St. Luke Ev. Lutheran Church of Watertown

Sermon delivered by Pastor Anthony E. Schultz

Lent 1 Series C February 29, 2004

Deuteronomy 26:8-10

“So the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror and with miraculous signs and wonders. He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and now I bring the firstfruits of the soil that you, O LORD, have given me.” Place the basket before the LORD your God and bow down before him.

People of God—rescued from the flaming lake of fire in hell by the innocent blood of the very Lamb of God:

There was a man in Iran—a terrible criminal who was condemned to death. He was condemned to die—because he had done unspeakable things to 8 small children. For his horrible evil he deserved to die. And so they built a gallows—tall and cold. People from all the villages around were there. They blew whistles—shrill whistles—a horrible terrible racket! And they threw rocks—stones—pelting the man—throwing sharp rocks as hard as they could. And then they put him to death. Can you imagine what that must have been like? The last moments of your life as scary and painful as possible. And then you are dead! I think there is a little part of each of us that says—I’m not perfect. Nobody is! But at least I’m not as terrible as that guy! But we are—I am! I am as terrible as that and worse! For my sins—for my mistakes I deserve not just terrible moments and death. I deserve an eternity in the unimaginable horrors of hell! I deserve to be cut off forever from the grace and goodness and warm love of my Heavenly Father. It is only because Jesus died in my place that I am forgiven and an heir of eternal life. Today—this first Sunday in Lent God’s Word reminds us:

The LORD Brought Us Out Of Eternal Slavery

1. He has given us every precious blessing

2. We will bring back the first fruits

The part of God’s Word we are concentrating on part of the last sermons Moses preached to God’s people before they moved from the wilderness into the promised land. It must have been with great passion and intensity that Moses addressed God’s people—knowing that soon he would die. Just 8 chapters after the one we are concentrating on today God’s Word says—Then Moses climbed Mount Nebo from the plains of Moab…there the LORD showed him the whole land…And Moses the servant of the LORD died there in Moab, as the LORD had said. He buried him in Moab…Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone…Since then no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD know face to face…for no one has ever shown the mighty power or performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel. Deuteronomy 34 selected verses. Imagine that! The Holy One of Israel buried Moses. By grace alone Moses knew the LORD face to face. By grace alone Moses was strong till the end—strong in body—and more precious by far—strong in faith!

Again and again Moses pointed God’s people back to their deliverance from bondage and slavery in Egypt. The fact is—All those who came out of Egypt—all the men of military age—died in the desert on the way after leaving Egypt. Joshua 5:4b The people who entered the promised land—had been children—when they left Egypt. Did they remember? Did they recall the blood, the bugs, the boils, the darkness, the death of the firstborn—that awful wailing and screaming in the darkness of the night—when there was death in the house of every Egyptian? Did they remember or did they forget? Do you remember what you learned in Sunday School, in our day school, in confirmation class? How precious to continue to review and study God’s Word at Luther Preparatory School or Lakeside? How precious—to study God’s Word—in grade school—as the temptations of the devil become harder and harder. How precious to study God’s Word in grade school—when there are the temptations to experiment with alcohol and tobacco and hugs and kisses. How precious to continue to study God’s Word in high school—when you learn to drive a car—and are more and more out in the world—away from your parents—free to make important choices and decisions that in a moment can change the rest of your life—or cost you your life! How important—as one generation saw another whole generation die—to not only remember but reinforce the lessons they had learned from God’s Word!

So the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm… A mighty hand—an outstretched arm! There is in Detroit—an 8,000 pound sculpture—a 24-foot-long arm and fist. That’s one big arm and hand! It’s a statue of the arm and fist of Joe Lewis—a heavy weight prize fighter who back in June of 1938 knocked out Max Schmeling in the first round. That arm—that fist was used to hurt and harm. To hit someone so hard in the head—that they very literally lost consciousness and fell helpless to the floor. The mighty hand and outstretched arm of the LORD—the Great I AM—the Holy One of Israel—brought the army of the most powerful nation on earth to her knees! God’s Word says with great terror and with miraculous signs and wonders! God’s Word says—It is a frightening thing to fall into the hands of the living God! We deserve God’s powerful hand of judgment to send us crashing into the burning lake of sulfur in hell. But he doesn’t. By grace through faith we are rescued. We are forgiven. Instead of being crushed—we are held safe and close in the nail marked hands of the shepherd who died for his sheep!

He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. From Egypt—through the wilderness—to the brink of the promised land—then back into the wilderness for 40 years—the LORD had taken his people by the hand. Now it was time to enter the Promised Land for good. To enter the Promised Land—trusting in the LORD to drive out the huge and powerful people already in the land. The LORD could just as well have driven the Egyptians out—and given the children of Israel not only the land of Goshen—but all of Egypt. He could have done that—made Israel the people of the Nile—except for the LORD’s Gospel promise. The Gospel promise—where the LORD put himself under obligation to bless Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? The Promised land was exactly that—the land promised to Abraham and his descendants. And the LORD always keeps his promises! In the little town of Bethlehem—the Messiah would be born. The Son of God made flesh—born in this land of promise—to wash away all our sins!

He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. A land flowing with milk and honey—that’s what the LORD told Moses when he first called him. When the LORD talked out of a burning bush to a shepherd watching his father-in-law’s sheep. The LORD would rescue his people from the hand of the Egyptians—and bring them up out of that land into a good a spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey. Exodus 3:8 The first time the LORD sent spies into the promised land—they saw the wondrous goodness of the LORD. God’s Word says, “When they reached the valley of Eshcol, they cut off a branch bearing a single cluster of grapes. Two of them carried it on a pole between them, along with some pomegranates and figs.” Numbers 13:23 The logo—the symbol for the Department of Tourism for Israel today—is a drawing of two men carrying one clump of grapes on a pole between them! Surely the LORD has done great things for you and for me—that by grace alone we should have been born in these United States! Just think about walking into a grocery store. Krispy Kreme donuts—fresh baked in Milwaukee—boxes stacked up right where you walk in. To the right shelves and shelves of wine—from Napa Valley, from France and Italy. Napoleon Brandy—Greek Uzo—Irish Crème. Beer from Milwaukee and from Germany—Bock Beer for Lent—Stout from England. Step into the produce department—plastic bags of salads—all kinds of greens in all kinds of combinations—just rinse them and put them into a bowl—a salad that Martha Stewart would be proud of. Potatoes—little round Russets—five and ten pound bags of Idaho potatoes—huge potatoes—individually shrink wrapped. Apples—Granny Smith green ones—little round Red Delicious—burgandy colored winesaps—apples for baking in pies—with crusts crisscrossed and sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon—crispy apples for rubbing on your shirt and biting! There are funny shaped fruits from New Guinnea and New Zealand—grapes from Chile—huge red and green and purple—with no seeds! Fresh lemons and limes—that you can cut into wedges—for no other reason than to squeeze into a glass of fizzy water from France! Next stop—the bakery—doughnuts—bins of doughnut holes—covered with powdered sugar or cinnamon—fresh baked bread French and Italian—buns of different sizes and shapes for sandwiches, hamburgers and Sheboygan brats. And you aren’t out of the first aisle yet! So has God blessed this nation! As literally thousands of open and arrogant homosexuals are getting married and unborn babies are being put to death by the tens of thousands each week—we do not deserve the least of all God’s blessings. Still he is good to us. The greatest blessings he gives us are priceless—faith, forgiveness, an incorruptible inheritance in heaven that no one—not even Satan can spoil!

The LORD “brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey; and now I bring the firstfruits of this soil that you, O LORD, have given me.” The LORD is talking about thankofferings! When your heart overflows with thankfulness—you want to show that thankfulness somehow! How can you show Jesus you are thankful for all he did to save you? Give him your time! Read your Bible. Read God’s Word! Read God’s powerful promises to you in the scroll of the prophet Malachi! The Great I AM says—bring abundant thankofferings. “Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty,” (Did you catch that? The LORD—the Savior God—the one who has taken away all your sins—the Almighty—nothing, absolutely nothing is beyond his power!),” and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit,” says the LORD Almighty. ”Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the LORD Almighty. Malachi 3:10f The Savior God—the Almighty—three times that name repeats in these few verses. That is not an accident. That is honey sweet Gospel encouragment!

Place the basket before the LORD your God and bow down before him. This week they published the latest list of the world’s richest people. Not just millionaires—but billionaires! There is the lady who used to be on welfare—who wrote all those Harry Potter books. There are people who make very humble simple things that people use lots—like zippers and concrete. There are a bunch of billionaires who made candy—chocolate candy bars. There are people with literally billions of dollars selling fine crystal—and people who are simply born into families that have had billions of dollars for generations! People with billions of dollars can buy $6,000 shower curtains. But that doesn’t make them any cleaner on the outside—and it surely doesn’t make them any cleaner on the inside. People with billions can spend literally millions on homes and cars and vacations. But one moment after they die—none of those earthly things will matter. All that matters—all that really counts—is the fact that Jesus lived for you and died for you—and rose from the dead again! I saw a movie the other day—that was pretty near two hours of Jesus bleeding and suffering and dying—to pay for the sins of the whole world. The last 20 seconds—was devoted to Easter. The last 20 seconds made it abundantly clear—Jesus of Nazareth—the Son of Mary and the Son of God was dead—and now he is alive! He is risen from the dead! And because he is risen—the day is surely coming—when we will see him face to face. It isn’t often that we literally physically bow down before him—but the day will come—when every knee will bow—and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord—to the glory of God the Father. We worship him with our thankofferings now. And we will worship him forever in Heaven. Amen!

To God alone all glory!