Sermons 2025

SERMON OUTLINE
Introduction to the series theme
David shared in the joy at the right hand of the Lord
We live in a time when real joy and peace are in short supply
The world’s “cures”
David knew heartache
Where does David look?
The Lord is at his right hand
This psalm is really all about Jesus
He did not see corruption
Christ did not decay in the tomb
Remember Jesus’ words
All of these events were the hand of the Lord
Christ ascended to the right hand of the Father so that He could be with us forever
The risen Christ brings us eternal joy at His presence in Word and Sacrament

SERMON

Christ is risen! [He is risen indeed! Alleluia!]

My dear beloved flock, the text for our meditation today is the 16th Psalm as well as the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke the twenty-fourth chapter verses one through twelve.

Boys and girls, I pray that you are doing well today. How close is your shadow? It’s pretty close to you. You always see it with you if you are outside playing, reading a book, or going to bed. Did you know that there’s Someone who is even closer to you than your shadow? It’s Jesus! Today, we celebrate the best day of all. We celebrate that Jesus is no longer dead. Jesus rose from the grave. He is alive! He lives forever! Where is Jesus? He is with you. He will never leave your side. He is closer to you than even your shadow. How does Jesus’ resurrection and being near you help you and give you comfort? Ponder that question as we celebrate that

Christ is risen! [He is risen indeed! Alleluia!]

You may go back to your seats and those who love you.

Our hands are central to the ways that we interact with the world. In the Scriptures, the Lord uses “the hand of the Lord” as a constant reminder to us of just what He can do. Throughout Lent, we have seen how the Lord has used His Hands, symbolic, as well as literal, throughout Holy Scripture for the good of people.  We saw the many ways that Christ’s hands were at work. He saved Peter from the deep, defeated the devil, healed diseases, raised the dead, and held all things in His hand. Today, Christ’s ever-present hand delivers on all His promises, offers us protection, and guides us into life eternal.

King David, nearly a thousand years before Christ, writes in Psalm 16 about the Lord’s hands,

He says:

You make known to me the path of life; 
in Your presence there is fullness of joy; 
at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (v. 11, emphasis added)

David has the quiet confidence found at the right hand of his Lord. In the Lord’s presence, there is life and everlasting joy. How was it that David could write those words of joy and peace a thousand years before Jesus’ resurrection? What do they have to say to us, now nearly two thousand years after His resurrection? Where does this peace at the right hand of the Lord come from? Where does the peace and joy come from when David says that at his Lord’s right hand?

We live in a time when peace appears to be in short supply. We’ve seen the hands of this sinful world at work. Hands focused on restlessness, anxiety, spite, and even downright hatred are blasted across our screens on a daily basis. People recognize that there is something wrong. Of course, many are quick to offer remedies with cures like “self-care” and “do what makes you happy” and any number of band aid fixes. “There is nothing wrong with you. You need to put yourself first to solve your problems and anxiousness in this life.” But how is that working? Is the answer to the problems of this world just to turn in on ourselves more and more? Are we to seek comfort and refuge in the work of our hands? That would be to make ourselves the gods of our lives. For a god is anything or anyone in which we seek refuge.

David writes, “The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply” (v. 4). 

David knew what hardship and heartache was. His predecessor, King Saul, tried to put him to death. His own son, Absalom, wanted him dead. David knew the gravity of the work of his hands in his own sin, the internal toil of his own dreadful actions after taking another man’s wife, Bathsheba, and how that sin caused the death of their firstborn son. David’s very bones wasted away within as he tried to hold his sin in. David did not shy away from confessing his sin before the Lord. David knew it all, and he knew the judgment that he deserved. And yet, in the midst of that, he speaks of peace and joy.

David’s answer for us is not “Look inside yourself to find your inner strength.” It is not “Try harder.” It is not “Grin and bear it. It must get better eventually.” David knows that the work of your own hands will not do. David tells you instead to look to the One who has been right there all along, even if you tried to ignore Him. “I have set the LORD always before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken” (v. 8). David speaks as if the Lord is right there by his side at his right hand. Closer than even David’s own shadow. If the Lord is with you, then you can place your confidence in Him and Him alone. If you know that the Lord is holding on to you, then you know that nothing in this world is greater than Him. You are not alone. Even if you have neglected His presence, He has not neglected you. His promises remain true for you today, no matter how long it has been!

“Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure. For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let Your holy one see corruption” (vv. 9–10).
The Lord is with David, holding him in His hand—the Lord who led Israel with a pillar of fire by night and cloud by day. The Lord who has given him the promise that even if he should die, he will be raised. He would not be abandoned to Sheol. That is the pit where all those who die go. That is where we deserve to be abandoned in an eternal death because of our sins. But David knows that he will not be left there. Even his flesh dwells secure, because God has the final say about this bodily life as well. God will bring him back to life on the Last Day. David’s hope—his faith, his belief—was all bound up in the Lord. Bound up in what the hand of the Lord can do.

This psalm of David has been pointing forward to Jesus all along. David’s hope was all in Jesus and what He has done for David and for us. Written one thousand years before Christ, this psalm is all about Jesus’ resurrection. When the Son of God took on our human flesh, He took on human hands. In Christ, the hand of the Lord has become literal. Because of Jesus, we can say, unequivocally, that God has hands. Real hands. Real hands that can accomplish what He sets out to do. Jesus used His hand by the power of His Word, creating, casting out demons, healing the sick, raising the dead, washing, feeding, and being nailed to the cross—all for you. 

Christ came to a world fallen and in disarray. A world under the curse of sin. He was delivered into the hands of sinful men, indeed, the works of our own sins. Christ’s hands were nailed to the cross. He took all this world’s sin and fallenness; even though He “knew no sin,” He became sin (2 Corinthians 5:21), and He took it all to the cross, where He bled and died for it all.
But that is not the end. The women carried spices to the tomb in their hands, expecting the need to add fragrance to a corrupted and decaying body. Instead, they found the stone rolled away to reveal an empty tomb! As David’s psalm said, “For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let Your holy one see corruption” (Psalm 16:10). David’s tomb was still present at the time of the apostles to testify that he had died and had not yet been raised. But Jesus was not abandoned to Sheol, the place of the dead, nor did His body decay and see corruption.

Christ is risen! [He is risen indeed! Alleluia!]

Jesus was raised on the third day. He was raised to new life to never die again (Romans 6:9). This is what the angels remind the women at the tomb: “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how He told you, while He was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise” (Luke 24:5–7).

These angels were reminding the women of the promises of Jesus, reminding them to remember His words, reminding them that the hand of the Lord had been at work all along, and reminding that He is alive just as He said. This is all the hand of the Lord.

Christ is risen! [He is risen indeed! Alleluia!]

And He lives to this day. He ascended to the right hand of the Father, where He reigns over the whole world. He lives today to give to you the forgiveness that He has won to you. You have been united with His death and resurrection in the waters of Holy Baptism. He is always with you. He will never leave your side. He is always with you. He hands you His very body and blood in the blessed Eucharist for your forgiveness and strengthening of your faith. Because Jesus is with you, you know that what applies to His resurrection also applies to you! When Jesus returns, He will raise you and all believers to be with Him forever. 
Jesus has promised you that you will never be abandoned, He will be with you until the very end of the age. Death does not have the final say. Throughout your life, Jesus is holding you in His hands. In His hands, Jesus still bears the glorious marks that prove His great and steadfast love for you.
Christ is risen! [He is risen indeed! Alleluia!]
The peace of God which surpasses all understanding, guard, and keep, your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.