# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_November 1859_S343
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

On Advent Sermons. 343

...from the beginning it was promised how he should come into the world, become man of a virgin, that he would be God and man and our Redeemer, Savior, High Priest, and King; how he, through John the Baptist, his forerunner, was to be revealed; so that all this had been proclaimed beforehand through the Prophets; likewise how Christ would come again for the Last Judgment." In similar fashion Dr. Luther, in the sermon on the Day of the Holy Trinity of the year 1535, adduced and briefly explained twelve scriptural proof-texts for the deity of Jesus Christ and of the Holy Spirit. (18, 1508 ff.)

Since up to now, in most places, unfortunately nothing at all has yet been done toward the exposition of whole books of the Bible, every preacher should gladly seize this opportunity to make himself and his hearers ever more familiar with so important a part of the Old Testament as the prophecies are. Let each one only begin at once and set his hand to the work, without letting himself be held back by all manner of objections. If at first there is a lack of reliable aids for preparation, or of time to make proper use of them, let him add to one prophecy or another in each sermon only a brief exposition — such as, for example, the Hirschberg Bible provides — together with, in particular, Dr. Luther's marginal glosses from that same Bible; and for the rest, let him give beforehand a brief summary or synopsis of the contents, and then read them aloud. Whoever afterward, even outside of Advent, gathers from his own and others' resources brief and cogent expositions, and, through his growing knowledge and experience, perfects them, so as to be found ever more faithful also with regard to the Advent sermons — on him and on all his hearers eager for salvation God will surely fulfill, ever more gloriously, the promise: They shall be drunk with the abundance of thy house, and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures, Ps. 36:9. For those who desire further counsel in this matter, I will add a more exact summary of the individual sermons as I have delivered them over a series of years:

1st Sermon. This I have delivered as an introductory sermon, alternating among the following texts:

Luke 24:25–27. The prophecies of the Old Testament concerning Christ's person and office: a) their right understanding; b) the great benefit of these prophecies.

1 Pet. 1:10–16. a) how the Prophets of the Old Testament prophesied concerning the grace of the New Testament; b) how we should set our whole hope upon this grace and walk worthily of it.

Luke 10:23–24. The gracious time of the New Testament in which we live: a) how greatly the believers of the Old Testament longed for it; b) how blessed we are to live in this gracious time.

John 5:39. Christ's command: Search the Scriptures! How, what, and why we should search the Scriptures. Cf. Isa. 34:16; Acts 17:2, 3, 11 — Paul's preaching of Christ from the Scripture of the Old Testament, and the diligent searchers of the Scripture.