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SERMON NOTES
The Fifth Sunday in Lent
John 8:46-59
I. Jesus' purpose
A.
Not to defeat slander
B.
But to honor the Father
II. Faith saves people
A.
Abraham saw the Messiah and
believed. (Gen. 22:18)
B.
Listeners angered at Jesus.
C.
"Before Abraham was, I AM."
Exodus
3:2 And the angel of the LORD appeared
unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and,
behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. (The burning
bush is an indication of the Two Natures of Christ, because the fire burned,
but the bush was not consumed. Moses
saw the fire and the bush, but they were one.
In Jesus we see the human nature and the divine, but He is one person.)
Exodus
3:14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT
I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath
sent me unto you.
Genesis 22:18 [To Abraham] And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.
"These
two every preacher should show: first,
an innocent life, with which he may boldly face the world, and no one may have
cause to blaspheme his doctrine; secondly, irreproachable doctrine, so that he
may mislead no one of those who follow him."
What Luther Says, An Anthology,
3 vols., ed., Ewald Plass, St. Louis:
Concordia Publishing House, 1959, III,
p. 1111. John 8: 46, 59.
"For
if I perish, no great harm is done; but if I let God's Word perish, and I
remain silent, then I do harm to God and to the whole world."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8
vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, II,
p. 176. Fifth Sunday in Lent John 8:46‑59.
"Christ
is speaking here not of the word of the law, but of the Gospel, which is a
discourse about Christ, who died for our sins, etc. For God did not wish to impart Christ to the world in any other
way; he had to embody him in the Word and thus distributed him, and present him
to everybody; otherwise Christ would have existed for himself alone and
remained unknown to us; he would have thus died for himself. But since the Word places before us Christ,
it thus places us before him who has triumphed over death, sin, and Satan. Therefore, he who grasps and retains Christ,
has thus also eternal deliverance from death. Consequently it is a Word of
life, and it is true, that whoever keeps the Word shall never see death."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8
vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, II,
p. 177. John 8:46‑59.
"Scripture
therefore uses these words, 'We are justified by faith,' to teach both: 1) What
the reason (or merit) for justification is, or what the blessings of Christ
are; to wit, that through and for the sake of Christ alone we are granted forgiveness
of sins, righteousness and eternal life; and 2. How
these
should be applied or transferred to us; namely, by embracing the promise and
relying on Christ by faith alone."
David Chytraeus, A Summary of the
Christian Faith (1568), p. 107.
"What
is the difference between Christianity and paganism? Paganism has no sure Word
of God and no true faith in Christ. It is unsettled. In place of the one true
God, pagans worship various factitious deities and countless idols with
ceremonies, works and sacrifices selected according to human judgment. They
imagine that they compensate for their sins with this worship, pacify their
gods and make them gracious and purchase, as it were, blessings from
them."
David Chytraeus, A Summary of the
Christian Faith, (1568), p. 19.
"What
is the reason for certainty in Christian doctrine?...7. the hatred of the devil
over against this doctrine;
David Chytraeus, A Summary of the
Christian Faith, (1568), p. 21.
"Creation
is the external action of God by which God, seeing all other things, visible
and invisible, fashioned them out of nothing with this plan of His that He
might establish for Himself an eternal Church to acknowledge and praise Him and
in which He might dwell forever."
David Chytraeus, A Summary of the
Christian Faith, (1568), p. 45.
"The
good angels are spiritual beings, created in the beginning after the image of
God; that is, they are intelligent, truthful, just and free. They are not part
of another species or the souls of people; and they are immortal, ordained by
God to praise Him and to be servants of the Church and protectors of the
devout, Hebrews 1, Psalm 34, Psalm 103, and Psalm 104."
David Chytraeus, A Summary of the
Christian Faith, (1568), p. 47. Hebrews 1; Psalm 34; Psalm 103; Psalm 104
"There are eight sins which militate against faith: 1. Epicurean and Academic doubts about God, His providence and the certainty of the doctrine handed down through Christ and the Apostles. 2. A lack of faith toward God. 3. In regard to the forgiveness of sins, to entertain doubts as to whether we are
in
the grace of God or if we please God. 4. Despair. 5. Stubbornness of
presumption. 6. Confidence in human aids. 7. Superstition. 8. Witchcraft."
David Chytraeus, A Summary of the
Christian Faith, (1568), p. 65f.
"The sins which militate against the Third Commandment are the profanation of the Sabbath through neglect and contempt of the ministry, through Judaic and superstitious observance of the Sabbath, or through a shifting of the ministry into the kingdom of this world. The faithfulness of those who teach is the virtue by which the ministers of the Church, aware of their modest skill in Christian doctrine, carefully and zealousy discharge and steadfastly protect all the duties of the faithful dispenser of the mysteries of God in teaching, debating, comforting and setting their hearers an example of true devotion and of all the virtues. The other extreme are faithlessness, heedless teaching or negligence in office, or deserting the ministry because of excessive anxiety or concern over one's own weakness."
David Chytraeus, A Summary of the
Christian Faith, (1568), p. 71f.