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[00:00:00] Good morning, St. Paul Lutheran Church. It's Pastor Wolfmuller. This is the Sunday Drive to church podcast for March 16, the year of our Lord 2025, for the second Sunday in Lent. As we continue to hear of well and think about the suffering of our Lord Jesus and that he did all of this stuff for us. We're going to hear from Jeremiah, from Paul, from Jesus in Perea. When the the Pharisees are saying, hey, you better get out of here because Herod wants to kill you. And he says, I'll get out of here when I want. That's great. And we're going to hear from is Martin Shawling, the guy who wrote this beautiful hymn that we have. Lord, Thee, I love with all my heart. Also King David, Psalm 4. It's a beautiful, beautiful series of texts. Today. Let's start out with the collect, remembering that the collect has these five parts. The address and the rationale, the petition, the conclusion or benefit of the petition, then the glory of this petition. This collect follows this order beautifully.
[00:01:06] Let's pray. O God, you see that of ourselves, we have no strength. By your mighty power, defend us from all adversaries or adversities that may happen to the body and from all evil thoughts that may assault and hurt the soul.
[00:01:23] Through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
[00:01:32] This idea that the Lord is our defender, that the Lord is the one who takes care of us, that the Lord is the one who blesses us, that's the idea of this prayer. Body and soul, both. Our Psalm is Psalm 4, our liturgy. By the way, 184, we're in Divine Service setting three now. And as a reminder. So a couple of you told me last week we did it without the hymnal first time. That's great. Remember, we're sticking with divine service setting three this year. A lot this year with the hope and prayer that you won't need your hymnal for all the liturgy stuff. You can just do it.
[00:02:11] You will need it for Psalm 4, though. Well, some of you might have it memorized. That'd be pretty impressive. Psalm 4 is the morning Psalm.
[00:02:20] Psalm 4 is the evening psalm. Boy, oh boy, I gotta wake up. Psalm 3 is the morning Psalm. Psalm 4 is the evening psalm. And when people tell me they have trouble sleeping, I always prescribe Psalm 4 as part of their evening prayer.
[00:02:39] If you can't fall asleep, you're kind of stuck in your own thoughts, especially because it ends with this verse, verse eight in Peace, I will lie down and sleep for you alone. O Lord, make me dwell in safety.
[00:02:55] This is beautiful.
[00:02:58] Verse 4. And there's two other verses I want to highlight is really an interesting one. Be angry and do not sin. Ponder in your own hearts on your beds and be silent.
[00:03:10] So that's one of the verses that tells us that anger and sin are not the same thing. It's possible to be angry and to not sin. How to do that is tricky. One of the ways to do it is when we have the office of anger. If you have the office of ruling and governing in one of the estates, the family, or the church or the home, the Lord has called you to an office of anger. So, for example, if you're a parent and the kids do something in violation of God's commandments, you should be angry with them.
[00:03:45] Not personally offended, but angry so that you can bring the wisdom of God's law to help them to repent and etc. So that's one way.
[00:03:56] Angry and do not sin. Now, the other verse I want to put your attention on, and this is a really key, important verse, is verse two. We're kind of working backwards and. And I think this is very important for spiritual warfare because one of the ways that the devil attacks us is that he tries to make us ashamed of the things that God gives. He tries to take the things that we should boast in and rejoice in, and he tries to make us ashamed of those things.
[00:04:30] For example, our baptism. This is the thing that we should boast in. Most of all, our baptism should be. You imagine that one day went to the Olympics and you won a gold medal, and you had that gold medal, like, hanging on the wall in a little plaque or something. And you might, you know, people would come over for dinner or something, and you wouldn't want to be like, the first thing is like, hey, look at this gold medal. But you'd, you know, you'd put it on the wall where they'd notice, and they say, what's that? And you say, oh, well, you know, yeah, I'm an Olympic gold medalist. I mean, it'd be hard not to boast in that. In that thing. Well, the thing. This is how it is. When we're Christians, we should be.
[00:05:12] Well, I don't want to brag, but, you know, I'm baptized. I'm a child of God. I'm adopted into God's family. I belong to Jesus. All my sins are forgiven. I'm holy. I'm going to live forever in God's presence. You know, I don't want to brag, but the Lord Jesus loves me.
[00:05:29] But the devil wants to take that thing which is our glory and turn it into our shame.
[00:05:36] The thing that we're ashamed of, the thing that we don't want to mention, the thing that we try to hide. Here's Psalm 4, verse 2. Oh, man, how long shall my honor be turned into shame?
[00:05:51] So that we recognize this, that's at least the first part of the spiritual warfare, that we recognize that the devil is always trying to take that which God has given us for our comfort and glory.
[00:06:05] Like Jeremiah himself will say, let the one who boasts boast in the Lord that which we should rightly boast in and make us ashamed of it.
[00:06:14] You believe that God made the world. You really believe that the Bible is true? You really believe that Jesus was raised from the dead? You really believe the earth's only that many years old or whatever? And the devil's always trying to turn our. Our glory into our shame? It's part of his strategy, I think, especially apologetically.
[00:06:32] We confess that our Christian worldview, whatever element it is, marriage is a man and a woman. I mean, whatever. And the devil doesn't really argue against it. He just sort of snickers.
[00:06:46] That's his whole strategy. Glory to shame.
[00:06:50] But we have to say, look, how long are you going to keep doing this?
[00:06:54] I'm not afraid to be like Paul says to the Corinthians. I'm not afraid to be a fool for Christ.
[00:07:00] Anyway, it's glory. That's all glorious. Psalm 4. It's a wonderful psalm. Okay, now into the text.
[00:07:07] Sorry my voice is so scratchy. It is Sunday morning that I'm recording this. We had the men's retreat yesterday, so I didn't have a chance to do this. So you're getting my very first words today. Jeremiah 26, 8, 15 tells the story of Jeremiah being accused and arrested, especially in Jerusalem. And it's going to tie into the text today because Jesus is going to say, when the Pharisees come and warn them, hey, Herod's trying to kill you.
[00:07:40] And who knows if Herod actually was trying to kill him. And who knows what was motivating the Pharisees. This is a tricky kind of thing to figure out. All the background Jesus says, well, don't worry. The only place the prophets die is in Jerusalem. Well, that's where Jeremiah is. He's in Jerusalem and he's preaching and warning the people that Jerusalem is going to be destroyed.
[00:08:01] I'd say that we're probably five, ten years before the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 by the Babylonians. And Jeremiah is there in the midst of Jerusalem, saying, hey, this place is going to be destroyed like Shiloh. And they say, stop preaching the things we don't want to hear.
[00:08:21] I'll read a little bit of the text here. When Jeremiah had finished speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak to all the people, then the priests and the prophets and all the people laid hold of him, saying, you shall die. Why have you prophesied in the name of the Lord saying, this house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate without inhabitants. And all the people gather around Jeremiah in the house of the Lord. When the officials of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king's house to the house of the Lord and took their seat in the entry of the new gate in the house of the Lord. This is where in Hebrew culture, the court was, the gate.
[00:08:59] So remember, like Ruth, and they sat at the gate, and it's when people go in and out. And the gates were kind of these big, elaborate things, and you had a little amphitheater there, and the elders would sit there and make judgments on things. So the gate was the courthouse. So they sit at the gate of the house of the Lord. And the priests and the prophets said to the officials and all the people, notice here that this is the false prophets, and that there seems to be tons of false prophets around during the time of Jeremiah. So that half the time Jeremiah is preaching against the other prophets. Sheesh.
[00:09:31] This man deserves a sentence of death because he's prophesied against this city, as you've heard with your own ears. And here's Jeremiah's response. It's great. Jeremiah spoke to all the officials of the people, saying, the Lord sent me to prophesy against this house in this city. All the words you've heard. In other words, I didn't make this up. I didn't even want to say it. The Lord sent me, and I belong to him. My. My mouth belongs to the Lord. That's what it means to be a prophet.
[00:09:56] Now therefore, Jeremiah says, mend your ways and your deeds and obey the voice of the Lord your God. And the Lord will relent to the disaster he's pronounced against you. But as for me, behold, I'm in your hands. Do with me as seems good and right to you. Only know for certain that if you put me to death, you'll bring innocent blood on yourselves and on the city. And its inhabitants. For in truth, the Lord sent me to speak all these words to your ears.
[00:10:19] So he says, look, the point of me preaching this stuff is not so that I can die, but so that you can live. But, oh well, according to whatever you want to do is fine. I've done my duty, I've preached. Now repent so that these bad things won't happen to you.
[00:10:35] It's an amazing thing that this, the pride of the human flesh, rises up against the Lord's word and wants to kill the prophet who's bringing the news of how they are to live. So here comes the good news. I mean, in Jeremiah, it didn't sound like good news, but he points out, this is good news. I'm warning you that if you don't repent, you're going to be destroyed. So repent, and then you won't be destroyed. There's a way for you to live. There's a way for all these things that I promised not to happen.
[00:11:07] If you change your mind, they don't. Now, at this point, they don't kill Jeremiah, but that comes later. He gets exiled to Egypt and stuff. He gets thrown into the pit, but he doesn't get murdered there. Not at least not yet.
[00:11:24] But this is going to come up. In fact, I'll read the epistle lesson, sorry, the Gospel lesson, because it's pretty connected. And also the verse of the day. So the verse of the day just comes straight from the Gospel, remembering that we have the verse because we don't have the alleluia verse, we just have the normal verse that's here. And this is from Luke 13. It's a really unique text. There's a lot going on, a lot of historical stuff going on, and some theological stuff. I'll just read it. At the very hour some Pharisees came to him. So the context is Jesus has traveled from Galilee in the north, and he's gone down to Perea, which is the area that is, if you imagine the Holy Land, you have the Sea of Galilee on the north. The Jordan river flows south into the Dead Sea. And where the Jordan river goes into the Dead Sea. If you go north and west from there, you're on the plains of Jericho.
[00:12:25] And then if you go up the mountains from Jericho, you get to Jerusalem right in that area. If you were to go across the Jordan river to the east.
[00:12:37] So on the Jordan side of the Jordan of the Jordan river, across from Jericho, that's Perea. That's the area where John the Baptist was baptizing that's the area where Herod, this Herod, who's the son of Herod the Great, one of the sons, is. Is ruling. He ruled up in Galilee and down in Perea. And if you go just a little bit south, you get to. Oh, the castle.
[00:13:09] I forgot it. You get to the castle where John the Baptist was arrested and beheaded. So this is the place where all these things were happening.
[00:13:21] Machaerus, that was the little fortified town that was east of the Dead Sea where Herod had a castle. And probably it's from that place that he launched his battles into Edom and even further to the east.
[00:13:38] And that's where John the Baptist was baptized. And Jesus is not far from there. So he's going to go from there up to Jerusalem.
[00:13:48] That's going to happen too. But he's over in this region. And some of the Pharisees came and said to him, go away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.
[00:13:58] And he said to them, okay, so now I don't know what is motivating these Pharisees. Do they really care about Jesus about to be killed?
[00:14:10] They themselves were already plotting his death. Seems like that would be good news to them. Herod wants to kill him. And did Herod really want to kill him? That's also unclear. Remember when Jesus will finally appear before Herod? In Holy Week, on Good Friday, he goes to the high priest, then to the whole Sanhedrin, two Jewish trials, then Pilate, then Herod, then Pilate. Herod dresses him in robes and mocks him, but Jesus says nothing to him. It says Herod wanted to see him because he wanted to see some miracle performed by him.
[00:14:44] But Herod also had this terrible conscience from killing John the Baptist.
[00:14:50] So who knows if Herod did want to kill him or not?
[00:14:55] And who knows if the Pharisees were actually trying to help Jesus? It doesn't seem so. It seems like they're trying to manipulate him. But look at what Jesus says. I don't care. I mean, he doesn't just say, I don't care. He says it's maybe even worse. He says, go tell that fox.
[00:15:11] Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow and the third day I finish my course.
[00:15:18] In other words, I'll do what I want. I'm not afraid of you. And why not? Because he's going to die anyways. That's the I finish my course is a special word, teleucia.
[00:15:36] The commenters say that this is the word that the almost the technical term for the victory. The martyrs I've kept the faith. I finished the course.
[00:15:47] That those who are dying for their faith, that their death comes right on time. It is the finish line. It's not collapsing before they get to the finish line. It is crossing the finish line.
[00:16:01] And the old martyrs were called the athletes of Christ. And this life is considered a race. This is what Paul says. I've fought a good fight. I've finished the race.
[00:16:12] I finish my course. So Jesus says, today and tomorrow, the third day, I finish my course. This doesn't mean that he's three days away from crucifixion. It means he's three days away from leaving. He's going to finish the work that the Lord has for him to do there, and he's going to go into Jerusalem, etc. Nevertheless, he says, Jesus continues, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the following. For it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.
[00:16:39] Now this is a pretty damning statement about Jerusalem. And Jesus goes on and he amplifies it. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it. How often I would have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not behold, your house is forsaken. And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
[00:17:12] That's amazing.
[00:17:14] In other words, Jesus says to the Pharisees, hey, you better get out of here because Herod wants to kill you. He says, I can't die. I'm not in Jerusalem.
[00:17:22] Which, I mean, you have to think that their jaws hit the floor. What? Jerusalem is the holy city, the city of the temple of God. The place where the prophetic word is heard in all the world. And Jesus says, no, Jerusalem is the city that kills the prophets. And I can't die now because I'm not in Jerusalem. If I want to be murdered for being a true prophet, I got to go up to Jerusalem. That's where it all happens.
[00:17:50] Now, when Jesus says, you won't see me until you say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. That's going to happen at his triumphal entry. That's Psalm 118.
[00:18:01] Blessed is He, Blessed is he. Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
[00:18:07] Hosanna in the highest. And there the people, the children and the faithful confess Jesus and they see his day. But remember, the Pharisees reject that.
[00:18:18] Tell them to be quiet. I wonder if some of the Pharisees who were here on this day, were there on the triumphal entry, and they hear this and remember what Jesus says and says, hey, wait. Tell them to be quiet, listen to what they're saying. And Jesus says, if they were quiet, the stones would cry out. In other words, this is right and they're recognizing me. But the Pharisees didn't.
[00:18:39] But it is this to know that the kingdom of God comes when we say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. That's marvelous.
[00:18:51] Okay, the Epistle lesson is from Philippians, chapter three and beginning all the way to four, verse one. So 3:17, 4:1, which is, again, a marvelous text. There's this verse that's connected to Psalm 4.
[00:19:11] Paul's talking about the enemies of the cross of Christ who do what they want. Their glory is their shame.
[00:19:21] Their minds are set on earthly things, and their God is their belly. This text I think about a lot as this almost a verse that defines what it means to be hedonistic, to just chase after your own desires. Your God is your belly. Whatever you want to consume, that's what you chase after.
[00:19:44] A lot of the old paintings from the Middle Ages would have demons, and they would just have these gaping mouths in their stomachs. They're just driven by their appetite and desire and their lust.
[00:19:57] Their God is their belly. That's the enemy of the cross of Christ. But not so for you.
[00:20:02] Your citizenship, Paul says, is in heaven.
[00:20:06] From it we await the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:20:10] And here we have a verse that is the seat of doctrine for the universal resurrection according to the power of God. This is when people say, well, what happens if my body after I die is burned? Or what happens if my body after I die is thrown into the ocean and I'm eaten by fish? Can I still be resurrected? The answer is yes. From this verse, Philippians 3:21, he will transform our lowly bodies to be like his glorious body. How?
[00:20:44] By the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself, so that Jesus is ruling and reigning the cosmos, the universe, and he's holding everything together.
[00:21:01] And his holding everything together. That power is the same power that he's going to use to bring us out of the dead and give us a resurrected glorious body. And look, it says our lowly bodies will be transformed to be like his glorious body.
[00:21:20] So the same glorious body that Jesus has raised from the dead, that's the body that will be given to us.
[00:21:26] Fantastic. Okay, the hymn of the day is this great hymn, Lord, thee, I love with all my Heart. This Martin shawling hymn. I'm always trying to. This is secret. You guys are listening to the Sunday Drive to Church podcast. You get to know the secrets. Here's one of my pastor secrets. I'm always trying to get this hymn in funerals. I think it's one of the most beautiful, comforting funeral hymns, but I hardly can ever sneak it in there, although we've had it quite a bit lately. But I'll sing it at a visitation or when I go to see somebody or at the deathbed. It's a hymn that takes us through all the troubles of this life and through death to burial and to the resurrection and to the glory on the last day.
[00:22:19] It's a beautiful, beautiful hymn. Lord, thee I love with all my heart. I pray thee never from me depart with tender mercy. Cheer me, Earth has no pleasure I would share. Yea, and here's a line which is amazing. I don't even want to go to heaven unless you're there. Yea, heaven itself were void and bare if thou Lord, were not near me. And should my heart for sorrow break my trust in Thee can nothing shake? Thou art my portion. I've sought thy precious blood my soul has bought. Lord Jesus Christ, my God and Lord. My God and Lord, forsake me not. I trust thy word.
[00:23:00] What an absolutely beautiful, pious, trusting, comforting him. Here's the second one, stanza. Yea, Lord, twas thy rich bounty gave my body, soul and all I have in this poor life of labor. In other words, this is first article. You created me. You gave me everything I have. You set me to work, given me my vocations.
[00:23:23] Lord, grant that I in every place may glorify thy lavish grace and help and serve my neighbor. Help me to do what you've called me to do, to bless my neighbor in all these places and to make your love known. Let no false doctrine me beguile. That's nice. Let Satan not my soul defile. That's nice. Give strength and patience unto me to bear my cross and follow Thee. This is what our Christian life is, a life of cross bearing. Jesus says, take up your cross and follow me. Lord Jesus Christ, My God and Lord. My God and Lord. And here we get to the end. In death thy comforts still afford.
[00:24:00] At least you think that's the end because, okay, now I die.
[00:24:03] Give me your comfort when I'm dying. Great. That's great. That's a beautiful hymn. Help me to love my neighbor. Help me to die in comfort. But it's not over. There's A third stanza.
[00:24:16] We keep singing even after we die. Lord, let at last thine angels come to Abram's bosom. Bear me home that I may die unfearing, so that when I die, send your holy angels to bring my soul to you in heaven and and in its narrow chamber keep my body safe in peaceful sleep. This talks about what are we going to do with our bodies after we die. Well, we're going to be in the narrow chamber, in the casket, in the grave.
[00:24:44] Keep my body peacefully resting in the grave until thy reappearing, till the second coming.
[00:24:51] And then from death awaken me that these mine eyes with joy may see, O Son of God, thy glorious face. That's job 19, revelation 21. My savior, my fount of grace, Lord Jesus Christ, my prayer attend, My prayer attend, and I will praise thee without end. How fantastic is this hymn. So, Lord, I'm going to die. Let me die unafraid. And when I die, send your holy angels to bring my soul to heaven and let my body rest in peace until you come back and raise me from the dead, and I will sing your praises forever.
[00:25:30] Lord, the high love with all my. What a fantastic hymn. Absolutely beautiful. Well, if you're at the early service, we have Owen's baptism. God be praised for that. And in Bible class, we're going to study, continue to study the liturgy. I think we'll be into it today with the different parts of the liturgy, so that'll be really, really fantastic as well. So we'll see you soon. Drive safe. God's peace be with.