Sermon -- 2nd Sunday of Easter (April 16, 2023)

ACTS 2:14a,22-32

WHAT GOD FOREORDAINS STANDS FULFILLED.

In the name + of Jesus.

     There has always been a tension between what God says must happen and the freedom people have.  Perhaps the best example of this is Judas Iscariot.  Jesus said that Judas was bound to betray Jesus to death because the prophets had foretold it.  Just hours before he was betrayed, Jesus prayed to his Father in heaven: “While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me.  I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled” (John 17:12).  Judas had to betray Jesus.  This was God’s will foretold through the prophets.  So, the question naturally gets asked, “If Judas had to betray Jesus, is it really Judas’ fault?  Can he really be held responsible for this if God foreordained it?”  The answer is: Yes, Judas is accountable for his own sin.

     Judas did not act in ignorance.  Jesus had repeatedly given Judas warnings.  Even on the night Jesus was betrayed, Jesus extended final warnings to Judas.  Jesus said to all the apostles, “Behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table.  For the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed” (Luke 22:21-22)!  So, Jesus’ betrayal was foreordained, but it was Judas who went out and did it.  Judas was a thief who helped himself to the treasury of the apostles.  God did not make Judas greedy, but God used Judas’ greed to accomplish his own purposes.  Judas, seduced by a chance to make a quick buck, arranged the betrayal.  What God foreordained stands fulfilled.

     We have something similar in today’s reading from the book of Acts.  Simon Peter was preaching to the crowd who had gathered in Jerusalem for the festival of Pentecost.  This same crowd of pilgrims had been in Jerusalem for the Passover just fifty days prior.  They had witnessed Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and Jesus’ crucifixion on Good Friday.  Some of them, no doubt, were among the crowds who shouted, “Crucify him, crucify him” (John 19:6)! 

     Therefore, Simon Peter laid the responsibility of Jesus’ death at their feet.  Peter declared, “This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men” (Acts 2:23).  Once again, we feel the tension.  If God foreordained these things, how can God blame the people?  On the one hand, what God foreordains is absolutely going to happen.  God’s promises are not guesses.  In fact, they are stated in a verb tense that does not say what will happen, but what has happened.  In God’s mind, it is so firm that it has already been done.  On the other hand, God did not make the crowds demand Jesus’ crucifixion.  The priests did that.  They incited the crowd to join in their demand for blood.  It is like people who loot businesses during a riot.  Under normal circumstances, they would never do that.  But when they see others doing it, they are emboldened to join in.  But they are still accountable for their wicked actions.

     A common argument today is that people cannot be blamed for defying God’s word if that’s the way God made them.  This argument is wicked from its very premise.  Yes, God made all people, and God’s creation is good.  But sin has corrupted what God has made.  It cannot be claimed that God made people to do what God himself forbids.  We don’t accept this argument from others, either.  Imagine a man telling his wife, “Of course I look at other women on my phone and fantasize about them.  That is how God me.”  Imagine an employee saying to his boss, “Yes, I mock you behind your back and speak sarcastically to your face.  That’s how God made me.”  If your wife or your boss will not accept it, why should God?

     God does not make people do wicked things.  Wickedness arises from our own sinful hearts.  God did not make Judas greedy.  God did not make Cain kill Abel.  God did not make David have an affair with Bathsheba.  And God did not make the crowds at Passover clamor for the death of the Son of God.  In the same way, God does not make you jealous of friends or unsympathetic to strangers.  God does not make you hold grudges or manipulate people.  God does not inspire or tolerate wickedness.  In his word, God exposes wickedness so that you can avoid it.  While you may be attracted to certain sins, God calls you to exercise self-control and to fight against them.  No one will accept the excuse, “Well, I like this sin.  I have to do it.  That’s just who I am.”  God’s work may be foreordained, but your sins are not.  Repent.

     While the guilty will be punished for their sins, sending people to hell is not the will of God.  This is what the Lord says: “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live” (Ezekiel 33:11).  To prove that it is not God’s will to damn people, he promised a Savior as soon as sin entered the world.  In fact, God’s plan of salvation was ordained even before the creation of the world.  “Jesus (was) delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23).  Nothing about Jesus’ betrayal, arrest, trial, or crucifixion was accidental.  Everything was fulfilled according to God’s definite plan.  Jesus Christ had to become the sin offering which was consumed in God’s wrath.  This is how Jesus removed the curse of sin and rescued you from hell.  Our Lord desires that no one should perish.  Jesus fulfilled every promise, every prophecy so that no one should have to perish in their sins.  What God foreordained stands fulfilled.

     Again, God’s promises are not guesses or predictions.  When God foreordains something, it must stand fulfilled.  God continued to repeat his promises through the prophets, adding details here and there, so that we can know for certain that Jesus is the promised Christ.  Jesus fulfilled what God foreordained.  Simon Peter referred to one of those promises.  King David served as the Lord’s prophet about 1,000 years before Jesus was born.  In Psalm 16, King David foretold the resurrection.  Simon Peter quoted him: “For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption” (Acts 2:27). 

     As Peter noted, King David did not write about himself.  He explained, “Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day” (Acts 2:29).  David is not the Holy One.  He has not escaped the grave or decay.  Therefore, the Holy One is the Son of David who would come and reign forever.  What God foreordained stands fulfilled.  Jesus Christ was, indeed, placed in a grave as David foretold.  But he was not forsaken there.  God raised Jesus up from the dead even before decay set in.  Jesus is the Holy One who lives and reigns over death and all things.  What God foreordained stands fulfilled.

    It was not just God’s plan of salvation which was foreordained before the creation of the world.  St. Paul wrote, “(God) chose us in (Christ) before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.  In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will” (Ephesians 1:4-5).  So, your own salvation was foreordained by the Lord.  God has worked in your life to make sure that you have heard the words of eternal life.  God has worked in your heart to plant the faith which trusts God’s promises.  And God continues to work in you through his word and sacraments to keep you in this saving faith.  You are God’s chosen people, chosen even before the creation of the world to receive God’s salvation.  What God foreordains stands fulfilled.

     Now, the tension comes back.  Does that mean you and I can sit back and do nothing until Jesus comes again?  If our salvation is sure, does it mean that we won’t be and can’t be faulted if we give ourselves over to sins or if we ignore gathering together in God’s house?  Not at all!  If faith comes by hearing the word, that means we need to keep hearing the word.  If sin is rejection of and rebellion against God’s word, then we must fight against our sins.  To sin against God’s word is to rebel against the very thing that saves from sin.  If God saves through his word and sacraments, that means we need to continue coming to church for the word and sacraments.  Just as a plant will not stay alive if we refuse to water it, neither will your faith stay alive if you do not nurture it.  If we remain in Christ, then our salvation stands fulfilled.  If we forsake Christ, then we will not receive the blessings he desires to give us.  And that would be our own fault, just as Judas’ betrayal was his fault.

     What God foreordains will be fulfilled.  Jesus has completed all the work to pardon us of our sins and to grant us eternal life.  Peter assured the crowds, “This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses” (Acts 2:32).  The apostles and others were eyewitnesses of Jesus’ resurrection.  Even Thomas, who at first refused to believe it, was invited by Jesus to touch his risen body and to inspect the wounds that heal us.  You and I are not eyewitnesses; we are confessors.  We believe and confess that God has been faithful to his promises.  Everything that was promised “according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23) was fulfilled by Jesus.  Therefore, he is the Christ.  He is the Savior.  He has delivered us from the curse of sin and the power of death.  What God foreordains stands fulfilled in Jesus.

     There is, however, one more thing that needs to be fulfilled.  We confess it each week: “We look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come” (Nicene Creed).  God has proven his faithfulness in every other promise, so we do not need to doubt this one.  Jesus has overcome the grave.  He will also deliver us from the grave.  David’s tomb may be full now, but he went to his grave trusting the promise of the Messiah he had foretold.  He wrote, “You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence” (Acts 2:28).  Jesus is the path to life everlasting.  He will raise us from our graves with bodies that are immaculate, impeccable, and incorruptible.  He will bring us into the presence of God.  He will fill us with joy, peace, and endless blessings. 

     All that God foreordained for your salvation stands fulfilled in Jesus Christ.  In this, we find our comfort and confidence.  For God’s will is always done, and his word is always sure.
 

In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.