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Tag: luther

  • Crushed

    Crushed

    Let’s get something straight:

    You are not good enough for Heaven. I am not even good enough for my church, my wife or my child.

    If we cannot do enough good works to earn our place with a Holy God, how will we ever pay what we owe for our many sins?chained to sin

    Answer:

    We can not.

    No work we can do is good enough to pay the high price of our sins.

    Five hundred years ago Martin Luther and many others sought to reform church leadership. Those protesting rejected sacramental penance of man for the true repentance of a man’s heart won back to God.

     

    For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.

    Ephesians 2:8

     

    Why did the LORD send Jesus to the Cross for my sins?

    A most unattainable thing about goodness: We cannot attain it. We will always trespass. We will always sin.

     

    Romans 7:

    crushed by guilt15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.

    18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.

    19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.

     

    The Scriptures foretold of the coming of the Christ, who IS in the Person of Jesus.

    Around 700 B.C., the Prophet Isaiah [in chapter 53] described the Savior of Israel, the Redeemer of the world:

    He was despised and rejected by men;
    a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
    and as one from whom men hide their faces
    he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
    Surely he has borne our griefs
    and carried our sorrows;
    yet we esteemed him stricken,
    smitten by God, and afflicted.

    But he was pierced for our transgressions;
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
    upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
    and with his wounds we are healed.

    All we like sheep have gone astray;
    we have turned—every one—to his own way;
    and the LORD has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all.

    Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him;
    he has put him to grief;

    when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
    he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
    the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.

    Isaiah 53:10

    What good work will your soul offer for your guilt?

    Mark 10:

    17 And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone…

    “… come, follow me.” 22 Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

    “Then who can be saved?”

    27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”

     

    Are we good enough for Heaven?

    NOT without the grace of God by faith in Christ Jesus, alone.

    The generous philanthropy of the greatest foundation for charity to all the causes of good can not buy Heaven and eternal life for even one unrepentant sinner without the grace of faith in Jesus Christ.

    GOD gave breath to your spirit, formed you in your mother’s womb and calls you to a life by faith in the Spirit.

    Fellow sinner, when will you repent of your many sins?

    Are you not crushed by your sins when your mind is convicted in guilt and no good work will lift the burden from you? Do you still consider that another good work will pay the price of the Lord’s piercing and death for you?

    Confess your sin before Almighty God! Bow down your selfish will before Christ Jesus. Repent once more, dear fellow sinner. Turn back to the righteousness of our loving Father.

    For God intends for your brief journey here beneath the immeasurable heavens and timeless creation to glorify your Lord. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

    Let us confess that we among many cannot do good without the grace of God.

    We are saved by faith alone: in Christ Jesus, the only Son, One with the Father.

    Humble your failing flesh to guidance of the Holy Spirit through faith in Christ Jesus, eternal Judge of all mortal souls.

    crushed by guiltREPENT! Self-righteous sinner.

    Turn back to the LORD by faith in Christ Jesus,

    While it is yet today;

    Before you are crushed

    By sin and death,

    Before your good legacy becomes

    Another forgotten rotting vanity.

     

  • Nun danket alle Gott

    Nun danket alle Gott

    “Now thank we all our God” is a popular Christian hymn. It is a translation from the German “Nun danket alle Gott”, written circa 1636 by Martin Rinkart (1586–1649), which in turn was inspired by Sirach, chapter 50 verses 22–24, from the praises of Simon the high priest. It was translated into English in the 19th Century by Catherine Winkworth.

    Modern Christian songs of praise and worship paint a joyful enough picture of Christianity for us and focus well on the grace of Christ and the joy of heaven to come. Now thank we all our God is a 17th century text that comes to us from a time of religious wars resulting from the Protestant Reformation.

    Giving thanks to God in all circumstances is not always easy. Worship of God is not always our first reaction to difficulty. Rinkart experienced such difficulties, as have many faithful Christians of all denominations throughout these last centuries.

    You do not need the word of a Pope, a Bishop or other authority to understand that the Bible, God’s Word, is often at the center of religious controversies and even wars. Some Protestants will not even recognize the source of this popular hymn as one inspired from the Canon and Apocrypha of the Bible of some churches; however none will dispute the truth of the worship in these verses.

    Apocrypha: Sirach Chapter 50

    22 Now therefore bless ye the God of all, which only doeth wondrous things every where, which exalteth our days from the womb, and dealeth with us according to his mercy.

    23 He grant us joyfulness of heart, and that peace may be in our days in Israel for ever:

    24 That he would confirm his mercy with us, and deliver us at his time!

     

    German pastor Martin Rinkart served in the walled town of Eilenburg during the horrors of the Thirty Years’ War of 1618-1648. Eilenburg became an overcrowded refuge for the surrounding area. The fugitives suffered from epidemic and famine. At the beginning of 1637, the year of the Great Pestilence, there were four ministers in Eilenburg. But one abandoned his post for healthier areas and could not be persuaded to return. Pastor Rinkart officiated at the funerals of the other two. As the only pastor left, he often conducted services for as many as 40 to 50 persons a day—some 4,480 in all. In May of that year, his own wife died. By the end of the year, the refugees had to be buried in trenches without services.

    Pastor Rinkart’s text was once well-known in many languages and musical settings. It is well worth our consideration in this season of Thanksgiving, a thankfulness for God’s harvest and our very souls by the mercy and grace of Christ Jesus.

    German Text (verses in bold print set by Bach)

    English Translation – source: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Texts/Chorale134-Eng3.htm

    1

     

    Nun danket alle Gott
    Mit Herzen, Mund und Händen,
    Der große Dinge tut
    An uns und allen Enden,
    Der uns von Mutterleib
    Und Kindesbeinen an
    Unzählig viel zu gut
    Bis hier her hat getan.

     

    Now all thank God
    with heart, mouth and hands;
    He does great things
    for us and all our purposes;
    He for us from our mother’s womb
    and childish steps
    countless great good
    has done and still continues to do.

    2

     

    Der ewig reiche Gott
    Woll uns bei unsrem Leben
    Ein immer fröhlich Herz
    Und edlen Frieden geben,
    Und uns in seiner Gnad,
    Erhalten fort und fort
    Und uns aus aller Not
    Erlösen hier und dort.

     

    May God who is forever rich
    be willing to give us in our life
    a heart that is always joyful
    and noble peace
    and in his mercy
    maintain us for ever and ever
    and free us from all distress
    here and there (both on earth and in heaven).

    3

     

    Lob, Ehr und Preis sei Gott,
    Dem Vater und dem Sohne
    Und dem, der beiden gleich
    Im höchsten Himmelsthrone,
    Dem einig höchsten Gott,
    Als er anfänglich war
    Und ist und bleiben wird
    Jetzt und immerdar.

     

    Glory, honour and praise be to God,
    to the Father and to the Son
    and to Him, who is equal to both
    on heaven’s high throne,
    to the triune God,
    as he was from the beginning
    and is and will remain
    now and forever.

    1 Peter 1:

    Born Again to a Living Hope

    3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

    6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

    8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.