The phrase: "The Holy Spirit of courage and comfort" connects the dots of the little gallery. Pic #1 is a stark reminder of what will happen to those who steadfastly hold to what Jesus says; Pic #2 comes from an illustration of Fox's Book of Martyrs: This is William Tyndale, the Oxford and Cambridge scholar, who had the courage translate the Bible into English and to call for King Henry VIII to repent. For Tyndale's "crimes" he was thrown out of the Church of England and burned at the stake in 1536. His dying word was that God would open the eyes of the King of England.
This brings me to my address for this Sunday morning:
“The Holy Spirit Empowers the Apostles to Preach the Gospel”
Exaudi Sunday 2020 - John 15:26 -16:4 NKJV 15:26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me. 27 And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning. 16:1 “These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble. 2 They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. 3 And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me.” 4 But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them. And these things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you.”
Dear friends in Christ: The meaning of Exaudi Sunday is taken from the first word of the Introit for today and is encapsulated in this word “Hear.” David pleaded with the Lord saying this in Psalm 27:7, “Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice: have mercy also upon me and answer me.” The ascended Lord Jesus Christ, knowing the tribulations His Apostles will endure, tells them of another Comforter that He will pray the Father to send. The Gospel for today, the week before the Day of Pentecost, is most important, for His disciples will be empowered to go out and preach the truth giving them by the Holy Spirit; and, since the world cannot abide in the truth, the disciples will be dealt with severely, being thrown out of their own synagogues, and will need to have the assured qualities that the Holy Spirit gives, namely, love, courage and perseverance.
In spite of persecution, the perseverance of the faithful and the true spiritual growth of the kingdom of God is often not perceived by those without and within Christendom; as St. Paul wrote young Timothy concerning his bishopric, 2 Timothy 3:12-13 saying, “Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” The Lord spoke through the prophet Isaiah, saying, “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” It will condemn the heart that is contrary or convert the heart by faith to receive the forgiveness of sins for the sake of Jesus Christ, of Whom the Spirit testifies.
There are too many voices within the leadership of Christendom that think they have a handle on this growth process of the kingdom of God and are willing to share its secrets with you and your congregation for a price. But friends, all this is in vain. The numbers game of church membership is merely just that – a numbers game and not indicative of whether faith is being preached into the hearts of the hearers or the message of Christ crucified is being received by faith. The numbers game often entices preachers of the Word to adapt the many and varied doctrines of men and the wisdom of this world in order to increase their membership rosters while the witnessing to Christ crucified for the sins of the world goes untouched. Churches might grow but the kingdom of God is not present.
In St. Luke’s Gospel (Luke 17:20-21), Jesus told the Pharisees that the kingdom of God does not come visibly. Why not? Because, as Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is within you.” God’s kingdom is established in each believer’s heart wherever Jesus rules and works His righteousness through the working of the Spirit and the Word. God’s invisible kingdom is planted within the believer’s heart by the seed of faith just as Romans 10:17 says, which is the very Word of God. It is that Word of Jesus that creates the faith to believe the one, true, common faith in the hearers of the Good News that brings men out of death into life!
And yet, God’s kingdom growth is imperceptible to the human eye. But it can be perceived at each and every Christian baptism with the eyes of faith that is the promise of the Word of God as the Holy Spirit works through the means of grace: Water is applied even upon an infant born in sin, born after its own father’s image (cf. Genesis 5:3), but now the child is being born-again in the image of God, which according to Ephesians 4:24 is true holiness and righteousness, through baptism into Christ’s death and resurrection. How do we know this for certain? It cannot be perceived by unregenerate mankind.
Jesus told Nicodemus the truth, a man who feared losing his churchly position in the synagogue and so came to Jesus by night, that a man must be born-again (or from above, spiritually) of water and the Spirit. Jesus also claimed that process was also imperceptible to the human eye when He told Nicodemus, “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Paul told Titus that God saved us through the washing of rebirth, which is regeneration, and the renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior.
Oh, yes, the Word of God does marvelous things! The Lord through Isaiah also proclaims, “My ways are higher than your ways, My thoughts higher than yours.” Can you grasp the truth of what St. Paul tells the Corinthians, in 1 Corinthians 1:27, 30?
“But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty...But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God — and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.”
“But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty...But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God — and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.”
The Epitome of the Formula of Concord goes into detail, affirming what the Bible says regarding free will and discrediting all the false teachers that still persist today with their heresies, claiming man’s natural power, who are dead in their sins and trespasses, can accept the Gospel message. Regarding Romans 8:7, that says: “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God,”
Martin Chemnitz, the second “Martin” of the Reformation, penned these words:
“As little as a corpse can quicken itself to bodily earthly life, so little can man who through sin is spiritually dead raise himself to spiritual life, as it is written, ‘When we were dead through our trespasses, He made us alive in Christ.
“On the other hand, it is correct to say that in conversion, through the attraction of the Holy Spirit, God changes stubborn and unwilling people into willing people, and that after conversion, in the daily exercise of repentance, the reborn will of man is not idle but cooperates in all the works which the Holy Spirit performs through us.”
“As little as a corpse can quicken itself to bodily earthly life, so little can man who through sin is spiritually dead raise himself to spiritual life, as it is written, ‘When we were dead through our trespasses, He made us alive in Christ.
“On the other hand, it is correct to say that in conversion, through the attraction of the Holy Spirit, God changes stubborn and unwilling people into willing people, and that after conversion, in the daily exercise of repentance, the reborn will of man is not idle but cooperates in all the works which the Holy Spirit performs through us.”
Our Confessions show these Christian leaders for what they are – spiritual charlatans! Our reliance isn’t on reason or upon our own wisdom; for we have none in spiritual matters. In the matter of eternal salvation, our will does not and CANNOT have a part at all, as John 1:10-13 testifies. Article II of the Epitome states: “Prior to man’s conversion there are only two efficient causes, namely, the Holy Spirit and the Word of God as the Holy Spirit’s instrument whereby He effects conversion.”
It is the Spirit of truth that the Father and the Son sent who testifies of Jesus Christ, as the Historic Gospel for today says. Today’s Gospel also reminds us that Jesus’ disciples will be cast out of the synagogues and killed thinking that such things are a service to God. So, if these things happened then, and are now happening, how can one say that there is church growth if those who are following the doctrines of Christ suffer and are continued to be killed off?
The early Latin Church father, Tertullian, said this in his Apologeticum, a defense of Christianity, to provincial governors of the Roman Empire in 194 AD:
“You say we are just another spin-off of philosophy. Well why don't you persecute your philosophers, then, when they say the gods are fake, or bark against the emperors. Perhaps it is because the name of ‘philosopher’ does not drive out demons like ‘Christian’ does. We are not a new philosophy but a divine revelation. That’s why you can’t just exterminate us; the more you kill the more we are. The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. You praise those who endured pain and death - so long as they aren’t Christians! Your cruelties merely prove our innocence of the crimes you charge against us. When you chose recently to hand a Christian girl over to a brothel-keeper rather than to the lions, you showed you knew we counted chastity dearer than life.”
“You say we are just another spin-off of philosophy. Well why don't you persecute your philosophers, then, when they say the gods are fake, or bark against the emperors. Perhaps it is because the name of ‘philosopher’ does not drive out demons like ‘Christian’ does. We are not a new philosophy but a divine revelation. That’s why you can’t just exterminate us; the more you kill the more we are. The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. You praise those who endured pain and death - so long as they aren’t Christians! Your cruelties merely prove our innocence of the crimes you charge against us. When you chose recently to hand a Christian girl over to a brothel-keeper rather than to the lions, you showed you knew we counted chastity dearer than life.”
My brothers and sisters in Christ, just where in the Bible do you find that your Christian faith will bring you worldly wealth and possessions? Why do many Christians follow the wealthy, prosperity gospel preachers that demand obedience in giving them your money in order that you receive more money? Are the sheep really that stupid that they will gamble away their souls in hope of becoming wealthy and powerful in this miserable world? Where in the Bible does it say that you have the charismatic gifts of the apostles and those helpers that they laid hands upon? John says to test the spirits (1 John 4.1).
Read, in context, what St. Mark says at the end of his gospel. Note that Jesus is addressing his apostles in His commissioning and not Christianity at large today:
“‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will (not might) recover.’ So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. And they (the Apostles) went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs.” Mark 16:15-20
“‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will (not might) recover.’ So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. And they (the Apostles) went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs.” Mark 16:15-20
Now for the test: When you come across those who say that they themselves can heal you by placing hands on you, please feel free to believe them and if you aren’t healed simply ask why? Does not today’s Gospel say they will be healed…no maybes, no ifs, and no buts saying that your faith wasn’t strong enough. It is, after all a confirmation of the Word of God that the person laying hands on the sick is conveying. Ask this simple question, namely, did Oral Roberts have the charismatic gifts of the Apostles and those helpers that the Apostles themselves laid hands on? Then why did Oral Roberts have to raise millions of dollars to build his hospital instead of just laying his hands on everyone who came to him and his disciples. The answer is that the Holy Spirit now works through the means of grace, like the now completed written Word of God. As it is explained by Peter himself, in 2 Peter 1:19-2:1 “And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.”
The Word of God, friends, the Word of God will indeed bring you comfort but it will also bring you persecution. Or as Luther says: “What are the specifics of the Holy Spirit’s comfort or consolation? The devil and your own conscience will frighten you because of your sins; the world will hate your confession of the faith, your morals and your piety. That you must expect. But the Holy Spirit comforts us by pointing us to Christ. He won’t make your wallet fat, but He will enable you to say, ‘When I have lost everything—spouse, children, house, possessions, reputation, even my own life—yes, when all that is gone, still Jesus Christ for my sake was made man, died and rose again, and ascended into heaven. He is coming at the last day for me. If God’s Son suffered for me, He will certainly not be my enemy. Since He loves me and has given me such great promises, then I have everything.’”
The Word brings to shame those convicted of their sin by the Holy Spirit’s work beginning to prepare them to receive the Good News of Salvation in Christ Jesus…the others? Well, they seem to be even more dead set against Jesus and His righteousness. They seem to be even more dead set against the truth of Christ crucified for the sins of the world as His followers were called to suffer with Him so that they may be glorified with Him. Paul in Romans 8:16-17, writes: “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs — heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.”
We pray: Heavenly Father, for Jesus’ sake, work Your Word, by the power of the Holy Spirit, in and through us for the benefit of bringing Your heavenly rule into the hearts of all people that hear salvation’s story. Let our joy and assurance always be found only in whom the Holy Spirit testifies, Your Son, our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
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