Sexagesima Sunday - February 8, 2026

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Jesus begins the parable this way. A sower goes out to sow his seed.

The sower is Christ himself, and the seed is the Word of God.

This Word is living and active.

It kills and it brings to life. It calls us to repentance and it forgives our sins in Christ.

God's word always does something. It prospers in the thing for which it was sent.

It will not return empty.

God creates what it commands and he gives what he promises.

When the sower went out to sow his seed, he did not plant the seed only in the good soil.

Rather, he spread it everywhere, on the road, in the rocky area,

in the place where the thorns grow.

In other words, God's word goes out to all nations. It goes out to all people.

It goes out to the rich and to the poor, the old and the young, the Jew and the Gentile.

It goes out even to those who reject it or misuse it or despise it.

God wants all to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.

What is the message of God that goes out? This is the message that God the Father

sent his only begotten Son to redeem and save us from sin,

death, and the devil by means of the cross and the resurrection.

Jesus is the one and only Savior.

He is the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through faith in Christ.

This living and active word came to you in your baptism.

In the baptismal waters, God buried you with Christ and he raised you up.

You also heard the gospel. It entered into your ear and it planted in your heart by faith.

St. Paul says that faith comes by hearing, by hearing the word of Christ.

So the Holy Spirit is the one who converted you from unbelief to faith in Christ.

Your faith is not your own work or decision. It is a gift of God.

The Holy Spirit freely gave you saving faith in Christ.

You now rejoice in Jesus as your Savior. To God be all the glory.

Yet, as a baptized, we have three enemies who want to take our faith in Christ away.

The first enemy is the devil.

Just as a seed or on the pathway, it's compared to the devil preventing people from believing.

The devil wants you to reject God's word and to resist the Holy Spirit.

He wants to mislead you into false belief and despair and other great shame and vice.

He tempts you to doubt God's word and his many promises.

1 Peter chapter 5 calls us to resist the devil standing firm in the faith.

1 Peter 5 · chapter mention

So therefore, by God's grace, resist the devil, stand firm in the faith,

and tell Satan that you are a baptized child of God.

Tell him that your sins are forgiven through faith in Christ.

Tell him that Christ is your one and only Savior.

The second enemy is the world. The world tempts you to make money, your idol God.

It tempts you with sexual immorality, the abuse of drugs and alcohol,

sinful images on the Internet.

He tempts you to seek fame and glory from the world, to become popular by God's

grace, persevere in the one true faith.

In times of tribulation or persecution, look to Christ for your strength.

Just as moisture enables a plant to grow, so also God's word enables your faith

in Christ to become stronger.

When the word and the sacraments are neglected, then it's easy for faith to wither and die.

The third enemy is the sinful flesh.

Some seed fell among the thorns. The seed sprouted and grew,

but it was choked by the thorns and it withered and died.

So also your sinful flesh tempts you with the cares and the pleasures and the pleasures of life.

It will tempt you with anxiety or pride or arrogance.

It will tempt you thinking that you can solve your own problems.

It tempts you to skip church To skip your morning and evening prayers It tempts

you to hide your sins Rather than to confess them.

As children of Adam and Eve, all of us have given in to the temptations,

unfortunately, to the devil, the world, and even our own sinful nature.

None of us have a noble and good heart by nature.

None of us bears fruit with patience on our own.

And we often are impatient when we doubt his word and his many promises.

Therefore, it is our prayer that the Holy Spirit will bring us to repentance,

a sorrow over sin, that the Holy Spirit would also help us to confess our sins,

to be honest with God in what we've done and said.

And the good news is that God forgives our sins on account of Christ.

The gospel declares us righteous, justified because of what Jesus has done.

It pardons our iniquities. The gospel removes our guilt, and it creates in us a clean heart.

Our parable for today talks about a fourth type of soil, a good soil.

And Jesus compares it to those who hear the word of God, hold it fast,

and bear fruit with patience.

Jesus is the only one who is good.

He is truly good. He heard his father's word, he held fast to that word,

and he bore fruits with patience.

Just as the rain comes down from heaven and waters of the earth,

so also the Son of God came down here on earth.

It is as if the Father said, Go, my Son, and make atonement for the sin of the

whole world, and on the third day I will raise you up.

So the Son of God was planted, if you will, in the womb of the Virgin Mary.

She gave birth there on that silent night in Bethlehem, and he was given the name Jesus.

The word became flesh and now dwells among us.

His name Jesus means that he will save us from our sins.

So Jesus was obedient to his father in every way.

During Jesus' ministry, he was tempted by the devil three times there in the

wilderness, but Jesus never gave in, and he responded with the word of God.

Jesus came to his own people. He loved them and cared for them,

but they did not receive him.

Instead, they rejected him. Their hearts were hard against Jesus.

And during Jesus' ministry, his word always accomplished that which he spoke and did.

His word prospered in the things for which he sent it.

For example, when he said to the lame man, pick up your bed and walk,

a miracle occurred. he was able to stand up to pick up his bed and walk.

Also, when Jesus spoke, when he said, Lazarus, come forth, a miracle happened.

His word prospered in the thing for which he was sent. Lazarus came alive again.

While hanging on the cross, Jesus was tempted by the world to come down.

But Jesus resisted the world's temptations and remained there on the cross for

us and for our salvation.

Jesus once said, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone.

But if it dies, it bears much fruit.

As we know, a seed has to dry up first, be put into the ground,

receive the moisture, and then come forth alive, right?

So also Jesus died and was buried.

Just as seed sprouts and grows to produce a wonderful crop, so also Jesus rose

from the dead, and he now bears fruit.

The gospel and the Lord's Supper are the fruits of the cross.

Jesus is now our Lord of life, never to die again. His resurrection means that

he defeated our enemies of death And the devil.

Heavenly beloved in the Lord, God's word joined to water in holy baptism,

gave you faith in Christ, and it brought you life and salvation,

and it clothed you with the robe of Christ's righteousness.

God's word entered your ear, and it took root in your heart,

and you hear the gospel, and this gospel strengthens your faith in Christ.

God makes you into good soil.

He removes the rocks, the thorns, and the weeds in your life. He forgives your sins.

He made you into good soil, which bears an abundant fruit. He says,

I'm the vine and you are the branches.

Out of your life comes the fruit of the Spirit. love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,

goodness, gentleness, all for the sake of your family, your friends,

your neighbor, for the church.

The fruit of faith in your life is also shown as you give an offering for the support of the gospel.

Christ bears much fruit through you as you care for one another,

especially those in need.

You bear fruit in your vocation life, a husband, wife, father,

mother, student, worker.

You take care of others out of love for them and out of thanksgiving for all

that God has done for you in Christ.

Again, our faith is under attack.

So St. Paul says in Ephesians chapter 6, put on the whole armor of God that

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. And what are those armor?

It is the word of God, the gospel, the Lord's Supper, prayer.

All of these things help us to stand against the schemes of the devil.

We pray that our faith would not grow cold with unbelief, but that we would

stay alert and be on guard against our enemies of the devil,

the world, and our sinful flesh.

We also pray that God would keep us firm in his word and that he would strengthen

us so that we will endure the sufferings that we experience in our life.

The sower scattered the seed everywhere. And so may God's word also go out to

all nations, to all people.

We pray for family or friends who do not yet believe that they may hear the

gospel and trust in Christ as their Savior.

We also pray that God's word may go out into our community, that those who do

not yet know about Christ, the Holy Spirit may convert them from unbelief to faith in Christ.

Some of the fruits of the earth are wheat and grapes.

Wheat is made into bread, and then grapes are made into wine.

So this morning, God's word is connected to these earthly elements.

It also becomes our Lord's body and blood, shed for the forgiveness of all our sins.

Here our sins are removed and also our faith is strengthened so that we may

be able to persevere in our fallen world.

One day we will die and be buried, planted, if you will, in the earth.

We don't know when that day will come.

Martin Luther once called the cemetery God's Acre.

He said, quote, the cemetery is a field full of God's kernels,

which someday will rise and grow more beautifully than we can imagine.

So on the last day, the dead will rise and the soul and body will be reunited.

And all believers in Christ will wear, so to speak, new outfits.

We will be then incorruptible, and immortal.

Our bodies will be transformed, and then we will enjoy eternal life in the new

heaven and the new earth.

But until that day comes, may God's word give you strength to persevere in the

midst of trial and tribulation.

May God's word be a lamp unto your feet and a light unto your path,

pointing you to Christ as your one and only Savior.

And may you continually hear God's word.

Hold it fast and bear fruit with abundance.

Our opening hymn, stanza three, goes like this.

Lord, your words are waters living when my thirsting spirit pleads.

Lord, your words are bread life giving on your words.

My spirit feeds. Lord, your words will be my light through death's cold and dreary night.

Yes, they are my sword prevailing and my cup of joy unfailing. Amen.