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| The video for Cantate Sunday is linked here. The Holy Spirit will convict the world of sin, "because they do not believe on Me." |
Cantate, The Fourth Sunday after Easter, 2021
Pastor Gregory L. Jackson
The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
Oh, sing (cantate) unto the Lord a new song:
for He hath done marvelous things.
The Lord hath made known His salvation:
His righteousness hath He openly showed in the sight of the heathen.
Psalm. His right hand and His holy arm hath gotten Him the victory.
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
O God, who makest the minds of the faithful to be of one will, grant unto Thy people that they may love what Thou commandest and desire what Thou dost promise, that among the manifold changes of this world our hearts may there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth, etc.
The Epistle and Gradual
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
V. The right hand of the Lord is exalted:
the right hand of the Lord doeth valiantly. Hallelujah!
V. Christ, being raised from the dead, dieth no more:
death hath no more dominion over Him. Hallelujah!
The Gospel
Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
The Sermon Hymn #462 I Love Thy Kingdom
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
The Sermon Hymn #462 I Love Thy Kingdom
The Spirit/Word Convicts the World of Unbelief
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 #657 Beautiful Savior
In Our Prayers -
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 #657 Beautiful Savior
In Our Prayers -
- Treatment and recovery - Mary and Lori Howell, Christina Jackson. Pastor Jim Shrader.
- Prayers - Alec Satin's brother and another person's brother.
- Pray for our country as the major trials continue. Victory is around the corner for the duly elected President.
- "The Bethany Lutheran Hymnal texts are finished. All the hymns have their own pages. Norma A. Boeckler is providing art for them. Typo alerts are welcome." That was one year ago! - 16,000 views have been recorded, as of today.
Fourth Sunday After Easter
Lord God, heavenly Father, who didst through Thy Son promise us Thy Holy Spirit, that He should convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment: We beseech Thee, enlighten our hearts, that we may confess our sins, through faith in Christ obtain everlasting righteousness, and in all our trials and temptations retain this consolation, that Christ is Lord over the devil and death, and all things, and that He will graciously deliver us out of all our afflictions, and make us forever partakers of 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 Epistle
KJV James 1:16 Do not err, my beloved brethren. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. 18 Of his own will begat he us with the Word of Truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. 19 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: 20 For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. 21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted Word, which is able to save your souls.
The Gospel
KJV John 16:5 But now I go my way to him that sent me; and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou? 6 But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart.
7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 Of sin, because they believe not on me; 10 Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; 11 Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. 12 I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. 13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. 14 He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. 15 All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
John 16
8 και ελθων εκεινος ελεγξει τον κοσμον περι αμαρτιας και περι δικαιοσυνης και περι κρισεως
9 περι αμαρτιας μεν οτι ου πιστευουσιν εις εμε
10 περι δικαιοσυνης δε οτι προς τον πατερα μου υπαγω και ουκ ετι θεωρειτε με
11 περι δε κρισεως οτι ο αρχων του κοσμου τουτου κεκριται
The Spirit/Word Convicts the World of Unbelief
Background for John 16:5ff
"Receive with meekness the engrafted Word, which is able to save your souls." James 1:16ff
Throughout the Bible, the Word is always at work through the Spirit, and the Spirit is at work through the Word. Sometimes the Bible emphasizes the Spirit, at other times the Word. That is similar to the two natures in Christ, human and divine, but often with one or the other nature emphasized. In the past, heretics rejected the human nature of Christ - now they reject His divine nature.
This Biblical teaching of the Word/Spirit together means the Word always has the power of God. That is true of Creation in Genesis 1, the explanation of Creation in John 1, and the comparison of the Word being like the rain and snow from heaven, always productive, always accomplishing His will, always prospering His will - Isaiah 55:8ff.
James gave us a short parable - the engrafted Word. The rose bushes are budding and blooming here, but some of the roots are wild, producing dark red blooms once a year. To give the rose two natures, a hybrid rose is grafted onto the wild rose roots, shown by its lumpy graft. The rose is wild and hybrid, so we are both utterly human - capable of any sin - but grafted onto Christ through the Word/Spirit. We receive this with meekness because no person can become a believer in Jesus Christ without the power of the Gospel/Spirit. The Gospel must be spoken or taught (included in infant baptism) and this Gospel plants faith in Christ in our hearts.
God gave birth to us as members of His family through the Spirit at work in the Gospel (James). So we not only know this to be true, as taught throughout the Bible, but we have also experienced this a truth. God's only published book, the Holy Bible, teaches us this Good News and expands our concept of His will, making the Scriptures "The Book of the Holy Spirit," as Luther wrote.
Many have passed by this central, foundational teaching, because denominational leadership has abandoned it, avoided it, and mocked it as as contrary to their own anointed, holy, and inerrant human will. If you listen to a faithful sermon, sing a Gospel hymn, read or remember the Scriptures, the Spirit is at work teaching the Gospel and its fruits.
KJV John 16:5 But now I go my way to him that sent me; and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou? 6 But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart. 7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
This harmonizes so well with Acts and Pentecost, the sending of the Holy Spirit to all believers. This lesson is part of Jesus' farewell sermons, where He taught what was coming. In the Bible, farewell sermons are treated with special respect because of their importance. He knew that the disciples could barely hold onto a Word, since they were so grieved He was going. But they were thinking of an ending entirely separate from what was clearly predicted by Jesus.
8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 Of sin, because they believe not on me; 10 Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; 11 Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.
26. These are the three parts we have in this Gospel lesson: Sin is unbelief; righteousness is faith; the judgment is the holy cross.
Sin is hardly ever defined this way. Those today who would deny that "sin is unbelief" are the outwardly religious, just as in the time of Jesus. The Pharisees were certainly locked into their righteousness of works, but the vast majority of nominal Christians are no different.
Sin was redefined during the Social Gospel Movement, which made activist politics "the Gospel." At the same time, the last and chief promoter - Walter Rauschenbusch - made political activism the mark of a Christian. Although the clergy were clever about hiding this, the activism became their "Gospel" and they shared the same rationalistic views as Rauschenbusch. Rationalism meant Jesus was divine only in showing us the divine. Miracles are stories that made us stand back in astonishment (not divine, but internal). The Kingdom of God, for them, was wherever Christians established a new order for society. The agenda of the Brotherhood of the Kingdom, a small secretive group, was federal control of wages, work conditions, food and drugs, roughly the agenda of the Franklin Roosevelt administration. These activists got their principles adopted by the Federal Council of Churches (renamed the National Council of Churches).
One basic idea with all this was universal forgiveness and salvation - their idea of grace. To talk about faith in Christ is outmoded and prejudicial. These nominal Christians consider themselves all grace and often are utterly lacking in faith in Jesus Christ. This represents the vast majority of the Protestants and Catholics.
They have all called for mutual cooperation and merger, which means they covet the buildings, endowments, and pensions of the minority believers.
That is why the vast majority of clergy do not teach faith in Jesus Christ, because that has been bleached out of the colleges and seminaries, out of their vocabulary, out of their way of thinking. That is why the Lutherans are united through Thrivent as the Pan-Lutheran Association of Nonbelievers - PLAN.
If sin is unbelief, then righteousness is faith.
That should tell everyone why Luther is either ignored or openly loathed by the clergy. That is also why a Catholic nun said to me, "Why is the writing of a man from 500 years ago going right to my heart today?" I said, "Because he simply explained the Bible as it is.
If part of this is wrong, then all of it is. This sermon announces the program of the Christian Church forever into the future. The main job is preaching (which is entirely ignored and fake sermons are copied promiscuously and presented as original). To oppose that in some quarters is reason for excommunication.
The foundational sin is unbelief. The cure is not physical suffering, as some practice, or monetary suffering, as the giving counselors suggest. This is so radical that people build up all kinds of explanations that avoid that harrowing word for them - faith.
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| Is this not the exact opposite of what Luther wrote? |
Another wrote, "I have studied the Old Testament my whole life, but I never knew what was taught in this class."
All I do is teach what Luther and his associates published.
This passage in John 16 counters all the errors I have seen among the "conservative Lutherans" and ELCA too. I found it difficult to comprehend the full meaning of it for a period of time. I learn more every time we celebrate Cantate. I look forward to it then feel like my fingers and tongue are tied up.
The judgment is the holy cross
If sin is unbelief, and righteousness is faith, then judgement is the holy cross.
We have to give credit to the Son of God - this passage is so simple that we have trouble with the universal causes and effects. As Lenski says, we are not to pick this apart and find fault with it. The Word is the fact of God's revelation, so we look at how this changes our blurred view instead of changing the proclamation itself. There are a thousand ways to distort and ruin the the Gospel, but the Holy Spirit has 100,000 ways to blast through our hard hearts.
This does not sound right, that people should both believe the Word of God and confess the truth to others - and have terrible results - insults, job loss, attacks on our families, the worst lies passed along to delight nominal Christians. That is the cross. Jesus is the only person who was without sin, and He was countered and attack at every opportunity. Some thought He free food, and others imagined He was the forerunner of Medical for All. If He healed on the Sabbath, He was attacked. If He performed a miracle no one else could imagine - the Miraculous Feeding - they demanded another miracle.
If He taught the truth, John 6, the crowds who came to see Him said, "This is a hard saying. Who can endure it? And they walked away forever. They did not like Him as the Bread of Life, even though He did on His own what Moses obtained only by asking God.
Every aspect of Holy Week was horrible, from betrayal and arrest, to abandonment, torture, and the cross. Jesus said repeatedly, "Expect the cross. If you cannot take up the cross daily, you are not fit to follow Me."
Joel 2:13 And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.
God's peace is not mankind's peace, so the true cross is not accepted by many. But if God has blessed it personally through His Son, there must be a good reason for it. The Prince of this world is judged, so he will work his fury upon anyone who trusts in Jesus Christ and sees the Scriptures as God's Word. The time is short for Satan, the Opposer, and he will concentrate on whoever is left.
12 I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. 13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. 14 He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. 15 All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
These Holy Spirit sermons are really a marvel, because they teach so much in a few words. I see nothing about getting a corner lot on a busy highway, switching to coconut oil for the popcorn to outdo the Pentecostals in gaining visitors, etc
God's Holy Spirit will guide us and show us the future.
He will glory Jesus Christ, just as the Son glorifies the Father.
All the spiritual wealth of the Father and Son will be transmitted by the Spirit.
Miracles? This week we had two miracles in our house. #1 A strong, charming, loving girl who should not have lived, born premature two years ago. #2 Her father, who had a raging cancer in his leg, could have lost it (standard practice).
His wife said, "The pastor said we already had one miracle. We can have another." He walked in, his leg healed by every art of man and God's will.
God performs miracles all the time, and the greatest one of all is speaking to our hearts, converting and guiding us through the Word/Spirit, and preparing a place for us.
James 2:18 Of his own will begat he us with the Word of Truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
