16TH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY

The grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the love of God the heavenly Father, and the comforting communion of God the Holy Ghost be with you all. Amen.

Dear friends in Christ Jesus.

Man, you must die! this is God's message in his holy Word to us all. If there is any truth expressed in Holy Writ which no one denies, even though it is the most earnest, it is this one. No living person has experienced the truth: you must die, in his own person, yet not a one dares to contradict it; everyone, willingly or unwillingly, believes it.

And who dares deny even this truth? From their graves all the countless millions who have lived and died in the past, though their bones are silent beneath our feet, shout as irrefutable witnesses louder than all the living, Man, you must die. And should someone not want to believe the story which is finally related of everyone. "And he died," then the thousands of events happening before our eyes, here the incapacitating sickness, there the graying hair of old age, here the devouring flood, there the consuming fire, here the steep abyss, there the shattering crash of lightning, here the burning rays of the sun, there the chilling northwind, here the deadly weapon, and there the poisonous serpent in the grass, yes, all this wherever we may be cries aloud to us, Man, you must die; and all the dying to whose bedside we are led, and all the funeral processions we meet on the streets, and all the graves which we dig for our loved ones and water with our tears, impress the seal of absolute certainty upon the words, You must die. If we look around in the world we see: the entire world is one huge wide grave upon which we live for a time until finally the

lid opens and the hand of death drags us into its dark chambers.

Though all men certainly believe that their life upon earth will not endure forever, yet most live, as the prophet says, as though they had made a covenant with death and arrived at an understanding with hell. Securely and thoughtlessly they live on, do not prepare themselves for the great important change which sooner or later stands before them, and calmly meet their death as though it were the most unimportant event in their life.

Tell me, whence this indifference? Why such zealous concern for this uncertain life and so little or none at all for certain death? The reason is that they never earnestly ponder what the words, Man, you must die, really mean. Anyone who truly ponders these words, will certainly earnestly ask, "What must I do to be saved?"

For what do the words, Man, you must die, mean? They mean: Man, perhaps now your heart clings to the world and seeks its pleasure, its heaven upon earth, in its good things or joys; but the hour is coming when you must forever leave this world and then you have nothing but your treasures which you have gathered for eternity, or the guilt of sin which you have heaped up for the day of accounting. Perhaps without any merit on your part you have a better earthly lot than many of your brethren, perhaps you have attained to wealth or honor among men; but the hour is coming when the difference which in the past obtained between you and a beggar will cease; then you, and though you were ever so rich and respected, yes, a king, will suddenly be like the least in the world; what you have gathered at great expense will suddenly cease to be yours, others will possess it, and you will go out of the world as naked as when you came into it, out into the unknown eternity, where only they will reap with joy who here have sown with tears, and where only they will enter into eternal life who have done good and striven for it by good works. Now perhaps you adorn your wretched body and walk proudly and vainly the way the world does; but the hour is coming when you will be stripped of your beautiful garments and be clothed in a shroud; your youthful body will begin to decay, an unbearable pestilential stench will arise from it, and even your loved ones will hurry to shove your body which has become a decaying corpse into the ground.

And there is more! Now you are judged by men on the basis of the good "front" you have put up, and perhaps you have shunned the opportunity to examine yourself earnestly and learn to know your inner self; but the hour is coming when you must appear before,God who has eyes like flames of fire, who tests and searches out the heart and reins; not only will he bring all your works to light but reveal even the secret counsels of your heart, and you will be weighed upon the scales of a righteousness and holiness which no pretence can deceive and no obstinate denials can delude.

Finally, you are still in the time of grace, now you still have the choice of whether you wish to go the way of life and salvation or the way of death and ruin; but the hour is coming when your period of grace will have run out, when your fate will have been decided for all eternity, when no repentance, no conversion is possible, when no praying, no beseeching, no tears will help; if you do not stand before God in this hour, you will be cast out into outer darkness where there shall be howling and gnashing of teeth. See, that is what the words, Man, you must die! mean.

Hence, do we not need the certainty for this hour that we can stand before God? Must it not be frightful to be surprised by the hour of death and not to know how one stands with God? What will give us true comfort in this our last distress?; Of that, etc.

The text. Luke 7:11-17.

Here we see how Christ showed that he was Lord also of death, when he with almighty power called a young man back to life, whose body was already being carried to the grave. This fact is a pledge that Christ can and will deliver us also from the miseries of death. Therefore, I now present to you:

THE TRUE COMFORT IN DEATH

I. The Kind of Comfort Every Person Needs in Death.

II. That This Comfort is not to be Found in our Works or Piety, and,

III. That This Comfort can be Found Only in Christ by Relying Upon Him with One's Whole Heart.

Oh God! We are sinners and therefore children of death, for the wages of sin is death; although in your righteousness you must condemn us all to death, yet you do not want the sinner's death; for that reason you have also prepared eternal help for us from death and hell. Therefore, grant that, when our last hour shall come, our souls may not despair. Do not forsake us, Lord, in that hour when all creatures will forsake us, and when no earthly thing can comfort us any more be our comfort. Snatch us from all anxiety and pain and accompany our soul from the prison of this world into the paradise of your eternal joys. Hear us for the sake of the pains, anxiety, and death which your Son bore on the tree of the cross. Amen.

I.

My friends, as long as a person thinks of being happy here in .time, so long temporal comfort is enough to satisfy him truly. Then .he finds great comfort if he sees himself well provided for in a temporal way, or if he finds himself in such circumstances where he has the prospect of not lacking temporal things. As long as a person does not think of death which awaits him, he finds great satisfaction in having rich and respected relatives, friends, and patrons and in being highly respected and honored by those among whom he lives; and if he wants to be a Christian, it will suffice if others consider him a Christian. And the means which most people use in order to rid their mind of all disturbing thoughts of death is the intention of being converted to God later on.

As fleeting and fragile as this comfort is, yet most of the people of the world take refuge in it; and it is true: if there were no death, it would suffice for most people. But man must die. This life is merely the seedtime in which we sow what we will some day reap. This life is merely a preparatory school in which we are to learn what is necessary for us to enter into eternal life. This life is a race for the treasure, which is reserved for us in heaven a struggle for the crown of victory which is set aside for us in the world to come.

If, therefore, the hour of our death has struck, the worldly comfort which perhaps fully sufficed during our life is of no more help. The houses, fields, gold, and silver of the earthly-minded rich man will give him no comfort; rather all these items of earthly wealth will step before his deathbed as his accusers. Then his conscience will say, How are you going to stand before God? How wretched you now are that you have forgotten or postponed your concern for your immortal soul as you gathered your temporal wealth? Then the help of relatives, friends) and patrons also ends. That others considered him a Christian and perhaps still do will no longer give rest to the dying. Then his heart will no longer say: Don't be concerned about eternity; you can be converted

at any time. No, in death man needs another comfort, if he is not to despair of through death enter into a wretched eternity.

And what is the comfort which we then need? None other than this: At death we must above all know whether our sins are forgiven, whether or not any are still written down in God's account book, whether they no longer accuse us before God, whether we are completely reconciled with God, whether he is angry with us no more, whether he is our Father and, therefore, in grace considers us his dear children. At death we must know whether we can stand in the strict judgment which will be held with everyone after death, whether we will not have to become silent and be condemned by God but hear a gracious verdict. At death we must know whether we will not die eternally but will enter eternal life through death and whether our miserable body will on Judgment Day be awakened not to shame but to glory. In short, at death we must know whether hell is closed and heaven is opened to us and whether we actually belong to the elect who. shall inherit the kingdom which was prepared for them from the foundation of the world.

Alas, it is tragedy enough if he does not know this during his life, but it is frightful beyond words, yes, who can describe the misery of him who dying, stands at the gates of eternity, knows that in a few seconds he will stand before God's judgment throne, and still does not know whether he will enter into eternal joy or into eternal pain, into eternal honor or into eternal shame, into eternal communion with God or into eternal separation from him, into eternal blessedness or into eternal damnation, into heaven or into hell.

II.

My friends, all of you will agree with me in this point; permit me, therefore, secondly to show you that the comfort which we need in death is not to be found in our works and in our piety.

If all those who are calm and confident in the hour of their death had the true comfort, one could certainly believe that the true comfort was to be found in our own works. Although many who relied upon their piety during their lifetime finally awakened in their last hours as though from a dream, in terror perceived that they could not stand before the Most High God, and, therefore, became restless and filled with great anxiety of heart and fear, the majority who lived securely on during their life are calm and confident also in death. Wither they hope to the very last moment that they would not die but recover, or if they can no longer hope for that, they do not permit the thought that they could be lost to enter into a heart tortured by the physical anxiety of their last battle. The relatives and friends who have gathered around such a dying person also usually try to avoid everything whereby he could become concerned about his salvation.

Though ever so many may die confidently and calmly and comfort themselves with the thought that they never injured anyone, that from their youth they were as good as was within their powers, that they indeed were not such great, manifest, and gross sinners and for that reason will certainly enter heaven, anyone who consoles himself with such thoughts does not yet have the true consolation in death; the more peacefully he falls asleep, the more terrible will his awakening be in eternity. We are not told that the rich man died amid great anguish; since he would gladly have returned to his brethren in order to preach repentance to them, we must conclude that he softly and quietly fell asleep so that it was generally believed that his was a beautiful blessed end and in death went into the land of an eternal reward, without torment and pain. Yet how frightful was his awakening in that world! Scarcely had his soul separated, from his body

when it was surrounded by the flames of hell and perhaps whilst at his grave they talked of his beautiful, edifying end and eulogized his virtues, he himself was in hell and in torment. Alas, how often could that happen even now!

Therefore my dear friends, do not let yourselves be deluded into believing that a person can find true comfort at his death in his own works. Granted that he would have done everything which he was obliged to do, Christ says that he himself would then have to say that he had been an unprofitable servant who could not demand or hope for a reward, for he did only what it was his duty to do. Yet where is the one who can say that he has done his duty before God? Must not everyone confess, "We all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God?" Rom 3,23. Must not everyone join David in saying especially, "Lord, remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions?" Ps 25:7. Must not everyone admit that he had often wounded his conscience by this and that sin? Does not everyone carry around with him the secret reproach in his heart, See, you have done this and this? Men indeed do not know it, but God, who sees and hears everything, knows it very well; he will judge it; how can you stand?

And my friends, now I am speaking only of the knowledge of sin which every person has, even he who does not earnestly examine himself according to God's Word. But whoever opens his heart before the Holy Spirit so that he can really reveal his heart will perceive not only this and that stain of sin in himself, he will speak entirely different and soon will say, Alas, I am a sinner from the crown of my head to the sole of my feet; the imagination of my heart has been evil from my youth; my sins are more than the hairs upon my head and the sands of the sea; and wherever God's grace has done any good through me, it never has been pure but I have stained it with much evil which God saw in me.

Now if everyone must say that of himself when he has learned to know himself in only a measure, I ask you, how can, therefore, our own works and our own piety be the true comfort in death? How can one console himself with his works before God, since everything, even the best, is spotted with sin, and since in addition there are countless other sins which move God to reject and condemn us? He who in death relies upon his works, upon his piety, upon his virtuous life, upon his Christianity, upon his going to church and communion, upon his prayers and songs, and the like, acts just as foolish as though he wanted to build a bridge of straw over a river of fire. A person will much more readily sail across the roaring ocean on a plank and reach the opposite shore safely than to cross the abyss of death with his good works and arrive safely at the shore of that blessed world.

III.

The third and final question now arises, Which, therefore, is the only true basis for comfort in death? Our Gospel shows us that. There we see how at Christ's Word and will death and hell stand still; he not only called to the mourners. "Weep not," but also actually dried their tears by awaking the dead person and robbed the grave of its booty. It is none other than Jesus Christ upon whom we must rely with our whole heart.

There are many who really see that no one can merit heaven by his good works and truly comfort himself with them in death, yet who do not place their only consolation in Jesus Christ; they trust in the love of God and hope, since God is the Father of all men, he is also their Father and he would certainly not deal in absolute sternness with them but out of grace and love save them. To be sure, it seems as though they have good grounds for their comfort. For can there be a better basis than God and his eternal love?

Yet my friends it only seems so. God is indeed full of love by which he wants to save all sinners, but is he not also righteous? is he not holy? In conformity to his righteousness and holiness he must punish the sinner and according to his righteousness and holiness God threatened death to sinners already in Paradise; therefore, anyone who wants to turn with his sins to God the Father and pass the Son by must without hope of deliverance die the death eternal.

But, you will say, must not the whole world then be lost, if God's love cannot save? I answer, No. That is why God's Son died the death of a sinner so that the sinner could live. That is why God's Son took upon himself the punishment of death which God had threatened upon all sinners and drained the cup of death and tasted its bitterest bitterness in Gethsemane and upon Golgotha so that God could remit the punishment to those who call upon his Son's death and rely upon him with their whole heart. Except in Christ, God can and will not be gracious to anyone; but whoever comes before God with Christ, with him God can and will not be angry; except in Christ, God must deal according to his strict righteousness since he is a consuming fire, but he who draws near to him with Christ finds God a reconciled Father and an overflowing well of love, grace, and mercy. Except in Christ, God must reject and condemn everything in us; yet if we come to him with Christ, we please him well with our entire life and that which is still sinful and spotted in us God graciously covers for the sake of Christ's death.

Therefore my dear hearers, if some day you wish to have a true, firm, reliable comfort in the anguish of your death, you must learn to rely from your whole heart and alone upon Christ. Bear in mind: alone and from your whole heart. Many indeed say, I rely upon Christ; but they take Christ in addition to their work, in addition to their prayers, in addition to their church going, in short, in addition to their Christianity; they believe in Christ not because they have experienced that they have absolutely nothing but because they want to take the certain in place of the uncertain. All such will someday find themselves horribly deceived. For he who has one eye upon his Christianity and the other eye upon Christ wants to share with Christ the honor of his salvation and rejects Christ because he thinks that he believes in him.

Yes, you say, according to this thought, who might give himself such a faith? And who can ever know definitely whether he has such a faith? I reply, You speak correctly; no person is in a position to give such a faith to1 himself, and no one is in a position to know of himself whether he has the true faith. That is a mystery which no one can teach but God the Holy Ghost. For says St. Paul, "No man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost," 1 Cor 12:3; and Christ himself says, "When he, the Spirit of truth is come...he shall glorify me." Ja 16:13,14. Therefore, Luther speaks the truth in his preface to Paul's Letter to the Romans, "Pray God that he works faith in you, otherwise you will remain forever without faith, no matter what you do."

Oh that is why you should not help yourself but pray, pray God that he work in you the true faith which relies upon Christ alone and from one's whole heart; and if the Holy Spirit bears testimony that he has worked in you, then remember that this faith can very easily be lost again. Therefore pray daily as did the disciples, "Lord, increase our faith," Lk 17:5; that is, make us ever poorer in ourselves, constantly poorer in spirit, so that we seek our riches, our righteousness, our comfort, and our salvation only in Christ. If you will do that, God will never let the light of your faith ever be extinguished, though it may often become a smoking flax.

And oh, blessed is he who stands in a living faith in the hour of his death! Though his heart may feel joy or fear, grace or wrath, life or death, he clings to the Word which Christ, "Christ is the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in him, though he were dead, yet shall he live." With this light in his hands the believer confidently descends into the dark valley of the shadow of death; for, though it becomes darker and darker about him, though even the terrors of hell surround him, though here one depth may open wide and there another in which he seems to sink, it lasts but a moment; after a brief struggle he finally breaks through the narrow gate and enters into life eternal. Therefore

Run thy race, run thy race,

Zion, swiftly run thy race!

Let no languor ever find thee

Idle in the market-place.

Look not to the things behind thee.

Zion, daily strengthened by His grace,

Run thy race, run thy race! Amen. (479,4)

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