Immanuel Lutheran Church—Bremen, KS || AUDIO
“One of the soldiers stabbed His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.”
INI + AMEN.
Well, here we are. We’re at the end—“Τετέλεσται,” “It is finished.” All over. Done. Your salvation is accomplished. Dead. God’s dead. That’s how it happened. That’s how it ended. “Bowing His head, He gave up the Spirit.” Dead. Buried. God. God was. Here we are. It’s Good Friday.
It’s all came down to this. It was supposed to! He was born for this. He lived His life for this. He gave His life for this. Salvation was always the point, and so He does it, finishes it. And so here we are. Witnessing it again. Not with our eyes, but with our ears. In Him you see your salvation. He is your Salvation, your Jesus. He saves you from your sins. Not in the way you and I would choose, but in the way He chose, the way God planned for it to happened.
So here we are. Good Friday. “Τετέλεσται,” “It is finished.” Your salvation. Your Jesus, your God did it. He did it all, gave it all, poured it all out for you.
((2. JESUS’ BLOOD IS POURED OUT FOR YOU.))
It’s bloody. Brutal. Barbaric. “Behold, the man!” “His appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance,” but that’s what it took. That’s what your sins deserved. In fact, they deserved far worse—hell, forever. No communion with God. No fellowship or friendship with Him either. That’s what you deserved because of what you’ve done and what you haven’t done.
What you deserved He endured. Endured for you. He bore it all for you and for everyone. “He was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.” He did it “when His life made an offering for guilt.” “He poured out his soul to death” for your guilt. His life, His blood was sacrificially poured out for you, poured out as your guilt offering before God.
It was beaten out of Him. Crown of thorn-ed out of Him. Nailed out of Him. Speared out of Him. There’s power in His blood. He poured it out to cover your sin, your guilt. “See, from His head, His hands, His feet Sorrow and love flow mingled down!” (LSB 425:3) There Jesus “poured for [you] the life-blood from His sacred veins!” (LSB 433:1) The “blood of Jesus For our pardon cries.” (LSB 433:4)
((Transition.))
“One of the soldiers stabbed His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.”
Yes, JESUS’ BLOOD IS POURED OUT FOR YOU. “The work of redemption is done and accomplished. Christ has acquired and gained the treasure for you by His suffering [and] death…” (LC II 38) “Blest for endless ages Be the precious stream!” (LSB 433:3) “But if the work remained concealed so that no one knew about it, then it would be useless and lost. So that this treasure might not stay buried, but be received and enjoyed, God has caused the Word to go forth and be proclaimed. In the Word He has the Holy Spirit bring this treasure home and make it our own.” (LC II 38)
Through the Word Jesus’ redemption, His blood His made yours. Unless the Word did that you’d never get it. You could spend an eternity working for it, but you can’t get it. JESUS’ BLOOD IS POURED OUT FOR YOU, but it is also POURED OUT TO YOU, too.
((1. JESUS’ BLOOD IS POURED OUT TO YOU.))
He delivers the treasure right to you—the treasure of His blood. He makes sure you get the very thing He shed to secure your salvation. “This is My body and blood, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.” (LC V 21) For this reason we go to the Sacrament: there we receive such a treasure by and in which we gain forgiveness of sin…Therefore, Christ asks [us] to eat and drink, so that this treasure may be [our] own and benefit [us] as a sure pledge and token. In fact, it is the very same treasure that is appointed for [us] against our sins, death, and every disaster.” (LC V 22)
His body given into death, and His blood shed on the cross, His and blood that were also raised, “is truly the treasure—and nothing else—through which forgiveness is gained. Now the only way this treasure is passed along and made our very own is in the words ‘Given…and shed for you.’ For in the words you have both truths, that it is Christ’s body and blood, and that it is yours as a treasure and gift.”(LC V 28-29)
But not just His Supper. His Baptism, too! The waters of Holy Baptism are also rosy-red with His blood. There He cleansed your standing before God with His blood. His water, His blood are made yours at the Font. It is “the washing of water with the Word.” (Eph 5:26) As Isaiah puts it tonight, “he sprinkles many nations” and “makes many to be accounted righteous.” With His blood He does it. Not only then at Calvary. But here and now for you at the Font and Altar.
((Conclusion.))
“One of the soldiers stabbed His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.”
That’s what happened. He poured out His blood for you. But “although the work is done and the forgiveness of sins is secured by the the cross, it cannot come to us in any other way than through the Word. (LC V 31)” It does come to you through the Word: “I baptize you”; “Given…and shed for you.” Font. Altar.
We’re at the end—“Τετέλεσται,” “It is finished.” It’s Good Friday. It’s all come down to this. It was supposed to! His blood poured out for you. His blood poured out to you, too. You’re washed, you’re sprinkled, you’re clean, you’re justified, you’re right with God. That was the plan. He saves you from your sins. Not in the way you and I would choose, but in the way He chose, the way God planned for it to happened. Dead at Calvary. Sprikled at the Font. Fed at the Altar. “Τετέλεσται,” “It is finished.” Has to be. JESUS’ BLOOD IS POURED OUT FOR YOU AND TO YOU.
INI + AMEN.
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