Second Midweek Lenten Service: Date: February 24, 2021
Theme: He Purchased and Won Me!
Text: Titus 2:13-14
“Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.” (NKJV)
PRAYER, LORD’S PRAYER
HYMN 158 Glory Be to Jesus
1. Glory be to Jesus, Who in bitter pains
Poured for me the life blood From His sacred veins.
2. Grace and life eternal In that blood I find;
Blest be His compassion Infinitely kind.
3. Blest through endless ages Be the precious stream
Which from endless torments Did the world redeem!
4. Abel’s blood for vengeance Pleaded to the skies;
But the blood of Jesus For our pardon cries.
5. Oft as earth exulting Wafts its praise on high,
Angel hosts rejoicing Make their glad reply.
6. Lift we, then, our voices, Swell the mighty flood,
Louder still and louder Praise the precious blood!
THE BENEDICTION: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy
Spirit be with you all.
Congr.: Amen
HYMN 558:1-4 All Praise to Thee, My God, This Night
1. All praise to Thee, my God, this night
For all the blessings of the light.
Keep me, Oh, keep me, King of kings,
Beneath Thine own almighty wings.
2. Forgive me, Lord, for Thy dear Son,
The ill that I this day have done
That with the world, myself, and Thee
I, ere I sleep, at peace may be.
3. Teach me to live that I may dread
The grave as little as my bed.
Teach me to die that so I may
Rise glorious at the awe-full Day.
4. Oh, may my soul on Thee repose,
And may sweet sleep mine eyelids close
Sleep that shall me more vigorous make
To serve my God when I awake!
2021 LENTEN MEDITATIONS
IT’S ALL ABOUT REDEMPTION!
February 17: Text: Romans 5:12, 18
Theme: He has Redeemed Me, a Lost and Condemned Person
Responsive Reading: Psalm 51:1-12
Passion Lesson: The Passover (p. 170-172)
Hymns: 140:1,4,5; 369:1,4,5; 163:1-4; 313:1
February 24: Text: Titus 2:13,14
Theme: He Purchased and Won Me
Responsive Reading: Psalm 130
Passion Lesson: Lord’s Supper Instituted (p. 174-175, 183)
Hymns 351; 153; 158; 558:1-4
March 3: Text: 1 John 1:7-9
Theme: He Set Me Free from All Sin
Responsive Reading: Psalm, 103:1-14
Passion Lesson: Judas Betrays Jesus (p.185-186)
March 10: Text: Romans 6:23
Theme: He Saved Me from the Death
Responsive Reading: Psalm 73:21-26
Passion Lesson: Peter’s Denial (p.189-190)
March 17: Text: Genesis 3:15
Theme: He Saved Me from the Devil’s Power
Responsive Reading: Psalm 2
Passion Lesson: Trial Before Herod, Barabbas (p.192-194)
March 24: Text: 1 John 3:1
Theme: He Made Me His Own Forever
Responsive Reading: Psalm 23
Passion Lesson: Jesus Is Crucified (p.196-197)
April 1: Text: 1 Corinthians 11:23-29
Theme: He Gave His Body and Blood for Me
Responsive Reading: Psalm 32
Passion Lesson: Dying Thief, Three Dark Hours (p. 198-199)
April 2: Text: 1 Peter 1:18-21a
Theme: He Redeemed Me Through His Innocent Sufferings and Death!
Responsive Reading: Psalm 22:1-19
Passion Lesson: Jesus’ Death and Burial (p.199-201)
( Pastor Theodore Barthels )
Bulletin: Read Bulletin
Sermon: Read Sermon
Hymns: 140:1,4,5; 369:1,4,5; 163:1-4; 313:1
Sermon
St. Paul’s Lutheran Church
2100 16th Street SW
Austin, MN 55912-1749
Pastor Ted Barthels
Sermon preached on
February 24, 2021
2nd Midweek Lent
Passion Lesson: Lord’s Supper Instituted, Responsive Psalm: 130
Hymns: 351; 153; 158; 558:1-4
Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Sermon Text: Titus 2:13-14
“Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.” (NKJV)
This is the Word of God.
Sanctify us, oh Lord, through Your truth. Your Word is truth. Amen.
In Christ Jesus, God our Savior, dear fellow Redeemed:
INTRO: It’s All about OUR Redemption.
This Lenten season as we meditate upon the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are doing so with a review of what we confess about Jesus in the Second Article of the Apostles Creed. What Luther emphasized, what we must realize, is that it all (that is everything from Jesus’ conception to Jesus’ ascension to glory at the right hand of God) was about one thing: OUR REDEMPTION!
Reciting these words of Luther as our confession of faith reminds us that our redemption involved many aspects not only of our Savior’s life, but also its impact on our lives, necessary things to bring us our salvation. This evening we shall take a closer look at the concept of redemption to better realize how —
THEME: He Purchased and Won Me!
I. He Purchased Me.
We start with the basic meaning of redemption. It is a matter of paying something for something. We use the word in English in different ways. You may see on the coupons one might use in the supermarket that you are to “redeem” these coupons, that is hand them over at the cash register to secure some grocery item for a bargain price. If you look more closely in the fine print you will see the instructions for the grocer to redeem the coupon for cash from the manufacturer. It also lists a cash value for the coupon that is infinitesimally small. No one redeems the coupon for cash except the proper businessman who must substantiate sufficient sales to merit the redemption.
We are on a whole different scale when we talk about the redemption that Lent is about, but it is paying a price to secure something. The debt that had to be paid was owed to God. However, the slavery that resulted from this debt was a slavery to sin. We lived in sin and served sin as slaves, our will bound by sin. It is as Paul wrote to the Romans. “Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?” (Romans 6:16)
Yes, we are talking about someone paying a redemption price to free slaves from a horrible and destructive and cruel slavery. Bound in slavery by sin and to sin, mankind abides in hopelessness for any future life. If one dies in this state of slavery one does not go to a better place. If one is imprisoned in this slavery one fears and trembles at the thought of the appearing of God on the Last Day. Redemption is the buying of the slave’s freedom from its cruel master, but the price of such redemption does not come cheap. The price is dear beyond measure!
Our text tells us: “He gave Himself for us.” (v.14) Who gave Himself for us? You answered automatically in your minds and hearts, “Jesus! Jesus gave Himself for us!” But who is Jesus? The answer to that question lies at the very heart of the hope that we have that leads us to watch for His glorious reappearing. Jesus was and is a Man, the Son, or descendent of David, the Man born of Mary, but also the Only Begotten Son of God. “True God begotten of the Father from eternity.” That’s the faith we confessed just a few minutes ago. We are looking for “the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ!” (v.13) Jesus, our great God and Savior, gave Himself for me, for Me!
We can’t stop there. It would be worse than foolish to stop there. It would be pointless. This act of redemption had a point. Jesus gave Himself for us that He might secure an important objective. “He gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from every lawless deed.” (v.14) The stated objective that Jesus secured was to free us from that slavery to sin that we should no longer serve sin in our mortal bodies. He set us free from sin, not free TO sin. There is no free TO sin, or to do whatever the carnal desires of our sinful flesh, this filthy world, or the evil devil would seduce us into fulfilling. That was slavery from which Jesus redeemed us by giving Himself for us, by dying in our place, by paying our debt to God. He died that we might have hope! He came into the world and died in our place so that when our earthly sojourn is over, we do have hope! We will go to that better place the world clings to only euphemistically. For us it is the reality of our salvation. This is the hope that possesses our hearts.
By this doing this —
II. He Won Me.
He won my heart., He won my life. He owns me. But it is more than owning me. He won me. He delivered me from death, and gave me life that involves a glorious service, servitude to Him.
Yes, our sinful pride protests, but our sinful nature still desires the pleasures of the flesh, and still desires to be the master of my own life. We would live in denial of the blessed reality of what it means to be bondservants of the Lord. It is a blessing. It is a wondrous blessing in which we have been purified from sin and evil desires and made to be His own special people. Jesus gave Himself for us, in order to purify us! Yes, we belong to the Lord. He won us. We aren’t just free; we are free from sin. We are free to serve righteousness. So Paul also wrote to the Corinthians: “Do you not know that … you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” (1 Cor 6:20)
Jesus gave Himself for us that we might be His own special people. This is a great and special status that comes to us by the grace of God. We will be speaking of this more in another of our Lenten meditations. Let it suffice for this evening to proceed to the difference this makes in our hearts, in our lives and in our behavior.
In redeeming us from every lawless deed, in setting us free from that cruel and hopeless slavery that could only end in death, our hearts were changed. Instead of pursuing the pleasures of the flesh, we abhor sin that appears in our lives. Now we are zealous for good works! Nothing could be more wonderful than for us to glorify our Lord Jesus. We are eager to serve the Lord. As His people we are pleased to serve Him, after all, He saved our lives! He saved our lives from hell! We are thrilled at the prospect of doing anything that responds positively to that gift of grace, that will please Him, that will honor His name before the world.
It is all about REDEMPTION! It is about OUR redemption. He gave us our life back. By a miracle of grace He paid the price that had to be paid to give me a second chance at life. Without this gift of grace that comes through a crucified Savior, I have no chance at life. Now I have a life that is meaningful, beneficial to others, as well as honoring and praising the Lord who created me, and then refused to give up on me, but redeemed me from every lawless deed, so I could serve Him, with a real zeal for the gospel, a real zeal for souls, a real zeal for my great God and Savior Jesus Christ.
“What can I for such love divine, To Thee, Lord Jesus render?
No merit has this heart of mine; Yet while I live, I’ll tender
Myself alone, and all I own, In love to serve before Thee;
Then when time’s past, Take me at last,
To Thy blest home in glory.” (The Lutheran Hymnal 150:5)
AMEN.
“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Amen. (Romans15:13)