Our text for this morning is the Old Testament Reading from the prophet Isaiah: “You will say in that day: ‘I will give thanks to you, O LORD, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, that you might comfort me. Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.’ With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. And you will say in that day: ‘Give thanks to the LORD, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted. Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth. Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.’”

That day, brothers and sisters in Christ, is the day of our Lord Jesus Christ: His coming to save His people from their sins, the arrival of the kingdom of heaven among humankind as He is both God and man, the accomplishment of His sacrifice on the cross, His glorious resurrection, and His triumphal ascension to the throne of God for your salvation. That day… that day… is the daily opening of your eyes to the blessed reality that Christ Jesus has atoned for your sins by His blood and in Him you find pardon, peace, and eternal rest.

[Names]… you’ve been on a journey with your Lord during the last two years. He’s revealed what sin is in all its ugliness—sin’s selfishness, evil, lovelessness, horrific disdain for God. Sin is us declaring war on God. Sin alienates us from the God who is the source of all life. Therefore, sin means death—physical and eternal death. You’ve learned that sin justifiably makes God angry and saddened. He must punish sin. If God would be unwilling to punish sin, then He would make Himself an unjust fraud. So, you’ve learned that God was angry with you. He was angry with me. He was angry with all of you. He was angry with all of us. Sin is not small potatoes. It’s the rebellion of all rebellions against the kingdom of the Creator of all things and the rebellion must be smashed.

So, God smashed the rebellion. You learned about this, [name]. The Lord God (Creator of all things) brought a catastrophic flood upon the entire earth. You learned about this, [name]. Everything that lived upon the land (both man and animal) died, expect Noah and his family kept safe upon the ark. You learned about this [name]. Everything. On. Land. Died.

Except Noah, his wife, his sons, and his sons’ wives. They were kept safe. Everything else died. God wiped sin from the face of the earth. God smashed the rebellion through an apocalyptic flood. Except… God didn’t smash the rebellion. Very shortly after Noah’s family left the ark, sin marred the earth that was cleansed by water. Noah and his family sinned against the Lord and one another. The rebellion was not smashed after all. it continued.

So, why did God bring a flood? I hope you remember learning this, because it’s been a key to everything. And if you don’t, we’ll all learn again together. First of all, God brought the flood because He was judging the people of the earth at that time for their sin just as He did with Sodom, Gomorrah, Egypt and other places in Scripture—those being the most famous places. Sin and unbelief does reach a boiling point where God will absolutely rain down His judgment upon people.

Secondly, God brought the flood because He was showing that it isn’t how sin will be done away with. It’s not how the rebellion will end. Noah and his family were the only believers on earth when the flood struck and they very quickly fell into sin when they left the ark. In order for God to end the rebellion through judgment on the earth, He would have had to destroy it all. He would have had to destroy every man, woman, and child—including Noah, Mrs. Noah, his sons, and their wives. He would have to destroy you. He would have to destroy me. Everyone!

That’s not how God desires to deal with sin. God “does not desire the death of the sinner, but that sinners would turn from their sinful ways and live.” God “desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” God created man and woman in His image and likeness, and He doesn’t want to just do away with the crown of His creation. He wants to end the rebellion by redeeming man and woman out of their slavery to sin, death, and hell.

Simply put… the Lord sends Jesus. The coming of Jesus is the day of salvation, the day of redemption, the day of atonement, the day of release from captivity to sin, death, and the devil, the day the light of Christ invades this world’s darkness, the day sinful hearts are cleansed.

The Lord definitively ends the rebellion not by squashing it forcefully. No… no… no… He does something even more defiant. He does something the world calls outlandish and silly. But it’s something only God could dream up and accomplish in His amazingness. You’ve learned about this, [name]. The Lord ends the rebellion by laying down His life for human rebels. You’ve learned about this [name]. Jesus dies on the cross as a sacrifice that pays for the sins of the world. You’ve learned about this, [name]. The cross is where Jesus threw Himself in front of the bus, so to speak, shoving you out of the way so that you may live.

If we really believe this… and we should because a ton of witnesses saw a resurrected Jesus with nail marks in His hands. Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! The resurrection of Jesus means Holy Scripture is to be trusted! The resurrection of Jesus means that our sins really were died for. He ends the rebellion and saves our souls. Forgiveness, new and abundant life, and eternal salvation have been won through Jesus the champion! If we really believe this… then our lives should be lived every moment of every day in gratefulness and devotion to Him who saved our lives—not just from an oncoming bus—but He saved us from eternal condemnation in hell away from God’s love, goodness, and mercy. If we really believe this… if we really believe the Truth… then our full, undistracted allegiance is to Christ Jesus.

Do you know what those who are devoted to Christ do? They slave away for Him, because He’s a hard man and a cruel task master. That’s not what Scripture teaches. The Lord reveals Himself as the one who gives rest to the weary, heavy-laden soul. The Lord reveals Himself as the source of hope, comfort, peace, and joy. The Lord reveals Himself as the one who serves. The Lord loves to feed His people. He loves to nourish our souls. And do you know what the Lord likes to serve? Cake.

[Names], you’ve been learning for several months now that the Lord likes to serve you cake. And everyone in this room is now confused.

The food for our souls, the bread of life, is Jesus and His salvation. The Lord feeds us the forgiveness of our sins. This is the food of God. Scripture says, “Man, does not live by bread alone, but by every Word that comes from the mouth of God.” Physical food nourishes our bodies. Spiritual food nourishes our souls. Without physical food our bodies die. Without spiritual food our souls die.

The Lord feeds us the forgiveness and salvation that He accomplished on the cross. But how does He do it? We can’t go back to the cross to receive it. It’s too far away and we can’t time travel. God doesn’t even promise to give salvation at the cross. The cross is where Jesus won it, but not where He gives it.

Jesus delivers the forgiveness, life, and salvation that He achieved for you on the cross through His Word and Sacraments: through the Gospel heard, preached, and sung; through the gift of Baptism by which a sinner’s identity is one buried and raised with Jesus; and through the Lord’s Supper, in which a sinner who has been prepared, receives the Body and Blood of our Lord for the forgiveness of sins as the medicine of immortality.

These are the means, the ways, the vehicles, by which Jesus delivers the forgiveness that He won on the cross to you: receiving the Gospel, Baptism, and the Lord’s Supper. For He was angry with us, and in the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus His anger has been turned away. Just as a fork delivers cake to the mouth, so the Gospel, Baptism, and the Lord’s Supper deliver Jesus’ salvation to everyone who receives it trusting the Lord’s grace and mercy.

In our reading from Isaiah, the prophet doesn’t use the analogy of cake. Instead, he proclaims “water from the wells of salvation.” Isaiah and his hearers lived in a desert climate. In the desert, water is especially important because it is so scarce. Like food, the body can’t live without it. And so, like spiritual food, the soul can’t live without spiritual water. Jesus is the source of living water. Jesus is the “wells of salvation” and the water is the forgiveness that He won on the cross for you, quite a different kind of water than Noah’s flood! The Gospel, Baptism, and the Lord’s Supper are like the bucket that draws the saving water from the well, delivering these precious gifts to you.

I’ll go back to the cake analogy. [Names], in your confirmation classes you have been learning more about the delicious cake—the forgiveness that Jesus won on the cross and why you need it. You have also been learning more about the fork—the Gospel, Baptism, and the Lord’s Supper—that deliver the cake to you so that you may enjoy it.

Many people have this idea that the worship service (like we’re in right now) is where we go to primarily give something to God. First and foremost, worship is where we go to receive from God as only God can give, and the actual receiving from the Lord glorifies His name. We receive the forgiveness of our sins that comforts our sin burdened consciences through the Word and Sacraments that are delivered in worship. So, this is a Divine Service. God serves His people to save us from our sins and to strengthen and nourish our faith, keeping it alive and growing. Then, we respond to God’s gracious, saving gifts in prayer and singing “praises to the Lord, for He has done gloriously” as we “let this be made known in all the earth.”

I want to challenge the three of you—and I make the same challenge to all of you here today. Cherish these gifts. Cherish the Word and Sacraments that feed your souls unto eternity. Make receiving the Word and Sacraments among God’s people a habit. As the Lord has made the ultimate sacrifice to deliver forgiveness to you, I challenge you to make little sacrifices to regularly receive His forgiveness through His Word and Sacraments. Make gathering among God’s people in worship a regular habit that you don’t want to miss because you don’t want to miss the richest gifts of the Lord which are far more precious than gold or silver—the Gospel, Baptism, and the Lord’s Supper.

Confirmation hasn’t been about (as many people think) learning everything you need to know so that you can forget all this church stuff and move on to more important things in the world. There’s nothing more important than the things of God. Eternity is staked on them. Confirmation hasn’t been about (as many people think) learning how to better obey God—only the Word and Sacraments do that in our lives. Confirmation has been a time of instruction, preparing you for a lifetime of continued learning of the Lord, who ended the rebellion by sacrificing Himself to save you. Confirmation prepares you for even more involvement among God’s people. Confirmation has been a time of preparation for you to receive another gift of God—the icing on the cake that is the Lord’s Supper. Amen.