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Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Oh, wow. St. Paul Lutheran Church. It's a Sunday drive to church for the fifth Sunday in Lent. What texts. You know, just when you think, can it get better?
[00:00:09] Just the Lord's Word is an all you can eat buffet of wonder.
[00:00:14] Let's pray. Almighty God, by your great goodness, mercifully look upon your people that we may be governed and preserved evermore in body and soul through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
[00:00:29] Amen. It is March 22nd year of our Lord 2026. This is the fifth Sunday in Lent. Utica is the old name for it. And this is the beginning of Passiontide.
[00:00:39] The One Year Lectionary has a lot of more layers. I don't think that's how to say that. Let me try again. The One Year Lectionary has a lot more layers than the three Year Lectionary when it comes to Lent. We have pre, pre Lent, those three Sundays getting ready for Lent. And then you have the normal kind of Lent. And then the last two weeks of Lent beginning today, Utica is considered Passion Tide. And then when we get to next Sunday, Palm Sunday, we're into Holy Week. So there's these.
[00:01:11] There's a just. It's an onion with a lot more layers when you're in the one year. So we enter into Passion Tide now and some even more severity in the. In the fasting and in the liturgical sparsity.
[00:01:24] You'll notice it today in the service.
[00:01:26] Our opening psalm is Psalm 43. Take a look at this very interesting thing when you are looking at Psalm 43, especially if you're reading Psalm 43 to get ready for the service. Notice how the refrain, which is the last verse, why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. That's. I mean, that's one of these verses where we're talking to ourselves. Hey soul, why are you in the dumps? Hope in God. But notice how that is also the refrain from Psalm 42. If you go back to Psalm 42, verse 5, you see that same verse and then Psalm 42, verse 11.
[00:02:08] So these two Psalms, Psalm 42 and Psalm 43 really go together. Psalm 42 is the. As the deer pants after the water brooks, so pants my soul for thee, O Lord. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. But look at how Psalm 43 begins.
[00:02:26] Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause against an ungodly people. There is something about this vindication. Oh, boy. Last year, I remember we were really thinking about this and looking into it. But I don't know if I ever.
[00:02:40] If I got to a place where I'm ready to teach about it. But vindication is like the opposite side of the coin of justification.
[00:02:49] So justification is where the Lord does not impute our guilt and sin to us, but rather he imputes the righteousness, his own obedience. He gives that to us by faith.
[00:03:05] Vindication is where the Lord does deliver his wrath on those who refuse to receive his gifts.
[00:03:14] So he protects us from our enemies and keeps us from all those who are fighting against us.
[00:03:23] Verse 2. For you are the God in whom I take refuge. Why have you rejected me? Why do I go out mourning because of the oppression of the enemy. Send out your light and your truth.
[00:03:33] Let them lead me, and let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling. It's beautiful. Now, speaking of the holy hill and the dwelling of God, well, there's two other. The gradual from Psalm 143 and Psalm 18. And then the tract from Psalm 129 are also pretty amazing, especially the tract. That's the. The chant that goes between the Epistle and the Gospel during the season of Lent.
[00:04:00] It's got this call and response. Great have they afflicted me from my youth. Let Israel now say, great have they afflicted me from my youth.
[00:04:07] Yet they have not prevailed against me. The plowers plowed on my back.
[00:04:13] That's a picture of the.
[00:04:15] Of the stripes that are left by the whip on the back of Jesus. This is the case for anybody who's been. Who's been whipped. But we remember especially Jesus, who, whose back was plowed by those Roman soldiers.
[00:04:30] And yet the Lord is righteous. He cuts the cords of the wicked.
[00:04:37] Psalm. It's a throwback to Psalm 2. It's beautiful. Absolutely beautiful passage. Okay, but speaking of the holy hill, from Psalm 43, Genesis 22, in some ways the heart of hearts of the. The holy of holies of the Old Testament. The, the command that the Lord gives to Abraham to go and sacrifice Isaac.
[00:04:58] Absolutely amazing. And this is the first time that the word love shows up in the Bible. It's in our first verse or second verse where the Lord says to Abraham, take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains. Which I shall tell you, it's amazing that the Lord says to Abraham, who already has Ishmael, he said, the Ishmael doesn't count. Isaac is your only son, and he's the one that you love. There's the first time that. So here's the only begotten, the beloved of the Father, then he has to die. It's so many echoes of Genesis, of John 3:16. Here God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.
[00:05:44] And we don't want to miss this passage because so often we think of the sacrifice of Isaac as a proof of Abraham's love and obedience to God.
[00:05:57] But that is not what it is.
[00:05:59] It is. Remember how Hebrews 11 teaches us to think about this. It is an expression of his faith.
[00:06:06] Now, what is the difference between faith and love? The answer is that faith is what holds onto a promise, while love is what holds onto a command.
[00:06:15] And it's true that God gives Abraham the command to go and sacrifice his son Isaac. But Abraham is doing it not because of the command. Well, I mean, not because of the command. The command is there, and he wouldn't be doing it if God hadn't commanded it. But he's willing to do it because this Isaac is the child of the promise.
[00:06:37] God had said to Abraham through this one, through this Isaac, you're going to have lots of children. Your offspring is going to be like the stars on the sky and the sand on the sea.
[00:06:48] And also the Messiah is going to come through him.
[00:06:52] And so Abraham knows that even if he sacrifices Isaac, Isaac can't stay dead because he's got to have kids. He doesn't have any kids yet. And God has promised he's going to have kids. And I don't know how he's going to keep the promise, but God's going to keep the promise.
[00:07:08] So Hebrews 11 tells us. And Genesis 22 has to be read through Hebrews 11.
[00:07:14] Hebrews 11, that great hall of faith says that Abraham believed that God would raise Isaac from the dead because Isaac can't stay dead, because God has to keep his promise.
[00:07:25] And Hebrews 11 goes on to say, and he kind of did receive him back from the dead. He at least received him back from being willing to offer him. But then the Lord provided. Can you imagine, though, going up on the.
[00:07:36] On the mountain, Isaac says to Abraham, father, here I am, son. Hold. Behold the fire and the wood. But where's the lamb for a burnt offering?
[00:07:46] Verse 8. We read this in the English.
[00:07:49] Abraham said, God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son. They both went on Together.
[00:07:57] Luther liked to translate the Hebrew this way. And I think it's actually a good translation of the Hebrew, as far as I can tell.
[00:08:04] God, Abraham says to Isaac, Sorry, Abraham says to Isaac, here, God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, so that what God is giving is himself.
[00:08:21] And this is why when people want to see the picture of Jesus in the text, they oftentimes will see it in Isaac, the only son who's offered as a sacrifice. But really the real picture of Jesus is this ram with a crown of thorns caught in the thicket.
[00:08:40] Abraham lifted up his eyes, verse 13, and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram caught in the thicket by his horns. Can you believe it?
[00:08:48] And Abraham takes this ram and offers it in place of Isaac. That's Jesus there. That's the picture, the, the that the Lord receives the death of another of another in our place.
[00:08:59] So he names that place Jehovah Jireh, the Lord will provide. And that place is Mount Zion.
[00:09:07] That place where Abraham went to offer Isaac is the same place that Jerusalem was established, the same place that the temple was built.
[00:09:16] So it's all happening on the same spot.
[00:09:19] How beautiful is that? Now, all of that is a picture of the heavenly reality. And that's what Hebrews 9 tells us. This is a text worth studying. In fact, if you want some homework to read all of Hebrews chapter nine, and here's the thing that it's thinking about. Because remember when the Lord called Moses up on Mount Sinai, back in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, he said, make a copy of what you see. So Moses went down and made the tabernacle, set up the priesthood and the sacrifices. And here you have especially this day of atonement, when the high priest would sacrifice the bull for himself and the ram for the people, and he would carry the blood through the holy place into the holy of holies and place it, pour it there on the mercy seat in the holy of holies. He'd only go into that room once a year. Once a year, well, twice a year. But on the same day, one day a year, pouring the blood over that mercy seat. That was a copy of what Moses saw when he was standing before God in heaven. And what he saw there is the Son of God coming into the holy place with his own blood to present before the judgment seat of God as evidence for our salvation.
[00:10:33] So listen to Hebrews chapter 9, verse 11. This is amazing stuff. When Christ appeared as the high priest of the good things that had come then through the greater and more perfect tent, not made with hands that is not of this creation. So Jesus is going to go into the. Into the heavenly tabernacle, not in the earthly tabernacle. He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves, like the old high priest would sacrifice the goat and the calf and go into the earthly holy place. No, Jesus went into the heavenly holy place not with goat blood, but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.
[00:11:16] For if the sprinkling of defiled persons with the blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of an heifer sanctifies for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who, through the eternal spirit, offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
[00:11:34] So that Jesus takes his blood into the heavenly place, and there it testifies for our innocence and cleanses our conscience. The result of Jesus death and resurrection and ascension and entering into the heavenly holy of holies with his blood spilt on the cross is that our conscience is cleansed. And that, dear saints, if you could take a breath and believe it without being overcome with awe, that blood that's presented before the Father is the same blood that is presented before you today.
[00:12:08] When Jesus says, take and drink. This is my blood poured out for you for the forgiveness of sins so that our conscience is cleansed, just like the blood. Can you. This is just like that blood from the bull that's poured over the mercy seat. So the. So the blood from. From Jesus is presented in heaven, and now it's poured over your own heart so that whatever's there, whatever sin is there, whatever rebellion is there, whatever wicked thoughts and actions and words and deeds and desires are there, they're covered with that holy precious blood.
[00:12:53] So your heart is washed, your conscience is cleansed to serve God.
[00:12:59] He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant that death is the death of Jesus on the cross. A death has occurred that redeems us, that purchases us not with, remember, gold and silver, but with his holy precious blood and his innocent suffering and death.
[00:13:25] Wow. Wow.
[00:13:28] And that brings us to John, chapter eight. Now, this John, chapter eight, the text starts at verse 46, and I gotta tell you, have you. If you've ever had one of those experiences where you've, like, walked in to a conversation and you were just kind of walking up, there's a group of people chatting. And you're just going to walk up and see what they're talking about and join in the conversation. And you kind of walk up and say hi. And then you realize that it's a fight. You've walked right into the middle of a fight and you laugh and maybe say something. And then you realize they don't look at you.
[00:13:58] They don't. They don't even notice that you. There, they're locked in and they are angry and you realize, oh boy. What? I. I stepped into the wrong conversation here.
[00:14:08] That's John 8. 46.
[00:14:11] We're ready for a kind of peaceful thing. Jesus is talking, letters are read, but Jesus is in it with the Pharisees.
[00:14:20] They are fighting.
[00:14:23] So Jesus starts right out. But now this has been growing and growing and growing probably since, I don't know, verse five.
[00:14:31] So we're 40 verses into this argument.
[00:14:35] Which of you convinces me, convicts me of sin? Jesus says, if I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever's of God hears the word of God. The reason you don't hear me is that you are not of God.
[00:14:47] Whoa. Can you imagine saying that to the Pharisees?
[00:14:52] The Jews answered him, and listen to this.
[00:14:55] If you thought that was bad, are we not right in saying that you're a Samaritan and have a demon? What?
[00:15:02] It's about the two worst things you could accuse a Jewish man of being a Samaritan and being demon possessed. Jesus answered, I don't have a demon. I honor my father. You. You dishonor me, yet I do not seek my own glory. There is one who seeks it, and he is the judge. Truly, truly. I say to if anyone keeps my word, he'll never see death. Amazing promise repeated from John, chapter five. Beautiful.
[00:15:25] But remember how we maybe will preach on this tomorrow? I still haven't sorted this out, but we.
[00:15:31] Sorry, today you're listening on Sunday, right? It's Saturday that I'm talking time warp on Sunday. The sermon might be about this, because the most beautiful words of promise are for the unbeliever, the harshest words of condemnation.
[00:15:51] So Jesus says, if anyone keeps my word, he'll never see death. And the Jews said to him, now we know you have a demon.
[00:15:58] Abraham died, and so did the prophets. And you say, if anyone keeps my word, he'll never taste death. Are you greater than our father Abraham who died? The prophets who died? Who do you make yourself out to be, Jesus? If I glorify myself, my glory is Nothing if my. It's my Father who glorifies me of whom you say he's our Father. You haven't not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I didn't know Him, I'd be a liar like you.
[00:16:21] But I do know him and I keep his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. And he saw it and was glad.
[00:16:31] The Jew said to him, you're not even 50 years old. You've seen Abraham. Jesus said to him, truly, truly, I say to you before Abraham was I am.
[00:16:40] Remember, those are the words that Jesus spoke to Moses from the burning bush when he said, who can I say sent me? And he says, I am who I am.
[00:16:54] And the in the name Yahweh is a.
[00:16:57] A version of that same verbal construct. I am.
[00:17:04] There's seven I am statements of Jesus in the Gospel of John where he says, I am the way and the truth and the life. I am the branch. I'm the good shepherd. But then there's seven of these standalone I ams. Like when they come to arrest him in the garden and he says, they. Jesus says, who do you seek? And they say, jesus of Nazareth. And he says, I am. And they fall over.
[00:17:27] Well, here's another one. I am.
[00:17:29] And this is Jesus definitive claim to be God in the flesh.
[00:17:36] And they know it.
[00:17:38] So they immediately, they're so enraged, they pick up stones to stone him.
[00:17:43] I mean, they're going to kill him right there in the temple.
[00:17:48] I mean, later on they'll kind of cooler and more calculating heads will prevail and they'll end up having him arrested and condemned by Pilate. Now they're so enraged they're just going to murder him right there because of these beautiful words where Jesus is telling us that.
[00:18:08] That he is the one who saved Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Moses and David and Noah.
[00:18:15] Beginning to end. He's the Savior of all those who are saved and all those who believe in him, all those who keep his word, never taste death.
[00:18:29] So beautiful.
[00:18:31] So beautiful.
[00:18:32] Our hymn of the. Our hymn of the week is My song is Love Unknown, which is a beautiful we. I remember made a little hymn as poetry book a number of years back and this was one of the first poems that we put in there. My song is Love Unknown. My Savior's Love to me. Love to the loveless. Shown that they might lovely be.
[00:18:55] Did you get that? We are the loveless. He loves us and his love transforms us. There's a.
[00:19:02] Do you remember when Luther was writing the Heidelberg theses. You guys think? Oh, yeah, yeah, I remember that. So one of the Heidelberg theses is something like Man's love finds a lovable object.
[00:19:17] God's love makes its object lovable. In other words, when we're loving, we're looking for things that are lovely and then we love them. But when God loves us, his love actually makes us lovely. That's what it says here. Love to the loveless shown that they might lovely be. Wow.
[00:19:34] Who am I that for my sake my Lord should take frail flesh and die?
[00:19:45] He came from his blest throne salvation to bestow. But man made strange and none the long, for Christ would know. But, O my friend, my friend indeed, who at my need his life did spend.
[00:20:01] Why, what hath my Lord done?
[00:20:05] What makes this rage and spite?
[00:20:08] He made the lame to run. He gave the blind their sight sweet injuries. Yet they at these themselves displease and gainst him rise.
[00:20:21] Beautiful a murderer they save. The Prince of life they slay.
[00:20:26] Yet cheerful he to suffering goes, that he his foes from thence might free. Jesus is doing this all willingly because he loves us. Because he all that he suffers, he chooses to suffer because he would rather have all that and you than not have all of that and not have you.
[00:20:55] He'd rather have the shame and the cross and the nails and the.
[00:21:01] Of the crucifixion and you as his own dear son or daughter, then have all the universe but with it, but. But lose you to your sin. It's amazing.
[00:21:16] Just amazing.
[00:21:19] All right, that should do it for the Sunday drive to church. I gotta dial it in so you guys can have it. Well, we're gonna study. Continue to study Matthew in.
[00:21:27] In Sunday school. And this is our last week of our normal Lenten stuff this week.
[00:21:33] So that'll be this week as well. Last soup, supper and service on Wednesday, so that'll be great. Drive safe. God's peace be with you. We'll see you soon. Sunday drive to church.