Psalm 90,3.7-8.13-14; Isaiah 38,17b. 3. Last Sunday in Church Year

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The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

Psalm 90,3.7-8.13-14; Isaiah 38,17b 5517

Drittlezter Sonntag des Kirchenjahres  070 (25. Trinitatis)

Jonah, Prophet, 838-797 bc 

12. November 2017 

1. O Lord, Thou who remembers Your people, remind us that You have purchased and redeemed us, so that we never doubt Your love and mercy.  Amen. (Gradual). 

2. O Lord, You have delivered my life from the pit of destruction, for You have cast all my sins behind Your back. You return man to dust and say: „Return, O children of man!“ For we are brought to an end by Your anger; by Your wrath we are dismayed. You have set our iniquities before You, our secret sins in the light of Your presence. Return, O Lord! How long? Have pity on Your servants! Satisfy us in the morning with Your steadfast love, so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. 

  3. We have entered the home stretch in the Church’s Liturgical Calendar, and today marks the 3. Last Sunday in the Lectionary. When people think of the end of something they often have nostalgia and contemplate what they have done or not done. As sinners, we often contemplate before the Lord our self-worth. The Lord will judge the righteous and the wicked; all are from the dust, and to dust all return (Ecclesiastes 3,17.20). The Psalmist laments that »We are brought to an end by the Lord’s anger and dismayed by His wrath. Our iniquities are set before Him and our secret sins are brought to light in His presence.« Countless Christian men and women have lamented the truth that the Apostle Paul elegantly writes in his Epistle to the Romans: »Wretched person that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?« (Romans 7,24). 

4. The Prophet Isaiah offers comfort from the vanity of Ecclesiastes and the anguished cry of Paul: »The Lord has delivered our lives from the pit of destruction, for He has cast all our sins behind His back.« The Psalmist also speaks words of consolation: »O Lord, satisfy us with Your steadfast love, so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.« The Apostle Paul likewise proclaims the gospel: »Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord who has delivered us from this body of death! There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Nothing will separate us from the love of Christ, for we are more than conquerors through Christ who loves us« (Romans 7,25; 8,1.35.37).  

5. Faith believes the consolation spoken to us by the Mouth of the Lord through His prophets and apostles. The Epistle to the Hebrews assures us: »Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen« (Hebrews 11,1). And the Apostle Paul declares: »We do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary afflictions preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but look to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal« (2. Corinthians 4,16-18).   

6. The wicked world will not fare well on the last day. Jesus tells us that a great tribulation will befall the world, greater than any tribulation in the past (Matthew 24,21). False prophets will proclaim a false gospel and others will claim to be Christ Himself and they will perform great wonders so as to deceive many (Matthew 24,24). The Apostle Paul spoke about this false gospel: he called it a different and a distorted gospel (Galatians 1,6-7). Paul says the true gospel is that Jesus gave Himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age (Galatians 1,4) and this gospel simply is that a person is only justified through faith in Jesus Christ and not by works of the law (Galatians 2,16) for the righteous shall live by faith (Galatians 3,11).  

7. Christians will be blessed on the last day, for we will have endured tribulation. »We are afflicted, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; we always carry in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our mortal flesh« (2. Corinthians 4,8-11). As we await for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells, let us be diligent to be found by Christ without spot, blemish and at peace (2. Peter 3,13-14). Let us love our neighbors. Respect all people. Warn those caught in wickedness and encourage those who believe in Jesus. Pray for all. Let our words and actions exemplify Christ and give Him honor. Our Lord has delivered us from the pit of destruction and He has cast all our sins behind us. Let us live as those delivered and forgiven, showing others the same grace and mercy Christ shows us day after day.  Amen. 

8. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, Thou Righteousness and Redeemer; may our lips praise You, so that all may know that You are near to grant mercy and forgiveness.  Amen. 

To God alone be the Glory 

Soli Deo Gloria

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All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4^th Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27^th Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.  

All quotations from the Book of Concord are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using Die Bekenntnisschriften der evangelisch-lutherischen Kirche, 12. Edition © 1998 by Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.