Cantate Sunday, 2023

  

Cantate, The Fourth Sunday after Easter, 2023

Luther's Best Sermon on This Text

Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

 

Bethany Lutheran Church, 

10 AM Central Daylight Time

The Hymn #458        O'er Jerusalem Thou Weepest                    

The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16

Introit

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

Collect

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 

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 #296      Speak O Lord           

Because They Did Not...

Communion Hymn #297     The Gospel Shows the Father's Grace - by M. Loy, Cap Seminary President, Author

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 -

• Treatment and recovery - Pastor Jim Shrader, Chris Shrader, Callie and her mother Peggy; Dr. Cruz, his wife Lyne, his daughter Thea, and Felix. Dr. Kermit Way and his wife Maria. Pray for those suffering from emotional stress.
• Glen Kotten and his bride Esther are in the Philippines for several weeks.
• Pray for our country as the major trials continue. Victory is approaching 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 three years ago! - 44,125 views have been recorded, as of today, 10k more than last year.
• Mother's Day is next Sunday, a great opportunity to show appreciation, gratitude, and love. Roses will be plentiful, on the altar, in our neighborhood, and everywhere.

   

        

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

Because They Did Not...

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.

The setting describes the disciples feeling great sorrow, because their three years with Jesus were about to end. Jesus was about to leave, so they were numbed and confused by the loss. Major events are difficult enough, but this was catastrophic. To the disciples - it was as if everything was being taken away. In the midst of their pain and grief, they were unlikely to ask for even more details.

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 is the signal of the local mission being turned into one which is world-wide. Jesus traveled among Jews and Gentiles establishing faith in Him through teaching and performing miracles. He even said to the audiences, "If you do not believe My Word, at least believe in the miracles." That was a way of saying that the message might confuse them, even enrage them, but their eyes saw and their ears heard the miracles, basic, without any chance of it being a dream or mirage. In the miraculous feedings, they were hungry and yet fed so much that they could not eat any more. Stomachs do not lie, food is not an illusion. 

Why did the crowds become upset and disciples uncertain? The Old Adam - with Satan's help - denies and rejects the Word of God. Jesus spent three years establishing faith among the people, the Jewish leaders (who helped in His burial), and some outsiders like the Canaanite woman. When Jesus ascended into Heaven, the Apostles had a base from which to start. By spreading out, instead of following One Leader, the Apostles reached out in many directions at the same time, persecution speeding their work, the Holy Spirit guiding them. The growth of the Early Christian Church was miraculous, the converts impossible to stop, the copies of the New Testament carefully duplicated and translated in enormous numbers - nothing like it anywhere in ancient literature.

Why do we not have copies of the New Testament with dates like 80 AD on them? They were used until they wore out, copied, and then the dilapidated copies were burned so heretics could not use them for promoting false doctrine. (A few did, but the true copies and the Faith overwhelmed the fakes.) Scholars even call these old copies "witnesses." When you open your KJV, you are reading the Masoretic Jewish tradition - extreme perfection - in the Old Testament, and the Apostolic text in the New Testament.

When you buy and use the Evil Four + One (NIV, ESV, RSV, NRSV) and the Beck, you are holding a fake text invented by whoever put it together. The fake texts do not agree with each other, and there is not one complete New Testament for the Evil Four + One because their precious "scientific" Greek text is made up from erased words and phrases, and - the Great Erasure - the ending of Mark with the Empty Tomb narrative.

Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would remind them of all that He taught, so the perfection of the New Testament was and is a miracle, the only way to explain the harmony of the Gospels and the relationships between the Gospels and the Epistles.

When the modernists took away the 

1. miraculous in the Greek text and 
2. passages about faith in Jesus Christ

they deliberately created the Unitarian view of the Bible, barring that, the Bible subordinated to the Church of Rome.

8 And when he is come, he will reprove [Lenski - convict] 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.

This falls into the category - Completely Mysterious - until with study and meditation and prayer we come to - Perfectly Clear, all three parts. There are three uses - of - and three uses - because. That is simple and eloquent, so obvious that most people pass by the verses. And yet, verse 9 is the entire Bible in a few words. Those who do not know that are doomed to misunderstand the Bible 

The first and most important part is convicting. It is like saying 

1. "You do not know what sin is."
2. "You do not know what righteousness is."
3. "You do not know what judgment is."

Of sin, because they believe not on me;

Sin goes through the mind with such thoughts as carnal sin, sins of the heart, disobedience, breaking the law, and betraying a person or country or military position.

The foundational sin is not all these and worse. The unbelieving world is convicted for one thing only - not believing in Christ. The sin against the Holy Spirit, which puzzles so many?...Not believing in Christ, because the Spirit acts upon us with the Word of God. If we hear or read or remember the Scriptures and ignore them, we are sinning against the Spirit and against Christ.

That makes many stumble, so they ignore and pass by this topic.

Believing in Christ is too simple, so people are pulled away from this by rationalizing the miracles, by converting the Gospel to social activism, by being good in one way or another, by creating an alternate religion which bears some resemblance of Christianity. I asked the Mormon visitors, "Are there three separate gods?" They said yes. I countered, "But you agree with the Bible, where it says - Here O Israel, the Lord our God is one God." They became angry! The Spirit convicted them of unbelief, and they left, yelling at me.

The Beauty of This Phrase

So many are burdened by their efforts of being perfect, or at least pretty good, honored by the Lion's Club, praised by local leaders, chairman of the building expansion. The righteousness of works becomes a burden and it becomes difficult to find peace, forgiveness of sin. That only comes through faith in Jesus Christ.

Denial of the Trinity - no faith.

Denial of His divinity - no faith.

Denial of His miracles - no faith.

Denial of the Atonement - no faith.

Denial of the Resurrection - no faith.

One could add the Virgin Birth and the Ascension.

Science will often unleash its sour countenance and become ecstatic about the ability of a plant or a simple animal to do astonishing things, almost a miracle, maybe even a miracle. We should not quarrel about such things, which are true, such as millions of earthworms aerating and feeding our soil, billions of bacteria feeding the higher life forms, springtails out-numbering all life on the planet. (Not sure on springtails - lost the count halfway through)

All those miracles of Creation - dare I say it? - are nothing compared to the Son of God, born of the Virgin Mary, true man and true God. Faith gives us access to His grace, and therefore forgiveness of all sin, from the tiniest to the great and terrible sins.

The saddest spectacle involves all the people who imagine they are glorifying God when they spend more on temples, cathedrals, universities. Or when they count their numbers. Or their high standing in the world. All kinds of things are counted but they do not count anything significant when they do not believe in Jesus Christ.

10 Of righteousness, because I go to my Father 

and ye see me no more;

This is quite simple when we realize righteousness is not tangible or honored by mankind - but the righteousness of faith in the Savior. Jesus is going to His Father because He is leaving behind the Apostles and the Word to guide people in righteousness through Him.

If you have a chance and discernment, look at the church organization reports. They are about everything except faith in Christ.  Proof comes from 60+ essays (!?) in the WELS library of essays on - righteousness without faith - Universal Objective Faithless Justification. Their argument goes back to Calvinism, Pietism, Walther and his Bishop, Martin Stephan.

11 Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged

Satan is already defeated and raving against the Kingdom of God. Nothing on earth can keep us from faith in Jesus Christ, and Satan cannot harm us. We are either with the Savior or against Him.

We know from the Scriptures that faith in our Good Shepherd will nourish us and also guard us. The victory is our faith, and God showers us with His grace, forgiveness, and compassion.