EASTER SUNDAY (2)
Text: 1 Corinthians 15:55-57.
Source from Back to Luther with German archive reference. Back to Walther's Epistle Sermons.
Lord Jesus, just a few days ago we looked up to you with tears in our eyes. For we saw you bound, bleeding, dying on the altar of the cross as the Lamb of God which takes away the sins of the world. And what do we see today? Oh, miraculous change! Oh, blessed sight! We see your cross changed into a victory banner, your death into life, your disgrace into glory, your weakness into power, your bonds into freedom, your quiet soul struggle into loud cries of triumph. Oh, victorious, faithful Redeemer! We can not be deceived when we trust in you! We can not be deceived when we worship you as our God, when we hope for salvation from you as our Savior! No; for you have mightily, glorious, wondrously carried out the great work of our redemption. Yes, through you we are redeemed; through you we are delivered; through you we are snatched away from all our misery. In you we can shout for joy and be happy; in you we can boast and bless ourselves; in you we can even spite sin, death, and hell. Let also the word of your victory which today enters our ears sink down into the depths of our hearts. Use these words to burst the chains of unbelief with which we are still bound; use them to open all the graves of worry and sorrow in which we languish; use them to tear away all the fetters of sin and the lust of the world which still hold us captive; by the message of your resurrection make us all happy and free on this world; in eternity take us to be with the hosts who rejoice before your throne and serve you forever and. ever. Amen.
In Christ our victorious Redeemer, dearly beloved hearers.
" Freedom !" is the universal watchword of our time. "Freedom!" is the word which now sets all hearts on fire with bewitching power whenever it is uttered or written. "Freedom at any price!" resounds nowadays almost over the entire globe from country to country, from city to city, from village to village, yes, from mouth to mouth, from husband and wife, from the young man and the maid, from the child and the aged.
In the past we Christians have been silent about the cry for freedom. Yet behold! Today has come a day in which we must also join in the cry. Yes, what do I say? Today "Freedom! Freedom!" is the watchword of all Christians no matter what language they speak and amongst which people they live. Today we Christians also go to meet a great hero of war; he comes from the battlefield crowned with victory; upon his banner are written the flaming words: Pardon to all captives, release to all the bound, freedom to all the oppressed! They are hymns of freedom which we today sing; all our festive garments stand for freedom; "freedom" is the theme of all evangelical sermons today, for the Christian's great universal festival of freedom has come with the Easter festival.
Does that mean that we Christians have surrendered to the spirit of our times? Shall we Christians convert our churches into temples of freedom and instead of worshiping the great God who created heaven and earth worship the idol of our days, the goddess of freedom? Shall we Christians join in the cry of the drunken mob which in the intoxication of freedom, filled with fury and rage raises the murderous cry: Down with the tyrants! and which sees in the overthrow of the existing order the salvation of the world and the beginning of the golden age ?
Far be it! Today we celebrate an entirely different type of freedom. Λ freedom which gives all men, even temporal rulers, the palm of peace; a freedom which is not dependent upon outward relationships and can be perfectly
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enjoyed under emperors, kings, and princes, yes, under the most brutal dictators and tyrants, as well as in the freest republic; a freedom, which even he can enjoy who lies bound in chains in the darkest subterranean prison cell; a freedom which need not first climb over the corpses of the slain and the smoking ruins of devastated cities, which need not first be gained by the blood and tears, by the misery and misfortune of whole races and nations; but which 1900 years ago has already been dearly gained in battle for all men. This is the freedom which Christ, the resurrected Prince of Peace, has brought out of his grave for all subjugated mankind, for the entire enslaved world.
This is not a physical but a spiritual freedom; but as our immortal soul is infinitely more important than our mortal, frail body, just so much more important, glorious, noble, and honorable is the freedom of the Resurrected than the former. It is not a freedom for this earthly life, not a political, civil freedom from kings and princes, but a freedom for the life to come; but as eternal life is much more important than this temporal life (these few, fleeting hours which fly away like a dream), just so much more important, precious, and worthy of the struggle is the freedom of the Resurrected than the former.
Without the freedom which Christ has brought, even kings are merely slaves; but with it every person, even the slave, is a Icing. Without the freedom which Christ brought every citizen of a republic is the most obedient subject and the most contemptible servant of the most dishonorable and brutal of all princes, the prince of this world; but with this freedom the Christian tramples even this great and mighty world-ruler under foot.
Poor, deceived world! With uproarious joy it celebrates a freedom which is no freedom, and delights itself in the empty shadows of freedom; it does not see the true banner of freedom which flutters over the empty grave of the Resurrected. But blessed and twice blessed are we Christians, whose eyes God has opened to see the banner of freedom planted by the hands of God himself. Come then, come you Christians; let us now place ourselves under this banner and hear about our freedom; but first let us turn in silent prayer to the hero from David's stem who so bitterly fought for our freedom after we have sung, etc.
Quote the text here: 1 Cor 15, 55-57.
All the individual details in the story of our Savior's resurrection are so lovely, so comforting, so full of the power to awaken, that one almost feels compelled to dwell upon every separate detail during the present season. But the fact of Jesus Christ's resurrection is itself so great, so important, so powerful, so abundantly rich, that today we can not possibly have any other thought but to consider this divine fact itself and its inexpressibly glorious fruit. Permit me therefore to present to you today:
TRUE FREEDOM, THE GLORIOUS FRUIT OF THE RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST
1. The Freedom from the RIGHT of Sin to TORMENT and CONDEMN Us.
2. The Freedom from the POWER of Sin to C O ERCE and RULE Over Us.
I.
Man was created for freedom. But through the fall all humanity has fallen into slavery, into the power of a fearful tyrant which ruins body and soul. And this tyrant is -- sin.
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I would try in vain to describe all the cunning and cruelty with which sin exercises its fearful control over man. Human language is far too poor to depict this fully. Yes, there are millions who suppose that sin is a gentle mistress who promotes only fun and frolic amongst men; this very thought shows how cunningly sin has entangled men in its net and chained them to its throne. I will say nothing of how sin has turned this world into a vale of tears and man's social life into a constant lacerating battle among themselves; I will remind you only of what sin brings every person.
Yes, sin always sends a friendly message which promises only fortune to him who will serve it; but its consequences are misery and affliction, temporal and eternal ruin. Sin instills a sweet poison into man; but after it is taken it tortures and torments the soul. It gives man a friendly Judas kiss in order to betray him to bitterest remorse. It talks fondly like a Delilah with man in the hour of temptation in order to give him into the hands of his soul’s enemies. It promises that if he will surrender to it, he will receive all the riches of the world, the fulfilment of all his most ardent wishes, help for all his misery, joy, bliss, good days, riches, and honor; but if he surrenders, it finally rewards him with misfortune, with aversion and sorrow, with poverty, with shame and disgrace, with a sickly body and an empty soul. Yes, the more faithful a subject of sin the person has been, the more dreadful its reward; it blinds him so that he no longer knows what belongs to his peace; it calls Upon the conscience to gnaw at his heart like a foul worm; it feeds him with unrest, suckles him with despair, and finally hurls him unprepared into death.
At first sin reminds a person only of God's great love, grace, patience, and long-suffering, and thus rocks him into the sleep of security; but when it has caused him to fall greatly, it preaches only of God's righteousness, holiness, wrath, and vengeance. At first it seeks to convince man that sin a so small a matter that one can quickly pray it away again; but if: he is convinced, it takes off its mask and cries: Your sins are greater than can be forgiven; keep right on sinning; you are lost anyhow. At first it says: Serve me just this year, this week, just one more time; there is always time to be converted; but if he lets himself be deluded, it cries: It is too late; there is no more help for you. During his life sin often accompanies man like a guardian angel in garments of white; but when the faithful servant of sin lies in the anguish of death, all the sins of the past range themselves around his bed like spirits from hell, grin at him, and cry: You are lost! and alas! when the servant of sin dies, often with the foretaste of hell, the host of his sins do hot leave; they drag him to the judgment of a wrathful God, accuse him with heated voices, and, when he is condemned, hurl him into the dark abyss of hell and damnation.
How there you have an inkling of an idea of the fearful control which sin, sometimes secretly, sometimes openly, exercises over man. But the most fearful thing is that most do not perceive until in eternity how shameful sin has deceived them, that sin through God's holy Law has the right to pay off its servants in such coin. According to God's Law the pay of sin is -- death, temporal, spiritual, and eternal death.
If we would ask all the wise of the earth how to free man from this tyranny of sin and take its right to torment and condemn men away, they would all have no answer; they would all have to admit that they do not know how to counteract this fearful power.
The almighty God alone knew what to do. Praised be his holy name, he took pity on us, when he saw us in this fearful slavery. He sent his only begotten Son into the world and laid the sins of all upon him to battle with sin and conquer them. And what happened? The sins of the world, which God's Son bore,
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pressed even him into unmentionable anxiety and distress; it damned him, crucified and killed him and without ceremony buried his corpse in the grave.
It seemed as if that all-consuming tyrant sin had swallowed up and conquered our Deliverer from sin as well; but no! The one power of sin is, as the apostle writes in our text, the law. But Christ, as God-man, had through his perfect holy life and innocent suffering and death, fulfilled the law for all men. When Christ therefore was swallowed up by sin, and reached the realm of the dead, the law suddenly had to be silent because it was fulfilled. Christ was not conquered by sin but sin was conquered by Christ; it had lost the battle; from now on it had to be silent about its right to accuse, torment, and condemn the sinner. A wonderful sight now took place before the eyes of the holy angels. By Christ's hands they saw the gates of hell broken down and sin with its retinue, death and Satan, under Christ's feet. And while death lay bound and Satan with a crushed head writhing in the dust like a trampled worm, Christ dragged out all the princes and mighty of the kingdom of hell, disarmed them, made a public display of them, and triumphed over them.
Since Christ's work was not so much for angels as for men, Christ not only did not remain in the realm of the dead, nor ascend invisibly from hell into heaven but returned to earth, rising gloriously from the dead. What is therefore this resurrection of Christ from the dead? It is the triumphal procession, which Christ as the substitute of all men held on earth after his victorious battle with the sins of the whole world; it is the triumphal procession of the entire redeemed, freed sinful world. It is the incontestable revelation before heaven and earth that through Christ's death sin has lost its power, death its sting, and hell its victory. It is the divine evidence that the Deliverer of man has conquered, that the sins of men are actually blotted out, and therefore their death is actually killed, and their hell really destroyed. It is the loud cry from the throne of the Father, the Judge of the whole world himself, to all men: Leave your prison, all people; your tyrant, sin, is dethroned, your executioners, death and hell, are conquered; their right to torment and condemn you is taken from you; you are FREE !
Yes, you will ask me: Does not sin exercise its right even now to torment and condemn those who have sinned? I answer: No; of course, millions still feel unrest, anxiety, and torment after their sins, and many even die in their sins and go into eternal darkness. But now this is not really the work of their sin but their unbelief. After Christ had arisen, he brought perfect freedom from all the misery of sin to all sinners, even the greatest of them; if a sinner is still tormented and condemned by his sins, the fault is that he has not believed God who by the glorious resurrection of his Son, the Deliverer of all sinners, has announced, given pardon to all prisoners, opened the doors to all the captives, and given eternal freedom to all sinners.
Oh, the sweet, blessed fruit of the resurrection of Jesus Christ! Freedom from the guilt, anxiety, and misery of sin! Upon whose of your hearts shall I lay and strongly recommend this freedom? It belongs to all, and therefore to all of you who are gathered here. But what will you think of the freedom of the misery of sin who either do not consider yourselves sinners or do not yet feel the misery of your sins, yes, jokingly and laughingly serve sin? Hay God have mercy on you and let you feel before it is too late what a horrible tyranny sin exercises upon you.
But to you who not only join in from the bottom of your heart in the universal complaint: There is no difference: for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God, Rom. 3, 22.23, but who also feel the weight of the chains of your sins and yearn to be free from their right to accuse, torment,
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and condemn you, to you I speak today the blessed word,of Easter, Freedom! Oh, do not suppose that because you are conscious of so many of your sins, you must fear their threats. Let your sins threaten you. In faith place yourself under the protection of the Resurrected and they will be empty threats, because sin was dethroned and you live in the free city of the Church of the Resurrected. What do the free citizens of a republic care about the threats of a dethroned tyrant?
Do not suppose that because you have in many ways transgressed God's law, you must dread the hour when the law, as your promissory note, will be opened and the payment of your debt will be demanded of you. When the Lord hung on the cross, he fastened this promissory note to it, canceled it with his blood, and today with the pardon of grace and forgiveness has come forth again from the grave. How can this promissory note trouble you? The creditor himself has torn it and in its place has handed over to you a receipt, solemnly signed with his blood.
Moreover, do not suppose that because your conscience still admonishes you, testifies against you, and accuses you, you can not be comforted. Let your conscience, let the whole world, let the devil and his whole array accuse you before God; they are false witnesses; they are rejected accusers; if they testify against you, the resurrected Son of God testifies for you; if they accuse you, your Mediator frees you; if they appeal to God's righteousness, the Resurrected appeals to his death and the resurrection and acquittal arranged by the Father himself.
Do not suppose that after you will have been completely freed of your sins or at least better than previously, then you can and should and will believe, that even you are freed from the right of sin to torment and condemn you. No; you don't have to earn this freedom nor struggle for it; it has been already earned; it has been battled for. Look in the garden of Joseph of Arimathea; there after your prince of salvation won the battle, he held a triumphal procession. Do hot cry; do not worry; fear nothing. There is only one thing you should do: Through faith include yourself in this triumphal procession, to which the apostle and an innumerable host of confessors of Jesus Christ have joined themselves. Follow the banner of freedom which flutters over this host and never again leave this army; even while living sin will always lie helpless under your feet; your w hole life o n earth will be a joyful victorious advance, and death will finally vault over you like a triumphant rainbow, through which you will leave with Christ, the victor over sin, to enter the eternal city of the heavenly Jerusalem.
II.
True freedom is the glorious fruit of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, because in the second place it brings us freedom from the power of sin to coerce and rule over us.
By the fall we not only fell under the horrible tyranny of sin, but also became willingly obedient to it. Our natural desire is to serve sin. By nature every person serves certain particular sins which have complete power over him; he follows them like a helpless victim wherever they lead him. Here is one who is ruled by greed; another is under the control of drunkenness or gluttony; a third is bound by the cords of lust and unchastity or at least vanity and inordinate love of amusement; a fourth is controlled by anger and the desire for vengeance or envy and jealousy; hypocrisy, lies, slander rules a fifth; love of honor and pride and the like has authority over a sixth. By nature man unresistingly obeys the commands of this shameful tyrant; often he knowingly and willingly sacrifices property, honor, rest, and peace of heart and conscience, yes body and soul, God's grace and eternal salvation.
But there is something even more frightening than that. If a person wants to free himself by his own power from sin because he sees himself hurled into misery or misfortune, he can not do it. All his resolutions come to naught.
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Of course, a person can at times guard himself against committing sin, but to depose sin in his heart, to take away the love and desire for a certain sin is impossible. By nature sin dwells in man's heart like a well-fortified army camp or a high strongly fortified impregnable castle. The garrison which defends this castle is the evil inclinations and lusts which dwell in one's heart; the troops which come to its assistance are the enticements and threats of the world. That by nature man has a free will to choose the good and reject the evil is an empty dream from which man is awakened in every temptation.
As little as the wise of this world knew how the right to torment and damn men could be taken from sin, so little did they know how man could be free from the power of sin to coerce and rule over him. The wise themselves lay in the disgraceful slavery of sin, most of them being very ambitious. They had to do what the one or the other sin commanded them to do. What Peter writes applies also to the wise: "While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption." 2 Pet. 2, 19.
However -- how happy captive mankind can be! -- as God knew of and arranged a way to make men free from the right of sin to torment and condemn man, so God also knew of and arranged for a way to free us from the power of sin to coerce and rule over us. This means is none other than the resurrection of Christ from the dead. The moment a person believes that through the resurrection of God's Son, his Savior, he is absolved from the guilt of sin, sin topples from its throne, its power is broken; the desires and joys of his heart which formerly were directed to sin and the world, are now directed to Christ and his glorious freedom and grace. Yes, Christ himself enters the heart of such a person, brings with him a new heavenly fire and life, seats himself in his heart on the throne which sin left, and rules in it through the impulse of his Holy Spirit. Whoever heartily believes that with Christ's resurrection sin has lost its right to accuse him is not only filled with peace and joy in the Holy Ghost; he need never say: But now you must renounce all obedience to sin; you must serve Christ as your own lawful Lord. Before he even thinks this, he has already begun to do it, driven by a free-willing impulse dwelling in him. The living faith that he is risen with Christ to be in heaven with Him drives him to walk with Christ in His new life.
Oh, the precious, sweet freedom which Christ brought us captives and slaves of sin from his grave! That makes us lords over sin, death and hell and, what is even greater, lords over our own hearts. It makes us free citizens, yes, priests and kings, who are not ruled by any sin; even if they are subject to men, they do it for God's sake; really they are not subject to any man or creature but alone to the great God; to serve him is not a disgraceful slavery but true freedom, honor, and blessedness.
Well, then, my dear Christian, you are the real sovereign people; a nation of kings and priests; stand fast therefore in the freedom wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. (Gal. 5, 1) Do not deny the royal spirit, which was planted in you by faith and do not ever become a slave to sin.
Take the world as your example. How much the world spends in order to get merely one temporal, earthly freedom! They form unions for this purpose; all without exception are active, man and wife, young men and young women, youth and old age; they tax each other; they buy weapons; they are concerned to assure this freedom not only for themselves but also for others; they send men around to speak about freedom and spread writings in order to awaken and cultivate the love of freedom everywhere; they claim that freedom is an inalienable right of all men, and leaving house and home, wife and children, they even go into battle
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fo r it.
My dear Christians, I repeat, use that as an example... What the world does is only a shadow of freedom and is rebellion against God's ordinance. It's laughable that the world plumes itself with its freedom, when they conquer a helpless nation, when the world calmly and patiently, yes, joyfully and eagerly, bears the most disgraceful dominion of all, the authority of sin and vice.
Come on, my dear Christians, let the world have its childish game of freedom; you have a greater, a holier battle for freedom; it is the battle against the mightiest tyrants, against the princes of this world, against sin and the devil. A revolution in the kingdom of these tyrants is a just, honorable, God-pleasing revolution. To wage this war you don't first have to form a union; it is formed already. In baptism all of you have joined in the great covenant of freedom to enlist under God; you have sworn allegiance to the flag of the Resurrected; you have declared unending hatred and eternal war against the kingdom of darkness, the devil, and all his works and all his ways. No trouble, no sacrifice should be too great for that; clothed in the armor of God, girded with the sword of the Spirit which is God's Word, having on your heads the helmet of salvation, on your breast the breastplate of righteousness, on your arms the shield of faith, enter the battle with drums beating and trumpets sounding; hurl every sin to the ground which intends to take you captive; show no mercy; continue the battle until you gain the victory; and help to overthrow the disgraceful tyranny of sin in the whole world and found the blessed free-city of the Church of grace. This battle does not end in shame and disgrace because God himself is in this confederacy; its end must be victory; it must be eternal triumph.
But you who do not want to take part in this battle, know also that you will not take part in the eternal festival of victory, you miserable servant of sin and vice, your talk of freedom is only miserable babbling, whereby you just make a joke of yourselves for the devil who leads you around. You wretched inhabitant of the earth are daily so concerned about your livelihood that you can scarcely think of your freedom in Christ to say nothing about battling for it; you vain girl chained by the empty glory of the world, turning your back to your royal bridegroom, and on this very Easter festival dancing around the golden calf of the joys of the world; you miserable slave of money, wanting to roam and grub all over the world like a mole just to gather a little more of that glittering filth and then let yourselves be buried in this filth and forgotten; all of you do not consider yourselves worthy of the freedom whereby Christ has made you free. May God have mercy on you, awaken you from your terrible dangerous dream, and finally also let you come to know the blessed freedom which the Resurrected has gotten for you and brought to light from his grave.
But you, my dear Christians, who would gladly be free from those chains of sin, but lament that you are still putting up a poor battle and conquering them so seldom, do not lose courage. Your comfort is not your own imperfect victory but the perfect victory of your eternal general, who has so gloriously fought the great duel to a finish for the entire world. According to your justification your freedom is perfect, according to your sanctification your freedom is imperfect and it will remain imperfect. Only keep on with the struggle; do not forsake the battlefield; do not lay your weapons down and you will die as the victor, enter the gates of heaven on the waves of death, be crowned, and awaken on the last day to the. glorious freedom of God’s children, which is perfect in every respect. For today we sing of our resurrector Victor: Hymn 192, v.6 & 8.