Dear Christian friends:

Happy New Year! Today we say that many times to one another. We say it to the young and the old, to the sick and the well to the rich and the poor. But should we say "Happy New Year" to someone who is very sick and dying? Can he have a happy new year if he feels he will soon die?

Maybe we should not say "Happy New Year" anymore. If you read the newspapers all the trouble in the Congo and Algiers and in Berlin and Laos can we hope for a happy new year? When we think about the more than 700 people killed in auto crashes here in Minnesota last year can we say "Happy New Year" and really mean it?

Yes, thank God, we can; here in our text Moses shows us:

I. Confess with Moses your sin and death in true repentance

II. Look, with Moses to God's mercy in Christ

III. Pray with Moses for His blessings on our work

Yes, there is much trouble in the world and 1961 does not appear to be a happy year. And when we think of all the suffering and dying the future does not seem happy. But we must not hide our face from this sin and death, if we want a happy new year. Many people do that way. They don't wish to hear about death and troubles or talk about that. They always want to see the good and the beautiful and the living. But we must not avoid death and sin. Here in our text Moses shows us how to think about that. In verses 2-5 he shows how short our life on earth is and how frail we are, death is near always in all places.

First he compares us with God. God is eternal. (verses 2 and 4, Read them) We are temporal like grass and flowers. Our life is like a story that you can read quickly in one evening. (verse 9) "The days of our years are seventy or maybe 80 if we are stronger, yet is their pride labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away." Most of us 1/2 of our life is gone. Many 3/4 is gone.

Why do we live such a short time? Why must we die and be like grass and flowers? In verses 7, 8, and 11 Moses shows why we must die. (Read them) Our sins is the reason. God said to Adam etc. "Dust you are and to dust shall ye return because you listened to your wife"

He takes our sins before His face even our hidden or secret sins and He is rightly displeased for He is holy, perfect God.

Some people think God should not be angry about our sins: That He should not punish us with suffering and death. Such people will not have a happy new year, because although they argue that God should not let suffering and death, nevertheless He lets it happen all around them and even to them. But Moses clearly states in verse 3 that God lets men die; "Thou turnest man to destruction."

So we must humbly confess our sins and not kick or complain when God lets us suffer many troubles, sickness and death. Like Moses, we must confess that we are sinners, deserving His anger and punishment; that He is exact and right to punish men - not only with temporal death, but with everlasting death in hell.

If we like that confess our sins and respect God's anger against our sins we have a good hope for a happy new year. Because then we are ready to look for His mercy only as Moses does here. (Read verses 13-14)

Moses does not excuse his sins or the Jews sins. Nor does he try to argue with God and defend their sins. Nor does he excuse himself and blame the people or others. He only prays for God's mercy: "O satisfy us early with thy mercy."

So we at the beginning of this new year must humbly confess our sins and unworthiness before God and then argue only Jesus' blood and Jesus' merit. Don't argue self merit or our self-suffering. But plead for mercy in Jesus crucified. For His sake God forgives all our sins. We should say with Moses, "Let thy work (in Jesus) appear unto thy servants, and thy glory (in Jesus) unto our children." (verse 16) "Let the beauty (right) of the Lord our God be upon us."

"Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness
My beauty are, my glorious dress;
Midst flaming worlds, in these arrayed,
With joy shall I lift up my head."
Jesus, Thy Blood and Righteousness Hymn

If we like this look to God's mercy in Jesus, then we can say, "Happy New Year" to anyone that believes in Christ, no matter if he will soon die. Also we Christians can hope for a Happy New Year in 1961 even if there happens war, destruction and death near us.

We know that while God consumes us in anger, yet He loves and forgives us in Jesus. Both anger and love come from that One God. Both death and life He brings. Here in the world we in our body suffer death, but in our hearts we have life and friendship with God now and forever.

Many people are hoping for a happy new year and a better year because Mr. Kennedy is the new president and he will help our country and the world to peace and prosperity. True, Mr. Kennedy may be a better president, and true we may solve some of our problems here at home and in the world during 1961. But you make a big mistake if you look for a happy new year in Mr. Kennedy and the democrats. Mr. Kennedy and the democrats can't save us from God's wrath and death when God decides to let it come to us.

Only faith in God's mercy in Jesus Christ can really save us. Let us hope for a Happy New Year in Jesus.

Amen.