Exaudi, The Sunday after the
Ascension, 2013
Pastor Gregory L. Jackson
The Hymn # 9 O Day of Rest 1:89
The Confession
of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
The Epistle and Gradual
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
The Epistle and Gradual
The
Gospel
Glory be to
Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
The Sermon Hymn #195 Christ Jesus Lay 1:46
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
The Sermon Hymn #195 Christ Jesus Lay 1:46
The Spirit of Truth
The Communion
Hymn # 341 Crown Him 1:70
The Preface p.
24
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn #261 Lord Keep Us Steadfast 1:93
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn #261 Lord Keep Us Steadfast 1:93
KJV
1 Peter 4:7 But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and
watch unto prayer. 8 And above all things have fervent charity among
yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. 9 Use hospi```tality
one to another without grudging. 10 As every man hath received the gift, even
so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace
of God. 11 If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as
of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified
through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
John 15:26 But when the
Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the
Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: 27 And ye also shall bear witness, because
ye have been with me from the beginning. 16:1 These things have I spoken unto
you, that ye should not be offended. 2
They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever
killeth you will think that he doeth God service. 3 And these things will they do unto you, because they have not
known the Father, nor me. 4 But these
things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I
told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning,
because I was with you.
Prayer
Lord God, heavenly Father,
we give thanks unto Thee, that through Thy Holy Spirit Thou hast appointed us
to bear witness of Thy dear Son, our Lord Jesus Christ: We beseech Thee,
inasmuch as the world cannot endure such testimony, and persecutes us in every
way, grant us courage and comfort, that we may not be offended because of the
cross, but continue steadfastly in Thy testimony, and be found always among
those who know Thee and Thy Son, until we obtain eternal salvation through the
same, Thy Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the
Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.
The Spirit of Truth
Lacking today is the most
basic concept of the Holy Spirit. If anyone wonders about the value of the
historic lessons, look at how much the sending of the Holy Spirit is emphasized
in these readings from John’s Gospel.
The correct understanding of
the Holy Spirit’s work is elaborated by Jesus Himself in these sermons unique
to the Fourth Gospel. One common excuses is, “I worship Jesus, not Luther.”
Then people should listen to Jesus in these passages. Or – as one member of the
WELS Synodical Council said (yes, a pastor) – “The Book of Concord is boring
and irrelevant.”
Some common errors today:
- Baptism is not effective and people who worship
at church are not real Christians unless they have a separate Holy Spirit
baptism which they prove by speaking in tongues, dancing, and falling out
of their chairs laughing.
- Baptism is not effective unless the individual
is older and immersed.
- We can tell how much God has blessed someone or
some church by the material gain in evidence.
John 15:26 But when the
Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the
Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:
The Bible teaches
consistently that the Holy Spirit is always at work in the Word and never apart
from the Word – Isaiah 55:8ff.
This one verse shows how the
Holy Trinity is at work. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit from the Father. There are
many PhDs who do not recognize the Holy Trinity in the Bible. They find no
evidence at all. In fact, the modern author of double-justification, Georg C.
Knapp (Halle University), taught that the Scriptures did not support the
Christian Church’s teaching on the Trinity. That is because modern Biblical
rationalism/doubt came from the Biblical Pietism of Halle.
The Holy Spirit is the
Spirit of Truth. How can we know what this truth is? Clearly, we look for that
divine truth in the unchanging Word of God.
Doubts about baptism come
from not grasping this verse from Jesus and its connections with the entire Bible.
The power of baptism is not
the water and not the age of the individual. It is not even in the parents, the
individual, or the minister who baptizes. That is clear when we recognize
emergency baptisms done by nurses at a Catholic or a secular hospital.
The sole power of baptism is
the Holy Spirit in the Word. Many recognize that in their own way when they
dedicate their babies, using the same Scriptures we use to baptize them – Let
the children come to Me and forbid them not, for to such belongs to the Kingdom
of God. (Infant faith alert!)
For dedication day, they do
not read from Whitman’s poetry or Grant’s autobiography. They recognize the
power of the Word and argue for infant dedication and raising the child in the
Gospel.
Pentecostals are far more
rationalistic, because they disparage faith in favor of dramatic signs. Someone
is not truly in the Kingdom, they claim, unless certain signs are obvious to
all – tongues, laughter, dancing, and falling down in laughter. In claiming
that traditional baptism is not enough, they attack the entire Book of the Holy
Spirit, the Scriptures. They substitute their claims for the Spirit of Truth.
They claim special healings without dealing with the reality of sickness or the
fact of God working miracles outside of their denomination. For that reason
many so-called miracles are simply faked for the gullible, as Jesus warned
about using “signs.” (Matthew 7:15ff)
The Lutherans, who should
know the most, seem to know the least. They are so feeble on this topic that
they run to the seminars and schools of every possible sect to find out how to
be “successful.”
They doubt the work of God
when it does not make them good about it, so they feel the need to add their
special skills to make the Word effective.
27 And ye also shall bear
witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.
Jesus commanded them to be
faithful and promised they would suffer for it. They are witnesses to the
truth. The Father and Son sent the Holy Spirit for their guidance and wisdom, so
their work was a combination of their own experience and the teaching of God.
The Christian Church rests
upon the foundation of Christ’s work as witnessed by the apostles and the
others who saw the risen Lord. Just as Jesus was sent by the Father, the apostles
(literally sent) were sent by Jesus to bear witness to this truth.
This word witness is very
important to us today. We depend on witnesses in trials, to tell the truth
about what they saw and heard. In fact, we are not supposed to draw conclusions
unless the witness has been tested, cross-examined.
I was speaking to a foreign
student the other day. He is from the Pacific, near New Guinea. He wanted to
become better in English, so I suggested the Gospel of John. He immediately
began speaking about how simple and profound the Gospel is.
We discussed that for quite
some time.
The four Gospel writers do
not draw attention to themselves, and the early historians were not too
interested in that topic. However, we know from the various bits of data that
John’s Gospel is from the disciple John. Internally, the evidence is clear that
this writer was a first-hand witness.
It has the immediacy of the eye-witness.
This shows how God provided
for us. We would have plenty of material with the first three Gospels. But
John’s Gospel has the long sermon passages, special historical references, and
extra detail that add so much to our knowledge and appreciation of the truth of
God’s Word.
16:1 These things have I
spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended. 2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh,
that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. 3 And these things will they do unto you,
because they have not known the Father, nor me.
The truth being told the
apostles included the opposition they would face. Jesus was quite clear that
being loved by God meant being hated by the world. Although our Old Adam rebels
against this, the worst crime is to say, “How can we make everyone love us, or
at least to stop offending them?”
When evolution began to be
taught in America, in the 19th century, the Evangelicals began to
compromise about Creation. In time the mainline denominations became
embarrassed about Creation and even went to court to help promote evolution.
However, many of the most
famous scientists of the past, revered in the history books, also believed in
Creation and always taught accordingly.
When evolution is the
assumption, almost anything bad can come from it. As Ben Stein noted, the
treatment of believing scientists is very much like Hitler’s treatment of all
his enemies. Anything is justified because it is not in accord with the
assumption of evolution.
The cross causes many to
scurry back to their place of comfort, where no one is offended except Christ. But
when people hear the Word and diligently keep it, they are not dismayed and
filled with doubt because of the cross. In time they see it as a blessing, as
it was when Christ died for the sins of the world.
3 And these things will
they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me.
People need to know that the
hatred comes from unbelief. The shunning and spite begins as if “You deserve
it, because you are a bad person.”
Teach the Gospel and those
who hate it will make it known. Some are atheists. Others are clergy. Still
others are laity. Opposition highlights the truth of the Gospel and drives it into
new places to flourish.
4 But these things have
I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of
them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with
you.
Because this truth comes
from Jesus, we must be mindful of our mandate to teach God’s Truth, not man’s
opinions. The apostle Peter used unusual words, easy to remember, they are
1
Peter 4:10 As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the
same one to another, as good stewards of
the manifold grace of God. 11 If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let
him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be
glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and
ever. Amen.
Quotations
"We have the comfort of this victory of Christ—that He
maintains His Church against the wrath and power of the devil; but in the
meantime we must endure such stabs and cruel wounds from the devil as are
necessarily painful to our flesh and blood. The hardest part is that we must
see and suffer all these things from those who call themselves the people of
God and the Christian Church. We must learn to accept these things calmly, for
neither Christ nor the saints have fared better."
Sermons of Martin
Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House,
1983, III, p. 263. Exaudi John 15:26-16:4.
"From these two
convictions—that they do not know Him and that they persecute and slay His
advocates—Christ now passes the judgment that the so-called Church is not the
Church. He then concludes that with their false doctrines and persecutions they
are both liars and murderers of God and of Christ and of all His saints."
Sermons of Martin
Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House,
1983, III, p. 270. Exaudi John 15:26-16:4.
"It is not the devil's aim
to plague us physically; he is a spirit who is always thirsting for the tears
and the drops of blood that come from our hearts. He wants us to despair and to
perish from sadness. This would be his joy and delight. But he will not
succeed."
What Luther Says,
An Anthology, 3 vols., ed., Ewald Plass, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House,
1959, III, p. 1244. John 15:19.
"Nevertheless, He has said
that the Holy Spirit should testify of him and that they also should bear
witness; and He assures them that their testimony shall not be effaced by this
rage and persecution of the world."
Sermons of Martin
Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House,
1983, III, p. 258. Exaudi John 15:26-16:4.
