Sermon For Lent Midweek Three
Rev. Greg Mech | Wednesday, March 7, 2018 | Lent Midweek Three | 7:00 pm
Midweek Vespers 3 – Out of Egypt: Through the Water
As We Gather
How does one escape from a bad situation? Where does one turn when surrounded by brutality, slavery, and death? We desire to flee, to find refuge. We need to begin a journey that will set us free, but the result of our efforts is nothing more than going in circles. We seek freedom; we receive greater slavery. We journey toward light; we end up in deeper darkness. How do we escape? It is God who leads us on the journey out of this slavery to sin and death. Where does He take us? To the water—to the banks of the Red Sea, or the River Jordan, or to the baptismal font; here, we are set free. The bondage of sin and death, the claws of Satan, no longer hold us, for we have been through the water. These are the waters of death for our enemies, and they are the waters of life for us. The enemy of our old Adam is drowned in these waters, but the New Adam comes through to new life. We have been rescued from the enemy by the waters and made the children of God.
Stand
L O Lord, open my lips,
C and my mouth will declare Your praise.
L Make haste, O God, to deliver me;
C make haste to help me, O Lord.
C Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen. Praise to You, O Christ, Lamb of our salvation.
PSALM 66 (Bold type = Congregation)
Shout for joy to God, | all the earth;*
sing the glory of His name; give to Him | glorious praise!
Say to God, “How awesome | are Your deeds!*
So great is Your power that Your enemies come cringing | to You.
All the earth worships You and sings prais- | es to You;*
they sing praises | to Your name.”
Come and see what | God has done:*
He is awesome in His deeds toward the chil- | dren of man.
He turned the sea into | dry land;*
they passed through the riv- | er on foot.
There did we rejoice in Him, who rules by His might forever, whose eyes keep watch on the | nations—*
let not the rebellious ex- | alt themselves.
Bless our God, O | peoples;*
let the sound of His | praise be heard,
who has kept our soul among the | living*
and has not let our | feet slip.
For You, O God, have | tested us;*
You have tried us as sil- | ver is tried.
You brought us in- | to the net;*
You laid a crushing burden | on our backs;
You let men ride o- | ver our heads;*
we went through fire and through water; yet You have brought us out to a place of a- | bundance.
I will come into Your house with burnt | offerings;*
I will perform my | vows to You,
that which my lips | uttered*
and my mouth promised when I was in | trouble.
I will offer to You burnt offerings of fattened animals, with the smoke of the sacri- | fice of rams;*
I will make an offering of | bulls and goats.
Come and hear, all you who | fear God,*
and I will tell what He has done | for my soul.
I cried to Him | with my mouth,*
and high praise was | on my tongue.
If I had cherished iniquity | in my heart,*
the Lord would not have | listened.
But truly God has | listened;*
He has attended to the voice | of my prayer.
Blessèd | be God,*
because He has not rejected my prayer or removed His steadfast | love from me!
Glory be to the Father and | to the Son*
and to the Holy | Spirit;
as it was in the be- | ginning,*
is now, and will be forever. | Amen.
Sit
(7:00) OFFICE HYMN “We Are Exiles from the Garden”
OLD TESTAMENT Exodus 14:13–31
And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”
The Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to Me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward. Lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground. And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”
Then the angel of God who was going before the host of Israel moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them, coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. And there was the cloud and the darkness. And it lit up the night without one coming near the other all night.
Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. And in the morning watch the Lord in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic, clogging their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily. And the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from before Israel, for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians.”
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.” So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal course when the morning appeared. And as the Egyptians fled into it, the Lord threw the Egyptians into the midst of the sea. The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen; of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea, not one of them remained. But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.
Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in His servant Moses.
L O Lord, have mercy on us.
C Thanks be to God.
(4:00) Martin Luther School Singers
CHILDREN’S MESSAGE “The Water”
EPISTLE Hebrews 3:12–4:3a
Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. As it is said,
“Today, if you hear His voice,
do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”
For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was He provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.
Therefore, while the promise of entering His rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. For we who have believed enter that rest, as He has said,
“As I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest,’” although His works were finished from the foundation of the world.
L O Lord, have mercy on us.
C Thanks be to God.
HOLY GOSPEL Mark 1:9–13
In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when He came up out of the water, immediately He saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on Him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are My beloved Son; with You I am well pleased.”
The Spirit immediately drove Him out into the wilderness. And He was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And He was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to Him.
L O Lord, have mercy on us.
C Thanks be to God.
RESPONSORY for LENT
L Deliver me, O Lord, my God, for You are the God of my salvation.
C Rescue me from my enemies, protect me from those who rise against me.
L In You, O Lord, do I put my trust, leave me not, O Lord, my God.
C Deliver me, O Lord, my God, for You are the God of my salvation.
SERMON “Out of Egypt: Through the Water”
ANTIPHON
L Let my prayer rise before You as incense,
C and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.
MAGNIFICAT
C My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior;
A for He has regarded the lowliness of His handmaiden.
B For behold, from this day all generations will call me blessed.
A For the Mighty One has done great things to me, and holy is His name;
B and His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation.
A He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
B He has cast down the mighty from their thrones and has exalted the lowly.
A He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent empty away.
B He has helped His servant Israel in remembrance of His mercy as He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever.
C Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.
OFFERING
Stand
KYRIE
C Lord, have mercy; Christ, have mercy; Lord, have mercy.
LORD’S PRAYER and COLLECTS
L O Lord, hear my prayer.
C And let my cry come to You.
BENEDICAMUS
L Let us bless the Lord.
C Thanks be to God.
BENEDICTION
P The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
C Amen.
HYMN “God’s Own Child, I Gladly Say It” (LSB 594)
Vespers from Lutheran Service Book © 2006 Concordia Publishing House. Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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