Old Lutherans

242. Trinity Sunday. I.

Lord, let us experience the
living power of thy word. Amen.

Gospel Lesson, John 3, 1-15. There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man which is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

❦

By reason of our having lost the image of God we are, in our natural state, entirely unfit for the blessed fellowship of the Holy One in heaven. We do not love him; we have no joy in him; how could we, then, be happy with him in eternal glory? Even if it were possible that God could receive us into his heaven in our natural condition, we could not remain there and be happy. If we are to be saved, it is necessary that we again come into possession of the love which we have lost; that we become like-minded unto God, and thus have our joy in him.

To fall, and die, is something which we can do of our own strength, and in which the devil is glad to lend us his assistance; but to rise from the fall, and live again, is beyond our power; besides being an undertaking in which the devil would exert all his power against us. Life from the dead can be given by the Lord only. The love which has been quenched in our hearts cannot be rekindled save by a torch from heaven. But the Lord is merciful; the whole blessed Trinity is engaged in the work of accomplishing this miracle. All which God does, is done in order that we may have everlasting life. The Father has sent his only begotten Son to us with this love; the Son has brought it into the human family, and has again made it the victorious power on earth; and the Holy Ghost creates faith in us, and thus enables us to receive this love into the heart. The life and work of Christ in his state of humiliation are completed, but have not passed away. He is here among us with his perfect life, his innocent death, his victorious resurrection; with his whole work of salvation, the annihilation of sin and death, the life which he brought us, the life which he gained for us, the life everlasting, which is love. The great importance of the means of grace consists in this, that through them the Father and Son come to us with the gift of the Holy Ghost. In our baptism the triune God, the God of our salvation, comes to us, and begets us anew. Paul says: “As many as are baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” And again: “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death; that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” We are dead with Christ, but alive unto God through him. (Romans 6). It has pleased the Lord to use the water in connection with the word as the means of bringing about this miracle of grace. The same Lord Jesus, who once came and lay in a manger, wrapped in swaddling clothes, that he might gain for us life eternal, comes in his means of grace to our hearts, and bestows this life upon us. Therefore he says in our gospel lesson: “Except a man be born of the water and of the Spirit, he can not enter into the kingdom of God.” And for the same reason it is declared, in 1 Peter 3, 21, that ‘‘baptism doth also now save us.” Through the means of grace the Holy Ghost extends to us the treasure of grace, and works in us the faith by which we accept the gift. As it was the will of God that they who saw the brazen serpent should live, so it is his will that we should live by faith. Before the eye of the soul is the Lord Jesus, who was lifted up, and died for us, and was buried, and was raised again; and the Spirit enlightens this our eye, and enables us to believe in him. Through this faith, which trusts in the crucified and risen Savior in the means of grace administered by the church, his life of love then enters our hearts, and thus he abides in us, and we in him.

The new birth is a miracle which takes place in the hidden depths of the soul; but the new life springs forth, is known of the regenerated person himself, and is made manifest to others. — Do you, my dear reader, truly love God? Does Jesus with his love live in you? Do you long after him, rejoice in him, and gladly bend your will in obedience to his will? Do you pray that you may love him with your whole heart; and are you truly sorry that you do not love him as well as you ought? If so, you have, of a truth, been born again from above, and you are “partaker of the divine nature.” — Let nothing else be as important to you as having this life in God. If you have that, you are saved; if you do not have it, you are lost. “Verily, verily, I say unto thee: Except a man be born again, he can not see the kingdom of God.” These are the Savior’s own words.

God, give us thy Holy Spirit, that we may have true faith, and that we may have the heavenly life of the love of Jesus in our hearts. Holy Spirit, make thy way into our hearts, and drive out darkness and death. Triune God, may we live in thee now and forevermore. Amen.*

Come, Holy Spirit, come;
Oh, hear my humble prayer;
Stoop down and make my heart thy home,
And shed thy blessing there.

Thy light, thy love impart,
And let it ever be
A holy, humble, happy heart,
A dwelling-place for thee.

Let thy rich grace increase,
Through all my early days,
The fruits of righteousness and peace,
To thine eternal praise.

---

243. Trinity Sunday. II.

Lord, teach us to believe,
and to worship thy wisdom. Amen.

Epistle Lesson, Romans 11, 33-36. O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

❦

Do not lose heart, dear Christian, even if the outlook for the church does look dark; its cause is the Lord’s, and the Lord shall lead his cause to victory. His wisdom is unsearchable. Of his ways we understand nothing, save that which it has pleased him to reveal to us; but in many cases it is expedient that he hides from us that which he does. We are too foolish to be consulted, and too little to understand the wisdom of God. He has, however, revealed to us enough to enable us to believe in him, and commit ourselves into his keeping.

It is a sad thing to see the Jews walking in blindness, and the multitude of the gentiles sitting in the darkness of idolatry; to see Christ rejected by men in greatest repute among Christian peoples, and to know that the true Christians among us are sadly wanting in faith and in love. He that has bowels of compassion cannot avoid feeling “great heaviness and continual sorrow in his heart.” — This is a sad state of affairs, to be sure; but do you imagine that it can embarrass God, or make him hesitate how to deal with us? Were Caiaphas and Pilate, who in their blindness and malice slew the Son of God, able to prevent him from accomplishing his gracious purpose as our Savior? Were they not, on the contrary, obliged to carry out his will? Or were the Jews able, by means of their unbelief, to prevent the extension of Christ’s kingdom? On the contrary, their rejection of the gospel sent it out into all lands, and became the world’s salvation! Do not doubt that God had foreknowledge of the unbelief and infidelity and atheism of our age, and that he has taken them into account in his plan for the perfecting of his kingdom. Men may think to build their tower of Babel in opposition to the Lord; but he interferes, and that which they do is made to serve his purposes. They built their tower on the plain of Shinar, against the Lord’s command, in order that they might not be scattered; but the Lord “scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth.” In our times men are collecting materials from the depths and the heights, from the secret places of nature and from the workshop of the human intellect, in order to build a tower which shall gather all people into one great temple of nature, and leave the church of Christ empty. It looks as if “nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.” (Genesis 11, 6). Have no fear; the Lord knows how to deal with the matter. “Of him, and through him, and to him, are all things.” These three words, “of” and “through” and “to,” you shall note well, dear Christian; they are grand words, and mighty against unbelief. — The gardener knows what he is doing when he cuts away the crown of the apple tree, although the children may think that he is destroying it. The church is the Lord’s. Keep your peace, wait upon him, serve him and walk before his face; and little by little you shall see his wisdom, and with holy fear and joy give him your offering of worship and praise. If he again hide it all from your eyes, you shall still be able to believe and say: “To him be glory for ever!”

Let thy Spirit enlighten us, O God, that we may understand how thou hast concluded them all in unbelief, that thou mightest have mercy upon all. Let us see so much at least of thy counsel of love and justice, that we believe in thee with confidence, and gladly serve thee. Amen.*

He built the earth, he spread the sky,
And fixed the starry lights on high.
Wonders of grace to God belong:
Repeat his mercies in your song.

He sent his Son with power to save
From guilt and darkness and the grave.
Wonders of grace to God belong:
Repeat his mercies in your song. [TLH 28]

* Here the head of the family says a short morning or evening prayer in his own words, and closes with the Lord’s Prayer and the Benediction. This is to be done every day. If the stanzas are not sung, they may be read in their proper place before the impromptu petition and the Lord’s Prayer.