September 11, 2011: Isaiah 29:17-24, Psalm 146, 2 Corinthians 3:1-11, Mark 7:31-37
“For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory.” Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
There is a great difference, a great chasm between that which is of man and the world and that which is of God and His heaven. That there is a grand split between what that is of our age-of our understandings, thoughts and faith-and that what is God’s and of God-of His declarations, proclamations and divine will. And it is of such a gulf, that the Apostle Paul today calls it that difference between the letter that kills, from the spirit which gives life.
For isn’t that is what kept the man in our Gospel lesson today deaf and mute his entire life? Reading between the lines, we can say with assurance that the man had been completely forsaken by the limits of this world’s power-that nothing was found to be done to cure the man of his disability. That we can honestly say that this world had completely failed him in finding some relief-he had been and was doomed to live a life of complete and utter silence.
Thus it took an act of God-and even God Himself-to come and actually bring about the change which he needed for a new life. For unlike the world, when he was brought to Christ Jesus, he wasn’t left with some pious platitude about how it will get better in the future, but Christ actually gave and did to him a better future. And so, the man who was brought to Jesus in verse 32 was a very different one when he left in verse 35, because, as we are told, “the man’s ears were opened and his tongue was released and he went away speaking plainly.”
So thus we see this great difference and distance between what this world and this God can give and do. For no matter how great the things that this world can bestow-as the Apostle Paul attests in 2 Corinthians this morning-it does not compare that which is given by God. The prophet Isaiah reminded the people that it is only when God works for you, will you actually begin to find something worthwhile-for it is the poor which will exult in the Lord while the scoffer shall cease. Because while, the Psalmist said, the princes of this age will one day wither away, it is the power of God which indeed lasts forever.
For what can this world offer to you, except that in the end, the letter of the law will be fulfilled and death will reign over you? Because the fact is that there is nothing that you can do, in yourself, to free you from the curse of God over the sin you commit and revel in. That, as the world even suffers under this weight, so all who live bears the pangs and perils of condemnation. The deaf and mute man in Mark today is a living illustration of this-he was bound forever in himself and was condemned under the letter of the law which declares that the deaf may not hear and the mute will not talk.
But when Jesus, bringing with Him the power of the Holy Spirit, happened upon that him, life sprung up where there once was only death-and suddenly, as God promised in Isaiah, on that day, the deaf did hear and the meek obtained fresh joy in the Lord. Thus, the deaf and mute man found this in his newly given ability to hear and speak. Paul found this when his life went from one of persecution to seeing the greatest commendation was that of the Corinthian’s saving faith. And you find this out in the fact that even again today, you have been given a Word and a promise that your sins of this world have been forgiven and your death in this world will one day come to an end.
Which means that the only hope you have to find a life from the death you are all headed toward, is to have this same Jesus, bringing with Him the same Spirit, to place His healing finger over you and open the gate of heaven-opening the assurance that in Him alone, will you find forgiveness from your sins and a life from your death. The only assurance you must cling to is this one Word of life coming from the lips of the One who promises to open the lips of even the dead.
Because Jesus is the very Son of God, given to die for the sins of the world. His life, lived in unity with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, was poured out on the cross, suffering under the wrath and becoming the curse of God, so that it might be forever taken off of mankind. He entered the dark tomb of death and descended into hell in order to “Ephphatha,” to open their bonds on all who are forever bound in sin and death. He was raised on the third day and ascended into heaven so to give the hope and promise of life everlasting to those who cling to Him alone for salvation.
And as Jesus draws near you today, tune your ears to this Word which He is speaking-for it is the Word of God, profitable for salvation to all who hears and so believe. Hear Him as He brings in Him your redemption from sin, death and the power of the devil-for faith in His name opens the gates of heaven. For there is none other, the Psalmist says, who is able to save you after your breath departs, because He alone has risen triumphant over death and the grave-and now nothing, nothing of this world, can overcome the glories which is given in your saving Lord and God. Amen.
There is a great difference, a great chasm between that which is of man and the world and that which is of God and His heaven. That there is a grand split between what that is of our age-of our understandings, thoughts and faith-and that what is God’s and of God-of His declarations, proclamations and divine will. And it is of such a gulf, that the Apostle Paul today calls it that difference between the letter that kills, from the spirit which gives life.
For isn’t that is what kept the man in our Gospel lesson today deaf and mute his entire life? Reading between the lines, we can say with assurance that the man had been completely forsaken by the limits of this world’s power-that nothing was found to be done to cure the man of his disability. That we can honestly say that this world had completely failed him in finding some relief-he had been and was doomed to live a life of complete and utter silence.
Thus it took an act of God-and even God Himself-to come and actually bring about the change which he needed for a new life. For unlike the world, when he was brought to Christ Jesus, he wasn’t left with some pious platitude about how it will get better in the future, but Christ actually gave and did to him a better future. And so, the man who was brought to Jesus in verse 32 was a very different one when he left in verse 35, because, as we are told, “the man’s ears were opened and his tongue was released and he went away speaking plainly.”
So thus we see this great difference and distance between what this world and this God can give and do. For no matter how great the things that this world can bestow-as the Apostle Paul attests in 2 Corinthians this morning-it does not compare that which is given by God. The prophet Isaiah reminded the people that it is only when God works for you, will you actually begin to find something worthwhile-for it is the poor which will exult in the Lord while the scoffer shall cease. Because while, the Psalmist said, the princes of this age will one day wither away, it is the power of God which indeed lasts forever.
For what can this world offer to you, except that in the end, the letter of the law will be fulfilled and death will reign over you? Because the fact is that there is nothing that you can do, in yourself, to free you from the curse of God over the sin you commit and revel in. That, as the world even suffers under this weight, so all who live bears the pangs and perils of condemnation. The deaf and mute man in Mark today is a living illustration of this-he was bound forever in himself and was condemned under the letter of the law which declares that the deaf may not hear and the mute will not talk.
But when Jesus, bringing with Him the power of the Holy Spirit, happened upon that him, life sprung up where there once was only death-and suddenly, as God promised in Isaiah, on that day, the deaf did hear and the meek obtained fresh joy in the Lord. Thus, the deaf and mute man found this in his newly given ability to hear and speak. Paul found this when his life went from one of persecution to seeing the greatest commendation was that of the Corinthian’s saving faith. And you find this out in the fact that even again today, you have been given a Word and a promise that your sins of this world have been forgiven and your death in this world will one day come to an end.
Which means that the only hope you have to find a life from the death you are all headed toward, is to have this same Jesus, bringing with Him the same Spirit, to place His healing finger over you and open the gate of heaven-opening the assurance that in Him alone, will you find forgiveness from your sins and a life from your death. The only assurance you must cling to is this one Word of life coming from the lips of the One who promises to open the lips of even the dead.
Because Jesus is the very Son of God, given to die for the sins of the world. His life, lived in unity with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, was poured out on the cross, suffering under the wrath and becoming the curse of God, so that it might be forever taken off of mankind. He entered the dark tomb of death and descended into hell in order to “Ephphatha,” to open their bonds on all who are forever bound in sin and death. He was raised on the third day and ascended into heaven so to give the hope and promise of life everlasting to those who cling to Him alone for salvation.
And as Jesus draws near you today, tune your ears to this Word which He is speaking-for it is the Word of God, profitable for salvation to all who hears and so believe. Hear Him as He brings in Him your redemption from sin, death and the power of the devil-for faith in His name opens the gates of heaven. For there is none other, the Psalmist says, who is able to save you after your breath departs, because He alone has risen triumphant over death and the grave-and now nothing, nothing of this world, can overcome the glories which is given in your saving Lord and God. Amen.
posted by Weekly sermons at 9:32 AM
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