Photo by Teslariu Mihai on Unsplash

᛭ INI ᛭

Alleluia! ΙΗϹ Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

(5. Oops!: The World calls good evil and evil good.)

Hear the Word of the Lord! “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil!” “Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, And prudent in their own sight! Woe to men mighty at drinking wine, Woe to men valiant for mixing intoxicating drink!” (Is 5) “Because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.” (Eph 5) “Because they have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts, And despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.” (Is 5)

Yet, that is what the World does: evil is good, and good is evil. They recognize their own, and do not know the Father, nor Christ, nor even you. They are good, and you are evil. The World recognizes its own, and they hate those not their own. A great many things they hate—God’s Word, His morality, His salvation in Christ, His holiness, those who believe in Christ. They hate Christ’s disciples as they hated Christ, even unto death. “Yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service.”

(4. Ugh!: Our flesh does the same thing as the world!)

“Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil!”(Is 5) The LORD says this to you, that is, to your flesh. For your flesh, which is still anchored in this world till death, also calls evil good and calls good evil. Your flesh delights to sin, so that you live “as if God did not matter and is if you matter most,” to live “not letting His love have its way with you, that your love for others has failed.”

And living that way your flesh has profaned God’s name among the nations. It’s not a small matter to sin. It harms others. It harms yourself. God’s name, given you in Holy Baptism, is dragged through the mud, when you live in the muck and mire of your sin. The Baptized ought to live differently than that Baptized. After all, as the Scripture says,

“For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with [the Devil]? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? 16 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people.” Therefore “Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you.” “I will be a Father to you, And you shall be My sons and daughters, Says the LORD Almighty.” (2-Cor 6)

After all, as you heard from St. Peter today: “The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded.” (1-Pet 4) “

(3. Aha!: The Lord doesn’t act for our sake’s but His own.)

“Woe to those who call evil good and call good evil,” yet “there is only One who is good, that is, God.” And the all-good God doesn’t do things because we get our act together. “Thus says the Lord GOD: ‘I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for My holy name’s sake, which you have profaned among the nations wherever you went.” (Ezek 36) “I will sanctify My name,” He says. (Ezek 36) In fact, He will sanctify you. “I am the LORD who sanctifies you,” He says in another Scripture.

We are to be holy, but He doesn’t act because we are holy. He doesn’t act once we’ve become holy. He acts to make you holy. For it is not a matter of works but of faith. “For what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.’ Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness.” (Rom 4) And “having been justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord ΙΗϹ Christ,” (Rom 8) “who gave Himself up as a propitiation for all,” (1-Tim 2) even you and me.

(2. Whee!: CHRIST REALLY DOES SEND THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH TO YOU.)

Sanctifying you is the work of the Holy Spirit. “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.” Or as He says again: “When the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.”

CHRIST REALLY DOES SEND THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH TO YOU.

The Holy Spirit helps you. He bears witness to what Christ has done for you. That He came from the Father and has gone back to the Father, going back as the Lamb who was slain—died and risen! “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” He bears witness with our Spirit because we’ve been given the Holy Spirit, for CHRIST REALLY DOES SEND THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH TO YOU.

Christ sent Him to you in Holy Baptism. For it is “the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom [God] poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.” (Tit 3) For being baptized as Christ commands, we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2)

Christ sends the Spirit through the Word. For men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. (2-Pet 1) It is the Spirit’s Word to sanctify and keep us in the truth faith unto life everlasting.

The Spirit comes to us in the Word of the Sacrament. Hear the Word of the LORD! For in that Word He takes what is common and makes it holy—bread and wine to be His body and blood. The Spirit through that Word also creates a clean heart within you, strengthening your faith. In eating the flesh and blood of Christ, which the Spirit incarnated in the blessed Virgin’s womb, the Spirit strengthens and keeps you in body and soul unto life everlasting.

CHRIST REALLY DOES SEND THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH TO YOU.

(1. Yeah!: Now by the Spirit you will walk in and keep and do the Lord’s Will and WORD.)

By sending the Spirit of Truth, Christ will cause you to walk in the truth. For by bespeaking you holy, that is what you are. The Lord “calls the evil good,” but He’s not whitewashing evil, but rather absolving the evil from it, that they sin no more, to turn them from the evil unto the good, to make them good and righteous, to declare the unrighteous righteous, to justify the ungodly, to forgive sinners.

Now by the Spirit you will walk in and keep and do the Lord’s Will and WORD. “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.” (Ezek 36)

And the world will hate you for it. When you run away from what the world calls good, they will hate you. When you walk in the the Lord’s Way which is good they will despise you all the more. “A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant his master.” (Mt 10) If they killed Christ, killing you is in the cards, too. “Yes, the time is coming when those who kill you will think they’re offering service to God.”

For this you need more Spirit. CHRIST REALLY DOES SEND THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH TO YOU. In fact, Christ sends Him, but also the Father grants the Spirit to those who ask Him for the Holy Spirit, as Christ says. (Lk 11) “Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice!” (Ps 27) “Take not Your Holy Spirit from me!” (Ps 51)

“Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.” (1-Thess 5)

᛭ INI ᛭