Sunday, March 6, 2022

Invocavit 2022

 Invocavit, The First Sunday in Lent, 2022


Pastor Gregory L. Jackson




The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16

He shall call upon Me, and I will answer Him: I will deliver him and honor him.
With long life will I satisfy him: and show him My salvation.
Psalm. He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High: shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19

O Lord, mercifully hear our prayer and stretch forth the right hand of Thy majesty to defend us from them that rise up against us; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth, etc.

The Epistle and Gradual      

For He shall give His angels charge over thee: to keep thee in all thy ways. 

V. They shall bear thee up in their hands: lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.

Tract. He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High: shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

V. I will say of the Lord, He is my Refuge and my Fortress, my God: in Him will I trust.

V. He shall cover thee with His feathers: and under His wings shalt thou trust.

The Gospel              
Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
The Sermon Hymn #146    Lamb of God                       

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 #154        Alas and Did My Savior  


  


Prayers and Announcements


  • Treatment - Pastor Jim Shrader, Chris Shrader, Doc Lito, 
  • Our family friend and helper Dottie Hagar - her grand-niece is in the hospital from a respiratory infection.
  • Pray for our country and duly elected President.
  • Thanksgiving - Mary Howell.
  • Wednesdays are Vespers at 7 PM.
  • The new KJV book is at the finishing editor's place, - Janie Sullivan. The usual suspects will get a free copy. Write if you want multiple copies and if you want the final PDF.
         


KJV 2 Corinthians 6:1 We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. 2 (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.) 3 Giving no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed: 4 But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, 5 In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings; 6 By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, 7 By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, 8 By honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true; 9 As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed; 10 As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.

KJV Matthew 4:1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. 2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. 3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. 4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. 5 Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, 6 And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. 7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. 8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; 9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. 10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. 11 Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

First Sunday In Lent

Lord God, heavenly Father, inasmuch as the adversary doth continually afflict us, and as a roaring lion doth walk about, seeking to devour us: We beseech Thee for the sake of the suffering and death of Thy Son, Jesus Christ, to help us by the grace of the Holy Spirit, and to strengthen our hearts by Thy word, that our enemy may not prevail over us, but that we may evermore abide in Thy grace, and be preserved unto everlasting life; through the same, Thy beloved Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.



Invocavit

 

KJV Exodus 3 Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. 2 And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. 3 And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. 4 And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. 5 And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. 6 Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.

7 And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; 8 And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9 Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt. 11 And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? 12 And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain. 13 And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? 14 And God said unto Moses, I Am That I Am: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I Am hath sent me unto you. 15 And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, the Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.

 

The name of the LORD is unique and remains mysterious. The four Hebrew letters are called the Tetragrammaton (meaning four letters). The vowel pointing is not intended to fill out the Name, but indicate instead that the sacred Name is not to be used and abused for many reasons – sacrilege, holiness, and withholding it from those who want its power, to abuse it.

When Job’s wife said, “Curse God and die!” the Hebrew is written “Bless God and die” because it was not proper to “curse God.” Believing Jews today will say “The Name” in Hebrew rather than using the formal name.

The name Jehovah is used in the King James (though rarely). Another version uses it frequently and that one is loved by the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Yawweh was claimed by the modernists who assumed that they knew the real Name of God, but that was only another example of their hubris (Greek for overweening pride).



 

This Exodus 3 passage is well known and yet not given the significance it deserves in unifying the Old and New Testaments’ message of faith in Jesus Christ. The Old Testament is not a history book we skip through to read the familiar stories or comforting Psalms. The Old Testament is the proclamation of the Gospel before His incarnation to serve as the foundation and fulfilling of His work. Modernists separate the Testaments, as if they are accidentally put together. Those raised in Judaism are shocked and exhilarated by the knowledge that they were reading the Gospel all along, though their eyes were closed to it (see Emmaus, KJV Luke 24:31).

The concentration of spiritual wisdom in the Testaments is shown by how much is revealed in such few words in Genesis 3.

KJV Exodus 3:2 And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.

Lutherans have taught the Burning Bush represents the Two Natures in Christ, human and divine, united by the Incarnation and united ever since.[1] This event, vision, or miracle is similar. The Bush burns but it is never consumed, so its herbal nature remains while it continues to burn.

            The Angel of the Lord appeared, but look at the identity of this Angel. In many places, the Angel of the Lord is the Son of God before His Incarnation. Jacob wrestled with the Angel, but referred to Him as God.

KJV Genesis 32: 30 And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.

The Speaker is the Lord (not all caps) and the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – an indication of the Trinity.

KJV Exodus 3:13 And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? 14 And God said unto Moses, I Am That I Am: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I Am hath sent me unto you. 15 And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, the Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.

I AM – the Tetragrammaton – is the unique Name of God, though many other names are used in the Bible.

            The Tuebingen School promoted the idea of the Fourth Gospel centuries later and Gnostic, so the Gospel of John has been neglected and ignored. We know that Jesus was deliberately using the Name of God in John 8, where we find this taught and strengthened by the additional points of doctrine.

KJV John 8: 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. 57 Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?

58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.

59 Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.

1.      The point is Jesus proclaiming His Messianic title and His divinity because He was talking about the distant past and the present at the same time. Only God can exist that way, which the Pharisees quickly saw and opposed. In fact, in John, that was their final accusation against Jesus – He claimed to be God.

2.      The second point is that Jesus openly declares His existence in the past and now, more significantly, He calls Himself – I AM. No Jewish leader would miss that explosive statement.

3.      Finally, that claims spurs the opponents to pick up rocks to kill Him, yet He revealed His Two Natures by passing through this angry mob without being harmed, unlike the martyr Stephen in Acts.

Readers and listeners should count the number of times Abraham is named in this one chapter, emphasizing Abraham as the Father of Faith in Jesus, not Moses the Law-giver. One of Luther’s great insights was that people made Jesus into Moses the Law-giver, and Moses into the Savior.

            This use of I AM in the Gospel of John binds the Fourth Gospel to the Books of Moses, showing how the glimmer of gold in the Torah was so much a part of teaching the divinity of Jesus for the future:

1.      The sacrificial Lamb.

2.      The water from the rock. John 4.

3.      The bread from heaven. John 6.

4.      Most of all the bronze serpent used to heal. John 3:15-16. Numbers 21.

The Fourth Gospel is the ultimate book about Jesus because it was written by His beloved disciple and written, through the Spirit, with the thought of us already knowing Matthew, Mark, and Luke fairly well. So we see two major emphases in the Fourth Gospel. One is detailing with sermons what the prose narratives taught in Matthew-Mark-Luke. Another is teaching about future errors, correcting them in advance – such as Mariolatry.



[1] The Two Natures in Christ, Martin Chemnitz, is good reading for everyone, from the laity on down to scholars.


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