QUOTATIONS FROM THE SERMONS OF
Dr. Walter A. Maier
TOPICS
1
church and state
2
grace and faith in Christ
3
committing children to God
4
the new birth
5
schools
6
accepting Christ
7 altar call
8
God’s vengeance
9
Nazi hatred of Christ
10
Bible interpretation
11
Baptism and salvation
12
Free Government and Economics
13
Preaching
14
War and Military
15
The truth of Scripture
16
The purpose of the Lutheran Hour
17
Christ’s influence
18
Apologetics
19
Success of the Lutheran Hour
20
Abortion
21
The depravity of man
22 Moral Purity and the
23
Traitors Within the Church
24
Christian Separation
25
Christian Persecution
26
Gambling
27 Slavery
28
Sabbath
29
The Resurrection
30
Prayer
31
Fasting
32 Forgiveness in Christ
33
God's Judgment on a nation that forgets God
1-
CHURCH AND STATE
Now,
the use of textbooks designed to teach children theories concerning the origin
of life diametrically opposed to the plain teachings of the very first pages of
the Bible not only constitutes a violation of that eminently American principle
which separates the Church from the State and prohibits the teacher from
interfering with the religious life of the pupil, but is also a major menace to
our national welfare, a death-blow to the spiritual life of many children. (From
the sermon “All Life From God” 1937, that appears in the book The Cross From
Coast to Coast, pg 79)
In
your own community speak out bravely against everyone who publicly ridicules
the Lord Jesus, against schoolteachers who, violating the constitutionally
guaranteed separation of Church and State, misuse their tax-paid positions to
inculcate unbelief and contradiction of Scripture. The reason denial of Bible
truth has grown so alarmingly in the
This
account of the cleansing of the
Defend
Finally
it must be clear to every one of us that by dethroning God as Creator and
making men accidental beasts, atheists are promoting sin, vice, immorality, and
giving free reign to lust. If there is no almighty Ruler who brought us into
being; if there is no judge of eternity before whom “every one of us shall give
account of himself”; if there is no heaven and no hell, why worry about truth,
honesty, purity, love, faithfulness? Why keep your pledges and promises? Why
try to help your fellow men? Why be restricted by marriage? Why not glory in
war, revel in bloodshed, gloat over others in agony?
Why not carouse, lie and steal, kill, curse, and crush your fellow men, pander
to your passions, live as animals in unbridled lust, close the churches, chop down
the cross of Christ, stop the preaching of His Gospel? These are the logical
extremes of godlessness. (Walter A. Maier, sermon JESUS CHRIST IS YOUR GOD, in
book GLOBAL BROADCASTS OF HIS GRACE, PAGE 97)
What
is more, certain misguided city governments are making immorality easy and
accessible. In this national crisis
especially we should have emergency legislation abolishing all commercialized
vice, as far as possible removing that damnable temptation. During these difficult times we ought to
close every saloon and dance hall where the morals of youth are attacked. We should ban every lascivious magazine from
the mails and public distribution. The
Government should clamp down on the licentious entertainments. With every power at our disposal as citizens
and Christians we should help clean up these appalling conditions and reinforce
our national reserve of righteousness. (Triumph over Temptation, by Walter A.
Maier, 1941, from the book “FOR CHRIST AND COUNTRY” page 77)
Communists
lie when they label our faith a national foe.
Wherever Christ’s Gospel reigns, the power of idolatry and paganism has
been broken, tyranny and brutality checked, polygamy and divorce restricted,
women and children elevated, the home and family firmly established, slavery
and oppression abolished, labor and industry exalted, ignorance and
superstition banished, schools and colleges multiplied, the sick and the needy
supplied, hospitals and orphanages fostered, and a thousand more blessings
otherwise impossible systematically promoted. Without the influence of the
Gospel there would be no permanently free nation on the face of the earth
today. (From the sermon “For Christ and Country” by Dr. Walter A. Maier, from
the book by the same name, page 322-323)
True
pastors do not preach politics or engage in impressive demonstrations to
attract public attention. In a quiet,
unassuming way they occupy themselves with strengthening men’s souls, and thus
build our spiritual defenses. (From the sermon “For Christ and Country” by Dr.
Walter A. Maier, from the book by the same name, page 322-323)
The
Supreme Court of the United States has officially stated, “This is a Christian
nation,” not is the sense, of course, that we have an official religion or that
the country does not tolerate all creeds, but because, as the highest court
explains, the founding fathers, the original charters, the early practices
throughout the country were distinctly Christian. Our blessings come from the Bible, from the
Savior, from His Gospel. (From the sermon “For Christ and Country” by Dr.
Walter A. Maier, from the book by the same name, page 323)
Communism’s
hatred for the Savior’s followers has been written in blood. A conservative scholar estimates that
1,860,000 Christians, regarded as enemies of their government, were slaughtered
in a single year, 1918. American church
members cannot close their eyes to the growing specter of Communism and
collectivism. To my mind it constitutes
one of the major menaces of tomorrow; we should use every means at our disposal
to counteract its growth within our boundaries. (From the sermon “For Christ
and Country” by Dr. Walter A. Maier, from the book by the same name, page 323)
What
the
When
men rightly fear that the next struggle with its atomic annihilation can wipe
out more civilians and soldiers in a single night than the horrifying total of
the military dead in the whole last war, may the eyes of mankind be trained on
Christ! He cried out against the hatreds and selfish passions which draft men
for opposing armies; He condemned the cruelty of aggressive warfare; He forbade
His followers to lift a sword even in his behalf; He pleaded for peace; and in
an age that has seen one proposal for a warless world after another collapse in
failure, He directs mankind to the only pathway which can ever lead to peace.
Yet -- may Heaven forgive us! -- Jesus, the Prince of Peace, is systematically
barred from the peace conferences in progress today. In a
(Heaven
is Yours - Through Christ 1947)
Christ
is not only “a king”; He is the King, “the King of Kings,” “the Lord of lords,”
the Ruler of rulers. He regulates this entire universe with its billions of
stars. He controls the trillions of human beings in all history. He produces
and uses the mighty forces of nature. He directs the course of human events.
“In him we live and move and have our being.” Whether you realize it or not,
you, as every person, are subject to Him in His Kingdom of Power.(Heaven is Yours - Through Christ 1947)
Because
Pilate misunderstood this universal rule, Christ hastened to add, “My kingdom
is not of this world,” that is, not after the manner of earthly monarchies and
the pattern of princely rule which men see. Thank God for that! Human kings
have often secured their thrones by fraud and falsehood, brutality and
bloodshed; but Jesus reigns as the divine Creator. Monarchs among men have
sometimes been sensual degenerates, selfish criminals, with hands and souls
stained by the crimson blood of their murdered victims; but our Lord rules with
righteousness and justice. The mightiest potentates have lived their brief span
and disappeared in death; but of our Redeemer even the Old Testament records,
“Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever!” The crowned heads of this world have
waged costly, deadly warfare; but Jesus tells Pilate: “If My kingdom were of
this world, then would My servants fight, that I
should not be delivered.” Reread these words and realize that the son of God
never wants His Church to engage in bloody conflict; He condemns those gory
butchers who under the banner of the cross, in the name of His truth, with the
sanction of churches, have cut down in cold blood their fellow men who refused
to believe as they did. Behold the Lord of love, when weak and wan, torn and
tormented, He faces Pilate! As the King of compassion, He condemns those who
have sought to spread or defend His Gospel with the sword (Heaven is Yours -
Through Christ 1947)
The
Savior tells us, too, “My kingdom is not of this world,” to remind those who
love Him that they should shun fleshly means of extending His realm. He does
not want churches which bear His holy name to heap up inordinate wealth,
overlarge real-estate holdings, bulging bank deposits, while hundreds of
millions in our war torn world are starving, physically and spiritually. He
forbids His followers to use illegal means of raising funds for His cause. In
Christ's work, contrary to the teaching of some creeds, the end never justifies
the means. Gambling, in its fine and gross forms, or profiteering in the name
of religion, is abhorrent to the Christ who drove the money-changers from the
temple. Our Lord does not want His church in politics any more that He wants
the state to intrude upon religion. He asks for the sacrifice of loving hearts,
not for suppers and socials as substitutes for generous giving. (Heaven is
Yours - Through Christ 1947)
Learn
also from these words, “My kingdom is not of this world,” that you have no
reason to expect worldly, financial, or social rewards from following Christ.
His disciples hoped He would establish a mighty kingdom here on earth, and
repeatedly they debated the question, who is to have the positions of highest
importance in the new realm? Today, likewise, misguided people reach out for
selfish rewards in following Jesus. They look forward to a time when the believers
will be happy, healthy, wealthy, in a kingdom of might here below, forgetting
entirely the plain truth of these clear words, “My kingdom is not of this
world.” Every Bible reader ought to know, in protest, that the Savior's Word
reminds us, “We must through much tribulation enter into the
Today
a
No
believer can ever exalt leaders who are against God and His Son, who have persecuted Christians, destroyed churches, boasted of
their blasphemy, advocated the overthrow of our form of government, and
agitated for world revolution—no matter how closely these men may be allied
with us! Don’t write me that I am preaching politics when I say this! Was
Isaiah preaching politics when he denounced godless Ahaz?
Was Jeremiah preaching politics when he attacked Jehoiakim?
Was John the Baptist preaching politics when he assailed Herod? How can you
expect me to see my Lord and Savior viciously blasphemed—and not protest? If
anyone in
While
everyone of us should prepare to cast an intelligent,
prayerful ballot at each election, the salvation of
But
do not for a moment believe that this sword-smiting religion is only a matter
of ancient and medieval history. Today, in the year of grace 1931, we think of
the modern counterpart of all this in the form of political activities led by
professional “reformers” operating under the Church’s sanction and with salaries
paid by the Church. We think of the political lobbies maintained by American
churches in the national capital and in the political centers of our States, of
the conscious and defiant utterances of churchmen who still contend, in spite
of all past tragedies to which this principle has given expression, that the
Church must direct the political affairs of the American nation. We think of
the lamentable fact that too many Scriptural texts become merely political
pretexts, that too many militant clergymen are really virulent policemen, and
we realize that this spirit of Peter, far from being extinct, flourishes today
as one of the greatest dangers threatening the welfare of our country, —
flourishes to promote bigotry and intolerance in our own lives, to make us
think of the Church, as Peter did, in terms of merely human and perverted
ideals. [From the sermon “Shall We Smite with the Sword” found in the book “The
Lutheran Hour”, page 208.]
Here
are Christ’s words, words of im-perishable truth,
“The Son of Man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” If
Christ were with us here in the United States today, His voice of warning would
also be raised, we may well believe, against those aggressive interferences in
the political life of the nation on the part of church organizations which have
gone beyond the scope of their province in busying themselves with economic
issues, with political problems, and with purely governmental questions. He
would not countenance the campaigns conducted by church federa-tions
to mold popular opinion in regard to such purely partisan issues as the
entrance of our country into the
Ascension
Day comes to remind us that Christ has been taken up from the earth, that His
is a spiritual kingdom with a spiritual program and a spiritual blessing. He
who in the days of His flesh refused to accept earthly power has left temporal
dominion and civil authority to no Church and to no individual or group of
individuals within any Church. He who told His disciple, “Put up thy sword,”
teaches us by His victorious ascent that the weapons for the spreading and the
protection of His kingdom are heavenly — His Word and His Sacraments. He who
refused to yield to popular clamor and be crowned as king tells His Church
today that “the
2-
GRACE AND FAITH IN CHRIST
Jesus
is ready to forgive you freely, if only with faith in Him as God’s Son and your
Redeemer you penitently beseech His mercy.
Anyone can come to Christ, no matter how high or how low he may be in
the scale of human favor; everyone, but particularly you; any time, but
especially now, when the Spirit knocks at your heart, can be the right time to
approach Him for His pardon and His blessed peace. (From the sermon TRIUMPH
OVER TEMPTATION, found in the book FOR CHRIST AND COUNTRY, PAGE 74)
Now
forget the rest of humanity for a moment and concentrate on yourself! Review
your own transgressions, your hate-filled, lust-laden thoughts, your cruel,
cutting words, your shameful acts, sometimes hidden from human gaze, but--be
sure of this!--known in all their sordid details to the holy God; and as His Word
and your conscience remind you that you cannot stand before Him with unforgiven transgressions, I ask you: do you know any man,
saint, or angel who can transfer your guilt to himself? But Jesus, precious
Jesus did” “His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree,” His cross
is your defense against sin; His blood, your defense against hell; His death
your defense against the decay of the grave. When Christ is enthroned in your
heart, you can face an accusing conscience with the triumph: “Jesus ‘is my
Defense!” “Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercessions for us.” With the Savior controlling
your life, you can reject the coaxing of satanic temptations. When doubts
assail you, you can push them aside to declare: “Jesus ‘is my Defense!” “I know whom I have believed and am persuaded
that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.”
If Christ is your Lord, you can face divine justice and though your sins are
many, grievous, and disheartening, tell of Judge of eternity: “O Father, Jesus
is my Defense.” “He was wounded for’ my ‘transgressions,
He was bruised for’ my ‘iniquities.”
(From
the sermon “God is Our Defense” Nov. 1941, in the book “For Christ And
Country”)
What
endless love are contained in that short five-letter
word, grace! Consult your dictionaries to find its exact meaning, and you will
discover that it is widely used in law, royalty, music, sports, in a dozen
other ways! But take your Bible, stand
beneath
Believe
Him, not merely with a denominational faith, a church faith, a family faith,
but with your own personal conviction which joins the Apostle in declaring, “I
know whom I have believed!” [From the sermon “Jesus Christ is Our Hope”,
October 1944]
Once
more I call your attention to the truth that the Apostle is not satisfied with
declaring all religions—any kind of creed—are the hope
of the world. He does not want—and neither should we—the easy, pleasant, soft,
sweet delusions which prate about man’s goodness, but stifle the subject of
sin, insist that all are on the road to heaven, but call the Savior Himself
narrow and bigoted when He declares, “No man can come to Me, except the Father
which hath sent Me draw him.” [From the sermon “Jesus Christ is Our Hope”,
October 1944]
Why
is Christ our Hope? First, because He is our God.
Therefore nothing is impossible for Him to whom all power is given “in heaven
and in earth.” He can succeed when experts fail. He can make peace when we can
see only further war. He, without whom “was not anything made that was made,”
who upholds “all things” in the vastness of this universe “by the Word of His
power,” who can move dictators as though they were helpless puppets and destroy
haughty nations in a twinkling—this same Jesus can richly supply your every
need, graciously share your burdens, miraculously, if necessary, rescue you
from danger. [From the sermon “Jesus Christ is Our Hope”, October 1944]
Men
lie when even in the name of religion, they systematically deny that Jesus is
the Savior of mankind and, contradicting the sacred promise that “whosoever
believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life,” teach that He
is the Redeemer only of a select few. They lie when they claim the atonement He
purchased with His blood is not enough to free us from our sins,
that we ourselves must earn and pay our own way into heaven, when His
Word testifies to the truth that “by one offering He has perfected forever them
that are sanctified.” [From the sermon, “Join the Jury Trying
Jesus” 1947.]
3-
COMMITTING CHILDREN TO GOD
Then,
perhaps, Job presented his sons and daughters to Heaven with words like these:
“Ever-living God of our fathers, here are my children. I give them to thee for
service to thy holy name.” Today we need a similar presentation of the family
to the Lord. An increasing number of believers consecrate their new homes to
Jesus. Even more important, however, is this, that our families, every member
in them, sanctify themselves to the Savior in true, trusting faith. (From
“Global Broadcasts of His Grace”, page 11, sermon, “Give Your Home To God”)
4-
THE NEW BIRTH
So,
from illustrious university circles to illiterate groups we see clearly that
education, higher or lower, in itself is no guarantee for goodness. Besides
training the mind, we must purify and strengthen the soul; and for that we need
the abiding presence of God the Holy Spirit. We must be born again by faith; we
must become new creatures in Jesus. (From “Global Broadcasts of His Grace”,
page 138, sermon, “Join the Jury Trying Jesus”.
We
look the same after this rebirth as before, but we cannot act the same. A real change has come from within. We who hated God begin to love Him. Those who ridiculed a rejected Christ now show
Him reverence. Those who served sin now
serve Jesus. Habitual drunkards write us
to testify that after hearing the broadcast Word the power of alcohol has been
broken. Self-confessed atheists testify
that they have become humble believers’ would-be suicides that they have found
life eminently worth while when lived for Jesus. Scoffers have converted their blasphemy to
testimony, their foul-mouthed profanity to praise for Christ. Parents who wickedly plotted to destroy their
unborn children have learned to stop this murder, welcome and cherish the baby
that came to them as God’s gift. In hundreds of ways by the Spirit’s power
working through these broadcasts, lives have been remade, the desires of the
heart directed from sin to the Savior, the understanding of the Scriptures
opened and simplified, as men who before their conversion had sought
contradictions in the Bible now bow before its harmony. (From the sermon “Are
You “Born Again”?, in the book For Christ and Country, page 175, first aired
January 1942)
John
Newton went to sea as a young man and early learned the shocking blasphemies of
coarse unbelief. He deserted the Navy, was whipped and demoted. He sank lower
and lower, until he lived on an African plantation, shunned even by slaves, and
taunted by his native master. Then, after he had been spared in a terrific
storm at sea, he turned to God in his utter despair, made time to read the
Bible and pray, was graciously converted, and later helped break the tyranny of
slavery. He became an energetic minister of the Gospel and the author of hymns
which have brought joy to millions. On his deathbed he declared, “I know two
things: that I am a great sinner, and that Jesus Christ is a great Savior.” His
tombstone bears this inscription: “John Newton… once an infidel and libertine,
a servant of slaves in Africa, was by the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ, preserved, restored, pardoned, and appointed to preach the faith he had
long labored to destroy.” The Holy Spirit can work the same wondrous change in
you, if you only acclaim God's Son your Redeemer and, trusting Him, are born
again into the new and heaven-blessed life. [From the sermon,
“Join the Jury Trying Jesus” 1947.]
5-
SCHOOLS
In
too many cases such schools have become hotbeds of infidelity and hatred of the
Redeemer. As some of you parents know from bitter experience, young people who
enter colleges as happy, trusting believers, leave as dissatisfied,
sophisticated skeptics. Particularly in times like these, when the nation needs
spiritual strength for its first line of defense, we must keep Christ in our
culture. Therefore, if you fathers and mothers want your children to attend a
college in which Biblical religion, far from being assailed, will be exalted,
write me for a list of spiritually accredited colleges connected with my
Church! (Walter A. Maier, Keep America Christian, from the book For Christ and
Country, page 198)
Similar
slander is being taught in certain American colleges and universities. Bertrand Russell, whose lectures are
compulsory for some public schoolteachers in New York City, declared, “I say
quite deliberately that the Christian religion as organized in its churches has
been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world.” And in a hundred different ways campus men
and women, except in Christian, church-maintained schools, which deserve your
special support, are often instructed to regard our faith as an outworn
superstition, hostile to the masses, thwarting progress, a menace to democratic
development. (For Christ and Country, a sermon by Dr. Walter A. Maier, from the
book by the same name, page 321)
Today
much of public education is pointedly antireligious, with a deep-rooted
determination on the part of many teachers (whose salaries are paid from public
funds) to poison young minds against the Bible. Most of you have no idea of the
startling extent to which textbooks used in many public schools feature an
away-from-God tendency. (Walter A. Maier, Keep America Christian, from the book
For Christ and Country)
If
our youth is trained to be mentally cunning instead of spiritually good; if its
education molds the brain but neglects the soul; if schools refuse to recognize
sin and wrong, have no place for God and His grace in Christ, can you not see, should
this treachery toward our youth assume control of American education, that the
ship of our state may slowly but surely be steered toward destruction on the
rocky shoals of unbelief? (From the sermon “God is Our Defense” Nov. 1941, in
the book “For Christ And Country”)
This
defiant doubt and proud denial rules much of our world today. It is found in
high schools, when teachers deliberately go out of their way in holding up
God’s Word to derision, and sneer, “Does anyone still believe the Bible?” The same
we-don’t-believe-it-because-you-can’t-prove-it spirit holds sway in many
colleges and universities, even — we say this with especial regret — in schools
founded by churches. A few days ago a student at a
Now,
the use of textbooks designed to teach children theories concerning the origin
of life diametrically opposed to the plain teachings of the very first pages of
the Bible not only constitutes a violation of that eminently American principle
which separates the Church from the State and prohibits the teacher from
interfering with the religious life of the pupil, but is also a major menace to
our national welfare, a death-blow to the spiritual life of many children. Will you parents, whom God has appointed the
human guardians of the souls of your own flesh and blood, not be ready to
protest against such a diabolical attack?
You spend much time and money to see that your girls and boys get proper
food, that they are guarded against contagious diseases and accident. Will you not also watch over their spiritual
life, so that their minds are not fed with this slow poison and they are not
afflicted with the contagion that infects the soul? Speak out in protest to the teachers and
principals in schools that feature these unscientific and withal destructive
teachings!(From the sermon “All Life From God” 1937,
that appears in the book The Cross From Coast to Coast, pg79)
These
five eternally precious words, “Jesus Christ…is our Hope,” should banish the
thought that science, culture, education, are the saviors of our world. If they
were, why would relatively many college professors and honor students take
their own lives? Human ingenuity can make robot bombs sixty feet long, leaded
with explosives, and then declare these hellish instruments of death outmoded
as new and even more devastating means of destruction are devised; but all superminds throughout the ages, of themselves, have never
discovered the means of speaking peace to a grief-gripped soul, pardon to a
sin-burdened heart. [From the sermon “Jesus Christ is Our Hope”, October 1944]
6-
ACCEPTING CHRIST
The
Holy Spirit can work the same wondrous change in you, if you only acclaim God's
Son your Redeemer and, trusting Him, are born again into the new and
heaven-blessed life. (Dr. Walter A. Maier, from the sermon “JOIN THE JURY
TRYING JESUS” found in the book “Global Broadcasts of His Grace”)
At
some time every one who has ever heard the history of Christ's death and the
message of His mercy must declare Him either true or false. You can sidestep a
verdict on a thousand other issues; but once you know, as I now declare, that
our Lord was sentenced to the cross as a vicious criminal, and that He died
there to remove your sins, you put yourself on record for or against Him. [From the sermon, “Join the Jury Trying Jesus” 1947.]
My
fellow redeemed, if you want a sure protection against evil, acclaim Christ
your own Savior! Accept Him now! A day; even an hour’s hesitation, my prove too long and too late. (From the sermon “God is Our
Defense” Nov. 1941, in the book “For Christ And Country”)
The
day on which your sons and daughters accept the Lord Jesus will be far more
important in eternity than the day when they receive their high school diploma
or college degree, or the time they develop successful business or professional
careers. ( from “Global Broadcasts of His Grace”, page
12, sermon, “ Give Your Home To God”)
Now,
if you accept this magnificent mercy — but the word “accept” is altogether too
weak — if you believe that Christ is the Son of God, the Savior of the world,
and humbly come to Him with your guilt, trusting His promise: “Though your sins
be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as wool”; if at the cross you confess yourself a lost, damned
sinner, but Jesus your sin-conquering Redeemer, then, by grace, through faith,
heaven is yours. (W. A. M. Heaven is Yours — through
Christ, Global broadcasts of His Grace page 168)
Who
can give any guarantee that this may not be the last time in which the promise
will be offered you, ABelieve on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house@; the
last time you will ever be told that the nail-scarred hands of the Lord Jesus
are raised to welcome you into the joy of pardon and heavenly peace? How
terrifying beyond all words and understanding if you should spurn this final
plea! There is no excuse in the claim that you never heard of Jesus, for every
sermon I have preached has emphasized what I now repeat, namely, that a sinner
is washed, cleansed of sin, ransomed, redeemed, saved for eternity only by
faith in the Savior=s atoning death and life-giving resurrection. You cannot
say that you were not warned, for I tell you in this solemn moment, AHe that believeth not shall be damned@; and these are the
words of Christ, our God, Himself. (From “For Christ and Country”, sermon “Away
With Doubt! Believe!” 1942.)
Do
not repeat what a man told me on the
My
fellow redeemed, I pause to ask whether you have that faith. Can you say, not
only, “We believe, we in our church, we in our Bible class, we in our Sunday
school, we in our home,’ but also, “I myself, convinced of my own sin, yet
trusting in the Savior’s greater grace for me, believe that Jesus is ‘my Lord
and my God’”? (From “For Christ and Country”, sermon “Away With
Doubt! Believe!”.)
Christ’s
pledge in His everlasting covenant is signed and sealed by His own blood.
Accept this mercy! Give yourself to Him this Lord’s Day! From the sermon
"ALLIANCE WITH GOD—NOT WITH THE GODLESS!" which first aired in
January 1948, contained in the book “One Thousand Radio Voices for Christ” ]
7-
ALTAR CALL
Today
Christ stands at your door, seeking entrance into your soul, with a treasure a
million times larger than the world's most productive oil fields. Let me tell
it to you again slowly: He offers you pardon for all your sins, peace with God,
a cleansed conscience, victory over hell, triumph over your temptations, a new,
Spirit-born life, courage in every fear-filled moment, answer to your prayers,
strength in your afflictions, hope in your troubles, comfort in your sorrows,
soul profit in your losses, help in every need, guidance in uncertainty, life
after death, heaven after this earth! With “the riches of His grace” yours,
through humble, trusting faith, receive Him now as your Redeemer and Ruler!
Cast your ballot on this jury for the sinless Sufferer! Stand up for Jesus even
though you have to pay a penalty for your loyalty to the Lord! Tell the world:
This Prisoner whom wicked men have sentenced to the cross is not only innocent
and stainless, not only the loving Rescuer of the race; above all, He is my God
and my Savior! Repeat that with me now, aloud, right before your radios: “Jesus
is my God and my Savior!” Then listen closely as His Word of truth that can
never be broken promises you, directly and personally, “Whosoever . . . shall
confess Me before men, him will I confess also before
My Father which is in heaven”! O gracious God, bring all of us together before
Thy throne, through Thy saving Son, who died for us and went to prepare our
personal place in
Have
you accepted Jesus as your own Savior and His Word as the promise of your
salvation? may God give you His grace, first to
realize that you have heard the question of paramount importance in human life
and then to answer this question with a ringing conviction that in Christ’s
truth and freedom the search for your happiness has found its goal. (From
“Christ’s Estimate of the Scriptures” 1930, which is included in the book “The
Lutheran Hour” 1931)
8-
GOD'S VENGEANCE
God
can take horrifying revenge. . . . Soon after the Voodoo worshipers on
9-
NAZI HATRED OF CHRIST
In
Germany Nazi critics of the Church berate the Gospel not merely as weak and
effeminate but also as directly contrary to their country’s welfare. They continue the blasphemy of Friedrich
Nietzsche, who wrote, “I call Christianity the one great curse,
. . . the one indelible blot upon the achievement of man.” (For Christ
and Country, a sermon by Dr. Walter A. Maier, from the book by the same name,
page 321)
10-
BIBLE INTERPRETATION
The
tragedy which divides churches is the indifference to sound doctrine. They refuse to give the Lord’s Word
preference over man’s, follow tradition and emotions rather than the Law and
the Gospel, and are unwilling to let the Bible be the final authority in
Christian faith and life. (From the sermon “The Power of
Pentecost” 1943, included in the book “America Turn To Christ”.)
Now,
just what did Jesus do? With more books written about Him than any other figure
in history; with His Word and work debated for centuries in every country of
the world, you must learn to think clearly and be guided by what the Bible
says. (W. A. M. Heaven is Yours — through Christ,
Global broadcasts of His Grace page 168)
11-
BAPTISM AND SALVATION
Ninth,
the Christian faith offers the blessing of Baptism, through which, when you
trust the Savior's mercy, your guilt is washed away. (From the Lutheran Hour
sermon “Fight For The Faith” that first aired in January 1946
)
“Do
not be misled by those who say that Baptism is not important. They contradict
Christ. They put their own opinion above Scripture. Take Jesus at His word, and you will find that through Baptism -- and I mean
of course, not merely the performance of the ritual itself, but by your
personal faith in Jesus and in His promise -- the Holy Ghost unmistakably comes
to you.” (The Power of Pentecost, a 1943 sermon by Dr. Walter
A. Maier, included in the book “America Turn To Christ”.)
Those
Pentecost converts not only repented and believed, they were also baptized,
following Peter's plain direction, “Be baptized, every one of you, in the name
of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins!” That has always been the order in
His kingdom: repentance, faith, and baptism. Besides granting us pardon for all
our wrongs, the Savior has also given us the ordinance of Holy Baptism as a
visible assurance that our sins have been washed away. (From the sermon, The
Power of Pentecost, which first aired in 1943; found in the book America Turn
To Christ)
Do
not be misled by the pious patter which pictures all men as good! I tell you
from God's Word that by nature all men are bad! Scripture asserts, “All have
sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Do not be duped by the pernicious
promise that all men are going to heaven! I tell you in God's name that without
Christ all men are going to hell. Jesus Himself - and He never makes a mistake
- warns, “He that believeth not shall be damned.” Do not imperil your soul by
thinking, “I can enjoy life for a while and then repent later”! You may never
have another chance to approach the Almighty. (From the sermon, The Power of
Pentecost, which first aired in 1943; found in the book America Turn To Christ)
Don’t
say, “I was baptized and confirmed!” That alone—without your own personal
reliance on your Redeemer—can never save you. You yourself must approach the Savior,
sincerely confess your own sins, penitently seek His forgiveness, and assuredly
cling to the promises of His grace. (From the sermon, “Build Your Home on
Christ,” which first aired in January 1945, From the book “Jesus Christ our
Hope”)
12-
FREE GOVERNMENT AND ECONOMICS
What
does our country require in this crisis? The Christian idea of business and
labor as a service, as an expression of Jesus' Golden Rule, “As ye would that
men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise,” or capitalists and laborers
striving to secure the highest possible prices, income or wages, while millions
of young military men risk their lives at hardly ten dollars a week? (From the 1942 sermon, “Christ's Challenge to Seventy Million
American Unbelievers”, found in the book “For Christ and Country”.)
We,
as Americans, should gratefully concur in the words of an eminent modern
authority in political science: “The idea of legally establishing inalienable,
inherent, and sacred rights of the individual is… in reality the fruit of the
Reformation and its struggle,” [From the sermon “Life’s Searching Inquiry”,
that is included in the book “The Lutheran Hour” 1931]
The
Communist creed lies when it makes Christ a Friend of the rich and the
capitalists, but an enemy of the poor and the workingmen. Has anyone throughout
history ever championed the cause of the downtrodden, the sick, the starving,
the enslaved, as our Lord did? The followers of Karl Marx lie when in tall
letters they print this falsehood on their public buildings: “Religion” [and
they mean especially the Christian religion, the Gospel of the Savior slain for
the sins of an evil world] “is the opiate of the masses” -- the drug that puts
people to sleep and keeps them from enjoying their right and liberties. For
where in all the ages can you find a force that has even approached Christ's
Evangel as an agency of freedom, blessing, progress, prosperity, both spiritual
and material for the whole human race? [From the sermon,
“Join the Jury Trying Jesus” 1947.]
I
have denounced the tyranny and despotism of Naziism,
Fascism, and Communism; but I have tried not to blind myself to the serious
dangers confronting our own national life: the breakdown of the home, godless
education, rampant crime, corruption of justice, class struggle, radical,
anti-Scriptural theories of government and administration, the disloyalty to
Christ in modernist circles, and particularly the religious indifference that
keeps more than half our population away from the Church. [From
the forward to the book, “Courage in Christ” 1941.]
13-
PREACHING
Therefore,
fortify
When
people go to church to hear addresses on the minimum wage, the adequate housing
of the poor, the regulations of moving pictures and dance-halls, the benefits
or the defects of the Volstead Act; when
Sunday-school children have the few moments of each Sunday which should be
devoted to their spiritual life taken up with lessons that tell them how to
keep the streets clean, how to avoid forest fires, and how to become junior
traffic policemen, — you will agree with me when I say that the tragedy of
modern American church-life is this, that too frequently it gives the body
preference over the soul, that too often it has permitted the priceless
spiritual privilege of saving souls to be side-tracked and vitiated by
political activities, by social ambitions, by industrial programs. [From the
sermon, “The Modern Message of the Ascension” 1931]
14-
WAR AND MILITARY
In
a world of international greed, hatred, bloodshed, the
Instead
of glorifying war we should recognize even the most justified struggle as a
visitation from the Almighty directed to bring us down on our knees in
contrition and faith. [From the sermon “Jesus Christ is Our Hope”, October
1944]
Have
we within the last quarter of a century, however, not gone much farther “in the
way of Cain” than the bloodthirsty tyrants of Jude’s day? The last seven years
recorded more than 42,000,000 military and civilian casualties on the field of
one war! Not even a madman like Nero could approach that figure; and the vilest
of those ancient fiends could learn something from Nazi and Nipponese torture
camps. Have we on this side of the oceans done our utmost to avoid “the way of
Cain”? [From the sermon “Fight for the Faith”, which is included in the book
“Let Us Return Unto the Lord” 1946]
15-
THE TRUTH OF SCRIPTURE
Tremendous
sums have been spent in the effort to discredit His Gospel; long lifetimes of
hate-filled study have been devoted to the one unholy purpose of attempting to
show errors in Christ’s teachings; millions have been martyred when foes of the
faith sought to destroy the church; but all these mad ventures have failed. No
man has ever succeeded in producing one real, fact-founded charge against the
blessed Redeemer. Therefore, when He promises
The
Bible does what no other volume has ever achieved -- prophesy future events
with accurate truth. If you yourself
need a convincing demonstration of the Scriptures’ power; if you want to
persuade some skeptic that the Sacred Volume is the errorless truth, take
recourse to the proof furnished by fulfilled prophecy. The Bible must come from God, for only He
knows the future; He alone could reveal, centuries in advance, the startling
course of our Savior’s life, death, resurrection, as well as scores of other
events in the histories of individuals and nations. [From the sermon “The
Beautiful Savior” 1941, which is included in the book “For Christ and
Country”.]
To
me as a Christian – and I hope to you – the fact that Jesus did not molder in a
Palestinian grave but on the first Easter gloriously burst death’s bonds in a
verity more definitely assured than ten thousand records of past history, since
the resurrection record is the revelation of God’s unimpeachable, unchangeable
Word. [From the sermon, “Thank God For the Easter
Victory” 1942.]
16-
THE PURPOSE OF THE LUTHERAN HOUR
“The
Lutheran Hour - Bringing Christ to the Nations,” is fighting the battle for
conservative, Scriptural, fundamental Christianity throughout the land. [From the sermon “America Embattled”
Our
Bringing Christ to the Nations broadcast is committed to use every available
station throughout the world for the purpose of showing men that they are sinners
and convincing them by the Holy Spirit that they are saved by faith in the
cleansing blood, the atoning death, and the life-giving resurrection of Christ.
[From the sermon, The Power of Pentecost, which first aired in 1943; found in
the book America Turn To Christ.]
17-
CHRIST’S INFLUENCE
People
with the average quota of common sense can see that Jesus has showered benefits
on the whole race. They recognize that
it was He who helped the downtrodden groups of mankind, liberated womanhood
from the tyranny of lust, elevated childhood from the depths of despair, turned
the toil of slavery into the honor of labor, changed the hideousness of
heathendom into decent, progressive society — in short, heaped multiplied
blessings on all classes and centuries of men. [From the sermon, “Who is This
Jesus” 1941, in the book “For Christ and Country”.]
18-
APOLOGETICS
If
you ever feel, as Thomas did, that you want proof before you believe — and
moments of doubt can come upon the most firmly rooted in the faith — then
remember how unhesitatingly some of the mightiest minds have welcomed Christ in
faith, instead of demanding proof. William Kitchen Parker, anatomical
authority, asserted: “All through these fifty years the joy of the Lord has
been my strength and ... the four Gospels ... have been the strength of my
life. They have lifted up my mind.” Alexander McAllister, physiologist at
He
would not admit the Easter truth unless he could see and feel; yet even as he
spoke, he accepted a hundred mysteries in his own body, in the world about him,
on the ground beneath, in the sky above, although he could not see or feel the
forces behind them. Mark you, Thomas did not say, for instance, “Unless I see
the power that drives the wind, put my hand on its mechanism, I will not
believe that there is a wind”; or “Unless I behold the blood coursing through
my members and put my finger on the impulse which circulates this vital fluid,
I will not believe that blood is being driven through my body”; or “Unless I
see the elements that make up the water I drink, measure the hydrogen and the
oxygen, I will not believe that water is compounded as it is!” He did not say:
“Unless I feel the principle of life, I will not believe that there are living
beings. Unless I touch the mysterious power that makes a tree spread and
enlarge, I will deny that it grows.” But, like many of you, he insisted on
placing human reason above divine revelation. While you cannot explain or prove
the commonplace experiences of the nature surrounding you, the life you live,
the world in which you exist, you demand proof positive for the things of the
spirit which no human eye can see and no natural intellect understand. [From
“For Christ and Country”, sermon “Away With Doubt! Believe!”.]
19-
SUCCESS OF THE LUTHERAN HOUR
during
the past months we have been able to broadcast over almost 350 stations in the
Our
broadcasting shows that sermons centering in the crucified Savior still have
the promise of divine blessing. No matter how completely international scenes
may be shifted, the personal soul-questions remain; and nothing men have ever
devised can bring the comfort to be found in the Savior’s cleansing blood,
atoning grace, and life-giving death. Let pastors and laymen who wonder whether
the old Gospel has lost its appeal look to our broadcast and understand from
this nation-wide demonstration that the one message which has the assurance of
blessing is the good news of a Savior slain for the sins of an evil world! [Introduction to “Courage in Christ” a book of Lutheran Hour
sermons, 1941.]
During
the past sixteen seasons of broadcasting Christ's eternal Gospel, almost every
name you can imagine has been heaped on us by atheists, war-mongers and rabble-
rousers, because God has helped us call sin “sin,” denounce evil in high, as in
low places, and then point men to Jesus, the only Redeemer from ruin. Despite
all this, our broadcast has, by God's grace - and again we ask you to believe
that we mean only by God's grace, not by human efforts, least of all mine -
steadily grown, until today, as we open our seventeenth season in the name of
the triune God and for the spread of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus, “Bringing
Christ to the Nations” is larger and more widespread than ever before. The more
violently the message of the cross has been assailed, the greater has been the
Almighty's blessing. [From the sermon “You Too Should Be A
Fundamentalist”, September 1949.]
“When
Luther undertook the Reformation of the Church and his eyes were opened to the
fact that in Christ alone, but in Him completely, every believer has the
forgiveness of his sins, it became his all-consuming object in life to exalt
the atoning Savior, to preach the crucified, sin-destroying Christ, the risen,
life- bestowing Redeemer; and because he humbly dedicated his marvelous
mentality and tireless energies to teach Christ, preach Christ, exalt Christ,
write Christ, sing Christ, love Christ, live Christ, always as God's Son and
the world's Savior, there was not enough power on earth or in hell, among men
and devils, to restrain his work. Nor can the churches today ever hope to be
used of the Spirit in saving men's souls unless they, too, concentrate their
efforts on Jesus.” [Walter A. Maier, O GOD CLEANSE OUR CHURCHES, 1943.]
20-
ABORTION
We
look the same after this rebirth as before, but we cannot act the same. A real change has come from within. We who hated God begin to love Him. Those who ridiculed a rejected Christ now
show Him reverence. Those who served sin
now serve Jesus.… Parents who wickedly plotted to destroy their unborn children
have learned to stop this murder, welcome and cherish the baby that came to
them as God’s gift. [From the sermon “Are You “Born Again?”
in the book For Christ and Country, page 175, first aired January 1942.]
Believing
fathers and mothers will not be misled by this new talk of “planned
parenthood,” as the birth control program now seeks to disguise itself; rather,
realizing that “children are an heritage of the Lord,” God’s great gift, they
will welcome each baby the Almighty entrusts to them as a miracle of His love,
a precious life to be dedicated to the Savior. They will not make the serious
mistake of finding time for everyone else except for their own children. (From
the sermon, “Build Your Home on Christ,” which first aired in January 1945,
from the book, “Jesus Christ our Hope”)
21-
The depravity of man
As
the scope of war increases, taking its toll on civilians -- their homes blasted
away before their eyes; on sailors, their ships torpedoed at high sea; on women
and children, barely existing on starvation rations; on innocent hostages,
fifty shot to avenge an assassinated Nazi general; -- where in all this hideous
hatred and sin can we find beauty for the soul, peace for the mind, happiness
for the heart? Certainly not in modern
education! If culture were the key to peace
and progress, would ours be the only generation which has witnessed two world
conflicts -- at a time when we have more learning and laboratories, more
culture and colleges than ever before?
Not Zulus, Hottentots,
I
know, too, that people today are not attracted by the emphasis on sin, that is,
their own sin. They are quite ready to admit the gross and open forms of sin —
in others. They are willing to discuss narcotic traffic and racketeering and
the gruesomeness of the latest murder; but when you mention their own sins, the
thinking of impure and covetous thoughts, the speaking of unholy and damaging
words, the performance of selfish and injurious acts, you will find that the
short, three-letter word sin has been deleted from many modern vocabularies and
that the short, three-word sentence “I have sinned” is one of the hardest
confessions to wring from proud human lips. With social service substituting
for Christ’s service, with preachers rising up in their pulpits to tell their
congregations (and I am now quoting verbatim from a recent sermon), “All talk
of man’s needing an atonement is an insult to God,” you can understand why there
are so many modern Pharisees who thank God that they are not like the common
herd, who are satisfied with cleaning the outside of the cup and the platter, —
“whited sepulchers,” outwardly beautiful, but
inwardly “full of dead men’s bones.” [From the sermon, “The Promise of Purity”,1931]
The
Pharisee lied when he posed as an example of goodness and obedience. He had
harbored unclean, lust-filled, greedy, hate-charged thoughts. His soul, as
every man’s, was a source of vicious, destructive evil. Deny it though he did
this Bible verdict condemned him: “From within, out of the heart of men,
proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness,
wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride,
foolishness.”[From the sermon, "The Prayer God Answers, by Dr. Walter A.
Maier, which first aired on November 23rd 1947, from the book, “One Thousand
Radio Voices for Christ”]
22-
MORAL PURITY AND THE
You
young people, tempted to break God’s law of purity and decency, urged to throw
off all restraints, to revel in immorality, realize what it cost the Lord to
free you from past sins, and to strengthen you for firm resistance against
future evil! Cling to Christ as His Word
appeals, “AKeep thyself pure!” Trust Jesus!
Make Him your daily Companion!
Throw away all sex novels and sex stories! Keep a safe distance from suggestive motions
pictures! Stay out of taverns, dance
halls, every disreputable place where the Savior will not accompany you -- and
by His grace, He will give you the joy of a beautiful, grace-filled life, and
if it be for your spiritual blessing, the happiness of a future home at the
side of a clean, consecrated helpmate for life! [From the sermon “The Beautiful
Savior” 1941, which is included in the book “For Christ and Country”.]
You
older folks whose home life is marked by hatred instead of love, quarrel rather
than quiet joy, give Jesus control over the family, and He will help stifle
selfishness, jealousy, faultfinding! His Spirit will show you how husband and
wife, parents and children, through faith, can start over again to find harmony
and contentment! [From the sermon “The Beautiful Savior” 1941, which is
included in the book “For Christ and Country”.]
In
the choice of a companion for life the decisive factor should not be wealth,
physical attraction, higher education, and social position, but common devotion
to the one Lord and Savior, the harmony of religious oneness. With the
exception of the close degrees of relationship within which a Christian may not
marry, there are no restrictions in the choice of husband and wife. A general
compatibility of age, culture, and race is normally essential for sustained
happiness. [For better Not for Worse, page 6.]
American
atheists print as part of their platform the demand that divorce be granted on
request. Think of it, no Word of God to warn that in divorce either husband or
wife or both are guilty of sin! No court hearing! No effort to reconcile the
estranged couple! No desire to safeguard the children from the handicaps of
separation! Instead, divorce available to every married person, without
expense, without court procedure, without delay, simply by request! That is the
avowed program of American freethinkers, a plan which can destroy the United
States faster than the most powerful enemy coalition, despite the sanction of
divorce found in some of the socially, financially, and politically most
prominent families. Unbelief often delights in the sensual and obscene.
Infamous foes of our Christian faith have often been men of filthy minds,
unnatural vices, shocking perversions. [From the sermon “Build Your Home on Christ”, Jan 1945, from the
book, “Jesus Christ Our Hope”.]
Again—and
this is a frequent folly in our day—many people mistakenly believe that a happy
marital life can be built only on sex. Understand me correctly: this is truly
one of the Almighty’s greatest human gifts, so marvelous when preserved as He,
the divine Creator, bestowed it, that the Church should continually and
earnestly plead with each of its young people, “Keep thyself
pure!” Yet this magnificent blessing has been perverted and poisoned by sin!
How destructive it becomes when overruled by evil passion! [From
the sermon “Build Your Home on Christ”, Jan 1945, from the book, “Jesus Christ
Our Hope”.]
Households
firmly grounded on God’s love will not be marred by cursing, shrieking,
passionate selfishness, nagging, and argument, which often blast away all
happiness and turn some of your homes almost into madhouses. Instead, they will
be blessed by peace, understanding, the spirit of
self-denial. Following the Savior, who said, “I am among you as he that serveth,” a faith filled family can live together in love
and helpful cooperation. [From the sermon “Build Your Home on
Christ”, Jan 1945, from the book, “Jesus Christ Our Hope”.]
Unbelief
always goes hand in hand with impurity, and the more brazenly
Whenever,
worship of God declines, morality sinks with it. True, American infants are not offered to
Moloch, but pagan practices prevent multitudes of children from being born or,
after they have come into the world, help poison their souls with unbelief. Sins of the flesh increase in number and
boldness as young people give way to passion, their elders deliberately plan
secret affairs, and the Christian ideal of keeping clean and chaste before
marriage, true and faithful after, is laughed away. [From the
sermon “Bring Back the Bible”,
Today
some of the foulest forces that have ever threatened the moral life of the
American people are feverishly at work. While we have always had garbage
literature, it has never been as cheap and as attractively garnished as now.
When could you go into the five-and-ten-cent stores and purchase a special
“love” magazine with all the cheap display in word and pictures that chokes off
the clean aspirations for which Jesus Christ stands? In Theodore Roosevelt’s
administration an exponent of the cult of physical culture was arrested,
prosecuted, and sentenced for disseminating las-civious
literature. Today that man’s name is found on the cover of a group of magazines
which distribute their destructive influence in millions of copies every month.
[From the sermon, “The Promise of Purity”, 1931]
A
quarter of a century ago men who dared to teach that man is a glorified animal
and that the concessions to his animal passions are unavoidable and not of
serious consequence, aired their blasphemies largely before atheistic societies
and organizations which the average man regarded as rather disreputable. Today
teachers’ conventions greet these self-styled apostles of enlightenment with a
salvo of applause, and ministerial groups invite them to explain their theories
in clerical atmosphere.[From the sermon, “The Promise
of Purity”, 1931]
Do
not get into the habit of blaming the Lord for your errors! People who practice
the sins of the flesh often like to say: “I was born with these impulses. They
are part of human nature. They cannot be so very wrong. Why did God make me
this way?” -- when they should fight against this evil
that can destroy both body and soul in hell. [From the sermon, “God Make us
penitent”, November, 1941]
<>If
you really want a covenant between the Son of God and your household, which
will stifle quarrel and strife, bring comforting guidance in the hours of
sickness and bereavement, then follow this simple but short program: 1. Have
the whole family, young and old, accept the Lord Jesus as their all-sufficient
Redeemer! 2. Let parents and children be baptized, join a true church, and
attend services regularly! 3. Have regular daily family Scripture reading and
prayer! 4. Let each member pray personally and faithfully for everyone else in
the family! 5. See that the children are trained in Scripture, if possible in a
Christian day school! 6. Have the family move in church circles, engage in
church work, and associate with true followers of the Savior! 7. Remove from
the home all anti-Christian and atheistic books, questionable pictures and
decorations! 8. Pledge the Lord that in all personal, private, domestic issues,
the truth laid down in His Word will rule! 9. Keep the interest of the family
uppermost among earthly concerns in the minds of both parents and children so
that neither employment, entertainment, nor selfish interest
outweighs mutual concern! 10. Let the Spirit of Jesus thoroughly permeate the
dwelling, particularly His forgiving and forbearing love, His eagerness to
serve rather than to be served! <>
A household which has this covenant with
Christ making Him the Head and Hope for the family, will not escape afflictions
and difficulties; but it will always be blessed with the Redeemer’s love, which
can make “all things,” even crushing burdens, “work together for good.” The
home allied with the atoning Son of God may not heap up much money, but it will
have a happiness unknown in many mansions. Robert
Newton, beloved English pastor, and his bride began their married life by
kneeling twice each day to pray for and with each other. They kept that prayer
alliance until his death. When their golden anniversary approached,
23-
TRAITORS WITHIN THE CHURCH
The
churches today have few more disastrous adversaries than the hypocrites in
their own ranks, who as they live their godless lives, shake hands with
infidels and scoffers, secretly speak contemptuously of what they publicly
confess, actually help to keep seeking souls from the Savior and in their
deceit send themselves to hell. [From the sermon “Fight for the Faith”, which
is included in the book “Let Us Return Unto the Lord”
1946]
When
masses today put the God of the Bible on the same low level with the gods of
the heathen, are they any better than the ancient Israelites who bowed before
the Baals and the Astartes,
idols of their heathen neighbors? [From the sermon “Bring
Back the Bible”,
Today,
if
When
people go to church to hear addresses on the minimum wage, the adequate housing
of the poor, the regulations of moving pictures and dance-halls, the benefits
or the defects of the Volstead Act; when
Sunday-school children have the few moments of each Sunday which should be
devoted to their spiritual life taken up with lessons that tell them how to
keep the streets clean, how to avoid forest fires, and how to become junior
traffic policemen, — you will agree with me when I say that the tragedy of
modern American church-life is this, that too frequently it gives the body
preference over the soul, that too often it has permitted the priceless
spiritual privilege of saving souls to be side-tracked and vitiated by
political activities, by social ambitions, by industrial programs. [From the
sermon, “The Modern Message of the Ascension” 1931]
24-
CHRISTIAN SEPARATION
The
Apostle wants the Christians to be holy, separated people, for he says that the
faith “was once delivered unto THE SAINTS.” When the New Testament uses this
word “saints,” it denotes true believers who - their sins washed away by Jesus
- are holy in God’s sight, and with the Spirit’s help try to lead blameless
lives before men. [From the sermon “Fight for the Faith”, which is included in
the book “Let Us Return Unto the Lord” 1946]
25-
CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION
No
religion has ever been more brutally opposed than our faith. Tens of millions
have been driven from their homes, sold into slavery, tortured, torn by wild
beasts, burned at the stake, beheaded, shot down in cold blood, simply because
they were believers, while atheists, proud scoffers, brilliant-minded opponents
of Bible verity, have been greeted and feted as the men of the hour. If the Son
of God, who did no sin, never harmed anyone, instead always aided men, was
nailed to a cross, we cannot be surprised when we see that His truth is
likewise viciously assailed. [From the sermon “Fight for the Faith”, which is
included in the book “Let Us Return Unto the Lord”
1946]
26-
GAMBLING
Many
church buildings have become centers of illegal money making. If their members raffle automobiles, conduct
lotteries, feature games of chance, against God’s Law and man’s, are they any
better than the grasping, greedy
27-
SLAVERY
John
Newton went to sea as a young man and early learned the shocking blasphemies of
coarse unbelief. He deserted the Navy, was whipped and demoted. He sank lower
and lower, until he lived on an African plantation, shunned even by slaves, and
taunted by his native master. Then, after he had been spared in a terrific
storm at sea, he turned to God in his utter despair, made time to read the
Bible and pray, was graciously converted, and later helped break the tyranny of
slavery. [From the sermon, “Join the Jury Trying Jesus”
1947.]
28-
SABBATH
Before
Easter, the Sabbath, the last day of the week was set aside for worship. But in the New Testament liberty with which
Christ has made us free the Sabbath is abolished. (Remember
29-
THE RESURRECTION
No
chemist has produced an antiseptic to cleanse your soul of a single blot. No friend can take your place before God’s
life-and-death tribunal. Pious parents, godly pastors, self-denying saints, are all
powerless to remove your sin and deliver you from death. Dictators and tyrants may send millions to
war and destruction, but earth’s mightiest ruler cannot send a solitary soul to
peace and life. Angels, sinless and
stainless in their celestial holiness, may wipe out armies, but they are unable
to destroy a single sin. Even Jesus
Himself could not have saved us, had He remained in the grave.
Don’t
shriek or scream at a funeral as though there were no hope for those who have
the Lord Jesus! Don’t clench your fist
against the Almighty, as though He were heartless in permitting bereavement to
enter your home! Defy Satan, hell, and
the grave with this powerful cry of triumph: “O Death, where is thy sting? O
Grave where is thy victory? . . . Thanks be to God,
which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus
Christ!” [From the sermon, “Thank God For the Easter
Victory” 1942.]
Show
your thanks by living the faith! The
Scriptures remind us that, because we are risen with Christ, we should “seek
those things which are above.” Learn to
talk about heaven, pray for it, yearn for it! Have the whole family, father and mother,
brothers and sisters, prepare for it, so that in the celestial home they may
all be reunited before the throne of the Lamb!
Help each member of the household accept the Lord Jesus in personal,
penitent faith, and then, whatever the future may hold for you – sorrows in
your individual lives, persecution in your churches, long-drawn-out conflict
for the nation – beholding the open heaven beyond the open grave, you can
exult, “The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with
the glory which shall be revealed in us,” when in the eternal Easter we come
face to face with Jesus. [From the sermon, “Thank God For
the Easter Victory” 1942.]
30-
PRAYER
Because
there is but one God, not a dozen gods, and only he can answer prayer; because
he is revealed unmistakably in the Bible as the Father, His Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ, and the purifying Spirit, your petitions must be addressed to that
blessed Trinity. If you are praying in
any other way, stop now! The true God,
beside whom all other objects of men’s worship are crude idols, declares, “Seek
My face!” “Thou shalt
have no other gods before Me.” If you are worshiping saints or angels, hear
God say, “Seek My face!” “Put not your
trust in men!” If you utter vague,
uncertain supplications without knowing that personal Triune God of power,
love, and glory’ if you moan through the darkness of your sorrows, “Oh, that I
knew where I might find Him!” stop now!
Your search is ended. For here
God the Creator, God the Redeemer, God the Purifier solemnly proclaims: “Seek
My face!” “Call upon Me
in the day of trouble!” [From the sermon “On Your Knees
America”, by Dr. Walter A. Maier, November 1940.]
No
human agent or intermediary can bring your prayers before the heavenly
throne. No church in itself, no minister
or priest, possesses the power to make your prayers acceptable. No saint of old, no self-sacrificing mother,
no godly husband or wife, can take your place in praying. In the Middle Ages forgiveness of sins was
sold at specified rates, and today, with similar folly, people are urged to
approach the Almighty by their character, their good intentions, and their good
resolutions. You must have your sin
forgiven before you can draw near to God. [From the sermon
“On Your Knees America”, by Dr. Walter A. Maier, November 1940.]
Here
it is that Jesus, the Savior of mankind, comes into our prayer-life with His
unfathomable, undeserved mercy. He broke
down the barriers that separate us from God by taking away our sins, every one
of them, transferring the guilt that rested on us to himself,
paying completely the penalty we should have suffered. All this Jesus did for us when at
Prayers,
to be answered, must come from Christ-dedicated hearts. The Lord Jesus says,
“Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name, He will give it you,” The name
of Jesus Christ, our God and Savior, and with it the trust in His fathomless,
unfailing mercies — that is the key which opens the door to eternal
riches! The name of Jesus Christ, our
one Mediator and only Ransom, and with it the unshaken reliance on His power to
save to the uttermost — that is the banner under which a praying Church can
advance from victory to victory! [From the sermon “On Your
Knees America”, by Dr. Walter A. Maier, November 1940.]
When,
more than ever, men should acclaim our Lord. Many, including some nominal
Christians, do not like to mention Jesus Christ for fear they may displease those
who reject Him. In this spirit certain
churches have deleted “Jesus” from their prayers. In many lodges to which, inconsistently, some
of you Christian men belong, all reference to Christ has been banned from the
ritual. In politics, prayers are spoken
which drop his holy name so they will be wide enough to embrace those who deny
the Savior’s deity and atonement. [From the sermon “On Your
Knees America”, by Dr. Walter A. Maier, November 1940.]
Let
us not, however, overlook the strengthening fact that penitent prayer in
Christ’s name helped this nation in the past.
George Washington on his knees at Valley Forge, his face wet with tears,
his voice solemnly raised to God; Abraham Lincoln who, during the crucial years
of the Civil War, started the custom of an annual Thanksgiving Day — these men
and millions of humble Christians joined with them in prayers mightily answered
knew God’s ancient promise, which also assures the American people today that,
if they “humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked
ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal
their land.” Put confident prayer into
the hearts of the nation’s youth, instead of the un-American drivel with which
some of your sons and daughters are being filled today, and we shall have real
patriotism. [From the sermon “On Your Knees America”, by Dr.
Walter A. Maier, November 1940.]
Henry
Ward Beecher tells of a poor Indian Christian woman on
Recall
the prayer of Hudson Taylor, consecrated missionary to
I
can almost hear some of you object, however, “I have prayed, but God has not
answered me.” Perhaps you have not
persevered enough, for our heavenly Father knows far better than we do the best
time for answering. Most of us pray far
too little, and to teach us the blessing of protracted pleading, God may let us
wait. Sometimes Jesus was so busy that
He could not eat; but He never was so preoccupied that He could not pray. Regularly He devoted hours to communion with
His heavenly Father, and sometimes He spent the whole night in prayer. Yet we — may God forgive us! — are often too engrossed with our petty worries and trivial joys
to find time for the Savior who gave His lifetime for us. Pray continually and courageously! [From the sermon “On Your Knees America”, by Dr. Walter A. Maier,
November 1940.]
31-
FASTING
In
the liberty of the New Testament we have complete food freedom. Yet our Lord’s
forty-day fast in the wilderness and repeated Scriptural statements show us
that dropping a meal or refusing to touch food a whole day, when prompted by
the right spirit, can help bring blessings. [From the sermon, "The Prayer
God Answers, by Dr. Walter A. Maier, which first aired on November 23rd 1947,
from the book, “One Thousand Radio Voices for Christ”]
32-
FORGIVENESS IN CHRIST
But
remember tonight that our Lord, who transformed His disciples and told them,
“Now are ye clean,” will answer our prayers for clean hearts. You who are living on in the sordid smirch of sin; you who are
suffering from the consequences of secret iniquity; you who are leading double
lives; you young people who think that purity is out of date and out of place
in our modern advancement; you elders whose souls are shrinking under the
withering touch of the sins of. unfaithfulness, of grasping greed, of
hypocrisy and lies, of hatred and envy; — when you find, as you must find, that
sin is the hardest of all hard masters; when you learn from bitter experience,
as you will learn, that the worst delusion on earth is this, that sin can make
you happy; when you cry out from the depths of your soul for something to clean
and purify you, knowing only too well that no sinner can stand in the sight of
the holy God, — here is the promise, not my fallible opinion or the faltering
conjecture of any other human being, but the divine and unalterable pledge of
Him whose truth is higher than the heavens: “Now are ye clean” — “THROUGH THE
WORD WHICH I HAVE SPOKEN UNTO YOU.” [From the sermon, “The Promise of Purity”,
1931]
33-
GOD'S JUDGEMENT ON A NATION THAT FORGETS GOD
Four
hundred years ago Martin Luther, with his God-given insight into human affairs,
foresaw the eclipse of Christianity in his native land and wrote this startling
forecast: “There will come a dreadful manifestation of revenge upon