100 Sermon Illustrations on Redemption

A few years ago, I was going away to preach one Sunday morning, when a young man drove up in front of us. He had an aged woman with him. "Who is that young man?" I asked. "Do you see that beautiful meadow?" said my friend, "and that land there with the house upon it?" "Yes" "His father drank that all up," said he. Then he went on to tell me all about him. His father was a great drunkard, squandered his property, died, and left his wife in the poor-house. "And that young man," he said, "is one of the finest young men I ever knew. He has toiled hard and earned money, and bought back the land; he has taken his mother out of the poor-house, and now he is taking her to church." I thought, that is an illustration for me. The first Adam in Eden sold us for naught, but the Messiah, the second Adam, came and bought us back again. The first Adam brought us to the poor-house, as it were; the second Adam makes us kings and priests unto God. That is redemption. We get in Christ all that Adam lost, and more. Men look on the blood of Christ with scorn and contempt, but the time is coming when the blood of Christ will be worth more than all the kingdoms of the world.

"If a man find a pearl of great price, and knoweth not what it is, he maketh no more esteem of it than of a piece of glass or a common bead, and is ready to sell it for a few pence. But if upon the offer of it to a skilful lapidary, the jeweller at first sight biddeth two or three thousand crowns for it, doth he not change his mind, and think this jewel is of greater value than he took it to be? So here: man knows not the value of his soul, and does not greatly set by it. Adam lost his own soul and the souls of all his posterity for an apple, and we sell our birthright for a mess of pottage. But when Christ, who made souls, and knoweth the value of them, came to recover lost souls, he gave himself for us, did he not hereby teach us to set a higher price upon them, for nothing but his precious blood could redeem them?" This is a suggestive simile, and may suggest the framework of a sermon on "the estimate which men set upon their souls, and the hints which God has given them as to their real value by what he has done in reference thereto." In the shop of a diamond-merchant at Amsterdam we saw great machinery and much power all brought to bear on what seemed to be a small piece of glass. One might be sure of the value of that transparent morsel if he would but look around and see what skill and labour were being expended upon it. God has laid out for the good of a soul the watchfulness of angels, the providence of this world, the glory of the next, the councils of eternity, himself and all that he hath, the Holy Spirit and all his divine influences,—yea, he spared not his only Son. Say, soul, what must thou be worth thus to have all heaven's thought, and power, and love laid out for thee? "What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" Let not a man attempt to answer the question till he hath heard the Lord himself say, "I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee."

A researcher of art in Italy, who, reading in some book that there was a portrait of Dante painted by Giotto, was led to suspect where it had been placed. There was an apartment used as an outhouse for the storing of wood, hay, and the like. He besought and obtained permission to examine it. Clearing out the rubbish, and experimenting upon the whitewashed wall, he soon detected the signs of the long-hidden portrait. Little by little, with loving skill, he opened up the sad, thoughtful, stern face of the old Tuscan poet. Sin has done for man what the whitewash did for the painting. It has covered over the likeness of God upon the soul; and it is only by the Spirit of God himself that the long-hidden likeness can be manifested again.

REDEMPTION, Emblem of About the tenth century, the cross became the only symbol of the Christian faith, to the exclusion of the fish, a previous emblem. From the death of Christ, it had been the symbol of redemption.

A gentleman, visiting a slave-mart, was deeply moved by the agony of a slave-girl, who had been delicately reared, and feared that she should fall into the hands of a rough master. The gentleman inquired her price, paid it to the slave-trader, then placed the bill of sale in her own hands, telling her that she was free, and could now go home. The slave-girl could not realize the change at first, but, running after her redeemer, cried, "He has redeemed me! he has redeemed me! Will you let me be your servant?" How much more should we serve Him who has redeemed us from sin, death, and hell?

Suppose a large graveyard, surrounded by a high wall, with only one entrance by a large iron gate, which is fast bolted. Within these walls are thousands and tens of thousands of human beings, of all ages and of all classes, by one epidemic disease bending to the grave. The grave yawns to swallow them, and they must all die. There is no balm to relieve them, no physician there: they must perish. This is the condition of man as a sinner: all, all, have sinned, and the soul that sinneth shall die. While man was in this deplorable state, Mercy, an attribute of Deity, came down and stood at the gate, looked at the scene, and wept over it, exclaiming, "Oh that I might enter! I would bind up their wounds; I would relieve their sorrows; I would save their souls." While Mercy stood weeping at the gate, an embassy of angels, commissioned from the court of heaven to some other world, passing over, paused at the sight; and Heaven forgave that pause. Seeing Mercy standing there, they cried, "Mercy, Mercy, can you not enter? can you look upon this scene, and not pity? can you pity, and not relieve?" Mercy replied, "I can see;" and in her tears she added, "I pity, but cannot relieve."—"Why can you not enter?"—"Oh!" said Mercy, "Justice has barred the gate against me, and I cannot, must not, unbar it." At this moment, Justice himself appeared, as it were to watch the gate. The angels inquired of him, "Why will you not let Mercy in?" Justice replied, "My law is broken, and it must be honored: die they or Justice must." At this, there appeared a form among the angelic band, like unto the Son of God, who, addressing himself to Justice, said, "What are thy demands?" Justice replied, "My terms are stern and rigid. I must have sickness for their health; I must have ignominy for their honor; I must have death for life; without the shedding of blood, there is no remission."—"Justice," said the Son of God, "I accept thy terms. On me be this wrong, and let Mercy enter."—"When," said Justice, "will you perform this promise." Jesus replied, "Four thousand years hence, upon the hill of Calvary, without the gates of Jerusalem, I will perform it in my own person." The deed was prepared and signed in the presence of the angels of God. Justice was satisfied; and Mercy entered, preaching salvation in the name of Jesus. The deed was committed to the patriarchs; by them to the kings of Israel and the prophets; by them it was preserved till Daniel's seventy weeks were accomplished; and, at the appointed time, Justice appeared on the hill of Calvary, and Mercy presented to him the important deed. "Where" said Justice, "is the Son of God?" Mercy answered, "Behold him at the bottom of the hill, bearing his own cross;" and then he departed, and stood aloof at the hour of trial. Jesus ascended the hill, while in his train followed his weeping Church. Justice immediately presented him with the important deed, saying, "This is the day when this bond is to be executed." When he received it, did he tear it in pieces, and give it to the winds of heaven? No: he nailed it to his cross, exclaiming "It is finished!" Justice called on holy fire to come down, and consume the sacrifice. Holy fire descended: it swallowed his humanity; but, when it touched his divinity, it expired, and there was darkness over the whole heavens; but, glory to God in the highest! on earth peace, and good-will to men.

Man and all things were made in concert, to form part of the same great system, of which man's life was to be the key-note, and man himself was to be the head. And the whole system, the whole structure of man and of the world, is moulded to be the theatre of the redemption of the sinner. Not in Eden, but there on Calvary, and in heaven, which is the child of Calvary, we see realized the whole idea of God. J. B. Brown.

A young lady, a visitor of a Bible Association in New-York, found her way to an obscure cellar, where she discovered a colored woman far gone in a consumption, with her aged husband sitting by her bed-side, and another colored woman, about the age of forty, acting in the capacity of nurse and servant. The young lady told them her business. When the sick woman heard that she came on an errand of mercy, her withered and sickly countenance assumed an unwonted glow and brightness. After expressing a steadfast hope of salvation through the merits of the Savior, she gave the following epitome of her life. But a few years before she was a slave in New Orleans: by industry and economy, she and her husband were enabled to purchase their freedom; and in the course of two or three years to lay up about 400 dollars. Sitting at the door of a cottage one morning, she heard that a number of slaves were to be sold by auction that day. She determined to go and see the sale, and, if possible, to buy one of the female captives, and restore her to liberty. "I have so much money," said she, "and if I can make it the instrument of redeeming one of my fellow beings from slavery, then I can say to my soul, depart in peace." She went and purchased one for 250 dollars. "But now," said she, "I must place her under the ministry of the gospel." She took a passage for herself, her husband, and her liberated friend, for New-York. When they landed, she said, "Now you are in a free state, where the privileges of the gospel are enjoyed; all that I ask for my kindness to you is, that you endeavor to seek the favor of God. If you live with me, and with me work for your support, I shall be rejoiced; you are at liberty to do as you please." The liberated woman accepted her invitation, and was found by the young lady, acting as her deliverer's nurse; and enjoying with her the privileges of that heavenly citizenship in which there is neither bond nor free, but all are one in Christ Jesus. Let us cease to eulogize those who have contributed of their abundance for the relief of the wretched; here was an aged, illiterate, degraded daughter of Africa, who gave her all to promote the salvation of one soul.

Looks at the history of the Jewish passover and how Christians adopted it. Early Christians followed it closely while we have lost much of the significance. Redemption is a key element. Easter is now mostly a celebration of past history, while originally it had an eschatological focus. The original meaning must be revived.

Are some people beyond help and redemption?

In 1975 at the old prison at Windsor, Vermont, a particular prisoner applied for parole. The mood of society at the time leaned toward prisoners and questioned — even challenged — authorities. To all who knew him the inmate in question seemed an intensely dangerous man. Most guards may not be formally educated in the psychology or pathology of violence, but it is their stock-in-trade to know about it. Here, they saw, was danger. One day in his cell in the oldest part of the prison, in the basement, the prisoner poured lighter fluid over himself and lit a match. A brave and determined guard rushed in and saved him. The matter came to the attention of a Windsor minister and his wife. It seemed to them that kindness might effect something here. They asked that the prisoner be paroled in their custody.

Every employee at the prison was utterly against the idea. But while to the public the parole board and the prison authorities seem two arms of a single body, they are in fact totally independent of each other. The parole board voted affirmatively. Guard Mike Coxon called the area superior of the minister and begged him to tell his subordinate not to take in the prisoner. He told the bishop that the minister and his wife had neither the knowledge nor the experience to deal with such a person. The bishop would not be moved. Let the erring sinner be freed and helped. “We’ll hear about this sooner rather than later,” Coxon said when he saw it was no use going on.

The prisoner went to live with the minister and his wife, and in a little while he entered the home of a Windsor family whose nine-year-old son was being baby-sat by his seventeen-year-old aunt. He raped the teenager. He stabbed the child to death. Coxon was home in bed when Windsor’s police chief called with the news.

Illustration of blood transfusion and application to atonement:

Paul Brand's career in medicine traces back to one dreary night at Connaught Hospital in East London. Hospital orderlies wheeled a beautiful young women into his ward. She had lost much blood in an accident. It had drained from her skin, leaving her an unearthly pale color, and her oxygen-starved brain had shut down into an unconscious mode. The hospital staff lurched into their controlled-panic response to any patient near death. A nurse dashed down a corridor for a blood transfusion bottle while a doctor fumbled with the apparatus to get the transfusion going. They could not detect even the faintest pulse on her cold, limp wrist.

She looked like a wax museum exhibit or a marble statue in a cathedral. Her lips were pale and only a few freckles stood out against her pallor. She did not seem to be breathing, having long before passed through the desperate phase of heaving breathing. Paul Brand was certain she was dead.

The nurse arrived with a bottle of blood, which she buckled into a high metal stand as the doctor punctured the woman's vein with a large needle. They had mounted the bottle high and were using an extra-long tube so that the increase in pressure would push the blood into her body faster. The staff told Paul to keep watch over the emptying bottle as they hurried off for more blood.

Nothing in his memory could compare to the excitement of what happened next. As he nervously held her wrist while the others were gone, suddenly he could feel the faintest press of a pulse. He thought it might be his own pulse. Paul searched again, and it was there, barely perceptible.

The next bottle of blood arrived and was quickly connected. A spot of pink appeared on her cheek, and spread into a beautiful flush. Her lips darkened pink, then red, and her eyelids fluttered lightly and at last parted. She squinted at first, and then looked directly at Paul. To his enormous surprise, she asked for some water. Paul Brand was so amazed he became a missionary doctor and served for years in India and Louisiana.

A. It is a beautiful thing to receive life from another person.

B. Transfusion is a close image of what Jesus does for us.

#2805

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A gem dealer was strolling the aisles at the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show when he noticed a blue-violet stone the size and shape of a potato. He looked it over, then, as calmly as possible, asked the vendor, "You want $15 for this?" The seller, realizing the rock wasn't as pretty as others in the bin, lowered the price to $10.

The stone has since been certified as a 1,905-carat natural star sapphire, about 800 carats larger than the largest stone of its kind. It was appraised at $2.28 million.

It took a lover of stones to recognize the sapphire's worth. It took the Lover of Souls to recognize the true value of ordinary-looking people like us.

#3955

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Anyone can believe that Jesus was a god: what is so hard to credit is that He who hung upon the cross was the God. That is what you are asked as Christians to believe. And it is the sword, glittering but fearful. It must cut your life away from the standards of this world, away from its thought and its measures, no less than its aims and hopes. Hard and bitter is the separation, and you will be parted from many great and noble men, some perhaps your own teachers, who can accept about Jesus everything but the one thing needful. The Christian faith, if accepted, drives a wedge between its own adherents and the disciples of every other philosophy or religion, however lofty or soaring. And they will not see this; they will tell you that really your views and theirs are the same thing, and only differ in words, which, if only you were a little more highly trained, you would understand. Even among Christ's nominal servants there are many who think a little good-will is all that is needed to bridge the gulf -- a little amiability and mutual explanation, a more careful use of phrases, would soon accommodate Christianity to fashionable modes of speaking and thinking, and destroy all causes of provocation. So they would. But they would destroy also its one inalienable attraction: that of being... a wonder, and a beauty, and a terror -- no dull and drab system of thought, no mere symbolic idealism.

-- John Neville Figgis (1866-1919), "The Gospel and Human Needs"

Newton, New Jersey. Loretta Giordano told jurors yesterday that she does not want to see her son's murderer die by lethal injection. Giordano, whose son Jeremy was gunned down two years ago while delivering pizzas to an abandoned house, said she hopes Thomas Koskovich finds God and reaches out to help other young people.

Koskovich looked at the floor while Giordano testified yesterday about how the murder affected her life and her family. Then Giordano was asked by defense attorneys if she wanted Koskovich to be put to death. It may have been the first time a victim's relative has been asked that question during a death penalty hearing in New Jersey, attorneys involved in the trial said. Giordano called it an "unfair question" when it was asked during a preliminary hearing while the jury was out of the courtroom. But she answered the question, saying she hoped Koskovich would "become something of value to society," then answered it again in front of the jury.

"We'd most like to see Thomas Koskovich take the evil he's done and turn his life over to Christ," said Giordano, who lives with her husband, Joseph, in Hardyston. But she also told jurors that she wanted them to "evaluate everything according to the laws of the state of New Jersey, according to how they feel. … They have to answer to their God."

[The jury gave him the death penalty. The judge put a twist on the sentence by demanding it be carried out in five years or it would be automatically commuted to a life sentence. His twist was expected to be ruled illegal. It became moot when New Jersey outlawed the death penalty.]

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http://correctionssentencing.blogspot.com/2007/04/thrill-killing-ten-years-later.html

Sunday, April 15, 2007

A Thrill Killing Ten Years Later

Ben Barlyn

This Thursday, April 19th, marks the 10-year anniversary of one of, if not the most, infamous crimes committed in New Jersey. On April 19, 1997, two pathetic low-rent Leopold and Leobs named Thomas Koskovitch (then 18) and Jason Vreeland (then 17) spent the evening placing phone calls to pizza shops in rural Sussex County hoping to find someone willing to deliver them a pizza at a late hour. After several unsuccessful attempts, the two called Tony’s Pizza & Pasta in the nearby town of Hardyston and placed an order for two cheese pies. The owner of the pizzeria, Giorgio Gallara (25), accompanied his employee and friend, Jeremy Giordano (22), to the address provided by Koskovitch and Vreeland.

Unbeknownst to Gallara and Giordano, the address was for a dilapidated and abandoned house located in a very remote and rural part of Franklin Township. There, Koskovitch and Vreeland lay in wait armed with handguns that they had stolen from a gun store three weeks earlier. When Gallara and Giordano pulled up to the house, Koskovitch and Vreeland killed them both in a hail of gunfire. The pizzas were casually discarded near the victims’ car.

Koskovitch and Vreeland were suspected almost immediately. After all, both had previously bragged to acquaintances about their desire to experience what it would feel like to kill someone. After his arrest, Koskovitch nonchalantly explained to the detective in a recorded interview that he and Vreeland had enthusiastically embraced after the killings. When directly asked if he felt any remorse for his crimes, Koskovitch said no because he was unacquainted with either victim. Following a lengthy guilt-phase trial in 1999, a jury concluded in a separate proceeding that his crimes warranted the punishment of death (Vreeland’s age spared him a capital trial).

So much for the crimes. In anticipation of the 10-year-anniversary of the event, today’s Newark Star Ledger has a profoundly moving account of the incalculable suffering and astounding perseverance of the victims’ families during the previous decade. By enshrining the memories of the victims in various endeavors, both the Gallaras and Giordanos have sustained themselves and drawn previously unknown reserves of strength. According to the story, both families have finally achieved something akin to tranquility, which is nonetheless unsettled by what seem to them to be interminable legal proceedings occasioned by the filings of both Koskovitch and Vreeland.

On a purely personal level, the story evoked some very intense memories. The morning after the trial judge signed Koskovitch’s death warrant on May 7, 1997, I was notified by my bureau chief in the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice that I had been assigned to represent the State in Koskovitch’s automatic appeal to the Supreme Court of New Jersey. My first responsibility was to immediately persuade the Court to vacate a bizarre order issued by the trial judge to the effect that unless the sentence of death was carried out in five years, it would automatically be vacated. The trial judge reasoned that by remaining on New Jersey’s death row one minute beyond the fifth year, Koskovitch would necessarily endure cruel and unusual punishment. Two months later, the Supreme Court summarily vacated the order. The trial judge, incidentally, had placed on the record prior to Koskovitch’s trial his personal perspective that the death penalty was in inappropriate punishment.

I was first introduced to Loretta and Joseph Giordano, Jeremy’s parents, by the trial prosecutor, Mike Briegel, just before oral argument was set to begin. Both appeared tense and physically drawn but otherwise emotionally composed. I briefly conveyed by condolences before heading to counsel table. It was an admittedly awkward encounter, made more so by the fact that Loretta Giordano had testified before the jury at the penalty phase of the trial that neither she nor her husband supported capital punishment for religious reasons. Not only was I going to forcefully argue that Koskovitch’s death sentence should be upheld, but that the trial judge had clearly erred by eliciting testimony regarding the personal views of the victim’s family.

In any event, the Supreme Court of New Jersey subsequently upheld Koskovitch’s murder convictions. But, in an acrimonious 4-3 split, the Court vacated the death sentence due to perceived prejudicial instructional errors. Notably, two of the four justices in the majority wrote a separate concurring opinion that Koskovitch’s age and egregious upbringing rendered death an inherently disproportionate punishment despite the egregious nature of the slayings he had perpetrated. Koskovitch remains imprisoned for life with no prospect for early parole.

When all is said and done, I wish the Giordanos and Gallaras the best in their ongoing and evidently successful efforts to reclaim some semblance of what Vreeland and Koskovitch so brutally and callously took from them almost ten years ago.

One of the great events of British history occurred at Dunkirk in 1940. The Nazis were sweeping the European continent and breathing threats against Great Britain. By May, they had most of Europe under control and England was in extreme peril. Neville Chamberlain had resigned and Winston Churchill had just assumed command as Prime Minister. One of his first decisions was to evacuate hundreds of thousands of British citizens and soldiers still on the continent. But how was it to be done? Churchill sent out the word to British citizens to inform the government of all available boats at least thirty to one hundred feet in length. The purpose wasn't disclosed immediately, but it soon became obvious to the world what was happening. Within nine days in May, 1940, 887 vessels (sailing boats, tug boats, pleasure craft, whatever would float and could haul human cargo) rescued 338,000 people from Dunkirk. They redeemed Britain's citizens from their captivity.

When asked what he knew about God, George Beverly Shea is reported to have replied, "Not much, but I do know who has changed my life."

-- Reported by Zig Ziglar

A gentleman stood by a spring branch, waiting for it to clear up,

but the muddy water kept flowing. Finally he resolved to go up to the

spring, the source, and see what was the cause. On arriving, he found

a big old hog in the spring, taking a bath.

I gave this illustration one time when preaching to children. I

asked them the question, "How can we get the spring branch clear?" One

little fellow immediately piped out, "Get the hog out of the spring!"

He was right. We can never live right until our hearts are made right.

William Moses Tidwell, "Pointed Illustrations."

A little girl was sitting on Santa Claus' lap. She gave him a

whole list of expensive toys which she wanted for Christmas and then

without a word of appreciation, she jumped off Santa's lap and started

toward her mother. Her concerned mother spoke quickly, "Honey,

haven't you forgotten something?" The little girl thought for a

moment, then said, "O, yes." Then turning back toward Santa, she

shouted, "Charge it."

God has already "charged" our sins to His Son and has paid the debt

in full. What more could you ask for at Christmas?

Professor Beare of the Presbyterian College, Montreal, points out (in The Presbyterian Record) that the last word of our Lord on the cross, “tetelestai,” “it is finished,” is properly so translated in John 19:30, yet that this word “tetelestai” is found repeatedly in tax receipts in the sense of “paid.” The word “tetelestai,” on a papyrus tax receipt, is the exact equivalent of an English rubber stamp, “Received Payment.” I wonder if the man of those days would not be apt to take the word on the lips of Jesus also as meaning “It is paid,” the account is settled, the debt is wiped out, the Redeemer of mankind has paid the price of redemption.”

-- Sunday School Times

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Another version:

Greek word Tetelestai, which in our version of the Scripture is translated, "It is finished." Archaeologists have repeatedly found its Latin equivalent, consummatum est, scrawled across tax receipts used in those days, indicating it also meant "paid." A renowned Presbyterian professor has conjectured that many standing near the cross probably interpreted the Savior's words as having that connotation. With sin's account settled, our debt of guilt was indeed wiped out!

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Another version:

Along the way we have wracked up a sufficient amount of debt. Our choices have created a large due bill in our relationship with God. Easter provides the reminder of God's grace and the reality that the gift is not free. As Ken Boles points out, God stamped our due bill paid in full. "When Christ cried out from the cross, 'It is finished' (John 19:30), he uttered the word (tetelestai) that has been found on many an ancient bill of sale: 'Paid in full!'"

-- Kenneth Boles, College Press INV Commentary, Galatians & Ephesians

A house is burning and inside is an expensive Stradivarius violin.

Knowing that the violin is in the burning house, a music lover rushes

iin to save it, at great peril to himself. That is redemption. But

the violin is damaged by the heat of the fire and has to be taken to a

master craftsman in order for it to be restored. That also is

redemption. Then a great violinist takes the violin, tunes it, draws

the bow over it and makes it sing. That too is redemption. The total

redemption of the violin includes its complete rescue, complete

repair, and complete service potential.

- G. A. Frantz

One day, a poor boy who was selling goods from door to door to pay his way through school, found he had only one thin dime left, and he was hungry. He decided he would ask for a meal at the next house. However, he lost his nerve when a lovely young woman opened the door. Instead of a meal he asked for a drink of water. She thought he looked hungry so brought him a large glass of milk.

He drank it slowly, and then asked, "How much do I owe you?" "You don't owe me anything," she replied. "Mother has taught us never to accept pay for a kindness." He said, "Then I thank you from my heart." As Howard Kelly left that house, he not only felt stronger physically, but his faith in God and man was strong also. He had been ready to give up and quit.

Year's later that young woman became critically ill. The local doctors were baffled. They finally sent her to the big city, where they called in specialists to study her rare disease. Dr. Howard Kelly was called in for the consultation. When he heard the name of the town she came from, a strange light filled his eyes. Immediately he rose and went down the hall of the hospital to her room. Dressed in his doctor's gown he went in to see her. He recognized her at once. He went back to the consultation room determined to do his best to save her life. From that day on, he gave special attention to the case. After a long struggle, the battle was won.

Dr. Kelly requested the business office to pass the final bill to him for approval. He looked at it, and then wrote something on the edge and the bill was sent to her room. She feared to open it, for she was sure it would take the rest of her life to pay for it all. Finally she looked, and something caught her attention on the side of the bill. She read these words: "PAID IN FULL WITH ONE GLASS OF MILK."

(Signed) Dr. Howard Kelly.

1. I will sing of my Redeemer

And His wondrous love to me;

On the cruel cross He suffered,

From the curse to set me free.

Chorus

Sing, O sing of my Redeemer

With His blood He purchased me;

On the cross He sealed my pardon,

Paid the debt and made me free.

2. I will tell the wondrous story,

How, my lost estate to save,

In His boundless love and mercy,

He the ransom freely gave.

3. I will praise my dear Redeemer,

His triumphant pow’r I’ll tell,

How the victory He giveth

Over sin and death and hell.

4. I will sing of my Redeemer

And His heav’nly love to me;

He from death to life hath brought me,

Son of God with Him to be.

[alternate tune “Hyfrydol”]

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JOHN CHRYSOSTOM, BISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE; SERMON, around A.D. 400

Let no one grieve at his poverty,

for the universal kingdom has been revealed.

Let no one mourn that he has fallen again and again;

for forgiveness has risen from the grave.

Let no one fear death,

for the Death of our Savior has set us free.

He has destroyed it by enduring it.

The Easter Sermon of John Chrysostom

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/chrysostom-easter.html

Sermon by Martin Luther:

You have heard in the story of the Passion how Christ is portrayed as our exemplar and helper, and that he who follows him and clings to him receives the Spirit, who will enable him also to suffer. But the words of Paul are more Christian and should come closer home to our hearts and comfort us more, when he says: "Christ was raised for our justification." Here the Lamb is truly revealed, of whom John the Baptist testifies, when he says in John 1:29: "Behold, the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world." Here is fulfilled that which was spoken to the serpent: "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: he shall bruise thy head," which means that for all those who believe in him, hell, death, and the devil and sin have been destroyed. In the same manner the promise is fulfilled today which God gave to Abraham, when he said in Gen. 22:18 - "In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." Here Christ is meant, who takes away our curse and the power of sin, death and the devil.

All this is done, I say, by faith. For if you believe that by this seed the serpent has been slain, then it is slain for you; and if you believe that in this seed all nations are to be blessed, then you are also blessed.

___________________

Martin Luther, "A Sermon on Christ's Resurrection" [Mark 16:1-8]

http://www.ultranet.com/~tlclcms/mlsem16l.htm

The learned are going to destroy the Christian religion. Already, according to their boastings, it has pretty nearly come to an end. The pulpit is effete, it cannot command public attention. We stand up and preach to empty benches! As you see — or do not see. Nothing remains for us but to die decently, so they insinuate. And what then? When our Lord was dead, when the clay-cold corpse lay watched by the Roman soldiery, and with a seal upon the enclosing stone, was not the cause in mortal jeopardy? But how fared it? Did it die out? Every disciple that Jesus had made forsook Him, and fled, was not Christianity then destroyed? Nay, that very day our Lord won a victory which shook the gates of hell, and caused the universe to stand astonished. Matters are not worse with Him at this hour! His affairs are not in a sadder condition today than then. Nay, see Him today and judge. On His head are many crowns, and at His feet the hosts of angels bow! Jesus is the master of legions today, while the Caesars have passed away! Here are His people — needy, obscure, despised, I grant you, still, but assuredly somewhat more numerous than they were when they laid Him in the tomb. His cause is not to be crushed, it is forever rising.

— Charles Spurgeon, "The Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus" [2 Timothy 2:8]

— http://www.txdirect.net/~tgarner/chspur28.htm