The First Article of The Apostles Creed Isa 29

The Twelfth Sunday After Trinity                          7-September-2025
Sermon Text: Isaiah 29:17-24 / The First Article Of The Apostles’ Creed
Sermon Theme: The First Article: God Our Father! I. God Is Our Almighty Maker! (Vs17-18). II. God Is Our Father! (19-21) III. In Him Alone Is Found Father Divine Goodness and Mercy!(vs.22-24) by Rev. Nathan J. Rusert

I.N.R.I. Jesus journeys through Gentile territory in the region of the ten cities west of the Sea of Galilee. A defective man is brought to Him a deaf mute. Greek philosophy and Roman power treated physical defects with contempt. Infants born with birth defects were cast into road ditches to be devoured by wild dogs. The Jews viewed all life as a sacred gift of our God. Still they viewed a birth defect as God’s judgment for some sin of the parents or the child. Jewish thinking is evident in our Lord’s disciples. When they passed a man born blind history records, Joh 9:2 And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"
     Do you remember Jesus’ answer? Joh 9:3-5 Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. (4) I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. (5) As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." Birth defects are not God’s judgments - they draw us to Jesus to see our heavenly Father’s merciful goodness at work in them.
    Jesus took the deaf mute aside from the crowd. Touching the man’s defects and using simple sign language Jesus communicates His promise to heal. Then looking up to heaven - He sighs - for the redemption of our bodies and souls from sin will cost Jesus everything - His holy precious blood and His innocent suffering and death.
    To these simple signs Jesus speaks His Word, “Ephatha” - “Be opened”. Why speak to a deaf man? Our words to a deaf man would have no effect - Jesus is the God/Man - the Word through which God the Father spoke our world into existence. God the Holy Spirit testifies, Joh 1:3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. God’s Word is spirit and life - it does what it says - gives what it promises - it can never be broken. The deaf man hears! His tongue is loosed to plainly confess the only true and living God through His Son. He believes in Jesus the Living Messiah whom death cannot conquer!
    If only we could see a miracle like that among us now! You have! A young man deaf and mute like all of us born from Adam stood before you. Our Lord Jesus through the hands of His called and sent servant of His Word took simple water and spoke His Word. Damon was brought from death to life by God’s miracle of baptism. God the Holy Spirit gifted Damon with faith through hearing the Word of Christ. Now Jesus promises all the baptized, Mar 16:16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.
    The miracle of baptism - Jesus touching our deaf mute sinfulness is your ongoing reality Christian. Of baptismal blessings we confess: It works forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this, as the words and promises of God declare. God the Holy Spirit daily and richly opens our ears to hear the Word of Christ. He opens our mouth to confess that Jesus is the Risen Lord. We praise the only true and living God as we confess the Faith given us in Holy Baptism. The Apostles’ Creed - True historical and spiritual reality.
   Therefore let us who are born from above by the Holy Spirit through Jesus’ Word and water confess: The First Article: God Our Father! I. God Is Our Almighty Maker! (Vs17-18). II. God Is Our Father! (19-21) III. In Him Alone Is Found Father Divine Goodness and Mercy!(vs.22-24)
I.  Yesterday afternoon I was amazed to see a myriad of cars and trucks dragging main here in Tell City. I thought, “Isn’t it amazing what a random chance explosion in a iron ore mine assembled!” Or maybe the explosion happened in a junk yard - still all these vehicles evolved by chance random processes. “Pastor,” you protest, “that’s foolishness!” “Couldn’t you see the precise engineering, material design, and work that went into each vehicle?” “Didn’t you see the love and sacrifice of those who rebuilt rusty classical cars to be better than new?” “Don’t be a fool!”
     Don’t be a fool! The first article confesses before our fallen worldly human reason hoodwinked with the myth of evolution. Twice the Psalms warn, Psa 14:1 The fool has said in his heart,"There is no God." They are corrupt, They have done abominable works, There is none who does good. (L.S.B. pg. 322,Ap.C.1st Art. 1st para.)
      “I believe” Man’s reason fell with Adam’s rebellion. Satan promised our first parents they could evolve - be like God - if only they rebelled against His Word and command. His lie only chained us in sin, shame, guilt, deception, death, and eternal punishment in hell. (L.S.B. pg. 323,Ap.C. 3rd Art. 1st para.) Faith is never your choice - it is never your work. It is the gift of God the Holy Spirit through Jesus reconciling you to your loving heavenly Father.
       Our old adam in his self-chosen spiritual blindness hates to hear this truth. We worship the idol called “ME.” Certain that we can save ourselves by trying to keep God’s Holy Ten Commandments better. Over the past 11 Sundays we have looked into the mirror of God’s Law. What did we see? The Truth - we haven’t loved the Lord our God with all our soul, with all our mind, with all our strength, with all our heart. We haven’t loved our neighbor as ourselves. The Law shows us our sins and justly condemns us to death and hell. It offers no path of salvation.
      Isaiah preached to Israel - that it choose the path of destruction. Israel to the north would be destroyed by the Assyrians in 722B.C., Judah to the south would be taken captive by the Babylonians in 586B.C.. Believing idolatrous lies destroyed their nation. Still the Creator’s promise in Jesus stood firm! (Vs.17-18) The Creator would send His only begotten Son to undo what our sin had corrupted. Now all creation waits to be redeemed from our corruption on the Last Day. God has made you and all creatures. The complexity of life confesses that there is a Creator. The human genome project showed that on every cell of your body more information is stored than in our county libraries. Not only is information for life encoded there, but the ability to read and follow God’s instructions. Honest British atheistic scientist Anthony Flew had to admit that he could not longer be an ignorant atheist - there has to be an Intelligent Designer behind life.
   Behold God the Father has given you life. He designed and knit you together in your mother’s womb. No human life is accidental. You are a body and soul person. Created with a physical and spiritual knit together in one body. You are your body. You are your soul. One created by God the Father for fellowship with Him. St. Augustine ignored his baptism and followed the worldly lust of his day, women, wine, lust, riches, and philosophy left him empty. In depression and despair he heard a voice, “Take and read!” He picked up St. Paul’s book of Romans. The Holy Spirit through the word of Christ led him to repent and return to his baptism. He wrote in his confessions, “Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.” His ears were opened to hear the words of the Book. His eyes saw out of obscurity - the Father’s love for us sinners in His Son Jesus!
    Wisdom teaches: Pro 20:12 The hearing ear and the seeing eye, The LORD has made them both. Evolutionary mythology cannot explain the seeing eye or hearing ear. Their structures are too complex to evolve by chance - they show a grand design - the hand and wisdom of our Creator. God has given you all your members - no robot can fully duplicate the complex movements of a human body. God gives you your reason - the ability to think. Many fear artificial intelligence, but it arises out of human intelligence. What we need to fear is the human heart - for from the fall it is a cesspool of evil lusts, desires, and deeds. Even after our rebellion in Adam against our Creator - God still takes care of your body and life. None of us choose to breath this morning, to see this morning, to hear this morning - He sustains our life until the day His wisdom has ordained for us to die arrives. Let His Word open your eyes to see out of obscurity darkness of worldly wisdom - to behold Him through His Son Jesus alone!
II.  Satan, the world, and our fallen flesh cling to the lie that we are self made. Growing up we were indoctrinated with the lie, “It’s my own body, I can do anything I want with it.” The Spirit of Truth testifies, 1Co 6:18-20 Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. (19) Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? (20) For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. The other popular lie of the west is that all I have is what I’ve earned - we are self-made and our riches are due to us. It is a lie that puffs us up with pride in our possessions or leads us to despair that we don’t have enough.
     Repent! (L.S.B. pg. 322,Ap.C.1st Art. 2nd para.) What physical blessings do you have that the Father hasn’t given you? Even the clothes and shoes you are wearing this morning are His gifts to you. He blessed you with a vocation. He calls you to be His hands to care for your neighbor with your various talents. Through the hands of the farmer, oil worker, technologist, manufacturer, seamstress, and cobbler - He clothed and shod you this morning. No farmer can make a seed grow, or cause cattle to reproduce - God the Father’s Word spoken during the first six twenty-four hour days of creation - cause plants and animals to reproduce according to their kind. He supplies us with all we need to “support this body and life.” Every day is thanksgiving for the humble who know the truth of our Father’s cornucopia of blessings.
     Isaiah preached to collapsing Judah (vs.19-21) Humbly rejoice in the Lord! He supplies your life from day to day. Tyrants fall. Satan is defeated by the cross of Jesus. Worldly minded men will scorn your trust in God the Father and His Word. They will seek to stop your confession of the Truth to turn you aside by empty words. Don’t be intimated by them. Trust God the true Father - richly and daily He provides - He protects. Defends you against all danger through lawful civil government. Protects you from all evil by His holy angels and the truth of Jesus preached in His Church. He clothes you with forgiveness in baptism as the Holy Spirit daily and richly forgives all your sins in Christ’s Church!
III. Why? I don’t deserve anything from God the Father! Why didn’t He immediately destroy humanity when Adam sinned and ran with the devil? (L.S.B. pg. 322,Ap.C.1st Art. 3rd para.) He is our loving Father - in Him alone is true Fatherhood found. Satan is the father of lies - a murderer from the beginning seeking only to destroy. God is our True Father - The Truth seeks us sinners to reclaim us to life everlasting with Him!
      His Promise of Jesus to our fallen father Adam and his wife reclaimed humanity to Himself. We didn’t deserve it. He is mercy. He is good! (Vs.22-23) His Word of Promise to Abraham redeemed that idolatry. Abraham believed God’s promise in Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit and the Father declared him righteous - redeemed. God’s promise to Jacob is fulfilled as the nail’s pierce the flesh of God’s only begotten Son on the altar of the cross. Risen from the dead - the Father’s only begotten Son speaks us reconciled forgiven - makes us God’s sons by our baptism into His death and resurrection.
      The Name of the Triune God is sealed upon us with water and His Word - He makes us holy through His Name. Now we joyfully thank praise, serve, and obey Him - as dear children love their dear Father. How? (Vs.24) Daily we repent of the lies whispered to us by the devil, our flashy world, and our fallen thinking. We sit at Jesus’ feet and learn His doctrine. Baptism isn’t an end, but the beginning of our life with our God and Father through His Son - Our Savior Jesus - as we are led by the Holy Spirit hearing the Word of Christ - believing it in our heart and confessing it before the world! Amen.