Dear Christian friends:

Happy New Year! Today is the first Sunday In Advent and the first Sunday of the New Church Year. The word Advent means coming. These four weeks before Christmas we call the Advent Season and consider Jesus' Comings. He comes through His Word. He comes in glory on the Judgement Day. John the Baptist prepared for His coming. He comes as a Babe to live and die for us.

Today we attend to Christ's coming to our hearts through His Word. God's Word is divided into the Old and New Testament. Here in our text Jeremiah tells how the New Testament is better than the old. We Christians who live under the New Testament ought to be stronger and better servants of God than the Jews who lived under the Old Testament. As we today begin a New Church Year under the New Testament let us see from our text:


The New Testament is better than the Old Testament because it offers forgiveness of sins to all people. In the Old Testament times God offered forgiveness of sins chiefly to the Jews. To the Jews He sent His prophets and His Word. To them only He gave the Tabernacle and the rules for offering sheep and cattle for the forgiveness of sins. Only a few people outside the Jewish nation heard about God's mercy and forgiveness through the promised Savior.

But under the New Testament God sent His apostles, especially St. Paul to preach forgiveness of sins to all nations. This should be of great value to us. We are not Jews. But God did not forsake us in our ignorance and sin. He does not let us live and die in sin and fear but calls us to faith in Jesus Christ and forgives our sins in Jesus.

In our text He says about the people under the New Testament, "No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” (Jeremiah 31:34)

Since under the New Testament God forgives sins to all, we ought to be more eager to do evangelistic work telling all the deaf of Jesus and forgiveness of sins. Now is a good time when they all think about Dr. Salver's death. Tell them although Salvner was a good man and minister of God, He, too, had to die. Some time sooner or later, perhaps when you do not expect it, you will die too. God says, "Dust you are and dust you will become again." (Genesis 3:19)

If you do not believe in Jesus' blood like Dr. Salvner in death you will be without God forever and lost in hell. Believe in Jesus crucified like Dr. Salvner and you will live with God forever. As we enter a new year under the New Testament let us work to bring forgiveness of sins to all.

The New Testament is better than the Old Testament because it tells the full story of God's mercy and salvation. In the Old Testament times they did not have the Bible like we do. They had to teach by one man telling another. They had no printing press yet and the promised Savior had not come yet. True, they had promises and many prophecies about Jesus' birth, His wonderful works, His crucifixion death, resurrection and ascension. But this was not as clear and as impressive as it is now for us. We have the full story and the whole picture about how God loved us and gave His Son unto death for our salvation.

Also we have two Sacraments: Holy Baptism and the Lord's Supper which the Jews under the Old Testament did not have. Surely, God's love and mercy ought to be more strong and impressive on our hearts. Surely we under the New Testament ought to be more strong and eager in good works for our wonderful God.

But often we are not. Many of us are weaker than the Jews under the Old Testament. We ought to be stronger than David, but we are not. Why? Because we fail to read and study God's beautiful and complete story in our Bibles. We don't attend to that perfect Word enough. If we under the New Testament do not believe, we will get punished more than the Jews of the Old Testament who didn't believe.

So let's begin our New Church Year right by attending more and more to God's full and perfect Word as we have it in our Old and New Testaments and Bible class!

And since we have God's Word of Grace full and complete we ought to be better servants of God. Under the New Testament God's law is written in our hearts. We hear God say in Jeremiah 31:33, "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people."

The Jews under the Old Testament had to study many laws about eating, drinking, washing and the Sabbath etc. Read Leviticus and Deuteronomy and you will see how God forced and burdened and imprisoned them with many, many laws.

Under the New Testament these many burdensome laws have been taken away. God now gives us freedom to decide many things for ourselves. Saturday or Sunday for Church? He makes us love Him by the Holy Spirit and gives us wisdom to decide and make rules how we want to love Him and serve Him and honor Him.

Under the New Testament God does not rule us like babies and children. But he names us His Sons and brothers of Christ. And through Jesus' Word gives us love and wisdom to serve Him freely and gladly, not hemmed in by many detailed laws.

But while we use this freedom let us not think it as an excuse to be lazy or to do sin as some do. Use your freedom to glorify God and think of new ways to praise and honor His wonderful Name. If we don't use our freedom to serve God, than we will serve sin.

Also don't let anyone try to imprison you again with old Jewish Laws as the 7th Day or with worthless laws as Catholics.

Under the New Testament we are a very blessed people. God is our God and we are His people. He forgives our iniquity and remembers our sins no more.

Amen.