First Lutheran Church of Little Rock

LSB 745 In God, My Faithful God
1
In God, my faithful God,
I trust when dark my road;
Great woes may overtake me,
Yet He will not forsake me.
My troubles He can alter;
His hand lets nothing falter.

Introduction

A. Long before Paul knew to call Jesus Lord, the Word of the Lord was
speeding ahead, going faster and farther than anyone could ask or imagine.
1. The Word of the Lord was proven true in the conception and birth of the
Messiah by a virgin.
2. It went far ahead of expectation when Jesus suffered, died, was buried,
and rose again according to Scripture.
3. The Word of the Lord prevailed mightily when, in a single day, thousands
were converted at the preaching of Peter.
4. The Word of the Lord accomplished all these things and so many more that
time would fail to tell before—long before—Paul knew to call Jesus Lord.
B. When Jesus at long last encountered Saul (who would be later called
Paul) on the road to Damascus, what seemed like an interruption—abrupt,
troubling, blinding—to Paul was all within Jesus’ divine purpose.
1. As the Lord explained to Ananias, who would baptize the newly blinded
and newly believing Paul,
A. “I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name” (Acts
9:16).
2. Jesus did not say that Paul’s life would be easy or pleasant or nice or
simple to understand, with a cushy return on his retirement investments.
3. Jesus did not say that Paul would know where he would lay down his head
every night or where he would be buried.
4. Jesus did say that he knew and had determined what Paul would be put
through for the sake of the Gospel and that Jesus would show his servant
those things:
A. those pains,
B. those trials,
C. those tribulations.
C. When you at long last encounter pains or trials or tribulations, what do
you do?
1. Are you surprised?
A. Don’t be.
B. Suffering and trial are our lot as this old world is wearing out and as
Satan thrashes around and lashes out, seeking his prey like a hungry lion.
2. Are you wearied?
A. Don’t be.
B. Nothing has overtaken you that is not common to man.
C. Your battles are not new, and they are not your own.
D. You labor with Christ and with all his people.
3. What should you do?
A. Realize that We Have Confidence Because of the Lord’s Faithfulness and
Quietness Because Our Lives Are His Gift Entirely.

Introduction

A. Long before Paul knew to call Jesus Lord, the Word of the Lord was
speeding ahead, going faster and farther than anyone could ask or imagine.
1. The Word of the Lord was proven true in the conception and birth of the
Messiah by a virgin.
2. It went far ahead of expectation when Jesus suffered, died, was buried,
and rose again according to Scripture.
3. The Word of the Lord prevailed mightily when, in a single day, thousands
were converted at the preaching of Peter.
4. The Word of the Lord accomplished all these things and so many more that
time would fail to tell before—long before—Paul knew to call Jesus Lord.
B. When Jesus at long last encountered Saul (who would be later called
Paul) on the road to Damascus, what seemed like an interruption—abrupt,
troubling, blinding—to Paul was all within Jesus’ divine purpose.
1. As the Lord explained to Ananias, who would baptize the newly blinded
and newly believing Paul,
A. “I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name” (Acts
9:16).
2. Jesus did not say that Paul’s life would be easy or pleasant or nice or
simple to understand, with a cushy return on his retirement investments.
3. Jesus did not say that Paul would know where he would lay down his head
every night or where he would be buried.
4. Jesus did say that he knew and had determined what Paul would be put
through for the sake of the Gospel and that Jesus would show his servant
those things:
A. those pains,
B. those trials,
C. those tribulations.
C. When you at long last encounter pains or trials or tribulations, what do
you do?
1. Are you surprised?
A. Don’t be.
B. Suffering and trial are our lot as this old world is wearing out and as
Satan thrashes around and lashes out, seeking his prey like a hungry lion.
2. Are you wearied?
A. Don’t be.
B. Nothing has overtaken you that is not common to man.
C. Your battles are not new, and they are not your own.
D. You labor with Christ and with all his people.
3. What should you do?
A. Realize that We Have Confidence Because of the Lord’s Faithfulness and
Quietness Because Our Lives Are His Gift Entirely.

I. We have confidence because of the Lord’s faith­fulness.

A. Paul tells the congregation he planted in Thessalonica to pray that the
Word of the Lord would speed ahead just as it did to them, making haste,
making a way for faith.
B. Verse 1
Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead
and be honored, as happened among you,
1. Paul commands that they pray because he knows that the Lord is faithful.
A. Verse 3a
But the Lord is faithful.
2. The Lord’s desire and design for his children is to guard and keep them
from the evil one
A. Verse 3b
He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.
B. just as you pray in the Lord’s Prayer that you may be delivered from
evil, or, more literally, from the evil one.
3. When Paul was wearied or perplexed or downtrodden or near death, he
still had a loving Father and a Savior whose atoning blood was shed for
him.
4. And so do you.
C. You can have confidence in the Lord’s faithfulness because his record is
solid
1. Verse 4
And we have confidence in the Lord about you, that you are doing and will
do the things that we command.
2. Tell me: Which of his promises has failed?
A. The promise that the Seed of the woman would crush the serpent’s head?
B. The promise that in the Seed of Abraham all the families of the earth
would be blessed?
C. The promise that death would not find anyone inside the homes on which
the lambs’ blood was smeared on the doorposts?
D. The promise that the Virgin would conceive and bear a Son?
E. The promise that the Holy One of God would not see corruption?
F. Which of his divine and everlasting promises has failed?
G. Not a single one!
H. All the promises of God find in our Lord Jesus their Yes and their Amen
to God’s eternal glory!
D. His record is solid, and his faithfulness is sure.
1. Not a single day in your life goes by that has not been lived apart from
his care and love.
2. You may have always known that care and that love.
3. You may not have always known or not always appreciated or not always
cared about that care and that love.
4. He did not take it from you.
5. He never left you, nor did he forsake you.
6. May the Lord direct your hearts to God’s love so richly and eternally
displayed in the cross of Jesus, where you see for yourself how strongly
his fatherly love for you sought you.
7. If God were anything other than a loving Father, he would not have sent
his Son, Jesus, to the cross for you, laying on the God-man’s shoulders:
A. your sin,
B. your complaining,
C. your grumbling,
D. your fear,
E. your cowardice,
F. your indifference,
G. your shallowness and
H. yes, your pettiness.
8. God did not count those trespasses against you but made peace by the
blood of Jesus’ cross so that you and Paul and all the saints might say
together,
A. (cf Romans 5:1).
“Therefore, we have peace with God!”
E. Peace with a loving God will direct your hearts to the steadfastness of
Christ.
1. The world swirls and changes constantly.
2. It did in Paul’s day.
3. It does in ours.
4. You don’t have to be confident
A. that “it will all work out.”
5. You don’t have to be confident
A. that everything you ever wanted will someday fall into your lap.
6. No such life is promised in the Bible, so you don’t need to worry about
the fact that it didn’t happen.
7. What is promised and seen in the Bible is that Jesus Christ is
steadfast.
A. Everything changes;
B. everything comes and goes;
C. the surest things and the surest friends are here today and gone
tomorrow.
D. Life fades like a dream, and all flesh is like grass, growing, fading,
dying.
E. But the Word of the Lord endures forever.
F. The world will turn and change, but Christ is the same today, yesterday,
and forever.
F. So you won’t have
1. a bad day
2. or a bad week
3. or a bad month
4. or a bad year in which God is not your loving Father
5. and Christ is not your steadfast Savior.
6. You won’t face
A. a little difficulty
B. or a big bill
C. or a temporary inconvenience
D. or an accident that changes life forever without a Father who sees and
knows your every need
E. and a Brother who was himself perfected through suffering.
7. You will not see a single sunrise without knowing the Father who set the
sun and the moon and the stars in the heavens and the Savior who is fairer
and brighter than the sun.
A. Therefore trust in the Lord!

II. We have quietness because our lives are the Lord’s gift entirely.

A. Paul trusted in the Lord for his good purposes, and the apostle was
confident that the Thessalonians would lead lives fitting for believers.
1. Verse 12
Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do
their work quietly and to earn their own living.
2. There is one characteristic of a Christian life especially suitable for
a people confident that their Father is providing each and every day:
quietness
B. The situation in Thessalonica was that some people, believing the
resurrection had already occurred, were living as if nothing mattered, and
among other things, had stopped working.
1. Verse 11
For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but
busybodies.
2. They did nothing all day, just blabbed and chattered and upset their
fellow believers, yapping and running at the mouth.
3. Sticks and stones can break your bones, and sometimes words do hurt you
or others.
4. Saying anything that comes into your head,
5. having “no filter,”
6. offering your opinion on every subject,
7. and especially proclaiming false doctrine—
A. in this case, that the resurrection had already happened, strange as
that falsehood may seem
B. are evils far more grievous far more often than a neighborhood kid’s
baseball breaking a window.
C. Jesus said about people’s lives:
1. Matthew 7:16
“You will recognize them by their fruits”
2. Don’t just listen to what people say—important as words are—
A. but observe also what they do.
B. The blabbers and chatterers do nothing.
C. Paul reminds the Thessalonians that when he first preached the Gospel to
them, he was doing anything necessary for the Gospel to spread.
D. Verses 7-8
(7) For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were
not idle when we were with you,
(8) nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with toil and
labor we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you
E. Paul was providing for himself until they were established enough to pay
their own pastor and Paul would move on to another place.
D. Examples are powerful, and lives speak volumes.
1. The life Paul led showed that he thought the Gospel and the faith of the
Thessalonians in the Savior were more important than anything else.
2. He was willing to set everything else aside and to inconvenience himself
so that they could hear and believe the Gospel that Jesus was their
steadfast Savior.
3. The blabbers and chatterers are willing to set everything else aside
(especially productive work!) so that others can pay attention to them and
heed their words and stir up trouble and strife.
4. They talk and talk and talk and do nothing because they love to be heard
and to take bread from someone else’s mouth without lifting a finger.
E. That’s why Paul sums up his teaching with this:
1. Verse 10
“If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.”
2. Sound too harsh?
3. The idea is that freeloading comes along with consequences.
4. Talking and not working is not a “victimless crime.”
5. Nothing is free.
6. Everything has its cost.
7. The only question is who will be paying the bill.
A. Who will provide lunch?
B. Who will provide meals when a baby is born or someone goes into the
hospital?
C. Who will provide a helping hand when the lady down the street is too old
to care for her house like she used to?
D. All these things,
E. all this love and care,
F. everything good about being together in our families, our neighborhoods,
and our churches, cost someone something.
F. Jesus knew that.
1. His forgiveness and mercy cost him his very life.
2. He knew that was the cost, and he paid it nonetheless.
3. Paul knew that Jesus had paid his whole debt of sin, and he imitated
Christ in giving up his rights and prerogatives for the sake of the Gospel,
working with his own hands so that the new Christians would not have to go
without the Gospel because they couldn’t pay a preacher of the Gospel.
4. Everything costs someone something, and the Christian who is imitating
Paul, who was imitating Christ, knows that.
G. You know that providing lunch after church or meals when someone’s in
need or a helping hand around the house or love for a lifetime all have
costs, and because you are in Christ, you are to be happy to bear those
costs.
1. You don’t need to talk about them, telling everyone all the good you’re
doing.
2. You don’t need to shout from the rooftops the meals you made for Kevin
after he came home from the hospital.
3. or the aid you gave Lynn after his stroke last November.
4. You don’t need to talk and chatter and blab on.
5. You need to know what costs have to be borne and what burdens have to be
shared, and you pray that you may bear them and share them, just as Christ
bore and shared yours, just as Paul bore and shared the Thessalonians’.
6. We who are in Christ are always bearing one another’s burdens and so
fulfilling the law of Christ, who bore all our sin.
H. A life that shirks those burdens and that sharing is not a life in
Christ.
1. It may sound Christian or speak in good Lutheran slogans, but it is not
in Christ.
2. It may say the right words from the right people, but it is not in
Christ if it does not bear the burdens of the saints and share in the life
we all have in Christ.
3. It is empty talk and mere words, a bag full of gas and nothing more.
I. That’s why Paul is so definite.
1. He does not want the Thessalonians or you or I to fall into an empty,
vain life, with much pretense of Christ and little of the life that is in
Christ.
2. He has no truck:
A. with vain words,
B. using empty and deceptive ways, going on and on to the point it gets
annoying.
3. The apostle and his Lord are men of action and would have all Christians
be active in love, as faith always is.
J. We live the life of Christ, bearing burdens in quiet confidence.
1. Quietness is the opposite of blabbing and gossiping, but quietness is
not the same thing as silence.
2. Silence never speaks;
A. quietness may sometimes speak.
B. It may speak to encourage, to forgive, to guide, to sing, to pray.
C. Quietness does not have to be heard at all times, at the beginning and
end of every meeting.
D. Quietness is happy to listen, quick to hear, slow to speak, and thus
slow to anger.
E. Quietness can carry a tongue in its head without always using its
tongue.
F. Quietness will not set the whole world on fire and does not need to.
G. It is confident that the Lord will act and that the Lord will fulfill
his Word.
K. Quietness was Christ’s, and so it’s yours too.
1. He was quiet when Satan taunted him in the wilderness, using only God’s
Word to fight.
2. He was quiet in the face of his many accusers, and when they made a
mockery of him as he was shedding his life’s blood for the life of the
world, he prayed for his mockers’ forgiveness.
3. Quietness is confidence;
4. Loudness, brashness, yapping, blabbing, gossiping, chattering cannot and
are not signs of confidence.
5. Instead, they are signs of someone being:
A. nervous
B. anxious
C. and worried about how they sound and how they look.
D. Christ, in his quietness, looked only to God for vindication and life,
and his confidence was not put to shame.
E. In quietness, he was raised on the third day.
L. How is quietness not the same thing as silence?
1. Verse 12
Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do
their work quietly and to earn their own living.
2. Many believe the two things are identical, but you can hear the
difference between them in the outdoors.
3. Only people who don’t know anything about birdsong think that the
outdoors are “silent.”
4. Silence would mean the absence of life.
A. No animals crying or singing,
B. no insects chirping or creaking,
C. no wind blowing or howling.
D. Silence is when there is truly nothing there.
M. People unfamiliar with the outdoors or even just rural communities
sometimes describe those places as “the middle of nowhere,” but the
outdoors and rural places aren’t nowhere.
1. They’re not absent of life.
2. They’re quiet, but not silent.
3. Birds sing and chirp, according to the seasons.
4. Animals cry or sing or make the multitude of noises their feet or
throats or arms make as they go about their business.
5. The wind blows or howls or screeches through the trees.
6. It may be quiet, but it is not silent.
7. Those with ears to hear truly do hear quietness.
8. No one can hear silence.
N. The quiet confidence we have in Christ is not silence.
1. It can be heard in prayer, in song, in preaching.
2. It does not have to shout all the time, making the noise of a city
garbage truck.
3. It could be as quiet as birdsong, but it is truly alive in Christ, full
of quiet joy and peace.

Conclusion

A. Therefore, lead the quiet life you’ve been given, however much noise the
world puts into it.
1. Share in the burdens of the saints,
2. love your family,
3. love your neighbor and neighborhood,
4. and love the church the Lord has called you to be.
5. You do not need the world’s vindication or applause.
6. You have a Father who sees in secret and a Savior in whose scarred hands
your whole life is now hidden from sight.
7. When he appears at long last with his angels and all the elect of God,
you will receive the life and glories he has laid up for you, the treasures
that nothing can touch.
8. He is steadfast,
9. he is faithful,
10. and he will surely do it. Amen.
B. Let us pray:
LSB 745 In God, My Faithful God
5
“So be it,” then, I say
With all my heart each day.
Dear Lord, we all adore You,
We sing for joy before You.
Guide us while here we wander
Until we praise You yonder. Amen.
Text: Public domain

E. The peace of God, which transcends all human understanding, guard your
hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

F. In the Name of the Father…Amen.

A. In the Name of the Father…Amen.
B. Psalm 149 serves as our sermon text for this morning, which reads as
follows:
(1) Praise the LORD! Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise in the
assembly of the godly!
(2) Let Israel be glad in his Maker; let the children of Zion rejoice in
their King!
(3) Let them praise his name with dancing, making melody to him with
tambourine and lyre!
(4) For the LORD takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with
salvation.
(5) Let the godly exult in glory; let them sing for joy on their beds.
(6) Let the high praises of God be in their throats and two-edged swords
in their hands,
(7) to execute vengeance on the nations and punishments on the peoples,
(8) to bind their kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron,
(9) to execute on them the judgment written! This is honor for all his
godly ones. Praise the LORD!
This is the Word of the Lord. Amen.
C. Grace, mercy, and peace be yours from God our heavenly Father, through
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
D. Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let us pray:
LSB 679 Oh, How Blest Are They (Stanza 1)
Oh, how blest are they whose toils are ended,
Who through death have unto God ascended!
They have arisen
From the cares which keep us still in prison. Amen.

Introduction

A. We ought to be very thankful that our Hymn of the Day is “For All the
Saints Who from Their Labors Rest” and not “When the Saints Go Marching
In.”
1. Singing “For All the Saints” on All Saints’ Day often brings a sweet and
truly joyful tear to our eyes as we remember loved ones who’ve gone to
heaven before us.
2. That they beat us to heaven!
3. There’s beautiful Gospel and comfort in the hymn that a New Orleans jazz
number just doesn’t deliver.
4. But Louis Armstrong and the boys get it right on this line:
A. “Yes, I want to be in that number when the saints go marching in.”
5. I want to be in that number!
6. We want to be in the number of the saints!
B. Our text today, Psalm 149, takes a decidedly upbeat view of the saints
on this All Saints’ Day.
1. That’s because The Saints of God are So Blessed in This Life and in the
Next!
C. Let’s see some of those blessings promised to the saints that our text
lays out, reasons we want to be in that number.
I. The Lord takes pleasure in the saints (verse 4a).
A. This is present tense in the original. Therefore, it applies to all of
you saints. Consider this deeply.
1. The Lord takes pleasure in you.
A. This means, among other things, that you make him happy.
2. Notice, it’s not that you will make him happy, someday, when you’re in
heaven and don’t have sins, but rather that you make him happy now.
3. After all, this is exactly why Christ died for you, to make you
delightful and perfect.
4. And God has already baptized you into Jesus’ death:
A. to make you his own and bring you into his home by adoption and delight
in you.
B. This applies also to all “his people,” including the saints from our
parish who have gone to heaven this year.
1. Virginia Kindervater
2. Val Zeh
3. Heath Conrad
4. Drew Riegler
5. Jacqui Kaucher
6. Chris Patton
C. We delighted in these dear brothers and sisters in Christ, and we miss
them.
1. But God delights in them even more through Christ.
II. The Lord will beautify the saints’ affliction by giving them salvation
(verse 4b).
A. This is future tense, so it does not yet apply to us, at least not fully.
1. Our affliction might indeed include all the suffering that we endure in
this brief life.
2. However, “affliction” in the Old Testament most often indicates one’s
distress over one’s own sin and failure.
a. It is the Law that afflicts them.
1. They are burdened by a longing to be morally perfect now, to be free
from their constant sinning and their addictions.
b. Those who are afflicted are what we often call in theology “the
repentant.”
1. They know and feel their sins and long for relief.
3. Jesus speaks of this in our Gospel:
A. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they
shall be satisfied” (Matthew 5:6).
1. Christians here and now are perfectly righteous through faith indeed,
but they are not perfectly righteous in their lives the way they want to
be. For that, they wait.
2. Jesus says “they shall be satisfied.”
A. In heaven, they will have what they need.
B. They will be free of the constant and nagging affliction of their flesh.
C. They will be satisfied.
D. But, for now, they merely hunger and thirst for this, waiting in hope.
3. This longing affliction should not surprise us.
A. The psalmist acknowledges it.
B. Jesus teaches it.
C. St. Paul lamented about it in Romans 7:19 when he said:
1. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that
I do.
D. For now, we are the afflicted.
B. But this blessing does presently apply to the saints in heaven.
1. It is true that they are now free of bodily and worldly afflictions, as
John shares in his revelation:
A. Revelation 7:16–17
They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun
light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the
throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of
waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
B. Val is free of cancer.
C. Virginia no longer has to deal with congestive heart failure.
2. But the greatest affliction from which they have been “saved” is the
affliction of their sinning.
3. The old Adam has been drowned for the last time.
A. The flesh doesn’t lure them.
B. The demons cannot tempt them.
C. While they were here communing with us at this rail, they were free from
guilt by divine declaration, but now at the heavenly banquet, they are free
in fact.
1. The psalmist here describes this as “beautifying” them or “adorning”
them.
A. They have their robes washed in the blood of Christ (Revelation 7:14).
B. Remember that the prodigal son was received back by his father not with
mere feasting and joy but also with:
1. “the best robe,”
2. “a ring on his hand,”
3. and “shoes on his feet” (Luke 15:22).
2. Take courage, dear brothers and sisters in Christ!
3. Their present condition is our future hope.
III. The Lord makes the saints joyful in their glorious standing (verse 5a).
A. The saints of God are honored, glorified, by God in Jesus Christ.
1. Through faith, Christians are glorified or honored by God.
A. He speaks well of them in Christ.
B. God is pleased with them.
2. The reason a man or woman is called a saint, holy, is the cleansing
blood of Jesus Christ, not because of the good works they do.
3. In this status, God profoundly honors them:
A. “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth
comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18).

B. God will reveal his glory in us.
C. He will honor us.
B. That is amazing enough, but God also calls upon us here to rejoice in
this reality.
1. He desires for us to be happy about our honored position.
A. Not embarrassed.
B. Not self-effacing by saying:
1. “Oh woe is me! I’m just a rotten old sinner.
C. Not sad because I keep sinning and should be able to figure this out.
IV. The Lord makes the saints to rest with singing (verse 5b).
A. “Their beds” are where they return after their day’s labor or a battle.
1. At present, we don’t always sing for joy on our beds, but rather weep,
as the psalmist says in Psalm 6:6–7:
A. I am weary with my moaning; every night I flood my bed with tears; I
drench my couch with my weeping. My eye wastes away because of grief; it
grows weak because of all my foes.
2. But the saints in heaven do now rest from their labors, as John declares
in Revelation 14:13:
A. And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the
dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit,
“that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!”
B. The psalmist says that they shall “sing for joy.”
1. They rest from their labors, but they do not rest from their singing!
2. Our present songs are some mixture of joy and tears, but their tears
have been wiped away; only songs of joy remain.

Conclusion

A. “The Lord takes pleasure in his people,” the psalmist reminds us (Psalm
149:4).
1. Isn’t that remarkable!—that God has so washed us in the blood of Christ,
so renewed us in the Holy Spirit, that he is pleased with us sinners; in
fact, that we are able to do things that please him!
B. C. S. Lewis’s little essay called “The Weight of Glory” illustrates this
in a student’s joy in her teacher’s pleasure.
1. Lewis points out that childlike faith is not conceited but does take
great joy at being praised or complimented.
2. Sin easily contorts this joy into arrogance or contention, but the joy
itself is good!
3. On reflecting on his own childhood experiences with teachers praising
him, Lewis recalls one moment, which he says was very, very brief, when
just perhaps the delight he felt in pleasing his teacher wasn’t selfish but
was pure.
4. There can be something entirely good in the feeling we receive from
praise for pleasing someone whom we rightly fear and love (The Weight of
Glory [HarperOne: New York, 2001], 25–46).
C. That small moment Lewis experienced, fleeting though it was, might give
us a glimpse of the day when we finally stand before Christ and he declares
to us, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
1. After all, we can enter heaven only as a child, so we should not let
false humility rob us of God’s gift of being treated as children, of being
praised by our loving Father.
D. What an amazing thought!
1. That’s the praise we will receive on the Last Day!
2. And yet, already now, the Lord Jesus is no less pleased with us through
faith than he will be then or ever.
3. We are already saints, and this is the joy of being one of God’s saints!
E. We don’t know exactly which songs as God’s saints we will actually sing
in heaven.
1. But isn’t it wonderful to know that Christ, by his cross, has made us
holy so that we will be in that number! Amen.
F. Let us pray:
LSB 679 Oh, How Blest Are They (Stanza 5)
Come, O Christ, and loose the chains that bind us;
Lead us forth and cast this world behind us.
With You, the Anointed,
Finds the soul its joy and rest appointed.
Text: Public domain
G. The peace of God, which transcends all human understanding, guard your
hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
H. In the Name of the Father…Amen.

A. In the Name of the Father…Amen.
B. The Gospel of Mark, chapter 13, verses 1-13 serves as our sermon text
for this morning, which reads as follows:
(1) And as [Jesus] came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to
him, “Look, Teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!”
(2) And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? There will
not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”
(3) And as he sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and
James and John and Andrew asked him privately,
(4) “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when
all these things are about to be accomplished?”
(5) And Jesus began to say to them, “See that no one leads you astray.
(6) Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many
astray.
(7) And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. This
must take place, but the end is not yet.
(8) For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.
There will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. These
are but the beginning of the birth pains.
(9) “But be on your guard. For they will deliver you over to councils, and
you will be beaten in synagogues, and you will stand before governors and
kings for my sake, to bear witness before them.
(10) And the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations.
(11) And when they bring you to trial and deliver you over, do not be
anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in
that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit.
(12) And brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his
child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death.
(13) And you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who
endures to the end will be saved. This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be
to God.
C. Grace, mercy, and peace be yours from God our heavenly Father through
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
D. Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let us pray the words of Psalm 130:
Psalm 130:1-8
(1) A Song of Ascents. Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD!
(2) O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my
pleas for mercy!
(3) If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?
(4) But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.
(5) I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;
(6) my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more
than watchmen for the morning.
(7) O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD there is steadfast love,
and with him is plentiful redemption.
(8) And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities. Amen.

Introduction

A. Jesus declared:
1. But be on your guard.
2. For they will deliver you over to councils, and you will be beaten in
synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake, to
bear witness before them.
3. And the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations. . . .
4. And you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures
to the end will be saved. (Mark 13:9–10, 13)
B. The Gospel of Mark describes in chapter 13 the fact that Jesus and his
disciples are sitting on the Mount of Olives.
1. Before them was a spectacular view of the temple and Jerusalem.
2. They could see hundreds of worshipers who would gather every day at the
temple to watch the priests, who daily stood before the temple altar
repeatedly offering the sacrifices.
3. But others were also watching.
4. On the northwest corner of the temple mount was the Antonia Fortress,
from which the occupying Romans could easily keep an eye on things.
5. King Herod was also watching from his fortress palace.
6. Then there were the religious teachers:
A. conservatives,
B. legalistic Pharisees,
C. and liberals,
D. the culturally accommodating Sadducees
E. and the zealots promoting civil unrest and violence.
7. Life was a serious if not deadly scene of political and cultural “war”
taking place.
C. But on that day, it was peaceful and quiet as Jesus and the disciples
sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple.
1. The temple walls, buildings, and gates had been built with exquisitely
carved stones inlaid with gold and silver.
2. In recent years, archaeologists have discovered huge foundation stones
hidden below the ground.
3. In Jesus’ day, they would have been visible.
4. These gigantic limestone blocks are ten times larger than Stonehenge and
twenty-five times larger than the stones used in the Egyptian pyramids.
5. The stones in the pyramids weighed fifteen tons.
6. The largest stone at Stonehenge is forty tons.
7. A single stone in the wall of the temple is 415 tons!
8. You can see why one disciple said to Jesus, “Look Teacher, what
wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!” (verse 1).

3. Change is a-coming!
A. In times of uncertainty and anxiety caused by social and economic chaos,
natural disasters, wars, and moral decline, people search for that which is
secure, lasting, and true.
1. In such times, the Jews looked to the temple in Jerusalem for salvation.
2. It was not because of its massive stone walls but because it was where
the Lord God promised to abide with his grace.
3. The Lord God put his name on this place, and where his name is, there is
he.
4. In the prayer of dedication at the completion of the building of the
temple, the repeated refrain was that when the people as individuals or as
a nation repent of their sins and wickedness and turn to the temple, the
Lord God says:
A. “I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land”
(2 Chronicles 7:14).
5. As Jesus walked out of the temple with his disciples, he said:
A. “Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone
upon another that will not be thrown down” (verse 2).
B. Really Jesus? Thanks a lot for the good news!
6. Looking at the temple, the disciples asked Jesus:
A. “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all
these things are about to be accomplished?” (verse 4).
B. Jesus’ answer was twofold.
1. He began with that which is most important.
A. First, he told them to be on guard.
B. Many will come in his name and lead people astray.
2. Several times in Mark 13, Jesus urges his disciples and us to watch:
A. “Be on your guard”;
B. “Be on guard”;
C. “When you see these things”;
D. “Keep awake”;
E. “Stay awake.”
C. Second, Jesus answered the disciples’ “When?” question by explaining
that the end has already begun.
1. That is why he has come to Jerusalem.
2. That is why they are looking at the temple.
3. It is Tuesday of Holy Week.
4. In three days, Jesus will be taken out of the city and be sacrificed as
the Lamb of God for the sins of the world.
5. This fact is explained for us in Hebrews 10:
A. And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the
same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had
offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right
hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a
footstool for his feet. (Hebrews 10:11–13)
D. The temple was destroyed in AD 70, but the glory of the Lord, the Lord’s
gracious presence, remains among us today in the Body of Christ.
1. St. John writes in the first chapter of his Gospel:
A. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his
glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth”
(John 1:14).
2. So Jesus sent out his apostles and his Church, both clergy and laity, to
proclaim and live the message of the crucified and risen Christ, who is
full of grace and truth.
3. Not your truth or my truth, but The Truth.
4. “The only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
2. The truth, the message of the Gospel, is seen as scandalous and foolish
by the world.
A. But there would be resistance to the message of the Gospel of Christ and
to those sent to proclaim this message.
1. Jesus told his disciples in very plain terms:
A. “Be on guard [watch out]. For they will deliver you over to councils,
and you will be beaten in synagogues, and you will stand before governors
and kings for my sake [on account of me], to bear witness before them. And
the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations” (verses 9–11).
B. On Monday, January 24 2021, Bishop Juhana Pohjola, the bishop of the
Mission Diocese of the [Lutheran] Church of Finland stood before the
officials of the Finnish court and answered to the charges of “incitement
against a group of people” being brought against him by Finland’s
Prosecutor General.
1. Guess what crime for which he was accused?:
A. teaching the biblical, Christian doctrine that marriage is a union of
one man and one woman, male and female.
B. He was simply repeating that which is taught in the Bible, revealed in
natural law (for those who truly believe in science), and taught by Jesus
himself.
2. In Mark 10, Jesus responded to the question of the Pharisees concerning
marriage and divorce by saying:
A. “But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female”
(verse 6).
3. Now either Jesus is lying or what Jesus said back then does not apply to
us now!
C. Male and female He created them!
1. This is the way God created this beautiful world.
2. This is the stuff of biology class in junior high and high school!
3. When man attempts to unseat God as the creator and become creator
himself, anything goes.
A. God the Father in turn becomes God the Mother,
B. Christ becomes Christa,
C. and the Bride of Christ (that is, the Church) becomes a “he,”
D. and Christians (God’s children) are not sure what gender they are, but
then again, it does not really matter, now does it?
D. Dear people of God, regardless of what officials who think they are
judging you, they have no authority to judge you in the things of God.
1. Nor are you judging them.
2. God is the one who judges us all, and, as the old Latin saying goes, lex
semper accusat, the Law always accuses.
3. You are called and sent by God only to speak his Law in its truth and
purity, not what has been corrupted by government lawmakers or Supreme
Court judges.
4. And you are also sent to proclaim the Gospel, God’s Good News that:
A. “the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans
6:23b).

1. The time will come!
A. Payday will come for all of us.
1. Nothing we can do will stop it.
2. “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23a).
3. You, I, government officials, everyone, will stand before God, our Judge.
4. What are we and they going to do then?
A. Hold up man-made legal documents and laws from our government redefining
marriage, hate speech, and other gender-twisting nonsense?
5. God is not going to be very impressed.
6. This will not be a good place to be on Judgment Day.
7. Rather, what we will need to do on Judgment Day is call a good lawyer.
A. No, not a good lawyer, BUT the best lawyer.
8. Who might that be?:
A. “We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1
John 2:1).
B. The word advocate is our old friend parakletos, which also means
“comforter” or “helper.”
C. In this context, it undoubtedly signifies a legal advocate, a legal
counsel for the defense.
B. Picture yourself in a jail cell.
1. You are guilty as sin and you know it.
2. You are facing the death sentence.
3. You need to find a good lawyer.
4. No, you need the BEST lawyer you can find.
5. Then you receive the message that a lawyer has agreed to defend you,
that you:
A. “have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the
propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of
the whole world” (1 John 2:1–2).
C. Without question, we are living in unsettling times, when everything we
value, rely upon, and trust in seems to be melting down and falling apart.
1. The Jews looked to the temple.
2. We look to our churches.
3. Fort Wayne, Indiana has been called the “City of Churches.”
4. This can be seen each year before Christmas when the downtown churches
organize the tour of the historic churches.
5. The immigrants who came to Fort Wayne and built churches like St. Paul’s
Lutheran built it to reflect what they believe.
6. What they heard and confessed there brought stability, order, and hope
to their lives in this new land.
7. The soaring roof with elaborate artwork lifted the heart and soul to God.
8. The altar and pulpit with statues, candles, and beautiful paraments
brought the eyes back down to where God has chosen to meet them
today—namely, through his Holy Word and the blessed Sacrament, where he
bestows upon them forgiveness, life, and salvation from sin, death, and the
devil.
9. If a church like St. Paul’s Lutheran or our beloved First Lutheran is
ever destroyed, as the temple in Jerusalem was in AD 70, the glory of the
Lord will remain among us through his Word and Sacrament.

Conclusion

A. When Jesus sent out his disciples to witness, he said:
1. “You Will Stand before Governors and Kings for My Sake, to Bear Witness
before Them.
2. And the Gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations” (verses 9–10).
B. Jesus warns His disciples about the coming troubles they will face as
they bring the Gospel into the world.
1. He encourages them and us to trust God and rely on the Holy Spirit,
especially when opposition and persecution comes.
2. Nobody likes to be shown their sin.
3. As Christians, we proclaim Law and Gospel.
4. We need to be ready to endure the loss of everything, including our
lives.
5. Because God wants all people to hear the Gospel, He prolongs the New
Testament age so that the Church may witness to all the earth.
6. To Him alone we owe the survival of our personal faith as well. Amen.
C. Let us pray:
830 Spread the Reign of God the Lord (stanza 6)
Lord of harvest, great and kind,
Rouse to action heart and mind;
Let the gath’ring nations all
See Your light and heed Your call. Amen.
Text: Public domain

D. The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, guard your hearts
and minds in Christ Jesus.
E. In the Name of the Father…Amen.