The Gates of Righteousness

[note: This sermon was preached first at New Hope Lutheran Church in Charles City, IA on 31 March 2012, when I filled in for their pastor. It was then preached at St. Peter on 1 April.]

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord.” So we pray in the Psalm for today. We ask the Lord to open the way before us, that we may enter into the place of righteousness, that we may enter into the place to which He has called us. And He has done just that.

After all, the Lord is in the business of opening gates, of letting His people into places of blessing. He admitted them into the Garden of Eden, the paradise whence sprang all of the wonders of creation. There He fed and nourished them, and walked and talked with them. There it was good, very good.

God opened the womb of Eve with the gift of a son, Cain. By this opening, He brought forth the whole population of mankind, for all who have lived have come from the womb of our first mother. Even our Savior was born of a woman, born of the lineage of man according to the flesh.

God opened the door of the Ark for Noah and his family. After nearly a year shut up inside, God opened the door and called them out, to repopulate the earth, to give it new life after the great flood. He who had preserved them through the rain and storm now called them forth into a new life on an earth washed clean.

God opened the way through the Red Sea for the children of Israel. He opened the hand of Pharaoh so that they could leave Egypt, and then opened the path through the sea so that they might be delivered into the Promised Land. Through the waters they passed on dry ground, while the enemies of God chasing after them were drowned and died under those waters.

God likes open gates, because He wants His children to come to Him, to come to the places where He may be found, to come to the places where He has promised to bless you.

Out of the gates of heaven, therefore, passed Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. In the words of Paul Gerhardt's beloved Lenten hymn:

A Lamb goes uncomplaining forth,

The guilt of sinners bearing

And, laden with the sins of earth,

None else the burden sharing;

Goes patient on, grows weak and faint,

To slaughter led without complaint,

That spotless life to offer.

He bears the stripes, the wounds, the lies,

The mockery, and yet replies,

“All this I gladly suffer.” (LSB 438.1)

The Lamb of God has passed out of the gates of the City of God to come forth into the world. In so doing, He has opened the gates that formerly stood fast shut. In Advent, we prayed that He would rend the heavens and come down, which He did in His blessed incarnation through the flesh of Mary. Now, we pray that He would rend the gates separating us from the heavenly City of God.

In the Psalm, you prayed, “This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through it.” The gate of the Lord leads to the blessings of paradise, and truly only the righteous shall enter through it. Who, then is righteous? Not you, not on your own merits. You are stained with the sin that infects us all. You were born with the curse that has been handed down to all the children of man from our first parents, Adam and Eve.

Since then, you have wandered through many gates, entered many doors, and a great deal of them have led you to places of unrighteousness, rather than the courts of the Lord's house. You have made decisions that have hurt your family, friends, and neighbors. You have failed to enter into those places where you could have helped those in need. You have entered into the houses of the wicked and engaged in deeds of darkness behind closed doors. No one, no not one, is righteous, as the Psalmist says, and therefore not one of the children of man ought to enter through the gate of the Lord.

However, you shall enter through the gates of righteousness. For your Lord Jesus Christ, has gone forth, bearing the guilt of sinners like you and me. Carrying the burden which no one else could shoulder, He came out from the gates of righteousness to bear your sins and be your savior. He has entered through the gates of the City of God, and gone out through the gates of righteousness to the hill of Calvary, that He might bear your sins to the cross. There, He offered His spotless life, His holy body, up to death, even death on a cross, that He might take away your sins and give you His own righteousness.

Our Lord has come out of the City of God, opening the gates of righteousness before His people, and therefore He leads you through them into His House. The Psalmist proclaims, “Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth” (50:2). The grace of God shines for the from the cross for all to see. The Lord of Glory is high and lifted up, exalted in death in triumph over the forces of sin, death, and the devil. The Lamb of God, so lowly and despised, the king who entered the Holy City on a donkey, has become your salvation. From the cross shines the light of your salvation, the forgiveness of your sins. “The LORD is God, and he has made his light to shine upon us. Bind the festal sacrifice with cords, up to the horns of the altar! … O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His steadfast love endures forever.”

Therefore, you can shout out, “Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord! We bless You from the house of the Lord.” The Lord has gone forth from His holy temple and called you to enter through the wide-open gates of righteousness. Our Lord Christ has, by His glorious death and resurrection, thrown open the gates of righteousness, and He now comes to you in the Name of the Lord to forgive your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. He comes to take away your guilt and to give you His righteousness that you may bless the Lord from His holy house, that you may enter through the gates with the host of the righteous who have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb and have made them white as snow.

His blood shall be your royal robe. You are covered in the righteousness of Christ Jesus, which makes you worthy to enter into His kingdom. Dressed in the garments He supplies you, you dwell in the courts of the Lord, in the house of our God. Wrapped in the robe of righteousness, you sit at the banquet feast of our God. There, in the house of the Lord, you bless His holy Name by calling upon Him, and by eating and drinking His holy Body and Blood shed for you, for the forgiveness of your sins. Fed by Him, you await the day when, with all the faithful, you can again raise the shout: “Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord!” Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God of sabaoth! Heaven and earth are full of His glory!

Let us also live with Jesus.

He has risen from the dead

That to life we may awaken.

Jesus, You are now our head.

We are Your own living members;

Where You live, there we shall be

In Your presence constantly,

Living there with You forever.

Jesus, let me faithful be,

Life eternal grant to me (LSB 685.4).

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.