The Anglican Orthodox Church
Bishop Jerry L. Ogles Office
P. O. Box 128
Statesville, North Carolina 28687-0128
Lay Reader’s Sermon to be used on:
First Sunday in Advent – November 30th
First Lesson: Isaiah 40: 1-11
Second (Gospel) Lesson: Luke 3:1-17
The Collect.
O LORD, raise up, we pray thee, thy power, and come among us, and with great might succour us; that whereas, through our sins and wickedness, we are sore let and hindered in running the race that is set before us, thy bountiful grace and mercy may speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with thee and the Holy Ghost, be honour and glory, world without end. Amen.
The Advent Collect.
ALMIGHTY God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life, in which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the quick and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal, through him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, now and ever. Amen.
In the Advent Collect of this Season, we are reminded of that darkness that prevails in the hearts of a people whose King is not their God. If they have replaced His Kingship with that of mere man, they will suffer wars, deprivation, exorbitant taxation, as well as seeing their children taken in bondage.
Isaiah makes reference to that pervasive darkness that overshadowed Israel from the time of the prophet Samuel. Why did such a blight occur. We may find the answer in the voice of the people themselves, for it is the people who either permit, or disallow, ungodly government. As we find in Samuel 8:19-22, we see that no longer did Israel desire to have they great Benefactor and Lord rule over their nation and her battles. They wanted to be ruled just like all the other nations. “Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over us; 20That we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles.” This issue was a matter of no little grief to Samuel. “21And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he rehearsed them in the ears of the LORD. 22And the LORD said to Samuel, Hearken unto their voice, and make them a king. And Samuel said unto the men of Israel, Go ye every man unto his city.” From that day forward, Israel suffered wars and often oppression.”
Israel staggered in smothering darkness for those many centuries and millennia that followed. There was no great light for a people who had rejected God as their King. From the end of the Old Testament Canon of Malachi, there was no light from Heaven. The people endured the silence of divine darkness. The Old Testament was a book of the Law and Prophets. The Law is a curse to the people for they cannot keep it in perfection - so the very last word of the Old Testament prophecy in Malachi 4:6 is the word CURSE.
Now, according to Isaiah, “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.” This ‘great light’ was not a present Light, but one promised to them at the time of the coming of the Light of Heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ. Their walk was weary ere the promise was to become reality. They walked in darkness until hope seemed forlorn of a coming Messiah. At the time of Christ’ coming, they no longer walked in darkness, but were weary from that foreboding darkness - they now, at the coming of John the Baptist, “sat in darkness.” (see Matthew 4:16).
But where is the promise of His Coming? We find the most profound and explicit example in our Old Testament text from Isaiah 40:1-3, 5: Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. 2Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD's hand double for all her sins. 3The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” This was, of course, 700 years prior to the coming of the Lord, but the promises of God of are sure whether uttered in ancient times to Adam later to Abraham, and now to Isaiah. We have in this passage the promises of the coming of one who would prepare the way for His coming - that is, John the Baptist. “5And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.”
The coming of both John and the Son of God is not a matter decided on the spot - it was determined and settled long before the stars were set in there course, or the sun and moon and earth were made sound at the voice of the Lord God. Just as the Trinity was present at the baptism of Christ, so was the Trinity present at the foundation of the world on the day of Creation. (see Genesis 1:1-5 & the gospel of St. John 1:1-5) God is omnipresent across every consideration of existence - even transcending the space/time continuum. We are mortal - of dust we are made, and unto dust we shall return; but the Word of the Lord our God shall stand forever. “The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.” Even as men attempt to diminish the Sonship of Christ with their new copyrighted Bible, their effort to put Christ aside shall utterly fail the globalist’s hopes. Babel shall not stand!
Our Gospel text opens with a mundane report of the world situation as it stood at the time of Christ. The political world was not that different from that which we see today. Mammon drives the powers of Rome, and little more is said of it for worldly powers mean little in the Kingdom of god and His plans. The whole theme of the text takes a sharp turn with, “2Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. 3And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins; 4As it is written in the book of the words of Esaias the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.” (Luke 3:2-4) The politics of the day are of such little concern that only one verse provides a description of it. But the next three verses proclaim a profound shift in importance.
We are reminded of the prophecy just quoted from Isaiah which has now come to fruition. Yes, John was foreordained and predestined to the roll of his description given in Isaiah. He could not forebear the Lord’s prophecy and his calling to that foreordained mission.
John is a glowing example of the man called of God. He doesn’t weave yarns, or emphasize the formal means of churchianity; but the time is urgent for his calling and function. He immediately resorts to the wilderness for his preaching. In the wilderness, he will not be subject to any political or social restraints. He begs no one to come and hear - he simply proclaims the wonder and truth of the coming Lord. The nature of life in the wilderness is fitting to his call and purpose as well. There in the wilderness on the banks of Jordan Waters is solitude - the solitude that is convenient to meditation and in hearing the voice of God. The abstemious circumstances teach self-denial that is the mark of every Godly minister of the Gospel. He is deprived of the usual pleasures of home and pleasure. Such deprivation does not dent his perseverance and fervor; in fact, it is the parent to those qualities.
In the wilderness, John was conditioned in self-denial, humility and courage in his adherence to truth and holiness. Perhaps even today, the greatest preaching may be heard in the wilderness of small country churches and not the mega-churches of the metropolis. I am reminded of the preaching of one of the greatest ministers of the Gospel I have ever known - and called in his latter years, but not cursed with the spirit of idleness or pride in the preaching of the Word. He is a man with whom you are all familiar - the Reverend Steven Cooper. He sought no material reward - only the opportunity to share the Gospel to any who would come to bear it. How like John was Steven!
John taught, correctly, that God needs no effort of mankind to fulfill His Word. If there is no man to stand in the hedge, He will cause the very stones to cry out. The reputation of John as a mighty man of God was voiced throughout the land, but John did not allow that to be a source of pride and vanity. Some even believed him to be the promised Messiah Himself, but John scolded those who expressed that view: “15And as the people were in expectation, and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ, or not; 16John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire:
17Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner; but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable.”
John was the first to proclaim the promised Son of God, and the one to baptize Him (though he thought himself unworthy to do so.)
John was a man of great courage who never allowed his personal fears to restrain his proclamation of Gospel truth to any man - peasant, priest, or king. In fact, he was beheaded for indicting Herod for his sin of promiscuity and violation of the marriage bond. How many pulpit dandies today would do the same.
Let us stand tall in the face of adversity and ill winds of unbelief and courageously proclaim that Christ is Lord and King.
In the Name of the Father, and of the son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen
