WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.700 --> 00:00:03.300 Grace be unto you and peace from God 2 00:00:03.300 --> 00:00:07.200 our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. 3 00:00:09.100 --> 00:00:12.900 The sermon this morning will not be based on the reading you just 4 00:00:12.900 --> 00:00:19.300 heard but rather it is based on the Benedictus which we're going to 5 00:00:19.300 --> 00:00:20.300 seem very soon. 6 00:00:20.800 --> 00:00:23.300 Taken from Luke chapter one. 7 00:00:23.300 --> 00:00:28.000 In fact, on one word in verse 78. In the tender 8 00:00:28.000 --> 00:00:30.300 mercy of our God, the dawn from on high 9 00:00:30.500 --> 00:00:35.100 shall break upon us to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the 10 00:00:35.100 --> 00:00:39.100 shadow of death and to guide our feet into the way of peace. 11 00:00:39.600 --> 00:00:45.500 I'm talking about the word dawn, which really is one word in the Greek 12 00:00:45.900 --> 00:00:50.800 and and also in in the in this translation, which we have from the 13 00:00:50.800 --> 00:00:52.100 English Standard Version. 14 00:00:52.300 --> 00:01:00.000 And also in the King James is one word that is dayspring. And the the 15 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:00.300 NIV 16 00:01:00.500 --> 00:01:04.800 makes two words out of it, rising sun, no matter how you say it. 17 00:01:05.400 --> 00:01:11.900 It is a sparkling image of light and sunrise used by Zechariah to 18 00:01:12.400 --> 00:01:16.600 describe the saving work of the mighty Savior in bringing 19 00:01:16.600 --> 00:01:19.600 forgiveness, and guidance into peace. 20 00:01:20.300 --> 00:01:26.400 Now, see C. F. W. Walther whos work, we recognize in the Walther Roundtable, 21 00:01:26.400 --> 00:01:28.800 which is meeting today. 22 00:01:30.600 --> 00:01:34.600 Knew very well that Zechariah Sunrise image here 23 00:01:34.900 --> 00:01:39.600 points to the coming of Christ, the Savior and the testimony given to 24 00:01:39.600 --> 00:01:41.600 Christ by his son 25 00:01:41.600 --> 00:01:48.400 John the Baptizer. In a sermon on the Benedictus Walther explained, how 26 00:01:48.400 --> 00:01:54.200 Jesus is the Rising Sun, and the true basis of forgiveness, 27 00:01:54.200 --> 00:01:57.100 justification and peace with God. 28 00:01:58.400 --> 00:02:00.300 And as he says, in the sermon, 29 00:02:00.400 --> 00:02:07.000 John was chosen to give people knowledge of their salvation that 30 00:02:07.000 --> 00:02:11.600 lies in the forgiveness of sins by the mercy of God, in which the 31 00:02:11.600 --> 00:02:18.800 dayspring from on high the Son, son, of righteousness has visited us. 32 00:02:19.000 --> 00:02:23.800 Now, that homonym relationship between Son & 33 00:02:23.800 --> 00:02:30.300 sun also exists in German usage and Walther that aster wordsmith 34 00:02:30.500 --> 00:02:39.800 knew about that and he and he, he uses it here. In order to tell us 35 00:02:39.800 --> 00:02:46.200 about the the sunshine that comes from the Son of God, who is also the 36 00:02:46.200 --> 00:02:47.400 Son of righteousness. 37 00:02:48.300 --> 00:02:54.900 Now, this year's Roundtable will focus on the 175th anniversary of the 38 00:02:54.900 --> 00:02:56.500 origin of the Missouri 39 00:02:56.500 --> 00:02:57.200 Synod. 40 00:02:57.800 --> 00:02:59.800 And the, the theme 41 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:01.100 of the Roundtable 42 00:03:01.100 --> 00:03:02.100 ask the question 43 00:03:02.200 --> 00:03:05.600 why create another synod? 44 00:03:06.900 --> 00:03:12.300 That is why didn't Walther and his co-workers, simply join hands with 45 00:03:12.300 --> 00:03:17.700 one of the twelve Lutheran bodies Church bodies already existing at 46 00:03:17.700 --> 00:03:18.500 that time 47 00:03:18.500 --> 00:03:25.200 1847, like the Ohio Synod or the General Synod, which was 48 00:03:25.200 --> 00:03:32.500 actually growing conglomerate of many districts synods. Or the Buffalo 49 00:03:32.500 --> 00:03:36.600 Synod, or any other one and merge with it. 50 00:03:37.800 --> 00:03:44.100 At the first Convention of the Synod in 1847 Walther preached a sermon 51 00:03:44.200 --> 00:03:46.000 which began with the words. 52 00:03:46.500 --> 00:03:54.400 The very most important matter in synodical fellowship is pure 53 00:03:54.400 --> 00:03:56.100 doctrine and knowledge. 54 00:03:57.100 --> 00:04:02.700 That was their guiding principle there. In this sermon on a text from 55 00:04:02.700 --> 00:04:06.100 the first chapter of first Thessalonians first 56 00:04:06.800 --> 00:04:13.600 First Corinthians, he brings out how this matter is important and 57 00:04:13.600 --> 00:04:18.399 influential for the commitments guidance mutual encouragement and 58 00:04:18.399 --> 00:04:23.900 faithful life and service and witness of members of such a fellowship. 59 00:04:24.200 --> 00:04:26.400 In this sermon of Walther 60 00:04:27.100 --> 00:04:35.900 we see numerous examples of the image of sunrise, dawn and light in 61 00:04:35.900 --> 00:04:36.500 Christ. 62 00:04:38.300 --> 00:04:47.300 In which came up often in Walther's never-ending, concern 63 00:04:47.300 --> 00:04:51.800 for pure doctrine and faithful scripture understanding of it, in 64 00:04:51.800 --> 00:04:56.100 examination of the approaches of the religious bodies, whether 65 00:04:56.100 --> 00:04:59.800 Lutheran or otherwise. For example. 66 00:05:02.000 --> 00:05:07.300 When this is established in a synodical fellowship, he says the sun 67 00:05:07.300 --> 00:05:09.800 of Truth shines ever brighter. 68 00:05:09.900 --> 00:05:14.300 That kind of synodical fellowship will then always be a cloud of 69 00:05:14.300 --> 00:05:21.000 witnesses for the single truth against all heresies. A light of the 70 00:05:21.000 --> 00:05:28.600 world, against the spiritual darkness, as Walther knew this is a 71 00:05:28.600 --> 00:05:31.600 correct usage of the language. 72 00:05:31.900 --> 00:05:36.100 The correct biblical usage of language according to which a church 73 00:05:36.100 --> 00:05:37.300 faithful to Christ 74 00:05:37.300 --> 00:05:39.600 the light will itself 75 00:05:39.600 --> 00:05:41.800 be a light for Christ. 76 00:05:42.300 --> 00:05:46.300 Jesus said, I am the light of the world and he says to the church. 77 00:05:47.400 --> 00:05:50.000 You are the light of the world. 78 00:05:51.200 --> 00:05:56.800 But Walther does not want the pastors and members of the Missouri 79 00:05:56.800 --> 00:05:59.600 Synod to pat themselves on the back for 80 00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:05.500 possessing pure doctrine by virtue of a strong desire for it, or great 81 00:06:05.500 --> 00:06:11.300 human intellectual ability in and cleverness, in finding it or 82 00:06:11.300 --> 00:06:12.800 deserving to have it. 83 00:06:13.700 --> 00:06:18.200 The theme of the his sermon here is always to remember that pure 84 00:06:18.200 --> 00:06:25.300 doctrine and understanding is a free gift of divine grace. 85 00:06:27.300 --> 00:06:29.800 And the image of light is brought in here 86 00:06:29.800 --> 00:06:37.100 also. When Walther says, if God does not enlighten the understanding and 87 00:06:37.100 --> 00:06:41.900 heart of the reader who is searching scripture than either, this 88 00:06:41.900 --> 00:06:47.900 shining Light contained in the most glorious books will appear to him 89 00:06:47.900 --> 00:06:54.700 as darkness, or he will imagine that he finds something entirely 90 00:06:54.700 --> 00:06:55.900 different from 91 00:06:56.200 --> 00:07:03.800 what is actually written in it. In Walther's sermon here, at the first 92 00:07:03.800 --> 00:07:05.000 Convention of Synod. 93 00:07:05.500 --> 00:07:10.200 The image of sunlight is given full display in describing the 94 00:07:10.200 --> 00:07:12.000 development of Luther. 95 00:07:13.100 --> 00:07:16.800 Walther says that in the beginning "through the reading of 96 00:07:16.800 --> 00:07:23.800 scripture, a ray of light had fallen into his languishing soul, but 97 00:07:23.800 --> 00:07:28.400 then the light of truth pressed ever deeper into this monks," 98 00:07:28.400 --> 00:07:31.300 that is our Luther's soul. 99 00:07:33.500 --> 00:07:37.200 And he prayed on, he searched on he preached on. 100 00:07:37.200 --> 00:07:39.300 He battled on, and behold 101 00:07:39.300 --> 00:07:44.600 after a few years, the full Son of pure doctrine and knowledge 102 00:07:44.700 --> 00:07:47.500 arose over the whole of Christianity 103 00:07:47.500 --> 00:07:52.900 again through him as it had not shown since the apostolic age. 104 00:07:55.000 --> 00:07:59.900 But the word of God, for all of its marvelous light must not be 105 00:07:59.900 --> 00:08:06.100 neglected or rejected, but faithfully used for sound teaching and 106 00:08:06.100 --> 00:08:11.700 practice and helpful consul in witness to one another and, and to 107 00:08:11.700 --> 00:08:13.200 others outside our church. 108 00:08:13.200 --> 00:08:20.100 The image of sunlight is also used here to give a warning, 109 00:08:20.100 --> 00:08:22.500 even in 1847. 110 00:08:22.500 --> 00:08:24.800 Walther says, that 111 00:08:25.000 --> 00:08:25.800 "As God 112 00:08:25.800 --> 00:08:31.500 lets the light of the temporal sun arise not only over the pious but 113 00:08:32.100 --> 00:08:34.400 over the good and the evil." 114 00:08:35.400 --> 00:08:40.500 "So this is also true of the light of pure doctrine." 115 00:08:41.200 --> 00:08:47.500 "But both of these can also be extinguished as quickly as a lamp." 116 00:08:48.200 --> 00:08:54.700 And again "are we not already negligent in the faithful use of 117 00:08:54.700 --> 00:08:54.800 this 118 00:08:54.900 --> 00:08:56.900 highest Heavenly gift 119 00:08:56.900 --> 00:08:59.800 that a church can partake of?" "I say, whoa 120 00:09:00.000 --> 00:09:05.600 to us if we will not acknowledge and if we no longer stand up against 121 00:09:05.600 --> 00:09:11.800 this danger into which we are already drifting so quickly as the 122 00:09:11.800 --> 00:09:13.200 light as risen among us." 123 00:09:13.400 --> 00:09:19.000 "It can be extinguished just as quickly among us." Already already in 124 00:09:19.000 --> 00:09:19.900 1847 125 00:09:19.900 --> 00:09:20.700 he says that. 126 00:09:22.300 --> 00:09:27.900 And once again, image of light comes in, with a quotation from Luther. 127 00:09:28.300 --> 00:09:33.300 Who says "gather fruit, while the sun is out, and it is good 128 00:09:33.300 --> 00:09:33.800 weather." 129 00:09:34.300 --> 00:09:41.100 Use God's Word and grace while it is here, grab hold of it, and, and 130 00:09:41.100 --> 00:09:41.900 retain it. 131 00:09:42.900 --> 00:09:45.500 And so, Luther's, and Walther's sermon 132 00:09:45.800 --> 00:09:50.600 and our sermon end at the same point with Luther shouting at us, 133 00:09:51.000 --> 00:09:52.000 seconded by 134 00:09:52.200 --> 00:09:59.900 Walther. Grab hold of it and retain it and the it the it here has a 135 00:10:00.900 --> 00:10:07.700 double meaning in what it refers to. That is it refers to God's grace 136 00:10:08.000 --> 00:10:10.600 and it refers to God's Word. 137 00:10:11.700 --> 00:10:12.300 Amen.