LESSON: PSALM 25:1-10

Your king is coming to you. Matthew 21:5

Learn from this Gospel what happens when God begins to make us godly, and what is the beginning of becoming godly. There is no other beginning but the fact that your King comes to you and begins to work in you.

This comes to pass as follows. The Gospel must be the very first thing in this context; it must be preached and heard. In this you hear and learn how your work is nothing before God and that all you do or attempt is sin. But your King must be in you beforehand and rule you. That is the beginning of your salvation. You then give up your own work, and despair of self, because you hear and see that your own work is nothing, as the Gospel tells you. You begin to receive your King through faith, you cling to Him, invoke His grace, and entrust yourself solely to His goodness.

That you hear and accept this is also not of your own strength but of God’s grace, which has made the Gospel fruitful in you, so that you believe Him when He declares that your own work is nothing.

You see how few there are who accept His grace. Jesus also wept over Jerusalem. The papists not only reject this doctrine but actually condemn it. They do not want their own work to be sin and nothing. They want to lay the first stone and they rage and storm against the Gospel.

SL.XI.8,23
AE 75,35

PRAYER: O Lord, take from our hearts all self-pride and trust in our own works and efforts, and grant us grace to trust solely and wholly in your mercy and grace, granted us through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen

THE FIRST WEEK IN ADVENT - WEDNESDAY

LESSON: PSALM 24

Your king. Matthew 21:5

Here this King is separated from all other kings. He is “your king,” the one promised to you and whose own you are. He is the one who rules you and no one else. But His rule is a spiritual, not a secular, rule.

This is a comforting word for the believing heart, for apart from Christ, man is subjected to many raging tyrants who are not kings but murderers. Under these he endures great misery and terror.

Such tyrants include the devil, the flesh, the world, and sin, as well as the law, death, and hell. At the hands of all these the wretched conscience is oppressed, suffers heavy imprisonment, and lives a bitter, uneasy life. For where sins are, there is no conscience; where there is no good conscience, everything is quite uncertain and there is unending fear of death and hell before which there can be no firm joy or delight in the heart. As Moses declares, such a heart is terrified at the rustling of a leaf (Leviticus 26:36).

Wherever a heart receives this King in firm faith, it becomes established and does not fear sin, death, hell, or any misfortune. It knows and does not doubt that this King is the Lord over life and death, sin and grace, hell and heaven, and that all things are in His hands.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus Christ, my King, establish your rule in my heart in such a way that my heart becomes your throne, and peace and joy may reign therein for evermore. Amen.

LESSON: HEBREWS 10:19-25

Behold! Matthew 21:5

“Behold!” Mark this word well. With this word the Holy Spirit wakens us from sleep and unbelief as one who wants to set forth something important, strange, and noteworthy which one has long desired and should receive with joy. And we really need such an awakening, because our reason and nature despises all that concerns faith and finds it most unsuitable.

How can it possibly be that this man who rides along in such poverty and humility should be the King of Jerusalem and that He is riding only a strange, hired ass? How can nature and reason possibly grasp this? How can such an entrance be squared with that of a great King?

Faith is of such a kind that it does not judge and follow according to what it sees and feels but according to what it hears. It clings to the Word alone. Appearance and outward looks count for nothing at all. Therefore the only ones here who really accepted Christ as a King were those who followed the word of the prophet. They believed in Christ and His kingdom not with their eyes, but accept Him with the spirit.

These are also the true “daughter of Zion.” For the man who wants to follow Christ according to outward appearance and feeling cannot avoid becoming offended at Him. One must cling firmly to the pure Word alone.

SL.XI.4,14
AE 75,29

PRAYER: Enable us at all times, O Lord, to cling with all our faith to your pure Word alone, so that we behold you as you really are and thus ever cling to you in love and obedience, for your truth’s sake. Amen.

LESSON: LUKE 1:68-79

Faith apart from works is dead. James 2:26

Faith is of two sorts. The first is that you believe that Christ is a man like the Christ described and proclaimed in the whole Gospel, but you do not actually believe that He is such a man for you. You have your doubts that all He achieved is for you. It may be for St. Peter, Paul, and the holy saints, but you are not at all sure that it is for you.

Such a faith is really nothing. It never really receives Christ or tastes of the things that really count in Him. Even the devils have this faith.

The one faith which is entitled to be called real, true Christian faith is to believe without any wavering that Christ is not only such a man for St. Peter and the saints, but also for you, indeed, for you more than for all others.

Your salvation does not consist in believing that Christ is a Christ for the pious, but that He is a Christ for you and is yours.

This faith brings it to pass that He pleases you in a most delightful manner. Then love and good works follow without any compulsion.

If works do not follow, it is quite certain that faith is really absent. Where faith exists, the Holy Spirit is also present working love and what is good in us.

SL.XI.2,8-9
AE 75,28

PRAYER: Bestow your Holy Spirit upon us, O Lord, to lead us into true faith, active in love and producing the works pleasing to you, for the welfare of your kingdom and our neighbor. Amen.

LESSON: MATTHEW 21:1-9

Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on an ass, and on a colt, the foal of an ass. Matthew 21.5

This Gospel in a special manner arouses and demands faith. It portrays Christ in His coming grace. No one can really receive and accept Him unless he believes that He is the man in the sense portrayed in this Gospel. All that is set forth here in Christ is pure grace, gentleness and goodness. He who believes this regarding Christ is saved.

Look at Him! He rides no stallion, an animal mostly associated with war. He does not come in splendor and animal, accustomed to burdens and toil in the service of men. In this way He shows that He comes not to tempt men, nor to come down upon them with force and suppress them, but to them, to bear their burden and to take it upon Himself.

Although it was the time-honoured custom of the country to ride on asses and to use horses for war, as often recorded in Scripture, all that is narrated here is intended ot make known how this King rides in gently, with nothing but good intent.

To demonstrate this point, a prophetic statement is introduced here (Zechariah 9.9) to draw us to faith and the acceptance of Christ in a very friendly manner. For the sake of this statement, the events of this Gospel took place and were set down in writing as the evangelist also declares. Let us pay careful attention to this statement and the chief point of this Gospel, for herein Christ is highlighted for us in regard to what we are to hold and believe concerning Him, what we are to expect from Him, what we are to seek in Him, and how we are to avail ourselves of His help and make use of Him.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, fill us at all times with your saving grace. Lead us to true faith and preserve us therein, for your love’s sake. Amen.

LESSON: 1 JOHN 5:6‒12

Let God be true, but every man a liar. Romans 3:4

Someone may ask: What will happen if we cannot trust anyone? We must have some involvement and dealings with others; how otherwise could human society continue? We must buy and sell and distribute our wares among others. If no one believed or trusted anyone else, all human transactions would come to an end.

It is true, of course, that we must have dealings with each other, and one needs the other’s help. But the point I am trying to make is this: your dealings with any man, whether it be buying or selling, must be regarded as a matter of uncertainty on which you cannot rest your faith or build anything with absolute certainty.

This much is sure: If you trust anyone, you are already deceived. Human nature, to the best of its ability, can do nothing but lie and deceive. Everything, accordingly, which depends on man must always retain an element of uncertainty; man’s works and words are subject to constant change and instability. Be quite sure of that!

We must trust God alone and say, “O Lord, You are my life, my soul and body, my property and goods, and all that is mine: direct and order it all in accordance with Your will. You I believe. You I trust. You will never forsake me in any dangerous situation with this man or that man. I cannot trust man. If you know that it will be good for me, bring it to pass that he keeps faith with me. If you know that it will not benefit me, let him break faith with me. I am well content to let Your will be done.

Sl.XI.1810,17

PRAYER: O God, we pray that Your good and gracious will should always prevail in all our relationships with You and our fellowmen, for Christ’s sake. Amen.

Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil–Gospels, 5:293-306.

LESSON: PSALM 40:1‒5

Thus says the Lord; “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his arm, whose heart turns away from the Lord.” Jeremiah 17:5

The less a man is trained in the ways of the world, the less he is opposed to God. Those who have made progress and gained recognition before the world, deceive and lie more than the others. They think that in the deceitfulness and cunning procedures of their actions, their deceit and vice are covered up. It is true, that they are masters at covering up and hiding their activities! But the Holy Spirit is very keen-sighted, and He knows them very well. Holy Scripture calls such fellows lions, wolves, bears, swine, and wild animals. They are always raging, and they devour and consume everything with their treachery.

In the Old Testament, the Jews were forbidden to eat certain animals because they were to regard them as unclean. They included those we have just mentioned, as well as others. A possible reason for this was that they were a figure and indication of certain people who are strong, powerful, rich, gifted, learned, prudent, and wise, who are to be strictly avoided as something unclean, namely, as people who mislead and deceive others with their outward brilliance, power, and cleverness. They are people of such a kind, that one would never suspect them of any evil intentions. Hence, we must never put any confidence and trust in any man as such.

Do not believe anyone. If a man can do so, he will surely mislead you. If you trust him, you will find yourself in opposition to God so that you do not trust God. This is what Jeremiah wants to teach us in the passage cited above.

SL.XI.1809,16

PRAYER: As Your children, heavenly Father, we owe all our faith and trust to You alone and not to men, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil–Gospels, 5:293-306.

LESSON: PSALM 106:6‒8

For consider your call, brethren; not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth; but God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong, God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 1 Corinthians 1:26‒29

In this week’s Gospel (Matthew 22:15‒22), we have a very good portrayal of the cunning and perversity of human nature. There is nothing in men by nature but evil, lies, deceit, cunning, and all that is vicious. By nature man is nothing else but a liar, as the psalmist declares. You cannot trust a single person. Don’t think for a moment that you will ever hear a word of truth from anyone; man is a liar whenever he opens his mouth. How so? The spring is evil, that is, the heart is no good. Therefore the streams are no good either.

This is why the Lord at times described men as a “brood of vipers” (Matthew 12:34) and “serpents” (Matthew 23:33). Is not this an apt title for these people? Let anyone come forward here to boast about his piety and the powers of his own free will! Before the world it is possible to put on a fine exterior, and to be pious and holy, with much outward glitter. But there is really nothing else there than a brood of vipers and serpents, especially in the most valued, excellent, wise, and clever men. When you read the histories of the Greeks, Romans, and Jews, you will find that the best and cleverest princes, those who ruled well by human standards, were not conscious of receiving anything from God but relied on themselves alone, ascribing nothing at all to the power of God.

SL.XI.1809,15

PRAYER: Dear Lord, heavenly Father, in Your mercy and grace You bestow upon us everything in our lives that deserves to be called good. May we ever cling to You in firm faith, the giver of all good gifts, in Christ our Lord. Amen.

Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil–Gospels, 5:293-306.