The Commemoration of the Reformation

The Commemoration of the Reformation – October 30, 2022

Psalm 34; Revelation 14:6-7; Romans 3:19-28

St. Matthew 11:12-19

In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The term “antichrist” is used in the Scriptures in both a broad and narrow sense. The broad sense can be found in 1 John 2, in which all false teachers are called “antichrists.”[1] This broad sense is the plain understanding of the word. False teachers stand opposed to Christ, making them “anti-Christ,” “against the Christ.”

The narrow sense of the term “antichrist” is most clearly described in St. Paul’s second letter to the Church in Thessalonica, where he writes as follows:

Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, ² not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. ³ Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, ⁴ who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

⁵ Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? ⁶ And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. ⁷ For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. ⁸ And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. ⁹ The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, ¹⁰ and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. ¹¹ And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, ¹² that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.[2]

With St. Paul, we can identify 5 marks of this narrow use of the term “Antichrist.”[3] First, the position taken by the Antichrist is called the “falling away,” or apostacy. This means that the Antichrist will lead Christians away from the true doctrine of the Christ, especially the central doctrine of the Scriptures—that “man cannot be justified before God by his own strength, merits, or works, but is freely justified for Christ’s sake, through faith, when he believes that he is received into favor, and that his sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake, who, by His death, has made satisfaction for your sins.”[4]

The second mark of the Antichrist is that he will sit in the temple of God, that is, he will arise from within the Church itself. While it is tempting to claim any number of evil political leaders as “the Antichrist,” this would be contrary to Scripture. The Antichrist shall sit himself within the Church of God and attempt to deceive God’s children from such a position within the Church.

Third, the Antichrist will conduct himself in accord with this seat within the church, namely, he will act as if he was God, Himself. The Antichrist will claim supreme authority over man, refusing to submit to any other authority. He will claim to be above the authority of all creation and to be the soul source of God’s interaction with man.

The fourth mark of the Antichrist is that although he is not Satan himself, his coming and his reign will be built and backed by all manner of lying powers, signs, and wonders. Christ warns us that many will come in His name and even perform miracles, claiming to be from God.[5] All those claiming to be from God must be judged by their doctrine, and that according to the Word of God.

The final mark of the Antichrist is that he will remain until the return of Christ. The Lord will destroy the Antichrist at His visible return and yet, as St. John writes, “As we have heard that Antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists.”[6] It is this final mark that tells us the term “Antichrist,” when used in this narrow sense, refers not to an individual person, but to an office. An office endures longer than the lifetime of one man and yet remains unchanged until God destroys it.

These five marks are all fulfilled in the office of the Papacy, or the Roman Pope. At the Council of Trent, the Papacy officially declared the biblical doctrine of justification to be accursed, saying that anyone who teaches that man is declared righteous freely through the merits of Christ and cannot add to his own salvation according to his own works is anathema, that is, condemned to hell. Thus, in the Papacy, we can see the greatest and most pronounced “falling away” from the most fundamental article of faith by which man is saved.

Certainly, there are many others in the world who deny the doctrine of Justification, but the Papacy promotes such false doctrine from within the Christian Church. What I mean is that there are Christians in the Roman Catholic Church. There are Christians because they still receive Holy Baptism in the Name of the Triune God. The Holy Scriptures are still read and proclaimed. It is through these means that the Holy Spirit works faith in the hearts of man. It is a miracle of God that there are Christians who, despite the false teachings of the Pope and the seductive nature of the Church body to which they belong, still cling to faith in Christ, trusting in the death and resurrection of Jesus alone for their salvation.

In 1302, Pope Boniface VIII issued Unam Sanctum, declaring that it is necessary for salvation that man be subject to the Roman Pope above all others. This is a matter of official doctrine in the Roman Catholic Church. It is necessary for salvation that man be subject to the Pope above all other authorities on earth. This means that the Pope is above any criticism. It means the Pope alone is supreme in the Church and the world. He submits to no one.

Perhaps the most seductive to the eyes of man are the numerous reports of miracles, visions, and wonders related to the Roman Pontiff. Marian apparitions, miracles of healing, and statues that weep, bleed, or heal are all said to point to the validity of the papacy. In fact, these signs point to the contrary. Since they do not point to Christ, but instead to a man who claims greater authority than the Word of God, they are demonic in origin. I do not deny that some of these signs and wonders have occurred. In fact, I’m certain they have. However, they are signs fulfilling precisely the words of our Lord: “We played the flute for you and you did not dance; we mourned to you, and you did not lament.”[7]

Finally, in the papacy, we see an office that for a time after the apostles, remained beneath a veil. The early bishops of Rome were pious Christians who sought to lead the flocks God placed under their authority according to the Word of God. But after a time, and certainly by the 14^th century, the nature of the Papacy was revealed to be the very seat of the Antichrist. It is an office which will endure until the return of Christ, when He will destroy the Papacy, along with all who fight against Christ and His reign in the Church.

Why is it worth studying the office of the Antichrist? St. Paul told us that he wrote concerning the man of lawlessness that you would not be “soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter.”[8] A proper understanding of the Antichrist is not necessary for salvation. Salvation is only gained by faith in Christ, a true understanding of the Son of God who took on human flesh to die on behalf of the sin of man, making atonement to the Father and sending His Holy Spirit to bestow such faith on man.

An understanding of the Antichrist serves as both a warning and a comfort. It is a warning in that it draws your attention to the one thing most needful—faith in Jesus Christ. It is a warning against fascination with the mysteries of God which He has chosen not to reveal to man. It is a warning against the seductive signs, wonders, and claims to history of the Roman Catholic Church.

It is a warning against seeing different churches as simply different social clubs. There are doctrinal differences between church bodies and doctrine is important. It is important whether you confess the biblical teaching that the Body and Blood of Jesus is truly present in the Holy Communion. It is important if you confess against the clear teaching of Scripture that one man is given all authority in heaven and earth to bestow salvation on whomever he chooses. These differences matter because given time, false doctrine will destroy faith. Even though there are Christians within the Roman Catholic Church, these Christians are in danger. They are in danger of falling into the trap of the Papacy and placing their faith in the salvation of the Pope, rather than the salvation of Jesus Christ.

The doctrine of the Antichrist is also a comfort, a consolation for your conscience because it forces you to examine the true doctrine of the Scriptures. Here you will find that it is not by your works that you are saved. You will find that there is nothing you can do to save yourself. There is no work you can perform, no amount you can pay, no decision you can make to escape the punishment of hell.

Only the perfect life of Jesus, who willingly kept the Law of God perfect from the moment of His conception to His death on the cross, merits salvation. Only the sacrifice of Jesus on Mount Calvary, willingly offered to the Father on your behalf, can atone for you sin. Only the work of the Holy Spirit, who has called you by the Word of God, the Holy Gospel, can draw you to salvation.

This is a comfort because it does not rely on you. It does not rely on how you feel or how much you understand. Your salvation relies on the Blood of Jesus, shed for you, and the faith bestowed upon you by God to cling to this Word of promise. The Pope in Rome would have you kneel before him in submission to his claim to authority. Jesus Christ submitted to death, even death on a cross for you. We now kneel before Jesus Christ alone, as He alone has called you by the Holy Gospel to join Him in eternity.

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

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[1] 1 John 2:18.

[2] 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12, quoted from the New King James Version (Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1982).

[3] Francis Pieper, Christian Dogmatics, Volume 3 (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 1953), 462-469.

[4] AC IV.

[5] St. Matthew 24:24.

[6] 1 John 2:18.

[7] St. Matthew 11:17.

[8] 2 Thessalonians 2:2.

The Commemoration of the Reformation

 The Commemoration of the Reformation – October 31, 2021

Psalm 34; Revelation 14:6-7; Romans 3:19-28

St. John 8: 31-36

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

It is very tempting to turn the Commemoration of the Reformation into a worship of the heroic Luther. It is good, right, and salutary to learn about the history of our faith. The Reformation was the most significant event in the western church since the Second Council of Nicaea, and Martin Luther was the instrument, chosen by God, to spark that Reformation. Luther was a theological genius. He was a prolific writer. He knew how to strike out against the proud sinner and console the suffering conscience.

There were those in the Church who taught the same doctrines as Luther before him, but none who stood against the Pope in the same way; none who have endured the test of history; none who have inspired centuries of Christians to focus on the Word of God alone as the revelation of their salvation in Christ alone. Thanks be to God that he saw fit to use the sinful lips of an Augustinian monk to reform Christ’s Church and return the Bride of Christ to her first love – Jesus Christ.

 But if we allow our minds to focus the history of the Reformation on the person of Martin Luther, we are no better than the Medieval Roman Catholic Church who worshiped the saints. If today we sing the praises of Martin Luther as having worked to reform the Church by his own means, then we may as well pray to St. Jude that all children who have renounced the faith return home.

“If you abide in my Word, you are my disciples indeed. And you shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall make you free.”[1] Our Lord is speaking these words to the Jews who had believed in him. These are the ones who heard the Word of God and were amazed. Their intellects were intrigued by the teaching of this one who taught not as the Pharisees but with authority. They are standing in the place of the Medieval Church and Christians of all time who hear preaching which pricks their consciences but do not yet understand.  

And yet these Jews could not help themselves but lie. “We have never been enslaved to anyone.”[2] They make this statement during the Festival of Booths, that occasion where the people of God recalled the deliverance from slavery in Egypt by the hand of God. They have not forgotten their own history. Rather, Christ’s admonition to abide in his word has pricked their consciences. The Law of God has struck their hearts. They have not abided in God’s Word. They have not familiarized themselves with the basic teachings of the Scriptures. They have not treated the Word of God as being spoken to them by the lips of their heavenly Father.

The immediate reaction of these Jews to such an accusation of the Law is to lie. “We’ve never been enslaved – not in our lifetime, nor our father’s, nor ever since the time of Abraham. We’ve never been enslaved physically, nor spiritually enslaved to the worship of a false God. Why would we need to be set free?”

There is an inherent temptation to everyone who belongs to a historic, or traditional church. The temptation is that whatever occurred in the life of the church during the time most significant to me is the purest form of the Church. For many of us, it might look like our childhood. The way our childhood church was conducted is the height of Lutheranism. Perhaps it was during our middle age, when we had a close group of friends in the church – that was the height of Lutheranism. Perhaps we are tempted by descriptions of history. The way Luther conducted the service, THAT was the height of Lutheranism.

All are error and all are sin. They are sinful because they rely on the actions of humans to determine the height of the Truth of the Word of God. Christ is calling us to abide in his Word, and this Word is Truth, and this Truth shall make you free. There is nothing new under the sun. There were just as many erring pastors in the age of Martin Luther as there are today. There were just as many sinners in the Church of the fourth century as there are in the twenty-first. The ideal Church is not found on earth, it is found in the worship of heaven. It is found in the Word of God.

It is easy on a day celebrating the Reformation to claim, “We are Lutherans, sons and daughters of Pure Doctrine. We’ve never been enslaved to anyone!” Especially for those of us raised in the church. You likely cannot remember a time before your Baptism. You cannot remember a time when you were a slave to sin who did not know “Jesus Loves Me.” The memory of man is short and just as likely to lie as remember anything at all. All men are conceived in iniquity and born in sin. You were born as a child of wrath.

Jesus gently rebukes these Jews and tells them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever.”[3] To sin against the Word of God by ignoring it or preferring the desires of your own flesh, wraps a chain of bondage around you. The more you struggle against the Word of God, the more you give in to your flesh – be it neglecting the Word of God, hating your neighbor, or lying against your conscience – the tighter the chains become and the easier it is to sin. Sin becomes your habitus, your way of life.

No matter the “purity” of your church, no matter the warm feelings your church family may give you, no matter how Christian you feel – sin makes you a slave. The slave of sin may dwell in the House of the Lord for a time. He may dwell in the House of the Lord his entire life on earth. But the slave of sin will not dwell in the House of the Lord for eternity. The slave of sin will be cast out into hell.

There is, however, an important distinction to be made. Our Lord says, “whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.” We are born slaves to sin, and all unbelievers are slaves still. They are slaves by nature. “But a son abides forever.”[4] The Christian is a son by nature. In Holy Baptism, you were adopted as a child of the Heavenly Father, an heir of the Kingdom of God. You are a child of heaven. Children of the Father remain in the House of the Lord forever!

The Christian is not a slave to sin by nature but to continue in sin, to commit sin returns you to a life of slavery. The chains of your bondage have been removed by the cleansing flood of Baptism and yet to return to sin, as a dog returns to vomit, is to once again pick up your chains and wrap them around your wrists. It is for this reason we, whose conscience has been made clean, must flee from sin. We must abhor sin. We must be disgusted by sin. And when you find the steel links tightening their grip upon you, hardening your conscience and weighing down your soul, seek relief. Seek relief in repentance. Seek relief in the Word of God. Seek relief in confessing your sins. Seek relief in the Words of the Holy Absolution, proclaimed by the Pastor with his hands upon your head. Then, the chains will release their grip, climb the arms of your Pastor, sail past his shoulders and onto the shoulders of Christ.

 “If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”[5] Jesus Christ, True God and True Man has set you free by his Blood. He who knew no sin, humbled himself to be bound with the chains you deserve. He wrapped himself in the chains of your sin and bore them to the cross. Those chains, your chains, weighed him down such that the torture of crucifixion, usually lasting hours, if not days, took only three hours to kill him. The weight of the sin of the world is great and it was born by Christ.

This same Christ rose from the dead to make you free. He bore the chains of your sin into the grave so that in his Resurrection, he could break the chains of your bondage. The Son has made you free in his death and Resurrection. This freedom was then delivered to you in your Holy Baptism. You have been made free indeed.

This freedom is not the freedom of this world. Especially as Americans, we think of freedom as freedom of opportunity, if not freedom of outcome. We think of freedom to act as we please and then the freedom to endure the consequences, be they positive or negative. This is not the freedom of God. American freedom is freedom of the flesh and the flesh profits nothing.

The freedom won for you by Christ is the freedom from sin such that you are free to serve God and neighbor. The freedom won for you by Christ is the freedom to live as a child of God. You do not need to obey the Law of God under the threat of losing your salvation. As a child of God, you have the Law of God to teach you how to live in your freedom. When you abuse that freedom, when you return to your flesh, then the Law once again pierces your heart and accuses you of sin. On this side of glory, such will always be the case.

Yet the New Man wrought within us by the death of Christ longs to obey the Law, not out of threats, but out of love. The New Man desires to be the ideal child of God. This is the man who has been set free by the son and is free indeed. He is free to submit himself to God, to his Law, and to his Love.

This freedom of Christ is also a freedom to recognize the work of the Holy Ghost within his saints. It is by this freedom that we recognize what a miracle was wrought in Martin Luther. Only by the working of God and the incredible, heroic faith bestowed upon that lowly friar, was Luther able to accomplish any of what he did. Today, we reap the benefits of what God did through Martin Luther and we give thanks that the Lord saw fit to bless us in this way.

In T Jesus’ name.  Amen.

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[1] St. John 8:31-32.

[2] St. John 8:33.

[3] St. John 8:34-35.

[4] St. John 8:35.

[5] St. John 8:36.

Vespers on the Eve of the Commemoration of the Reformation

 Our congregation held a Reformation Celebration (or Oktoberfest) on October 30. A presentation was given, which focused on the teachings of Luther's opponents in the Sacramentarian Controversy, especially Ulrich Zwingli. This sermon was then preached at the Vespers service.

Vespers on the Eve of the Commemoration of the Reformation – October 30, 2021

Psalm 46; Galatians 3:26-4:7

St. Matthew 26:17-30

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

Ulrich Zwingli was right to confess with our Lord, “The flesh profits nothing.”[1] Our flesh profits nothing before the Lord. The Law of God, his will for creation, offers righteousness, eternal life, and salvation, but this offer comes with a condition. The Law offers these wonderful gifts to all who keep the whole of God’s Law without error. “Whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.” You may try to earn salvation by keeping the Law, but it is a great gamble. Stumble in one point, fail in a tiny way, forget one jot, tittle, or iota, and you have transgressed the entire law and are guilty of all sin.

“But what of good works? If we transgress a little but work much good, doesn’t that make up for it?” By no means! Did you not hear that to transgress a little is to be guilty of all the Law? This is the very definition of “redeem.” To redeem is to give one thing in exchange for another. Maybe you have a gift card to Walmart that you redeem for groceries. Maybe you have a paycheck that you redeem for cash. Your good works cannot be redeemed for your righteousness for two reasons.

First, your good works do not have enough value to meet your guilt. No amount of human works will be enough to match the debt incurred by your sin. Remember, to be guilty in one point, makes you guilty of the whole Law. Your debt to God is greater than you could ever imagine. In the parable of the unforgiving servant, the servant owes the master ten thousand talents.[2] That is the equivalent to something between $250 million and $20 billion dollars. The point is that salvation comes at an astronomical cost. Since all the works of man are as filthy rags before the Lord, you simply can never earn enough in works to match the value of your soul.[3]

Second, your good works are not of the correct currency. You cannot walk into Walmart down the road and pay in Euros. Your currency must match what is acceptable to the one holding your debt. The price is in blood. The price is your life, your soul. The original sin of Adam and Eve severed the relationship between man and God. Good works do not heal that rift. Buying your wife a new car does not cancel your adultery. The currency is unacceptable. Good works cannot avert your doom. It is a false, misleading dream that you can keep the Law in its fullness.[4]

Not only do good works not atone for your sins, they also do not retain or strengthen your faith. If your works are responsible for strengthening your faith, if your works are the reason you retain your faith, then salvation is due to your works. Natural man will always fight against God. Every Christian will struggle against sin in this world. If that struggle is overcome by your good works which keep you faithful, then your salvation is again, won by works.

The act of a diligent prayer life, the act of coming to church, the act of forgiving your neighbor, even the act of reading the bible does not, in itself, retain your faith. The life of the Christian is not complete through a checklist of holy living. The Word of God is not a self-help book by which you attain righteousness, salvation, and eternal life.

This is most pointed when we suffer. When the terminal diagnosis comes, we are tempted to pray harder, believing that more diligent prayer will cause God to perform a miracle. The danger in relying on our efforts in prayer is when the prayer is not answered according to our desire. If God does not give us the outcome we’ve prayed for, we’ve worked for, then he must’ve either not heard our prayer, or far worse, denied it. And yet it is God himself who commands us to pray in the 2^nd Commandment and promises to answer our prayers. “God must be unjust. God must be cruel. God must not care.”

Repent of this blasphemy. Repent of relying upon your own works for salvation. Repent of turning a beautiful gift of God, prayer, into a work of your own choosing, by which you hope to persuade the creator of the universe, who has promised to love you, care for you, and deliver to you eternal life. Your flesh cannot abstain from sinning. Keeping the Law for the purpose of salvation, even by good intentions, is a useless task and in vain. None can remove sin’s poisoned dart or purify your own sinful heart, so deep is your corruption.[5]

God is just. God is merciful. God is gracious. The Law must be fulfilled, or else we must die despairing.[6] The Son of God, Second Person of the Holy Trinity, descended from the heavenly throne room into our flesh. He took on the form of a servant. At “the fullness of time, [the Father] sent his Son to be born of a woman, born under the Law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”[7]

True God, Second Person of the Holy Trinity, united himself to human flesh. He became True Man. This God-Man united himself to our flesh such that we can say “God hungered; God thirsted; God was born of a woman; God suffered; God died.” The two natures of Christ must be distinguished for it was by his divinity that Christ was able to keep the Law perfectly and atone for our sins in eternal currency. The divinity of Christ ensured his redemption was of the proper quantity and currency such that his redemption would suffice for all mankind, from Adam to the last baby born.

It was by his humanity that Christ could die. It was by uniting his divinity to his humanity that the Son of God could share this salvation with mankind. It was by uniting human flesh to his divinity that when Christ ascended to the Right Hand of the Father, he could prepare a mansion for all who believe.

These two natures of Christ, divine and human, are forever united in one person. This one person, Jesus Christ, acted for your salvation. His works are good. His works are holy. His works are perfect and eternal. This one person, the God-Man, has united the hiddenness of the divine God within the revealed flesh of creation. This one person has redeemed you through his blood and then guaranteed your eternal life by rising from the grave. His blood is more precious than $20 billion and matches the currency of your salvation.

It is no wonder then, that this God-Man, on the night when he was betrayed, took physical elements, and united them to his body and blood. The very same Body that would die upon the cross for your salvation and the Blood that was shed to redeem your soul are sacramentally united to physical elements – bread and wine. Two elements but one Sacrament. This is a reflection of the unity of God and Man within the person of Christ. Two Natures but one Person.

From the very beginning, God has given himself to man through means. God walked in the Garden and spoke with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day. They could see him, hear him, smell him, touch him. These are the means by which he revealed himself to Adam and Eve. These were not illusions. They were and are truth. So too does his grace come to man through means. “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”[8] This Word of God comes to us through means – the preaching of men called into the Office of the Holy Ministry and the printed word in the Bible you read, hopefully aloud.

But since man is a physical being and would be tempted to ignore something as ephemeral as the spoken Word, God has united his word to physical means as well. The Word in and with the water, given by the command of Christ and for the purpose of the forgiveness of sin, constitutes Holy Baptism. It is truly a washing, not a symbol of cleansing. The Word of God in, with, and under the Bread and the Wine, given by the command of Christ and given for the forgiveness of sin, constitutes the Holy Communion.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”[9] The Eternal Word of God is united to human flesh. This same flesh, he has united to bread and the blood which flows through that flesh he has united to wine. In this Holy Body and Precious Blood is found the salvation of the world. The very same Body which hung on the cross and the very same Blood poured out on the earth are given to Christians for the bestowing and strengthening of faith. They are the victory feast of the Church who celebrates with the Victorious Christ who has defeated death and the grave.

What then of our good works? Our flesh profits nothing for salvation. Christ has won salvation for us. Coming to Church, reading the Scriptures, receiving the Holy Sacraments, and fervent prayer are not good works which you do. They are the means of grace by which God delivers himself to you. You do these things not to earn salvation but to receive what God has to give you – righteousness, salvation, and eternal life. These things do retain and strengthen your faith but not because of what you do, its because of what God delivers through them.

Our good works are then also a reflection of what has been done in us. Has God forgiven your sins? Has God delivered to you the righteousness of Christ? Has God given you a clean conscience through the waters of Holy Baptism?[10] Has the very Body and Blood of Christ wrought faith within you, capable of moving mountains? Have you been declared a child and heir of God, no longer a slave to your passions, to sin, to death, and to the Law?

Then you are free to serve God with a joyful heart! No longer are your works that of a slave hoping to earn freedom. You are a son, an heir, whose inheritance is certain. You are now free to pray because you know that your Father in heaven hears and will answer your prayer. You are now free to come to Church, regularly and often, because there you will receive your salvation in Christ. You are free to give to the poor because eternity has been given to you. You are free to raise your children in the way of the Lord because He died for them too.[11] You are free to daily read the Scriptures because there you find your Savior.

The flesh of man profits nothing for our salvation. The flesh of Christ has won our salvation. “I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world…Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.”[12]

In T Jesus’ name.  Amen.

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[1] St. John 6:63.

[2] St. Matthew 18:21-35.

[3] Isaiah 64:6.

[4] Salvation Unto Us Has Come, LSB 555:1. Public Domain.

[5] Salvation Unto Us Has Come, LSB 555:4. Public Domain

[6] Salvation Unto Us Has Come, LSB 555:5. Public Domain

[7] Galatians 4:4-5.

[8] Romans 10:17.

[9] St. John 1:1, 14.

[10] 1 Peter 3:18-22.

[11] Proverbs 22:6; Matthew 19:13-15.

[12] John 6:51, 53-56.