Your Redemption is Drawing Near

Sermon for the Second Sunday in Advent

Luke 21:25-36

December 7th, 2025

In so many ways we have become desensitized to the signs and the warnings of the End in the world around us. We tell ourselves Jesus probably isn’t going to come back anytime soon, or at least not today. Maybe true. Maybe not. Maybe you will depart this life through death first and then awaken from your grave at the resurrection of the dead instead.

Or maybe you will be one of those still going about your business working in the fields or standing at the mill grinding when suddenly as the lightning flashes from the east to the west and like a thief in the night Jesus returns and in an instant the judgment. The sheep and the goats separated. The sheep on the right to eternal life. The goats on the left to eternal damnation. Today is always the day to repent and be ready to meet Jesus.

The Gospel reading for today should arouse a bit of Godly fear in everyone who has ears to hear. If it doesn’t, you aren’t listening with ears of faith. Ears of faith will hear the warning and heed the warning. And then ears of faith will flee to the safety of the Gospel where the fear will dissipate in Jesus.

The thought of the suddenness of the end should make us stop and check our spiritual pulse. Is our faith alive? Is it being fed? Are we watchful in prayer as we abide in God’s Word? Are we feasting on Jesus with hopeful expectation knowing that our feasting is preparation and readiness to meet Jesus on that most glorious day? And are we confessing the hope we have in the midst of this evil world with all the signs of the end that surround us?

If you knew the world was going to end tomorrow, what would you do today? Would it change how you live? Would it change the words you speak to those you love? Martin Luther said he’d plant a tree. In other words he would just keep living. Doing the work God gave him to do.

Hopefully it would be the same for us. Keep living today with hope knowing Jesus is going to return for us. We have nothing to fear if we remain watchful in the light of God’s Word as we feed on the fullness of Jesus. If that is our situation today, we need not fear tomorrow or the Final Coming of Christ. Because for us, the sheep, it will not surprise us like a thief in the night. The Final Day will be one of eternal joy and glory when we see the face of Jesus.

Stay busy today doing what God has given you to do. Be a father or mother. A husband or wife. A grandfather or grandmother. A son or daughter. A friend, a student or a worker. Whatever work your hand finds to do, do it with all your might. And confess the hope you have to those around you.

The Gospel reading is not meant to send you into a panic. It isn’t meant to make you fear or doubt your salvation. But it is meant to make you think more deeply about your lives and where your hope is found. In both the Old Testament and the Gospel reading there is a warning and a promise. We need both the warning and the promise to keep us focused and walking with discipline, intention, and readiness at all times in the light of God’s Word. How do we do this?

First, don’t put your heads in the sand. Stay awake. Be watchful. Be disciplined in thought word and deed. Be aware and acknowledge the threats that surround you. See the evil and depravity in the world and our culture and avoid it. At the same time don’t despair. You know where your hope lies if you walk in the light of Scripture through all things.

Paul writes: For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

Scripture was written for our instruction. This means there is a necessity to know what is written in Scripture. If it is written for our instruction it means you must be willing to learn which means a willingness to be taught. This takes real effort on your part.

It begins here in the Divine Service, of course. But then it takes place in each of your lives. Nobody can make you listen to, read and study God’s Word beyond the Divine Service. In here it’s pretty easy., it’s mostly passive. Mostly just listening and receiving the gifts of Jesus and hopefully you learn as you listen and receive. But outside of here you need to put in a little work, make a few sacrifices, discipline your choices and actions in order to learn and grow in knowledge and understanding of God’s Word. If you put in the work it will strengthen your hope and increase your ability to confess God’s Truth against the evil in these final days.

The responsibility to get motivated, focused and disciplined falls on you. Don’t assume you know things if you haven’t put in the work to actually learn things. Don’t be satisfied with ignorance. Ignorance isn’t bliss. Start with Bible class. Despite what you tell yourselves or others, you don’t have a good excuse to skip it. It is part of keeping the Third Commandment. You will learn and gain confidence with God’s Word. Then find a routine in your daily devotional life at home. Actually open the Bible and read it. Reflect on it, chew on it, ask the questions. Begin the work to memorize verses. Clean out the cobwebs and knock of the rust in those brains. You can do it. If you do you will grow in wisdom, knowledge, understanding and discernment of God’s Truth.

Your hope will increase and you will be better equipped and prepared to make the good confession in the face of this evil and unbelieving world that is only getting worse as time goes on.

It will happen, and no doubt already has, the opportunity to make the good confession. Are you ready for it? Because the unbelieving world knows how to take Scripture and twist it and pervert it to fit their purposes. How do you respond to them? Do you just remain silent?

Consider the world’s understanding of matters of creation and God’s order and purpose for men and women and life in the flesh. As we progress and move closer to the Final Day, things are growing darker and darker. The evil is rising. Sins of the body infect and threaten everyone. Sexual immorality, the celebration of homosexuality, transgenderism, and abortion.

Perversions of God’s good creation surround us. And Scripture is used to justify the sickness in these End Times. Can you make the good confession against this evil? We have Christian churches in this Williamsburg community that accept, celebrate, and justify such perversions of God’s Word and His creation. Are you able to make the good confession to those people with love? The good confession never justifies sin. The good confession first acknowledges sin and the necessity to turn from it and then the source of our hope and comfort that saves us.

Any attempt to justify the perversion and mutilation and abuse of God’s creation is ultimately a rejection of the Word of God made flesh – Jesus. That tiny baby in the manger – God in flesh and blood came into this world to die for and redeem our flesh and blood created in God’s image as male or female for God’s purposes. This includes every human from the moment of conception.

Our dear Savior born of the virgin Mary, conceived in her womb by the power of the Holy Spirit – fully God and fully Man - didn’t come to grow, suffer, and die to justify the mutilation and perversion and abuse and murder of the flesh and blood of man and woman that God has created for a purpose. He came to save us from that evil. These End Times are dark and getting darker.

Be ready in season and out of season to make the good confession. Always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. The Day is drawing near.

Yes, the world will hate you if you speak the truth. The world already hates you. Jesus promised. You will have division and separation among your friends and coworkers. You will have division and separation within your families if you speak the fullness of God’s Truth.

Jesus said and Jesus promised: Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

You either stand with Jesus or against Him. There is no in between. You can’t use Jesus to justify sin or the teachings of satan.

No one likes it, especially this time of the year with all of the holiday get-togethers and family members you haven’t seen for months or years. Division and separation based on God’s Truth is painful. Our reaction is often to ignore it and act fake just to get by. Don’t be fake. Be honest and speak the truth with love. This isn’t a matter of personal opinion. It isn’t you against them. It is a matter of believing the Truth or a lie. It’s a matter of eternal salvation or eternal damnation. True Christian love speaks the Truth at all times. There is an urgency today. Tomorrow may not come.

Today may be the one and only time you have to speak God’s Truth in love to that person you care deeply about who has wandered from the faith and into the darkness. The perversion, depravity and evil in this world will only grow stronger as the Day of Christ approaches. You will be tempted to become complacent in your confession of Truth in this evil world. Fear and doubt will tempt you to remain silent. Remaining silent as the evil grows will only lead you become more and more desensitized to the evil that is quickly growing. Passivity leads to desensitization if you let the evil speak while you remain silent.

Don’t fall for satan’s tactics. He wants you to be silent. He doesn’t want you to offend with the Truth. He wants you to avoid controversy. He doesn’t want the wandering to return. Be bold in God’s Word and in prayer and fight the battle as you remain watchful. The Day is drawing near. Now is the time to speak of the hope you have in Christ Jesus.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, your eyes and ears of faith have been opened to see and hear the truth in a world going to hell as the Day of Christ approaches. Be bold. Be sober. Be vigilant. The coworker, the friend, your mother, your father, your daughter, your son who has wandered from the faith and is walking in the darkness needs to hear you speak God’s Truth for the sake of their faith.

Our watchfulness and prayers are not just for ourselves. Maybe even mostly not for ourselves but for the people weak and wandering in their faith that God has put into our lives. The people we love. Those are your people. Watch and pray for them. Speak to them. Don’t be silent.

To watch is to heed the warning and know where safety is found. It’s found in the fullness of God’s Word, both the Law and the Gospel. The Law cannot be compromised. True repentance is turning away from sin in the light of God’s Word. And then rejoicing in the cleansing blood of Jesus, the Gospel. And then marching forward with faith renewed and hearts turned from sin, not returning to it. Living differently, with hope, knowing Jesus is going to return.

You are here today receiving the fullness of Jesus in His Word and Sacrament. If you receive your dear Savior who is hidden in His glory behind the Words spoken and behind the bread and the wine eaten and drank today, you will be prepared to meet your Savior when He reveals Himself in His full glory on the Final Day. On that Day you will understanding fully what it means to be justified as you stand before Jesus and see His face. May God grant us the strength needed to watch and remain firm in the faith until the End. In Jesus name. Amen.