I apologize for posting this late. Martin Luther’s sermon for the first Sunday in Advent, which was a week from yesterday, is based on the text of Matthew 21:1-9, Christ’s advent into Jerusalem. An excerpt:
“I have often said that there are two kinds of faith. First, a faith in which you indeed believe that Christ is such a man as He is described and proclaimed here and in all the Gospels, but do not believe that He is such a man for you, and are in doubt whether you have any part in Him and think: Yes, He is such a man to others, to Peter, Paul, and the blessed saints; but who knows that He is such to me and that I may expect the same from Him and may confide in it, as these saints did?
“Behold, this faith is nothing, it does not receive Christ nor enjoy Him, neither can it feel any love and affection for Him or from Him. It is a faith about Christ and not in or of Christ, a faith which the devils also have as well as evil men. …
“… That alone can be called Christian faith, which believes without wavering that Christ is the Saviour not only to Peter and to the saints but also to you. Your salvation does not depend on the fact that you believe Christ to be the Saviour of the godly, but that He is a Saviour to you and has become your own.
“Such a faith will work in you love for Christ and joy in Him, and good works will naturally follow. If they do not, faith is surely not present; for where faith is, there the Holy Ghost is and must work love and good works.”
Luther’s sermon for the second Sunday in Advent, which was yesterday, is based on the text of Luke 21:25-36, the signs of Christ’s second coming. All of Martin Luther’s Christmas sermons can be found here.
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