Tag Archives: Mercy

The Devil’s Lie – Sermon for the Fifth Sunday in Lent on John 8:42-59

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John 8:42–59

42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. 43 Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. 44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. 46 Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? 47 Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”

48 The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?” 49 Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. 50 Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he is the judge. 51 Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” 52 The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon! Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.’ 53 Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?” 54 Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ 55 But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” 57 So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” 58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” 59 So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

So, you wake up this morning. Shower (hopefully). Get dressed. Drive yourself over to church. Grab a cup of coffee. Catch up on how others’ week went and talk about the weather. Grab your bulletin. Sit down in your pew. Speak some Scripture. Sing some songs. Confess your faith. Pass the offering plate. And this is the Jesus you hear?

Combative Jesus. Intolerant Jesus. Name-calling Jesus. Rude Jesus.

Jesus is fed up because these people, like you, have believed the devil’s lie rather than the truth of God’s Word. So, Jesus doesn’t beat around the bush. The people arguing with Him are Satan’s spawn, children of the murdering devil.

Jesus says something extremely important here. Look at the last sentence of v. 44. Our translation reads, “When he (that is, the devil) lies, he speaks out of his own character.” What Jesus actually says is, “When [the devil] speaks the lie, he speaks out of his own character…” Now, it’s not that we have a bad translation, but that little nuance gets to the core of what the devil is constantly doing to you. He tells you his one lie.

The one lie that is under all of the devil’s work is simply this: God is not good and does not love you – which is the boldest, basest lie there is. But the devil doesn’t just come out and say that. Instead, the devil disguises that lie. Little by little, Satan is always pointing you away from Jesus crucified for the complete, total forgiveness of all your sins.

You don’t get that promotion, raise, or contract. The devil comes along and says, “You must have made God mad. Until you get yourself in order, God isn’t going to bless you or help you.”

Then, rather than fixing your eyes Christ crucified for you, you put every aspect of your life under a microscope. You examine your motivations and try to make them purer. But then when blessings do come your way, you pat yourself on the back and, like little Jack Horner, say, “What a good boy am I.” And the devil has you right where he wants you.

Or you keep falling into the same sin. No matter how hard you try, you can’t keep yourself from doing that one thing. So, the devil comes along and whispers his lie into your ear. “Sure, God said that He forgives sin. But You can’t expect Him to forgive it all the time. Maybe you haven’t repented enough. Sure, you believe in Jesus, but you must have not fully yielded to Him.”

And you fall for the devil’s bait. Your eyes are diverted just a little from Jesus. You go off and try this program to keep you from falling into sin. Or you go and try to make up for your sin by doing some good work. And you trust in your self-improvement rather than in Christ’s sacrifice.

Repent. Knock it off. Stop believing the devil’s lie. All your works, all your efforts, all your striving does is take the crucified Jesus, the only Jesus, out of the equation. It puts you in the driver’s seat of your salvation. And when your salvation, or even the maintenance and preservation of your salvation, rests on you, you are going to fall big time. And every time you fail, the devil’s lie is easier to believe.

That is why Jesus is so combative and abrasive in this text. Jesus in this passage shows us what God meant what He said that He is a jealous God (Ex. 20:5). God wants you for Himself. That is why Jesus came and gave Himself for you. He wants you to trust in Him for your salvation and for everything else.

Jesus, by His cross and death, has secured for you an eternal redemption and given you an eternal inheritance. His blood poured out for you on Calvary will absolutely purify your conscience (Heb. 9:11-15).

Jesus doesn’t give you credit or leave part of the job in your hands. He works repentance in you. He puts His Word of forgiveness in your ear. He turns your heart of stone into a heart of flesh. He raises you from death. He pays your debt in full by His precious blood.

That is Jesus’ word, that is His promise, to you. Keep that word. Trust that promise, and Jesus says, “You will never see death,” because Jesus will pull you through death to eternal life with Him. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Kyrie Eleison – Sermon for Quinquagesima on Luke 18:31-43

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Luke 18:31–43

31 And taking the twelve, he said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. 32 For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. 33 And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.” 34 But they understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.

35 As he drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. 36 And hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what this meant. 37 They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” 38 And he cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 39 And those who were in front rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 40 And Jesus stopped and commanded him to be brought to him. And when he came near, he asked him, 41 “What do you want me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, let me recover my sight.” 42 And Jesus said to him, “Recover your sight; your faith has made you well.” 43 And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The disciples are blind. Not physically but spiritually. Jesus plainly tells them where they are going – Jerusalem. Jesus plainly tells them why they are going to Jerusalem. So that everything written about Him in the Scriptures would be fulfilled. He will be mocked, shamefully treated, and spat upon. Jesus will be flogged, whipped, and beaten. He will be crucified, and He will die. But He will, He absolutely will, rise again on the third day.

Jesus gives turn-by-turn directions to His destination. But the disciples are blind, and Luke wants us to know this, and tells us three times. The disciples understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them. And they did not grasp what was said.

Jesus Heals BartimeausThe road to the cross passes through Jericho. In the city where the walls had come-a-tumblin’ down, lived a blind man. Mark tells us that his name is Bartimeaus (Mk. 10:46). Bartimeaus heard all sorts of commotion and asked what it was all about. He is told nothing more than that Jesus of Nazareth is passing through. As blind as he is, Bartimeaus sees his opportunity and cries out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.” And don’t miss this.

 

By recognizing that Jesus is the “Son of David,” blind Bartimeaus recognizes that Jesus is his King and Lord. And Bartimeaus requests mercy. In Greek, it would be, “Kyrie eleison.”

Each week, part of our normal service to sing the Kyrie after the Confession of Sins. We ask God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit to have mercy upon us. Maybe, you have done it so often that you don’t really think about it. Well, today, do think about it.

Think through our whole service. What would you say is the highest praise, the most worshipful thing we do? Is it when we sing songs and hymns or when we place our tithes on the Altar? Now, those things are good, and it is right to do them. But I would argue above them, and maybe the greatest worship we offer, is singing that God would have mercy upon us.

For one thing, asking God for mercy is one of the most common prayers in all of Scripture, trusting people who count such things. It also puts us alongside other people in the Gospels – two blind men (Mt. 9:27), the Canaanite woman whose daughter is possessed by a demon (Mt. 15:22), and the ten lepers (Lk. 17:12-13). We take their cries for mercy and put them on our lips.

Now, maybe you think the Kyrie isn’t too worshipful and more like begging. You have a point because we are. But also realize that this is high praise. When we ask God to have mercy, we are recognizing God as He wants to be recognized. He wants to be known as the God who is merciful. His truest character is that He has steadfast love and compassion (Ex. 34:6-7). He desires mercy and not sacrifice (Hos. 6:6; Mt. 9:13). God’s mercy, His steadfast love, endures forever (Ps. 136).

When we cry out, “Kyrie eleison. Lord, have mercy.” We stand with the blind men, with the unclean lepers, and with those who are oppressed by the devil and the demons. We are saying, “Lord, we want You to be our Savior too. We want you to be Jesus for us. We want to receive what You gave to them. We want You to be what all the Scriptures reveal You to be. We want You to come to us in Your truest character.”

And Jesus delights in that prayer. He answers that prayer and is merciful. He gives sight, healing, deliverance, cleansing, life, and salvation. And because of that, we follow Him and give praise to God.

Baptism 2Dear Charlie. Today, you are Baptized. Today, your God and Lord has had mercy upon you. Today, God joined all His promises of forgiveness, life, and salvation to water and poured out all His love upon you. The perfect, Divine love we heard in our Epistle lesson (1 Cor. 13) has been given to you and to all your brothers and sisters in Christ.

All you saints, hear this. The love of Christ you have received is not simply empty words that echo like noisy gongs or clanging cymbals. In His great love and mercy, Jesus gave away all He had – every last ounce of strength, every drop of His blood, and His final breath.

To you, Christ has been patient and kind. Though Jesus was mocked, shamefully treated, and spit upon, He was not arrogant or rude. Even in the midst of all this He was thinking of you praying, “Father forgive them.” Jesus did not rejoice in the wrongdoing but rejoiced in the truth that God, in His mercy, would use all of this for your eternal good. On the cross, your Savior in love and mercy bore all things, believed all things, hoped all things, and endured all things. His merciful love for you will never fail and never end.

And so, we sing in worship with Bartimeaus, “Kyrie eleison.” Lord have mercy. And He does. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.