will be in and with the Word, that it will guide us into all truth, in order that we may believe it, use it as a weapon, be preserved by it against all the lies and deception of the devil, and prevail in all trials and temptations. The Holy Spirit wants this truth which He is to impress into our hearts to be so firmly fixed that reason and all one’s own thoughts and feelings are relegated to the background. He wants us to adhere solely to the Word and to regard it as the only truth. And through this Word alone He governs the Christian Church to the end (AE 24:362).
This is why St James, in His epistle, places such emphasis on the hearing of the Word. Let every person be quick to hear. Why? Because, as you know, faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ.
This is not only the Word from Christ, but it is the Word that is of Christ. His righteousness and mercy, His love and forgiveness, His peace and joy. For this is what the Holy Spirit does: He take what belongs to Christ Jesus, and He declares it, that is, He preaches it to you. Christ Jesus in His innocent suffering and death took what was yours - guilt, shame, disobedience, sin, and death, and He bestows upon you, by His Spirit, all that belongs to Him - peace, reconciliation, obedience, forgiveness and life.
What was won and attained at the Cross of Christ is delivered to you by the Holy Spirit. Through the Lord’s Word and the Lord’s Preaching He pushes the forgiveness of sins into your ears and hearts, atoning for your sins, taking away your guilt. Through His ministers He proclaims it directly to your conscience in the Holy Absolution. He heralds it over you in Holy Baptism. And He declares it to you in the Sacrament of the Altar.
This is how He comes to you, how the Holy Spirit is made known. Not in feelings or emotions as Luther mentioned and the Enthusiasts and the American Evangelicals teach. He’s not known in the shiver in your liver or the burning in your bosom. He does not grant the forgiveness of sins in the beauty and grandeur of nature or the stillness of a perfect sunrise. The Holy Spirit is heard and known, He comes, in the preaching of the Word of the Cross of Jesus Christ and Him crucified for sinners. The climax of this work shall be at Pentecost and then go out to the ends of the earth. But it begins, the Paraclete is bestowed as the Son goes away to His death and hands over the Spirit to His Father, receives Him back in His resurrection from the dead, and then breathes Him onto the Apostles who are sent to forgive sins in His Name.
This is how the water is drawn from the well of salvation, as Isaiah proclaimed.
And this water of Christ’s righteousness and life bestowed upon you springs up with joy and bursts out in prayer and praise and confession and song. Sing praises to the Lord, for He has done gloriously. Shout and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.
This is the work of the Holy Spirit not only in the Office of the Ministry and the means of grace, but this is the on-going work of the Spirit in the lives of you faithful and just people. You speak to one another, as St Paul admonishes, in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Don’t believe me? What did you just do? You sang one of the greatest Lutheran chorals ever written: Dear Christians, One and All, Rejoice. It is a ten-stanza hymnic sermon! You proclaim the fullness of the Word of God, His Law and His Gospel, to one another in song.
The psalmist says, Once God has spoken; twice have I heard this: that power belongs to God (Ps 62:11). Twice is it heard because you proclaim it to one another! With the comfort with which you yourself are comforted, you comfort one another. You speak words of forgiveness and peace. You confess the faith together, rejoicing in the unity that is yours by the Holy Spirit. You sing with one accord, the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
This is your joy and privilege, dear Christians, transformed in heart and mind, to live in faith toward God and love toward one another. This is the effect of the implanted Word, the Gospel Word of forgiveness, which is able to save your souls, and works in you love and charity toward others.
Do not fear, dear ones. Though Christ has gone away, but He has not left you. He has sent His Spirit who preaches the living Word of God in Law and Gospel to you. And He declares to you that the ruler of this world is judged. Satan is cast down. Death is defeated. Alleluia Christ is risen! (He is risen indeed! Alleluia!)
And you know what is to come: “On the Last Day the Holy Spirit will raise you and all the dead and give eternal life to you and all believers in Christ. This is most certainly true.” Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Dear people loved by God, as it was last Sunday, so once more, dear friends, the Holy Gospel takes you into the upper room that fateful night. The night of bestowal and betrayal. The night of humility and dishonor. The night when our dear Lord Jesus was betrayed into the hands of evil men, hauled before cruel leaders, and viciously hoisted upon the gruesome Tree, derelict and still to bleed and die before all the world.
Just the thought of those horrific events fills your hearts once more with sorrow. Knowing that His obedience to the will of His Father and His love for you, put Him on that Cross; that life-giving, death defeating, torturous plank. St Paul writes to the Galatians that through his preaching, it was as if Christ Jesus was crucified before their very eyes. You are given to see the same, not only through the Word, but in sacred art, such as the Weimar Altarpiece print we dedicate today. Thus it is that your song, this Cantate Sunday, is again, as always, tempered with sorrow over a love unknown. Your Savior’s love to you. Love to the loveless shown that they might lovely be.
In addition you have the daily sorrows of your guilt and shame, your struggles against temptation and addiction, your besetting sins sinking deep into your flesh, wounding your very souls. Examine yourself. Own up to it. You are convicted of sin. You feel guilty because you are guilty. And this is the gracious work of the Holy Spirit, as our Lord Christ declares. He will convict the world concerning sin.
And it is indeed gracious. For the convicting work of the Holy Spirit is the will of God, who through His Word, read and preached in the stead and by His command of our Lord Jesus Christ, brings you to repentance.
You heard from the prophet Isaiah regarding the return of the exiles from Assyria. Our Lord had used the armies of this pagan nation to punish the wickedness and sin of His own people. He showed them the seriousness of His wrath; the fury of His anger. He allowed His people to be hauled off into captivity, to be put to death, and for Jerusalem to lay desolate. But He would restore them. He would bring back His remnant, His chosen faithful. And they will say in that day: “I will give thanks to You, O Lord, for though You were angry with me, Your anger turned away, that You might comfort me.”
The Lord does not caste off forever. He does not willingly afflict and grieve His people. His Holy Spirit convicts you of sin, cuts you to the heart, and slays you, in order that He may heal you, restore you, comfort and help you. This is the proper and joyous work of the Holy Spirit, beloved, upon your heart and conscience. He not only convicts you of sin, He also convicts you of righteousness. This is a righteousness not your own. It is imputed. That is, bestowed upon you, by grace, through faith, by the preaching of the Word of His Gospel of the forgiveness of all of your sins. This is where the Holy Spirit is at work.
Through the Word, read and preached, by the Office of the Holy Ministry, the Holy Spirit proclaims, that is, preaches to you the righteousness of Christ, which is for your comfort. He preaches the righteousness of your one Mediator and Atoning Sacrifice, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who bears away the sins of the world. Who by His death has destroyed death. Who brought Life and Immortality to light. The Lamb who was slain, yet behold, He lives. As depicted in the other piece of sacred art we dedicate today: The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb from the Ghent Altarpiece by Jan Van Eyck. The Christian Church of all ages is called and gathered by the Holy Spirit around the Lamb. Come and see what God has done; He is awesome in His deeds toward the children of man (Ps 66:5). Sacred art, stained glass, crucifixes, icons and architecture preach more memorable sermons than any pastor. They are splendid gifts.
Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights. Jesus Christ, Light of Light, very God of very God, is the Good and Perfect Gift, bestowed upon you from above by the Father and Who bestows the Holy Spirit, not only at Pentecost, but from His Cross and after His Resurrection. He hands over the Spirit in His death. He breathes the Spirit upon His Apostles after His Resurrection.
For the truth is, dear Christians, (one and all rejoice) you and I would know nothing of the person and work of Jesus Christ, the God-Man and one Mediator between God and man, who atoned for the sins of the whole world, apart from the preaching and proclamation of the Holy Spirit, sent from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and Son together is worshipped and glorified. In a sermon on this same text, Dr Luther taught,
Here Christ makes the Holy Spirit a Preacher. He does so to prevent one from gaping toward heaven in search of Him, as the fluttering spirits and enthusiasts do, and from divorcing Him from the oral Word or the ministry. One should know and learn that He will be in and with the Word, that it will guide us into all truth, in order that we may believe it, use it as a weapon, be preserved by it against all the lies and deception of the devil, and prevail in all trials and temptations. The Holy Spirit wants this truth which He is to impress into our hearts to be so firmly fixed that reason and all one’s own thoughts and feelings are relegated to the background. He wants us to adhere solely to the Word and to regard it as the only truth. And through this Word alone He governs the Christian Church to the end (AE 24:362).
This is why St James, in His epistle, places such emphasis on the hearing of the Word. Let every person be quick to hear. Why? Because, as you know, faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ.
This is not only the Word from Christ, but it is the Word that is of Christ. His righteousness and mercy, His love and forgiveness, His peace and joy. For this is what the Holy Spirit does: He take what belongs to Christ Jesus, and He declares it, that is, He preaches it to you. Christ Jesus in His innocent suffering and death took what was yours - guilt, shame, disobedience, sin, and death, and He bestows upon you, by His Spirit, all that belongs to Him - peace, reconciliation, obedience, forgiveness and life.
What was won and attained at the Cross of Christ is delivered to you by the Holy Spirit. Through the Lord’s Word and the Lord’s Preaching He pushes the forgiveness of sins into your ears and hearts, atoning for your sins, taking away your guilt. Through His ministers He proclaims it directly to your conscience in the Holy Absolution. He heralds it over you in Holy Baptism. And He declares it to you in the Sacrament of the Altar.
This is how He comes to you, how the Holy Spirit is made known. Not in feelings or emotions as Luther mentioned and the Enthusiasts and the American Evangelicals teach. He’s not known in the shiver in your liver or the burning in your bosom. He does not grant the forgiveness of sins in the beauty and grandeur of nature or the stillness of a perfect sunrise. The Holy Spirit is heard and known, He comes, in the preaching of the Word of the Cross of Jesus Christ and Him crucified for sinners. The climax of this work shall be at Pentecost and then go out to the ends of the earth. But it begins, the Paraclete is bestowed as the Son goes away to His death and hands over the Spirit to His Father, receives Him back in His resurrection from the dead, and then breathes Him onto the Apostles who are sent to forgive sins in His Name.
This is how the water is drawn from the well of salvation, as Isaiah proclaimed.
And this water of Christ’s righteousness and life bestowed upon you springs up with joy and bursts out in prayer and praise and confession and song. Sing praises to the Lord, for He has done gloriously. Shout and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.
This is the work of the Holy Spirit not only in the Office of the Ministry and the means of grace, but this is the on-going work of the Spirit in the lives of you faithful and just people. You speak to one another, as St Paul admonishes, in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Don’t believe me? What did you just do? You sang one of the greatest Lutheran chorals ever written: Dear Christians, One and All, Rejoice. It is a ten-stanza hymnic sermon! You proclaim the fullness of the Word of God, His Law and His Gospel, to one another in song.
The psalmist says, Once God has spoken; twice have I heard this: that power belongs to God (Ps 62:11). Twice is it heard because you proclaim it to one another! With the comfort with which you yourself are comforted, you comfort one another. You speak words of forgiveness and peace. You confess the faith together, rejoicing in the unity that is yours by the Holy Spirit. You sing with one accord, the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
This is your joy and privilege, dear Christians, transformed in heart and mind, to live in faith toward God and love toward one another. This is the effect of the implanted Word, the Gospel Word of forgiveness, which is able to save your souls, and works in you love and charity toward others.
Do not fear, dear ones. Though Christ has gone away, but He has not left you. He has sent His Spirit who preaches the living Word of God in Law and Gospel to you. And He declares to you that the ruler of this world is judged. Satan is cast down. Death is defeated. Alleluia Christ is risen! (He is risen indeed! Alleluia!)
And you know what is to come: “On the Last Day the Holy Spirit will raise you and all the dead and give eternal life to you and all believers in Christ. This is most certainly true.” Amen.
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