Second Sunday in Lent (2023)
Notes
Transcript
Today’s readings show us the universal nature of God’s plan of salvation. When Jesus said, “No only can enter the kingdom of God,” He is condemning the entire human race. All have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God.
But, God’s promise is universal.
“All are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus (Rom. 3:24).
All nations would be blessed; God so loved the world; God would save the world.
Clearly, God’s gift of salvation is meant for all people. And though God reconciles the world to Himself in Christ, that DOES NOT mean everyone will be saved. The point is that the gift of God come by faith to all nations. “Whoever believes in Him,” the gospel tells us today.
Our world is full of promises: promises at the altar, as the young couple state before God and one another their promise of wedded faithfulness; the promise to repay the bank for the home loan; promises to pay the utility bills promptly; children’s promises to clean their rooms before dinner; promises to fix the dripping faucet. Life itself is filled with promises. Even our life with God is based on a promise.
But it has nothing to do with our promised to God. Rather, it is based completely upon His promises to us. This is what we are going to talk about for the next few minutes.
Our relationship with God is not based upon our promises to God.
Our relationship with God is not based upon our promises to God.
A. The example of Abraham (v 3)
Abraham, the father of God’s covenant people, was chosen to receive God’s promises and blessings before any act of obedience, even before any promise of future obedience (OT Lesson). God would fulfill his promise even after Abraham’s many failings
Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to dwell there, for the famine was severe in the land. And it came to pass, when he was close to entering Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, “Indeed I know that you are a woman of beautiful countenance. Therefore it will happen, when the Egyptians see you, that they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they will kill me, but they will let you live. Please say you are my sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and that I may live because of you.” So it was, when Abram came into Egypt, that the Egyptians saw the woman, that she was very beautiful. The princes of Pharaoh also saw her and commended her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken to Pharaoh’s house. He treated Abram well for her sake. He had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male and female servants, female donkeys, and camels. But the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. And Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’? I might have taken her as my wife. Now therefore, here is your wife; take her and go your way.” So Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they sent him away, with his wife and all that he had.
But Abram said, “Lord God, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” Then Abram said, “Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!”
Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” And Abraham said to God, “Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!”
To illustrate — The Associated Press (11/30/90) reported many years ago the following story: More than six decades after Ettore Bugatti produced the car that became a symbol of the Roaring 20s, a company is reviving the Bugatti. The new car goes 220 mph, has six gears, and costs up to $600,000. It can be purchased only by people whom the company deems worthy. Romaro Artioli, chairman of the board of Bugatti Automobile, states, “You must, of course, have the means to acquire one. But above all you must have the right moral qualities. Otherwise we don’t sell to you.”
God is more gracious than humans could ever be. Instead of demanding that Abraham “have the right moral qualities,” God graciously blesses Abraham with the Bugatti of promises as though these qualities existed.
B. We, too, cannot boast of our promises to God, faithless as we are.
1. We are conceived in sin, with no good virtue to offer God
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.
As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God.
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
2. Any efforts to merit salvation by our own righteousness are futile, bound to fail
For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin.
For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.
But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
Our relationship with God is based upon his promise.
Our relationship with God is based upon his promise.
A. His promise was given to Abraham.
1. Abraham’s obedience to God’s promise was a result of faith NOT its cause.
For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”
By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
2. God promised to bless all the peoples.
B. This great promise was fulfilled in the person and work of Christ.
1. He is the promised Descendant, who came into the world at the right time to redeem the world (Gal 4:4–5). All in Christ are heirs of the promise.
Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude—innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.
And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
2. Christ fulfilled God’s Law and gave himself as the payment for the sins of the world (Rom 5:19). Through faith in him we are forgiven, justified, and reconciled to God.
and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.
that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.
C. This promise comes to you freely through God’s Word and Sacraments.
1. In Baptism you have been claimed by Christ and given faith by the working of the Spirit. You are a descendant of Abraham by faith and a child of God.
Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all (as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did;
For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
2. The Spirit of God, working through Word and Sacrament, strengthens your faith in God’s promises in Christ (Gal 4:6–7).
D. The great promise is realized as we TRUST in the grace of Christ throughout all situations of our life.
1. Throughout the trials in his life, Abraham was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God (Rom 4:20).
2. God’s promise in Christ is certain and sure; he will never leave you or forsake you (Heb 13:5–6). He will continue to work all things together for your good and his glory, and nothing can separate you from his love (Rom 8:28, 31–39).
3. You see, FAITH, TRUST, BELIEVE are all the same word in Holy Scripture. To say, “I believe” is to trust Christ with all your heart. To say, “my faith is strong” is to say, “I believe God will take are of me.” One cannot say, “I believe” and yet fail to Trust.
4. Trust Christ today, will you? In all situations of life, will you trust Him?
Popular Christian author and Pastor — Max Lucado — tells a story in his book, He Still Moves Stones (Word Pub: 1993, 168).
A two-story house in the Bahamas was engulfed in flames. The father, mother, and several small children were on their way out when the smallest boy became terrified and ran back upstairs. His father, outside, shouted to him: “Jump, son, jump! I’ll catch you.” The boy cried, “But, Daddy, I can’t see you.” “I know,” his father called, “but I can see you.”
In our relationship with God,
FAITH GUARANTEES THE PROMISE.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.