Jeremiah 23:16-29/Acts 20:27-38/St Matthew 7:15-23
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father. This is the Gospel of the Lord? Really? Terrifying isn’t it? What does our Lord mean?
He explains further: On that day many will say to Me, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and cast out demons in Your name, and do many mighty works in Your name?” And then I will confess to them, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness.
Lawlessness? Listen again to what they had been doing: Prophesying in the name of Christ. Driving out demons in the name of Christ. Doing great works in His name. This is lawlessness and Christ does not know them? What does this mean?
Jesus answers for us: the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. What is that will? We don’t have to guess. Our Lord explicitly tells us in John chapter six: For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the Last Day (Jn 6:40).
On the Last Day they came crying, “Lord, Lord,” but what follows the ‘Lord, Lord,’ is the problem. They cry out, Did we not . . . Little piggy prayers. We, we, we all the way home. They’re full of good things they’ve done for the Lord and think He owes them now. They’ve labored and have come in for their payday. And so they receive their wages: eternal death.
You see, the Lord Jesus is the Savior of sinners. He knows sinners. He recognizes sinners. He welcomes and receives sinners. The one who will not be a sinner in his own eyes is the one whom Jesus will not know, will not confess. He is the Savior. He knows only sinners. He died only for sinners. He lives only in sinners. He doesn’t know those coming and crying to Him, “Lord, Lord, did WE WE WE not!” He smiles upon those who fall before Him, cyring out, Lord Lord, have mercy, have mercy, have mercy on us!
If you want to be welcomed by Christ on that Day, than take your list, all the things you’ve done for Him, all your accomplishments, all your successes, and tear it up and throw it in the trash! It’s worthless! Its worse than worthless! Its deadly. Jesus welcomes and embraces only sinners. If you think yourself better than a sinner than leave this place. If you’re not a sinner you don’t need Jesus, you don’t need His Church. There’s nothing here for you. But you’re in for a rude surprise on that Day.
St Paul was one who learned to throw away all the righteous stuff he thought he’d done for the Lord. I count it all skubalon, dung (Phil 3:8). Our highest, best, most noble works, we learn to pitch in the trash as worthless and stinky before Him. Instead, with St Paul, we learn to plead nothing but the Blood of Christ.
To care for the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood. That’s how St Paul spoke to the pastors at Ephesus in our second reading. This is the responsibility of those who hold this Office, to preach nothing but the blood of Christ. That’s the Word of grace that saves; the blood that God the Son spilled on Golgotha. Those who want to lead you astray from the Lord will always tell you there is more needed than the Blood - something you need to add. Then, when you stand before the Lord on the Last Day you can boast about what you did for Him.
In contrast, St Paul commends the Ephesian pastors to God and the Word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
And this is for the flock too; for you. St Paul’s encouragement to pay attention to the Word of the Lord, to be concerned about pure doctrine, is not simply for pastors, but for you too. You can’t say, “I don’t need to worry about doctrine, that’s pastor’s job.” No, doctrine is heavenly, divine, it is from God, for you, not just for pastors. You would never say, “I don’t need to be worried about my health, that’s my doctor’s job.” The same is true of the study of God’s Word.
For Jesus in the Gospel text is speaking not only to the Apostles, but to the crowds. To pastors and people. Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheepskins. You will recognize them by their fruits. Now “fruits” often means “good works” in the New Testament. But false prophets are not always known by their outward works; for often those who teach falsely often live outwardly good, morally upright lives. And sadly the opposite is sometimes true, too: those who teach rightly have scandalized their flocks with immoral living.
So if isn’t life, how do you know a false prophet coming in sheepskins and bearing evil fruit? Dr Luther, very wisely, has said that the clothing of a false prophet is the Sacred Scriptures. He uses them in such a way that he falsifies their message, either with his own opinion or with inner feelings, or deviating in some other way. Jesus and St Paul and Jeremiah warn with such concern about false prophets because false prophets preach false doctrine. And false doctrine leads people away from Christ. False doctrine damns. His fruits are his teaching.
Therefore, pay careful attention to the whole counsel of God. Don’t let anyone draw you from the grace-filled, blood soaked Word of our Lord - His finished work which always must be your only plea before Him. If you have hope in Him, it is that His blood covers your sin; His righteousness is yours as gift. And all of this is undeserved, unmerited, unexpected, free mercy and grace. For grace that ceases to be free is not grace.
But Satan is a sly one. If he can’t get you one way, he works on you another. If he can’t trip you up in pride, saying “Lord, Lord, look what I’ve done for you,” he tries to trip you up with presumption. This is what Jeremiah warns of in our first reading. He upbraids those who told people who cheerfully kept on in their sin, “Hey, its no big deal. The Lord forgives. Do whatever you want and God will still bless you.” St Paul met that crowd, too. “Why not sin that grace may abound?” In other words, “God loves to forgive, I love to sin, what a deal!”
But such a deal is anathema, cursed, condemned, damnable. Our Lord Jesus did not spill His blood for you to remain the servant of sin. The Lord spilled His blood to set you free both from sin’s condemnation and from sin’s power. Both. Not one or the other. Only the pure Word of Christ, proclaimed by preachers who remain faithful to the whole counsel of God, can do this. And this is His work.
The odd thing is that He doesn’t work to free you from sin by making you strong, but by making you weak. Weak in yourself so that His strength may be perfected in you. Sin loses its grip when you come to know and confess that there is fountain of corruption in you that no amount of striving and fighting against will ever wipe out. It will hound you all your life, this constant nagging that you are a sinner, that you sin. You will never be in the position to say, “Lord, Lord, look what I did for you!”
Sin loses its power over you when you know that everything you do for the Lord is stained, tainted, marred and polluted. And so instead of boasting before Him, you can only fall down and plead, “Lord, Lord, have mercy!” And its there, in the plea for mercy, as a helpless beggar, where you are driven down to the point where you have zero confidence in yourself, but full confidence in the blood of the Lamb, that you are finally freed from sin’s condemnation and power.
You’ll come to hate it with a godly hatred and to fight against it with every weapon of the Spirit. And you will come to hate the teaching of those who would suggest to you or to others that living in bondage to sin is freedom. You’ll know that teaching for what it is: a lie - a lie straight from the pit of hell!
Instead, where there is no confidence, no rest for your conscience but in the Blood of Christ and His Word of grace and forgiveness, you’ll hunger and thirst for the cup of that Blood and the Word of that grace to set you free from sin’s chains, from the bondage to the old way of life.
And through these things - His Body and Blood, His Word of forgiveness, His Baptism - He will set you free. His Word is the fire that burns the ropes that would bind you. His Word is a hammer that breaks the chains that would hold you. And you shall be free to stand before the Redeemer on the Last Day as one He knows: a sinner who delights not in sin, but in the pure preaching of His Word; a sinner who pleads not his own case, but pleads for mercy alone in the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father. This is the Gospel of the Lord? Really? Terrifying isn’t it? What does our Lord mean?
He explains further: On that day many will say to Me, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and cast out demons in Your name, and do many mighty works in Your name?” And then I will confess to them, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness.
Lawlessness? Listen again to what they had been doing: Prophesying in the name of Christ. Driving out demons in the name of Christ. Doing great works in His name. This is lawlessness and Christ does not know them? What does this mean?
Jesus answers for us: the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. What is that will? We don’t have to guess. Our Lord explicitly tells us in John chapter six: For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the Last Day (Jn 6:40).
On the Last Day they came crying, “Lord, Lord,” but what follows the ‘Lord, Lord,’ is the problem. They cry out, Did we not . . . Little piggy prayers. We, we, we all the way home. They’re full of good things they’ve done for the Lord and think He owes them now. They’ve labored and have come in for their payday. And so they receive their wages: eternal death.
You see, the Lord Jesus is the Savior of sinners. He knows sinners. He recognizes sinners. He welcomes and receives sinners. The one who will not be a sinner in his own eyes is the one whom Jesus will not know, will not confess. He is the Savior. He knows only sinners. He died only for sinners. He lives only in sinners. He doesn’t know those coming and crying to Him, “Lord, Lord, did WE WE WE not!” He smiles upon those who fall before Him, cyring out, Lord Lord, have mercy, have mercy, have mercy on us!
If you want to be welcomed by Christ on that Day, than take your list, all the things you’ve done for Him, all your accomplishments, all your successes, and tear it up and throw it in the trash! It’s worthless! Its worse than worthless! Its deadly. Jesus welcomes and embraces only sinners. If you think yourself better than a sinner than leave this place. If you’re not a sinner you don’t need Jesus, you don’t need His Church. There’s nothing here for you. But you’re in for a rude surprise on that Day.
St Paul was one who learned to throw away all the righteous stuff he thought he’d done for the Lord. I count it all skubalon, dung (Phil 3:8). Our highest, best, most noble works, we learn to pitch in the trash as worthless and stinky before Him. Instead, with St Paul, we learn to plead nothing but the Blood of Christ.
To care for the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood. That’s how St Paul spoke to the pastors at Ephesus in our second reading. This is the responsibility of those who hold this Office, to preach nothing but the blood of Christ. That’s the Word of grace that saves; the blood that God the Son spilled on Golgotha. Those who want to lead you astray from the Lord will always tell you there is more needed than the Blood - something you need to add. Then, when you stand before the Lord on the Last Day you can boast about what you did for Him.
In contrast, St Paul commends the Ephesian pastors to God and the Word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
And this is for the flock too; for you. St Paul’s encouragement to pay attention to the Word of the Lord, to be concerned about pure doctrine, is not simply for pastors, but for you too. You can’t say, “I don’t need to worry about doctrine, that’s pastor’s job.” No, doctrine is heavenly, divine, it is from God, for you, not just for pastors. You would never say, “I don’t need to be worried about my health, that’s my doctor’s job.” The same is true of the study of God’s Word.
For Jesus in the Gospel text is speaking not only to the Apostles, but to the crowds. To pastors and people. Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheepskins. You will recognize them by their fruits. Now “fruits” often means “good works” in the New Testament. But false prophets are not always known by their outward works; for often those who teach falsely often live outwardly good, morally upright lives. And sadly the opposite is sometimes true, too: those who teach rightly have scandalized their flocks with immoral living.
So if isn’t life, how do you know a false prophet coming in sheepskins and bearing evil fruit? Dr Luther, very wisely, has said that the clothing of a false prophet is the Sacred Scriptures. He uses them in such a way that he falsifies their message, either with his own opinion or with inner feelings, or deviating in some other way. Jesus and St Paul and Jeremiah warn with such concern about false prophets because false prophets preach false doctrine. And false doctrine leads people away from Christ. False doctrine damns. His fruits are his teaching.
Therefore, pay careful attention to the whole counsel of God. Don’t let anyone draw you from the grace-filled, blood soaked Word of our Lord - His finished work which always must be your only plea before Him. If you have hope in Him, it is that His blood covers your sin; His righteousness is yours as gift. And all of this is undeserved, unmerited, unexpected, free mercy and grace. For grace that ceases to be free is not grace.
But Satan is a sly one. If he can’t get you one way, he works on you another. If he can’t trip you up in pride, saying “Lord, Lord, look what I’ve done for you,” he tries to trip you up with presumption. This is what Jeremiah warns of in our first reading. He upbraids those who told people who cheerfully kept on in their sin, “Hey, its no big deal. The Lord forgives. Do whatever you want and God will still bless you.” St Paul met that crowd, too. “Why not sin that grace may abound?” In other words, “God loves to forgive, I love to sin, what a deal!”
But such a deal is anathema, cursed, condemned, damnable. Our Lord Jesus did not spill His blood for you to remain the servant of sin. The Lord spilled His blood to set you free both from sin’s condemnation and from sin’s power. Both. Not one or the other. Only the pure Word of Christ, proclaimed by preachers who remain faithful to the whole counsel of God, can do this. And this is His work.
The odd thing is that He doesn’t work to free you from sin by making you strong, but by making you weak. Weak in yourself so that His strength may be perfected in you. Sin loses its grip when you come to know and confess that there is fountain of corruption in you that no amount of striving and fighting against will ever wipe out. It will hound you all your life, this constant nagging that you are a sinner, that you sin. You will never be in the position to say, “Lord, Lord, look what I did for you!”
Sin loses its power over you when you know that everything you do for the Lord is stained, tainted, marred and polluted. And so instead of boasting before Him, you can only fall down and plead, “Lord, Lord, have mercy!” And its there, in the plea for mercy, as a helpless beggar, where you are driven down to the point where you have zero confidence in yourself, but full confidence in the blood of the Lamb, that you are finally freed from sin’s condemnation and power.
You’ll come to hate it with a godly hatred and to fight against it with every weapon of the Spirit. And you will come to hate the teaching of those who would suggest to you or to others that living in bondage to sin is freedom. You’ll know that teaching for what it is: a lie - a lie straight from the pit of hell!
Instead, where there is no confidence, no rest for your conscience but in the Blood of Christ and His Word of grace and forgiveness, you’ll hunger and thirst for the cup of that Blood and the Word of that grace to set you free from sin’s chains, from the bondage to the old way of life.
And through these things - His Body and Blood, His Word of forgiveness, His Baptism - He will set you free. His Word is the fire that burns the ropes that would bind you. His Word is a hammer that breaks the chains that would hold you. And you shall be free to stand before the Redeemer on the Last Day as one He knows: a sinner who delights not in sin, but in the pure preaching of His Word; a sinner who pleads not his own case, but pleads for mercy alone in the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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