Topic: Lent

God wants to gather us in His arms and quiet our crying – wiping away every tear from our eyes; he is not reluctant to save us, but eager and joyful to do so!

Jesus’ final words were: “It is finished.” What was finished, then? It was his Father’s work, to lay down his life, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. It is finished. Christ died for you. Christ died for me. May we ponder those words in our hearts as we enter the glory of Easter.

This greatest and most important spectacle - the celebration of Holy Week, culminating in the glory of Easter, portrays all that was, all that is, and all that is to be in the drama of our salvation.

If Jesus is not the resurrection and the life, then Christianity is meaningless, foolish, and inconsequential. But if Jesus is who he says he is, then your answer to this question is of eternal importance. Not only that, but if we don’t answer this question with full, blessed assurance, then Holy Week next week will be robbed of any real meaning for us.

We may not be able to see all which God is doing to redeem our present difficulties, but we can see His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, standing before us, ready to sustain us, and asking, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” May we respond like the man born blind, saying, “Lord, I believe.”

The temptation in our hearts is always to worship things, places, and circumstances. The Israelites in Exodus 17 were preoccupied with things and circumstances. The Samaritan woman worshiped the place of Jacob’s well, and not the living God. The Israelites asked, “Is the LORD with us here?” The Samaritan woman asked Jesus, “Is the LORD with us anywhere else?” Just as Jesus challenged the woman, he challenges us daily to examine ourselves for anything which impedes our true worship of him.

By His Resurrection, Jesus overcame death, and opened up to all Believers the Way to eternal life. In this sermon, the Rev. Galloway examines the Nicene and Apostles’ Creeds to remind us of the supreme importance of Jesus Christ’s Resurrection. Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!

Beloved, the victory that Christ won over sin has given us greater blessings than those which sin had taken away from us. Let Lent be a reminder to us that there is a much higher purpose that exists beyond our mortal pain, as we march on to the joy of our Easter Vigil in this life, and eternal reward in the next. O happy fault!

Jesus said, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31). This is what Ash Wednesday is all about: telling the Truth to the LORD – having the courage to tell the LORD what he knows we really are. In doing so, we put down our masks, and come to the realization that Christ really and truly loves us.