LESSON: LUKE 7:36‒50

Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word. 2 Thessalonians 2:16

The tax collector (Luke 18:9‒14) stands there and humbles himself. He mentions no fasting, no good work; he mentions nothing at all. And yet the Lord says that this man’s sins are not as great as the hypocrite’s. A man must really be bold if, in the face of all this, he would feel inclined to exalt himself above the least of sinners. If I draw myself up even a finger’s breadth above my neighbor, or above the worst of sinners, I am thrown down. The tax collector during his whole life did not commit so many and so great sins as this Pharisee here committed when he said, “God, I thank Thee that I am not like other men,” and lied so that heaven might well have thundered in reply. You hear no word here like the tax collector’s plea: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” God’s mercy, tenderheartedness, and love are clean forgotten.

God is nothing but sheer and pure mercy, and he who does not see this does not believe in God at all, as the psalmist also declares, “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God’” (Psalm 14:1). This is where the unbeliever finishes up with his lack of self-knowledge.

I will add just one more remark here. Even if this man had committed the very worst of sins like deflowering virgins, it would not have been as bad as saying, “God, I thank Thee that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers.” To be sure, Pharisee, do I hear you? Do you have no need of God? Do you despise His goodness, mercy, love, and all that He is? These are real sins. It is not a question here of open sins breaking out. It is a matter of unbelief in the heart, which we cannot see. This is always the real sin.

SL 11:1493 (20)

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, the consequences of unbelief, cutting ourselves off from all grace and mercy, are truly fearsome and must lead to despair. Keep us firm in faith and duly humble by keeping us close to our Savior, in whose name we also ask this. Amen.

Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 4:336-347.

LESSON: 1 PETER 2:9‒10

“I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came from the Father.” John 16:26‒27

I should never rely on your works, and you should not rely on mine. But with my faith, I will pray to God for you to give you a personal faith of your own. John says that Christ has “made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father” (Revelation 1:6). Like Christ Himself, we may now step forth on behalf of others and pray that God may bestow a personal faith on them. Hence, if I see that you do not have such a faith, or a weak faith, I go off and pray to God to help you to such a faith. I do not give you my own faith and works, but I pray God to give you your own faith and works. I pray to God that Christ may give you all His works and salvation through faith, as He has given us His blessings through faith.

This is also the point in the passage quoted above from John’s Gospel. Christ means to say here, “I have prayed and had dealings with God on your behalf so that He may give you what is Mine. Therefore, acknowledge My name. Through My prayer for you, He has accepted you and given you faith, so that from now on you may pray for yourselves. I do not have to do it for you, but you should do it for yourselves in My name.”

Here God crowned us, consecrated us, and anointed us with the Holy Spirit so that we are all priests and each one should pray for the other. We are a royal priesthood of believers.

SL 11:1521 (13‒14)

PRAYER: Among our greatest distinctions, Lord Jesus, is this, that You have given us individually the status of being kings and priests before God, our heavenly Father. Grant us at all times a clear understanding of our privileges as priests, especially in intercessions for the needs of our brethren. We pray in Your name, Lord Jesus. Amen.

Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 4:370-380.

LESSON: LUKE 12:35‒40

“Then all those maidens rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise replied, ‘perhaps there will not be enough for us and for you; go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’” Matthew 25:7-9

It is important for you to know how far another man’s faith can help you. The merits of others can prompt you to acquire merits of your own, but that is their limit. Even if all the angels and God’s mercy itself took your part, it would not help you, unless you adhered to that mercy with a faith of your own. One thing another man’s faith can do for you is to help you acquire a personal faith for yourself.

Similarly, even if Christ, after dying for us and giving His body and life, blood and flesh for us, were to intercede for us, it would still not help us, unless we believed in Him. But He can help us by interceding for us with His heavenly Father and saying, “Dear Father, all this I have done for men; give them faith that they may avail themselves of it.” This also helps us after we regard His works and merits as our very own possession. The same thing applies in respect to all the other saints. Their intercession and merits are of no avail at all to us unless we have personal faith.

You see this also from the events set forth in this Gospel (Mark 7:31‒37). The poor man lies there helpless; he cannot speak or hear anything. Those who brought him to the Lord can speak and hear. He does not acquire the ability to speak through their hearing and speaking. Even if they had all come forward and said, “We want to speak and hear for you,” he would have remained speechless and deaf forever and never have acquired the ability to speak.

If you make use of your faith to help me to personal faith for myself, that is helping me. Otherwise, no work or ties of brotherhood are of any avail.

SL 11:1520 (11‒12)

PRAYER: Lord God, heavenly Father, make our faith a living power in our lives, not only to believe all that You have promised us, but also to do all You command us, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 4:370-380.

LESSON: JAMES 1:2‒8

When He saw them He said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” Luke 17:14

In this Gospel we are given a very warm and friendly invitation to draw near to Christ, to put our faith and trust in Him. There is no doubt that He wants to do for everyone what He did for these lepers. All that is necessary is for us to cast ourselves freely upon Him in the expectation of receiving from Him all His grace and goodness.

In this regard, true faith and a Christian heart should act and does act as these lepers act and teach us to act. That it pleases Christ that we should joyfully and freely determine to build upon His goodness, even before we have experienced it or felt it, is sufficiently attested here in the way in which He so willingly lends an ear to them without any delay at all. Nor does He tell them that He is about to help them. He simply deals with them as if what they desired had already happened. He does not say to them, “Yes, I will have mercy on you; you will be clean.” He simply says, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.”

It is as though He says to them, “You do not have to make any entreaty. Your faith has already obtained and acquired what you want before you ask for it. You were already clean, as far as I was concerned, when you began to expect all this from Me. Nothing more is needed, then, but that you should go to show the priests that you have been cleansed. As I regard you, and as you believe, so you are and so you will be.” He would not have sent them to the priests had He not regarded them as clean.

Behold, how powerful faith is! It acquires everything it desires from God, and God regards it as accomplished even before it is asked for. Isaiah speaks of faith when he says, “Before they call I will answer, while they are yet speaking I will hear” (Isaiah 65:24).

SL.XI.1579,16‒17
AE 79:68-97

PRAYER: Faith is the means whereby You bestow all Your blessings upon us, heavenly Father. When our faith is right, all is right with us as Your children. Preserve us and strengthen us in faith, in and through Christ, the author and finisher of our faith. Amen.

LESSON: MATTHEW 9:18‒22

He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” Luke 7:50

This Gospel (Mark 7:31‒37) suggests discussion on the part played by another’s faith in our salvation. These men brought the deaf man to Jesus as a fruit of their faith in Jesus. The deaf man made no contribution at all; he played an entirely passive role.

We should note at the outset that it is quite impossible to be saved by another man’s faith in the sense that the other man does the believing for you and in your place. But it may well happen that through another man’s faith, you yourself come to personal faith. In a similar way, the works of another man can help me or influence me to perform works of my own. Those people are lying who claim that we can be saved through the works and faith of others, whether we have personal faith for ourselves or not. It is not so! Unless you derive a personal faith for yourself from God’s goodness and mercy, you cannot be saved.

This is how the case stands. If you do not have your own personal faith, neither the faith nor work of another man will help you, not even Christ who is a Savior for the whole world. His goodness and His help avails you nothing unless you yourself have faith in Him, and are thereby enlightened. Therefore, be on your guard against anyone who directs you for help to another’s faith. Tell such a would-be helper, “If you want to serve me with your works, make an approach to God and say to Him, ‘Dear heavenly Father, through Your grace I have come to faith, therefore I beseech You, my God, give this poor man faith also.’ This could help me, but it is impossible for you to give me your own faith. And even if you could do so, it would help me not at all.”

SL 11:1518 (7‒9)

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, of all the many gifts which You have bestowed upon us in Your grace and mercy, none is more important to us than the gift of faith. Make our faith strong and a powerful source of good works, through Your holy Gospel and for Christ’s sake. Amen.

Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 4:370-380.

LESSON: PSALM 103:1‒5

“Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” Luke 17:13

Faith never asserts merits or tries to purchase God’s grace with works. It pleads only its utter lack of merits, or its demerits, and clings only to the pure, unmerited goodness and grace of God. This is also demonstrated very well by the lepers who have confident expectations in regard to Christ’s grace, without the performance of any works.

What good thing could they have done beforehand to impress Him? They had never seen Him before; much less did they have opportunities of serving Him. Then, too, they were lepers whom He would have been compelled to avoid according to the Law (Leviticus 13). It would have been necessary for Him to tell them the rights and wrongs of their situation. Basically, He would have been compelled to tell them the truth that He could have nothing to do with them, and they nothing with Him. That is also why they stand “at a distance,” as those who are well aware of their unworthiness.

Faith also stands at a distance from God; yet it runs to meet Him and cries out to Him. Faith fully recognizes the truth that it is unworthy of God’s goodness and has nothing on which to rely except His highly celebrated goodness. The soul which stands at a distance and is empty also seeks God’s goodness. This goodness cannot be linked in any way with our merits or works; it will come only of its own accord as Christ comes in this village to the lepers so that their praise might remain free and pure.

There is complete agreement here. God’s love dispenses His goodness freely and gratuitously. It receives nothing or seeks nothing in payment. Faith receives this goodness as a pure and simple gift, without making any payment of any kind for it.

SL.XI.1578,12‒14
AE 79:68-97

PRAYER: There is never anything in us, O God, which merits Your grace and goodness, but rather the very opposite of this. Thanks and praise be Yours, heavenly Father, for the riches of Your grace and mercy freely bestowed upon us, in and through our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.