Immanuel Lutheran Church—Bossier City, LA || AUDIO

INI + AMEN.

James, Tanya and Chuck, Michelle and Bob, Pamela, Scott and Kaisu, many grandchildren, friends and other family of Yvonne, Christ’s peace be with you during your time of mourning, your time of grief and sadness over Yvonne’s death.  But hear now the Word of Christ spoken to her in her final hours: “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. ²⁸ And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. ²⁹ My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. ³⁰ I and the Father are one.”  Hear also this Word from St. Peter, “All flesh is as grass, And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass.  The grass withers, And its flower falls away, ²⁵ But the word of the Lord endures forever.”

The Lord Jesus’ Word to Yvonne in her dying moments is a promise, a promise given her in her Baptism, which she also confessed at her confirmation, and, by God’s grace, it was brought to her once again before the end.  Such a Word, the not-being-able-to-snatch-away Word, is what she heard once again.  And all who hear such a Word, you and I included with Yvonne, and believe such a Word are saved.  Such a promise of the Lord Jesus doesn’t pass away for His Word endures forever.  It’s a Word rooted in His death and resurrection, and, by that death and resurrection, we have a merciful God.  It’s a Word and promise which brings that cross and empty tomb to you and me in Baptism.  It, by God’s Spirit-filled Word, came again to Yvonne, and comes again to you and me today.

(1. The Lord’s Word of promise conquers sin and death)

This is not as it was meant to be.  Sin.  Death.  Sin entered the world when Adam and Eve, and the curse of the Lord rang true, “The day you eat of it”—the tree of the knowledge of good and evil—“you shall surely die.”  St. Paul says, “Through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.”  This is what caused what we see before us today.  This is what will cause us to share this fate.  It may be a short or long time from now, but one day, unless the Lord Jesus returns first, we too shall lie in a casket and be laid in the ground.

While not intended by God, this is now the new status quo.  People are born, they live, and they die.  It is not natural, not what God intended, and He could have left us in our sin and death, but the Father of all mercy sent forth His eternal Son, who was born of the Virgin, and He, Jesus, upended the status quo.  He brought life into the midst of death.  By His life for you, His obedience, He did what you and I could not do because of our sin.  He lived our life, and then He died our death on the cross.  He bore our sin there, and He cried out, “It is finished!”  So it is, His blood covers each sin and He rose the third day to prove it, and what He says endures because, as St. Peter said, “The word of the Lord endures forever.”

The “It is finished!” Word has the last say.  When Jesus says, “It is finished!”, it is nothing other than saying, “No one shall snatch them out of My hand.”  The new life from His empty tomb says, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish… My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. ³⁰ I and the Father are one.”  The Word bears to you the victory of Christ’s death and empty tomb, and thus that Word conquers sin and death.

But the Word of Promise doesn’t just conquer sin and death, it also gives, and gives abundantly.

(2. The Lord’s Word of promise gives life eternal.)

Today we have the reality of life and death, but not just life in this world, but life and death in the life of the world to come.  Christ says, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.”  Christ gives His sheep eternal life, and He says, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.”  But those who are not His sheep receive not this eternal life, but they receive eternal death, the second death, but Christ’s cross-won life overcomes the second death.  Hs snatching-away-from-death resurrection, saves you and me: wins for us everlasting life.

Indeed, the death of Jesus saves us from our sins, and His resurrection is for our justification before the heavenly Father.  He and the Father are one on that one, and “the Word of the LORD endures forever.”  The saving Word which gives you the death and resurrection of Jesus, the Word of promise, gives you eternal life.  Yes, eternal life now, even though it doesn’t seem that way, and definitely eternal life when your heart stops beating.  

Indeed,

THE LORD’S WORD OF PROMISE ENDURES FOREVER.

The Word of promise which says, “It is finished”, which says, “No one shall snatch them”, which says, “The Word of the LORD endures forever” endures forever.  It comes to you always.  It came to you when water was splashed on your forehead.  It comes to you week in and week out here at the Lord’s altar—body and blood of Jesus eaten and drunk for the forgiveness of your sins.  The Word which says, “I forgive you all your sins.”  All the Words of promise which the Lord says to you endure.  They endure to give you the forgiveness of sins. Yes, THE LORD’S WORD OF PROMISE ENDURES FOREVER, and so you will too.

INI + AMEN.