"The First Commandment: The Only True God!" (Isaiah 6:1-7)
June 12, 2022
Rev. Nathan J. Rusert
Who Is Your God? Luther’s Small Catechism P: As the head of the family should teach them in a simple way to his household. P: What is The First Article of the Apostles’ Creed? C: I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth. P: What does this mean? I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still takes care of them. He also gives me clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land, animals, and all I have. He richly and daily provides me with all that I need to support this body and life. He defends me against all danger and guards and protects me from all evil. All this He does only out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me. For all this it is my duty to thank and praise, serve and obey Him. This is most certainly true. P: What is the First Commandment C: You shall have no other gods. P: What does this mean? C: We should fear, love and trust in God above all things. P: What is the Introduction to the Lord’s Prayer? C: Our Father who art in heaven. P: What does this mean? C: With these words God tenderly invites us to believe that He is our true Father and that we are His true children, so that with all boldness and confidence we may ask Him as dear children ask their dear father. P: Which is the great commandment in the law?" C: " 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' "This is the first and great commandment."Matthew 22:37-38 Sermon Text: Isaiah 6:1-7. Sermon Theme: The First Commandment: The Only True God! Preached for the Feast of the Holy Trinity, 12-June-2022, at Emmanuel Lutheran Church, Tell City, Indiana by Rev. Nathan J. Rusert.
Episode Notes
The Feast of the Holy Trinity 12-June-2022
Sermon Text: Isaiah 6:1-7
Sermon Theme: The First Commandment: The Only True God by Rev. Nathan J. Rusert
I.N.R.I. “Whoever desires to be saved must, above all, hold the catholic faith. Whoever does not keep it whole and undefiled will without doubt perish eternally. And the catholic faith is this, that we worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity, neither confounding the persons nor dividing the substance.” Today we pause to rejoice in the mystery of the Holy Trinity. As we confess the universal Christian or catholic faith in the words of The Athanasian Creed. Perhaps like Nicodemus that night with Jesus we scratch our heads thinking, “How can these things be?” The mystery of the Godhead and His mercy to sinners in Christ Jesus leads us to burst forth with St. Paul in praise, Rom 11:33-36 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! (34) "FOR WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD? OR WHO HAS BECOME HIS COUNSELOR?" (35) "OR WHO HAS FIRST GIVEN TO HIM AND IT SHALL BE REPAID TO HIM?" (36) For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.” This is Most Certainly True!
The only true God is the Triune God. Man doesn’t invent god. The Lord God created man on the sixth 24hour day of the existence of all created things. On the day of our creation our God gives us a glimpse of Himself. Gen 1:26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." The conversation within the Godhead between the persons of the Godhead - One God - Three Distinct Persons. The Lord God creates us to be in communion, in fellowship with Him - caring for His creation. Gen 1:27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God creates man in His image - holy, righteous, without sin. He creates them the same, but different - men and women are both human beings, but they are not the same. A dim reflection of the distinct persons of the Godhead. Then the Lord God marries the man and the woman - Gen 1:28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth." Through the life long unity of two distinct and separate sexes the earth would be blessed with human life. Gen 2:24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. The mystery of the unity of the Trinity is dimly reflected within Christian marriage and the procreation of children.
Although mankind forfeited the “image of God” in Adam’s rebellion against God’s life sustaining Word. Now, like Seth, we are born in Adam’s image. Dead in our trespasses and sin from the moment of conception. Born captive to Satan and his spiritual lies. Enemies of God...of the Truth. By nature children of wrath - the walking dead - proud of our hell bound paths - cheered on by our dying world.
Thanks be to God! He did not abandon us - as our father Adam abandoned Him. He came seeking the lost. Spoke the promise of a Second Adam, born of a woman alone, who would crush Satan’s head and win us from death by taking the poison we deserved into His sinless body to win us back from Satan, sin, death, and hell. He fully and clearly reveals Himself to us in our watery adoption. There He snatched us from Satan’s claws and scribed His Name upon our forehead - “In the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit” Sealing this reality with the mark of victory upon our forehead and heart - Christ’s Cross.
This Trinity Season we will again learn the ABC’s of Christian Doctrine - The Ten Commandments, The Apostles’ Creed, and The Lord’s Prayer. If you don’t know these basic teachings you don’t know Christianity. Today we begin with: The First Commandment: The Only True God.
Open your hymnal to page 321. We read together: 1st Commandment - What does this mean?(W.D.T.M?) The Triune God our Creator - calls us in the first commandment to acknowledge that there is a God and He is not you! This truth of being a creature - grates on our fallen lie enslaved egos. False spiritualities, Satanic lies, all want us to turn our eyes away from the only True and living God - to trust in our own divinity. Our fallen sinful nature sets up an idol - it is called “ME!” Like the first Adam we try to cover our sin with fig leaves, as we run captured by Satan - away from Life towards death. When the Lord God calls us to repent - turn from our sin and return to Him - we blame others for causing our sin- we’d rather die - eternally in hell - than admit we are sinners in need of a Savior.
The Lord God doesn’t abandon sinners. (Isaiah 6:1-4) The Holy God Who fills heaven and earth - had placed His Name upon the Temple in Jerusalem. Where the Triune God’s Name is invoked - He is present. Now the veil is lifted and Isaiah sees the Lord filling His Temple. The Holy angels praise the Trinity - Holy, Holy, Holy! He is present here among us this morning also - Jesus promises, Mat 18:20 For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them." And again, Joh 14:23 , "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.”
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hand of the Living God! (1st Cmdt. Pg. 321 W.D.T.M?) Listen to Isaiah’s reaction (Isaiah 6:5). “Fear, Love, and Trust” What do these words mean? LSB pg. 322 - Close of the Commandments W.D.T.M? Fear what? God’s wrath. His commandments are not child’s play. The god called “ME” thinks it is no big deal to break God’s Law. God’s wrath is just - He will punish all who break these commandments. Guard against idolatry.
In the Large Catechism, Dr. Luther wrote, “A god means that from which we are to expect all good and to which we are to take refuge in all distress,”... What do you run to in distress? What do you expect to bring happiness? These are truly your idols if they are not the True and Living God? The idol called “ME” clings to mammon - worldly stuff and money. If it has those things it thinks it has God’s favor - but when inflation increases and bank accounts falter - it abandons all hope. Repent! It is the True Triune God that we trust - not a failing dollar and collapsing economy!
“Fear, Love, and Trust in God above All things!”(1st Cmdt. Pg. 321 W.D.T.M?) What about love and trust? LSB pg. 322 - Close of the Commandments W.D.T.M? . God promises grace and every blessing...(Isaiah 6:6-7) Isaiah is filled with fear beholding God’s glory. He doesn’t try to excuse his sin, like Adam. He confesses it. The Lord sends His messenger with a healing coal from the altar to take away Isaiah’s sin.
God promises grace and every blessing to who? All who keep these commandments - here is the rub - if we are honest we’ve broken all Ten in our thinking, speaking, and doing. God promises...He gifts us His Son. We Love God because He first loved us in Christ Jesus. God the Son takes our humanity into His person - to fulfill all for us. His perfect keeping of the Ten Commandments is now credited to our account. How? Joh 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. “ Believing in Jesus - we have everlasting life - trust in Him. Here again is the rub - I am born dead in trespasses and sins, chained with Satan, running away from the Only True God to hell. I can’t, but God the Holy Spirit does - He calls me by the Gospel, enlightens me with His gifts - baptism, preaching of the Gospel, absolution, and the Lord’s Prayer . He makes me Holy washing me forgiven with Christ’s blood daily and richly within Christ’s Church. He keeps me in this Word and Faith until I die for it is our Heavenly Father’s good and gracious will. In Christ I am freed to love and trust and gladly do what God commands. Living my faith in loving service to my neighbor. In fleshing the Ten Commandments in my calling to be Christ’s hands to care for my neighbor. Isa 6:8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: "Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?" Then I said, "Here am I! Send me." (1st Cmdt. Pg. 321 W.D.T.M?) This week pray through the Holy Ten Commandments, The Creed, The Lord’s Prayer. Feast on their meanings as a family. Rejoice in the Only True God. Fear God Your Loving Father who tenderly invites you in Christ Jesus by His Holy Spirit to love and trust in Him crying out in prayer. Rejoice in God the only begotten Son who loved you while you were still a sinner sacrificing Himself to save you - that you be born again by the Holy Spirit in baptism to lovingly fear your Heavenly Father as you trust in His cross. Rejoice that God the Holy Spirit has brought you out of darkness into the marvelous Light of God the Father’s redeeming love in Christ Jesus - trust in Him to keep you in Christ Jesus as the Father’s beloved - a child whom God the Father will richly and daily supply all you need to support this body and life. Rom 11:33-36 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! (34) "FOR WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD? OR WHO HAS BECOME HIS COUNSELOR?" (35) "OR WHO HAS FIRST GIVEN TO HIM AND IT SHALL BE REPAID TO HIM?" (36) For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.”
Sermon Text: Isaiah 6:1-7
Sermon Theme: The First Commandment: The Only True God by Rev. Nathan J. Rusert
I.N.R.I. “Whoever desires to be saved must, above all, hold the catholic faith. Whoever does not keep it whole and undefiled will without doubt perish eternally. And the catholic faith is this, that we worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity, neither confounding the persons nor dividing the substance.” Today we pause to rejoice in the mystery of the Holy Trinity. As we confess the universal Christian or catholic faith in the words of The Athanasian Creed. Perhaps like Nicodemus that night with Jesus we scratch our heads thinking, “How can these things be?” The mystery of the Godhead and His mercy to sinners in Christ Jesus leads us to burst forth with St. Paul in praise, Rom 11:33-36 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! (34) "FOR WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD? OR WHO HAS BECOME HIS COUNSELOR?" (35) "OR WHO HAS FIRST GIVEN TO HIM AND IT SHALL BE REPAID TO HIM?" (36) For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.” This is Most Certainly True!
The only true God is the Triune God. Man doesn’t invent god. The Lord God created man on the sixth 24hour day of the existence of all created things. On the day of our creation our God gives us a glimpse of Himself. Gen 1:26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." The conversation within the Godhead between the persons of the Godhead - One God - Three Distinct Persons. The Lord God creates us to be in communion, in fellowship with Him - caring for His creation. Gen 1:27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God creates man in His image - holy, righteous, without sin. He creates them the same, but different - men and women are both human beings, but they are not the same. A dim reflection of the distinct persons of the Godhead. Then the Lord God marries the man and the woman - Gen 1:28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth." Through the life long unity of two distinct and separate sexes the earth would be blessed with human life. Gen 2:24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. The mystery of the unity of the Trinity is dimly reflected within Christian marriage and the procreation of children.
Although mankind forfeited the “image of God” in Adam’s rebellion against God’s life sustaining Word. Now, like Seth, we are born in Adam’s image. Dead in our trespasses and sin from the moment of conception. Born captive to Satan and his spiritual lies. Enemies of God...of the Truth. By nature children of wrath - the walking dead - proud of our hell bound paths - cheered on by our dying world.
Thanks be to God! He did not abandon us - as our father Adam abandoned Him. He came seeking the lost. Spoke the promise of a Second Adam, born of a woman alone, who would crush Satan’s head and win us from death by taking the poison we deserved into His sinless body to win us back from Satan, sin, death, and hell. He fully and clearly reveals Himself to us in our watery adoption. There He snatched us from Satan’s claws and scribed His Name upon our forehead - “In the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit” Sealing this reality with the mark of victory upon our forehead and heart - Christ’s Cross.
This Trinity Season we will again learn the ABC’s of Christian Doctrine - The Ten Commandments, The Apostles’ Creed, and The Lord’s Prayer. If you don’t know these basic teachings you don’t know Christianity. Today we begin with: The First Commandment: The Only True God.
Open your hymnal to page 321. We read together: 1st Commandment - What does this mean?(W.D.T.M?) The Triune God our Creator - calls us in the first commandment to acknowledge that there is a God and He is not you! This truth of being a creature - grates on our fallen lie enslaved egos. False spiritualities, Satanic lies, all want us to turn our eyes away from the only True and living God - to trust in our own divinity. Our fallen sinful nature sets up an idol - it is called “ME!” Like the first Adam we try to cover our sin with fig leaves, as we run captured by Satan - away from Life towards death. When the Lord God calls us to repent - turn from our sin and return to Him - we blame others for causing our sin- we’d rather die - eternally in hell - than admit we are sinners in need of a Savior.
The Lord God doesn’t abandon sinners. (Isaiah 6:1-4) The Holy God Who fills heaven and earth - had placed His Name upon the Temple in Jerusalem. Where the Triune God’s Name is invoked - He is present. Now the veil is lifted and Isaiah sees the Lord filling His Temple. The Holy angels praise the Trinity - Holy, Holy, Holy! He is present here among us this morning also - Jesus promises, Mat 18:20 For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them." And again, Joh 14:23 , "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.”
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hand of the Living God! (1st Cmdt. Pg. 321 W.D.T.M?) Listen to Isaiah’s reaction (Isaiah 6:5). “Fear, Love, and Trust” What do these words mean? LSB pg. 322 - Close of the Commandments W.D.T.M? Fear what? God’s wrath. His commandments are not child’s play. The god called “ME” thinks it is no big deal to break God’s Law. God’s wrath is just - He will punish all who break these commandments. Guard against idolatry.
In the Large Catechism, Dr. Luther wrote, “A god means that from which we are to expect all good and to which we are to take refuge in all distress,”... What do you run to in distress? What do you expect to bring happiness? These are truly your idols if they are not the True and Living God? The idol called “ME” clings to mammon - worldly stuff and money. If it has those things it thinks it has God’s favor - but when inflation increases and bank accounts falter - it abandons all hope. Repent! It is the True Triune God that we trust - not a failing dollar and collapsing economy!
“Fear, Love, and Trust in God above All things!”(1st Cmdt. Pg. 321 W.D.T.M?) What about love and trust? LSB pg. 322 - Close of the Commandments W.D.T.M? . God promises grace and every blessing...(Isaiah 6:6-7) Isaiah is filled with fear beholding God’s glory. He doesn’t try to excuse his sin, like Adam. He confesses it. The Lord sends His messenger with a healing coal from the altar to take away Isaiah’s sin.
God promises grace and every blessing to who? All who keep these commandments - here is the rub - if we are honest we’ve broken all Ten in our thinking, speaking, and doing. God promises...He gifts us His Son. We Love God because He first loved us in Christ Jesus. God the Son takes our humanity into His person - to fulfill all for us. His perfect keeping of the Ten Commandments is now credited to our account. How? Joh 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. “ Believing in Jesus - we have everlasting life - trust in Him. Here again is the rub - I am born dead in trespasses and sins, chained with Satan, running away from the Only True God to hell. I can’t, but God the Holy Spirit does - He calls me by the Gospel, enlightens me with His gifts - baptism, preaching of the Gospel, absolution, and the Lord’s Prayer . He makes me Holy washing me forgiven with Christ’s blood daily and richly within Christ’s Church. He keeps me in this Word and Faith until I die for it is our Heavenly Father’s good and gracious will. In Christ I am freed to love and trust and gladly do what God commands. Living my faith in loving service to my neighbor. In fleshing the Ten Commandments in my calling to be Christ’s hands to care for my neighbor. Isa 6:8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: "Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?" Then I said, "Here am I! Send me." (1st Cmdt. Pg. 321 W.D.T.M?) This week pray through the Holy Ten Commandments, The Creed, The Lord’s Prayer. Feast on their meanings as a family. Rejoice in the Only True God. Fear God Your Loving Father who tenderly invites you in Christ Jesus by His Holy Spirit to love and trust in Him crying out in prayer. Rejoice in God the only begotten Son who loved you while you were still a sinner sacrificing Himself to save you - that you be born again by the Holy Spirit in baptism to lovingly fear your Heavenly Father as you trust in His cross. Rejoice that God the Holy Spirit has brought you out of darkness into the marvelous Light of God the Father’s redeeming love in Christ Jesus - trust in Him to keep you in Christ Jesus as the Father’s beloved - a child whom God the Father will richly and daily supply all you need to support this body and life. Rom 11:33-36 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! (34) "FOR WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD? OR WHO HAS BECOME HIS COUNSELOR?" (35) "OR WHO HAS FIRST GIVEN TO HIM AND IT SHALL BE REPAID TO HIM?" (36) For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.”
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