As
the Word Is, So Is the Heart
For as the Word is, so will the heart be, which
believes and cleaves firmly to it. The Word is a living, righteous, truthful,
pure and good Word, so also the heart which cleaves to it, must be living,
just, truthful, pure and good.
#6. Ninth Sunday after Trinity, Second Sermon
Listen to the Precious Word or the Devil’s Cry
of Murder?
32.
If we will not wish to enjoy this happy day which he gives us unto grace and
our salvation, he can also instead permit us to see and experience nothing but
the dark and terrible night of all affliction and misfortune. And since we will
not hear this precious Word and the proclamation of peace, we will be forced to
hear the devil’s cry of murder ring in our ears from every direction. Now is
the time for us to know the day, and well employ the rich and golden year,
while the annual fair is before our very doors, and acknowledge that he has
severely punished us. If we neglect it and allow it to pass, we can never hope
for a better day or expect any peace; for the Lord, who is the Lord of peace,
will be with us no longer.
33.
But if Christ be no longer with us, our hope will vanish; and wherever this
beloved guest is rejected, and his Christians no longer tolerated, government,
peace and everything shall perish, for he too desires to eat with us, to rule
and to provide bountifully.
Tenth
Sunday after Trinity
Justification
by Faith Does Not Mean Hedonism
45.
Again, you must be like the publican in this, that you henceforth forsake sin,
for it is not said of him that he continued as he was before, but went forth
and applied grace to his own heart, so that God declared him righteous, as the
text says: “This man went down to his house justified.” These words do not
conclude that he remained in his sin, as he did not go into the temple and pray
for that; for whoever desires to continue in sin cannot pray for grace and
forgiveness, but he who prays thus thinks, wishes and desires to be just and
entirely free from sin. This you must know so that you do not deceive yourself.
For there are many who only consider that the publican as a sinner receives
grace and forgiveness, and do not think that God requires that they should
forsake sin, and let the grace received be henceforth powerful in their lives.
But some want to understand it as though God saves sinners in a way that they
may still remain in sin and unrighteousness.
Eleventh
Sunday after Sunday, Second Sermon
Yet
Another Clear Statement against Objective Justification
8.
Therefore let everybody mark well, that he can never be saved through another
person’s faith. But it of course may happen, that by the faith of other persons
you may be brought to a faith of your own. Likewise the good works of other
persons may be of service to me to obtain works of my own. Therefore those lie,
who declare that we may be saved through the works or faith of other persons,
whether we ourselves believe or not. No, this is not so! Unless you yourself
draw out from God’s kindness and mercy a faith of your own, you will not be
saved. Thus it must be; otherwise no other person’s faith or works avail, not
even Christ, though he is the Savior of all the world; his kindness, his help will
do you no good whatever, unless you believe in it, and are enlightened by it.
Twelfth
Sunday after Trinity
Praying
for a Personal Faith
13.
Therefore say: I must neither rely upon your works nor you upon mine; but I
will, by my own faith, pray God to give you a faith of your own. This is what is
said, that we all are priests and kings, that we, like Christ himself, may
intercede for one another before God, praying for personal faith. Thus, if I
happen to notice that you have no faith of your own, or a weak faith, I go and
ask God to help, you to obtain faith, not by giving you my faith and my works,
but your own faith and your own works; so that Christ may give him all his
works and salvation through faith, as he hath given them to us by faith.
Twelfth
Sunday after Trinity
Ears
and Tongues
14.
In like manner the ears of both differ. A Christian’s ears have the same Word
which the tongue preaches, and the heart believes; but the world prefers to
hear one speak of her wisdom, understanding, honor and glory. The ears and
tongues of Christians are thus different from the ears and tongues of the
world, or of unbelievers, caring naught for silver or gold, but only for that
which is said of Christ, and how to speak and preach Christ.
Twelfth
Sunday after Trinity, Second Sermon
15.
This now is one of the afflictions which caused Christ to sigh; as though he
would say: Be watchful! Beware of deceitful tongues which meddle with the
Scriptures, more than of those which hold forth in the wine-house or in the
grocery store; though the latter are not harmless, yet when those tongues begin
to speak which I have made loose so that they can boast of Christ, beware of
them, etc. And in very deed, it is worthwhile to deplore the fact that those
who have the Word and can talk much about it, should nevertheless persecute the
Word with tongue and fist. The Turk also is a menace to Christendom, but his
harm is inflicted only by the sword, and is in no way equal to the harm done by
sectarians. There is need even now that one should sigh because such tongues
which mislead so many people and still claim to be Christians, and to have improved
the Christian Church. This is the first point, namely, that the devil, after
the tongue is loosed and people know what Christ is, still inflicts injury by
subverting the doctrine.
Twelfth
Sunday after Trinity, Second Sermon
Christ
Cares for Us
20.
We should learn now from these ceremonies and demonstrative actions, which
Christ uses here, how earnestly Christ our Lord cares for us; we should
diligently be on our guard to keep our ears and tongues in the condition in
which he gave them to us, and fortify ourselves against the devil and against
men, lest they change our ears and tongues to the contrary. Secondly, we should
also, everyone in his calling, show our gratitude toward his Word for this
blessing in such a manner that a ruler in his country, a preacher in the
pulpit, father and mother in the home, rightly fulfill the duties of their
calling, while the others should hear it, keeping open their ears as Christ has
opened them, and diligently see to it, as Christ acted in the case of this man,
that they may also be as serious, and thank God for it.
21. Among us, God be praised, the tongue has
been so developed that we speak purely, and that the ears gladly hear it; for
there still are many pious people everywhere who take delight in hearing God’s
Word. But side by side with this there is great ingratitude also among us, and
frightful contempt for the Word of God, perhaps, indeed, a secret persecution
and suffering. Other princes persecute it openly; but we here sit under
shelter, as in a garden of roses, and yet secretly there are so many, citizens
and peasants, and the noblemen with their golden chains, who would gladly hound
all pastors and preachers out of the country, if only they could do it. This
shows that they despise the Word and hate it secretly; as we see it is the case
that, where the Word is persecuted openly, there only it would live, and where
it is unhindered and public, there they do not want it.
Twelfth
Sunday after Trinity, Second Sermon
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| In WELS, unread since 1850. |
