Sermon in Rockford 12.11.2017

Let us unite our hearts in thanksgiving and prayer.

Dear Heavenly Father, as we gather together this evening hour, we thank you for the blessings which we have abundantly received this day. We have been blessed with those temporal blessings. We've had warmth. We've had food. We've had fellowship. We have also been fed this day with your word, dear Heavenly Father. And we have been able, in our beginning of the day, to hear that we can leave our sins forgiven in Jesus' name of God.

As we come here this evening, we again gather with that prayer in our heart that you would bless our services this evening. That you would open your word. And that we would be comforted and uplifted and strengthened in this begun journey of faith. We have this lively hope. One day, faith will change to see. Preserve us, Father, in this living faith. Lead and guide us to the eternal destination. Where there is no more suffering. No more trials. No more tears. Only that eternal joy. Which you have prepared for us. There in heaven through the merits of your Son. Our Lord and Savior. Jesus Christ. For all this we pray. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen.

This evening for our study, I will read from the Old Testament, from the 13th chapter of Genesis, beginning with the 5th verse through the 11th, and then the 14th through the 16th. And the words are in Jesus' name as follows.

And Lot also, which went with Abram, had flocks and herds and tents. And the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together. For their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together. And there was a strife between the herdmen of Abram's cattle and the herdmen of Lot's cattle. And the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land.

And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen. For we be brethren. Is not the whole land before thee? Separate thyself, I pray thee, from me. If thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right. Or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left.

And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zor.

Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east, and they separated themselves, the one from the other.

And the Lord said unto Abraham, After that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art, northward and southward, and eastward and westward. For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever.

And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth, so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. Amen. Amen.

So our text here this evening continues on that theme for this Sunday, which we heard this morning, that we would forgive one another. And we heard through our brother the precious teaching and instruction from God's kingdom. God opens his word, and we rejoice that God has opened this word. But we rejoice even more when we are able to hear and believe this word.

There are many who have come from time to time to the hearing of God's word. They have sat, perhaps even in these benches here in our church. Perhaps they have listened to a sermon online. Who knows? But if God does not open the ears to hear and the heart to believe, then they do not hear this word, which brings so much comfort, so much joy to a child of God.

And what is the source of that comfort and that joy? It is as we heard this morning, when we can personally, individually, believe our own sins forgiven in Jesus' name and precious atoning blood. When we hear that word and we believe that word, it brings great joy to our hearts. It brings peace. It brings the fruit of love that we first love God that he has fed us. That he has by his love and his grace revealed his kingdom to us.

It's not of our own doing, brothers and sisters, but it is God's word. And this love then is kindled one for another. We see our neighbor as a beautiful escort on this way and this journey. The children of God, they are like those angels that preach that gospel to us. And we help one another.

There are here already this evening many people of different ages, different stages of life. I'm quite sure if we ask the elders, such as myself, even, that have I needed help on the way in the journey from my brothers and sisters in faith. And I have to say that many times I have needed the help of the brothers and sisters in living faith.

God's kingdom survives without me. I do not survive without God's kingdom. And I think maybe also it's not just something for us older ones, but I would also think that the younger ones here this evening would also say that I have needed my brother and sister in faith to help me remain as a child.

God, there are so many temptations in our lives, so many different attractions. We battle, as we often say, that threefold enemy. We battle the world. We battle against those temptations and wrong teachings of the enemy of souls. And we battle our own faith, flesh. We battle that flesh that is probably even one of the greatest battles that we have.

We're so often, as the Apostle Paul said, that the good I want to do, I don't, and that which I would not want to do, I do. That's how our flesh works. It is that inherited sin in us, and we battle against it every day.

As we heard this morning, that instruction, that precious teaching to endeavor to battle against that threefold enemy, each of us personally know what that battle is for us. We know where we have struggled and where we have failed.

And in some it may be temptations of the world, but it can also be temptations of self-righteousness, battling against our own pride, you could say. And if you doubt that we have pride in that battle for each one of us, I would give, for example, two things to think about.

Perhaps I would say one that school children could understand. If you got a good grade, did you give all of that credit to God? Or does your flesh want to keep some of that for yourself? Can work this way even that we could say that yeah, we'll give 90% of the credit and honor to God and our flesh wants to keep at least a little bit, maybe 10%.

Is that been how your flesh has been that we say even while I studied hard and I listened well and that's why I got a good grade. Certainly it is important to study and to do our best in all things, but to give all honor and glory unto the heavenly father. God.

And then there is this other battle we have with our pride that I think is one that many have experienced when we have had to care for matters. The voice of the conscience has spoken to us. We know that something has happened in our life that we have done some wrong, we have maybe hurt somebody, we maybe have said some things, maybe we have fallen into some sin.

And our pride I think is often one of those greatest obstacles to come to a brother or sister and to speak about what's happened. It is a battle. The enemy will speak to us in such ways that nobody would understand, nobody would forgive such a sin.

And so it happens and really it's our pride that we battle against. And the text which we have here this evening speaks and encourages us to forgive one another and to carry one another in love and in prayer and long suffering. And it also speaks about personal faith.

We have here to mention here by name, Abram and also Lot. When we think about our forefather in faith, Abram, we remember those teachings from our Sunday school and confirmation Bible class visits that we've had. We remember about Abraham and Sarah's life, how at first it was that they were living in their home area, they were traveling as children of God, and probably we could say that they were in a comfortable place.

They were happy to be there among the children of God. It was a secure place to be. But then God spoke to Abraham, and he said in the 12th chapter to Abraham, he said, Now the Lord has said unto Abraham, Get thee out from thy country and from thy kindred and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee.

God here giving Abraham this kind of instruction that now he should leave his country, his kindred, and his father's house. Surely this was startling news to Abraham and Sarah. That why would they leave? These kinds of questions that would pop into our minds.

But Abraham, he heard a more important part of that message than the one that you could say would speak more to our flesh and our reason. Surely we would struggle against instruction with our flesh and our reason that why would I leave? There's many reasons why we wouldn't want to leave from our own home and country and kindred.

But what Abraham heard in that message which was the most important to him was this teaching and instruction and promise that God mentioned here. Unto a land that I will shew thee.

God told him that he had a plan. He had a place and for whatever reason if Abraham would obey him and to go as God called then this was the most important matter and Abraham had that kind of heart.

The believing child of God. He wanted to follow the instructions from the heavenly father more than the reasoning and thoughts of his own mind and his own will. He wanted to be obedient to God and his instructions.

This was the most important matter in his life. That if God wanted him to go, if God was now calling him, who was he to think otherwise? So they left from their home.

God gave a promise to Abraham. He said, I will make of thee a great nation and I will bless thee and make thy name great and thou shalt be a blessing and I will bless them that bless thee and curse him that curseth thee and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

So God here was already telling Abraham that even though he and Sarah were childless and had been for many years, that there would be a child. So even here, Abraham had to marvel at God's word and to simply trust and believe.

I'm sure by this time and stage in their life, both had given up, you could say, the thought of having any kind of a heritage believers and children and offspring. They were beyond those years. But if God said so, again, Abraham wanted to be obedient.

And so they departed as the Lord had spoken. And their nephew, so the son of Abraham's brother, Lot, also wanted to come with them.

And here at the age of seventy and five years old, they departed out of the land of Haran. And Abraham took Sarah, his wife, and Lot, his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran.

And they went forth to go into the land of Canaan, and into the land of Canaan they came. So God guided and led their journey. And they did not count it unto themselves as some kind of honor or glory, special understanding, but rather traveling in obedience of faith.

Wanting to do the will of God and to reach the promised land. This was their goal in life. And this, I believe, today is the goal that we all have in this life.

We have as children of God a lively hope of eternal life in heaven. There are some, as we heard of, other churches in this world who have a hope of heaven, but it is not a lively hope.

God's children, this small flock in this world, whether it's here in Buffalo, Rockford, Hanover, this area, Rockford Church, or any of the other ones in Minnesota, or in the United States, or Canada, Finland, Togo, Ghana, all the believers, wherever they are, have this same lively hope.

And what makes it alive? It is that we believe our sins forgiven in Jesus name and blood. This gives life. Our sins are washed away. They are drowned in the sea of grace.

And as a child of God, God opens his word to us. We have that voice of the conscience in us that reminds us and teaches us when we have fallen into sin.

And we have those escorts that if they see how our life has become endangered, that we have perhaps started to drift away from the center of the flock and have started to put our gaze upon something on the outside of God's kingdom, whatever it might be.

Our escorts come and they speak to us of the way and the journey. Jesus said, where two or three are gathered in my name, there also am I with them.

And how do we know that? Isn't it this way, brothers and sisters, when two have been gathered together and we have been able to speak of the way and the journey, we've talked about matters of faith.

And in the light of God's word, we begin to realize our own sinfulness, our own corruption, that how little we understand.

The enemy of souls wants to say you understand so much, especially if we were going off in the wrong direction. He blows on that kind of a thought that yeah, you're so right and others have understood so wrong.

These are the dangers that we all face on the way and the journey. And so God has put the Holy Spirit into his congregation. And here this Holy Spirit leads and guides us.

It is God in the third person. In this text that we read from the Old Testament, in those days God did speak to people directly. As we heard here, the Lord had said unto Abram, we know of Moses when he sighed on the wilderness journey.

God spoke to him, said, Moses, why did you sigh? He knew. Moses was tired and weary and burdened. He heard those sighs. He knows.

And so then, in the beginning of the New Testament, Jesus was here in the flesh, the promised Messiah. He traveled here for about 33 years.

Of those last three years, in the office of the ministry to teach and to do those miracles that he did before he suffered and died.

But he said to the disciples that I will send the comforter unto you. That is this Holy Spirit, that is God in the third person. That is the Holy Spirit that dwells in God's kingdom, in his congregation.

Not with any one individual, but with the congregation. And this is not just our own congregation here, but the kingdom of God, wherever it might be.

As we have heard in our recent visits and discussions at the Bible camp again, for example, at Stony Lake, how it was there such a powerful feeling of the Holy Spirit when we talked about the way and the journey.

And the understanding of the matters were the same understandings that we have here in America concerning the sacraments, concerning confession, concerning the gospel of the forgiveness of sins.

It is one kingdom, one faith, one hope, one baptism.

We read of our text this evening, we see how the world around us changes. The time we live in, we can say certainly is different than the time of Abraham and Sarah.

Cultures are different, the fashions are different, many things travel, they certainly didn't have internet and iPhones and those kinds of things that day.

But when we examine the scriptures, how they believed, them, and how people believed in the time of Jesus, those children of God, and how we believe today, it is Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and always.

That, brothers and sisters, doesn't change. That is the sure foundation upon which we believe. It is an enduring foundation, as we will listen about in the coming year as one of the themes for our camp work and our winter and summer services and discussions.

Isn't that a good place to be on this firm foundation? When these winds of change blow, when the direction and course of our lives seems to be uncertain and what's going to happen, we can take comfort in this, that we are a child of God, and we are in God's care.

We are in his kingdom, and he hears our prayers, and he knows we want to make it to heaven. And he sends his word, that comforting word, brothers and sisters, uplift your heart, believe your sins and your doubts who are given in Jesus' name and precious atoning blood.

This is what we long for. This is why those believers there in Togo named that first church, the church of the forgiveness of sins. That was a message that they had not heard, that they were looking for and seeking in this world, in the darkness of this world.

And we can say that the ministers that went to Togo, they were not the first quote unquote ministers that came there. Even as my brother from Finland and I were traveling one day, we were in this city and we were traveling in the back of the car to go to services and we came to this place in the center of town and there on the street corner we noticed two people standing there.

They were wearing black suits, white shirts and black ties. They had their Bible in their hand. And I asked my Finnish brother, I said, what do you suppose they're doing here? Many, many have come to our lands and our places. We have many churches in our community.

Those missionaries, you could say, have also gone to those other nations. But there in Togo when we visited, the brothers and sisters said, this was the thing that they had never heard before, that they could believe their sins forgiven in Jesus' name and blood.

When they heard that and they believed it, it was a joyful message. It was like even unto that message that the angels proclaimed to the shepherds there abiding in their field, that unto you this day is born a savior in the city of Bethlehem.

Abraham desired to be obedient to God and God guided his life and he was blessed and he gave the increase. And we can see from this Bible portion, these two chapters of Abraham's life, we can see how God blessed them very a lot temporarily. Many riches.

It was interesting again how he guided in this way that they were there in the land of Canaan and a salmon came and they were instructed to go to Egypt, again to a strange area.

But there God brought them to a place where they were in the care of the Pharaoh. And there Abraham and Lot and their family's lives prospered.

And when they left Egypt as it says here in our 13th chapter and Abraham went up out of Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had and Lot with them into the south.

And Abraham was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold. They had many temporal blessings. But the greatest blessing, brothers and sisters, was they had living faith in this lively hope of heaven.

In these times of famine in the land of Canaan where they didn't have much, faith was important. When they were in Egypt and they received many temporal blessings, faith yet remained important.

They continued to remain on this firm foundation. Salvation. They believed in the promise of the Savior, and they clung to that promise. It was more important to them than the treasures of the world and of their own goodness.

But as they were there, then, again, into Bethel, and between Bethel and high, as it says here, they came into a situation now that was a trial in their life.

As it says here, Lot also, which went with Abraham, had flocks and herds and tents, and the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together, for their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together.

Such great blessings in a temporal way they have. And here it mentions how the enemy always wants to do his work. It says there was a strife between the herdmen of Abraham's cattle, and the herdmen of Lot's cattle.

Isn't this the way the enemy of souls always works? He wants to break the love. He wants to cause division amongst the children of God. He does not like it that children of God believe in the heavenly father, the son, and the holy spirit.

And he wants the children of God for his own. We often say, brothers and sisters, how we are a small flock here in this world. So think about that.

In the millions, billions of people on this earth, there is this small remnant of people who are the children of God. Enemy of souls doesn't need to do any work on the larger crowd. He already has them in his hands.

We see the fruits of that in the entertainment of this world and the honor and the self-admiration that people have. Left or this right, how they have fallen into one ditch or the other.

And we can say that many people are good people, but they don't have living faith. And that's what the enemy of souls is concerned about. He doesn't want somebody to have living faith. Faith.

He knows at the end of life, there are but two choices. Enemy of souls knows the Bible, the Word of God. He, I would say, knows it better than myself for sure, and I would say perhaps even most of us, if not all of us, here.

He uses portions of God's Word even to try to justify sin. As he tempted Jesus there in the wilderness after he had fasted 40 days, he used portions of God's Word to try to tempt Jesus into following him.

But Jesus lovingly reminded him the whole truth of God's Word. That we can't just take some little part and cling to that, but we need to look at the whole part.

And what does God's Word teach us? And not only what does it appeal or answer to our reason, but more importantly, what does it answer? To the Spirit? What does it answer to God's kingdom? The brothers and sisters in faith.

Isn't that the most important? Isn't that where the Holy Spirit is found in the kingdom of God?

Our brother spoke this morning of that one who found the treasure hidden in the field, and he spoke how dear and precious that treasure was, that spoil, if you would, that he found there in the field.

And the second part to that portion is about that field. That he says that he sold all he had and he bought the field.

What does that mean, brothers and sisters? It means that he wanted to be a member of this precious flock that has the livelihood that leads one day to heaven.

He wanted to be in that field. He wanted to be a child of God. It was seen as a precious field to him, a place where he wanted to dwell. He wanted to own that field.

Where would we be, brothers and sisters, without the children of God as we have already mentioned today? Those brothers and sisters, those escorts in our life.

Here we see that Abraham had many blessings and he had a young nephew who wanted to travel with him. Remember when he left his own country, it was that nephew that wanted to be with his 75-year-old uncle at that time to leave on this journey.

We could say perhaps he liked the adventure of traveling somewhere, but really we know, brothers and sisters, that he wanted to be traveling with his dear uncle who had this gift of living faith.

And we see how God blessed his life there when he traveled with Abraham. But we see how the enemy of souls then wanted to divide and wanted to break the love even that they had enjoyed through times of famine and now in times of prosperity.

Sometimes I have thought about that struggle that you know, is there enough food and water for all these blessings? Things.

And I've wondered when they were in the land of Canaan and the famine was there, how they survived. I wonder what they survived on, what did the animals eat and so forth. It must have been a pretty sparse life, but yet they survived.

But now when they had much, many, many blessings, it seemed that Lot couldn't see away anymore. And the people that traveled together couldn't see away that wouldn't this land be able to support all of them if maybe they didn't have so many cattle and animals and sheep and so forth.

Couldn't have they pared down the flock? Couldn't have been some kind of a solution? But Abraham, he saw this strife and he didn't want that to break the love between him and his nephew.

He then came to Lot here. He said, let there be no strife. I pray between thee and between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen, for we be brethren.

Is not the whole land before thee? Separate thyself, I pray, thee from me. If thou will take the left hand, then I will go to the right. Or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left.

We see in this speech of Abraham how he was traveling as a simple child of God, living of faith, wanting to forgive and wanting to care for those around him. And he had that spirit of love.

When we spoke of customs earlier, and we could say it's probably even a custom of today, we remember that Lot was the elder one. He was 75 when they departed, so how old would he be now? And Lot was the son of Abraham's brother, so surely he was the younger.

The culture, the way of dealing with things of that time, Abraham would have been the one who could make a choice here. He could have easily said to Lot, okay, to solve this problem, you and your herdsmen should go here, and we will go there.

But he put that decision into Lot's hands. When he did that, he did with the eyes and heart of faith, that in doing so, he was putting it in God's hands. That God would now lead and guide him to where and what he should do.

And they looked out on the land, and it says here that in the land of Jordan, there was where the water and the grass was, and all the things we could say that would be pleasing to the eye.

It says that it was so pleasing that even as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zor.

So it was like the garden of the Lord, the garden of Eden, even in its beauty and its lushness and what the eye could behold.

When Lot looked upon his gaze then, and to make this choice, we can in a way see already into his heart, and perhaps even this was something that was leading to the difficulties in the herdsmen that Lot looked on the temporal things.

When he made his choice, one would have thought even in this way that he realized or would have known that, wait a minute, this isn't my choice to make, and wait a minute, my uncle Abram is older here, he should get the nicer land, have the easier life.

No, he chose the better portion for himself and left his dear uncle to the barren land and the more difficult place of living.

Something perhaps even in that doesn't feel quite right when we think about it, even from a temporal way, that shouldn't Abraham have received the nicer portion?

God's ways are not our ways. Sometimes those things that seem to appeal to us to be the nicer ways and the easier way to go are the ways we should run away from.

Take the simpler path, the one that keeps our feet on the ground, one that keeps us needing and trusting on the Lord to guide us and to feed us and to care for us.

Our brother spoke this morning about birth control and sometimes in those kind of questions, difficult decisions we can say, you have to be me.

But often times I think the enemy would want us to go down that path to take what would be to our mind and our reason to take the easier path, the one that puts the decision in our hands versus in God's hands.

And I think it, again, is important instruction for us to think about it in this way, that.

What does God want us to do? To pray to the Heavenly Father, to visit with the elders, to visit with those who have perhaps had similar trials in life. And how did God help?

It might look like we're going to the more difficult path, when that path means to keep faith and good conscience. Our prayer should be to the Heavenly Father, that he would guide our decision and that he would show us the way.

And a lot, though, he lifted up his eyes and he beheld the plain of Jordan. And we know what was out there to the plain of Jordan was the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.

When Lot and his family went to this what would be appearing to be outwardly beautiful area, they ran into difficulties. The kings of Sodom and Gomorrah attacked them and they took everything that they had.

And even Lot himself was held captive there by the kings. We can see the results of his decision were not the best.

Abraham, when he heard of that, he gathered his men together and they went there to Sodom and Gomorrah and they fought against the enemy of Lot and his family and God gave them the victory.

We can see also in this way how God's love works in a child of God. That when they see trouble, when they see our neighbor who has stumbled and fallen and hit upon difficult times, the spirit moves to go to help.

Abraham could have easily said, well Lot made his decision, he can live by it. Now he's captive. We're not going to risk our lives and our people and our men.

No, that was not the will of God. That was not the heart of a child of God. But rather it was this way that someone's in trouble, in difficulty, we want to go there to help.

And isn't this how it is when a brother or sister has fallen and is struggling in faith? Do we say, well, they deserve what they got. They went to the edge and they stumbled and fallen and perhaps even have left living faith.

Do we say they got what they deserve? No. We want to go to help them. We want to speak to them. We want to assure them that they also, whatever their difficulties are, can believe this same gospel of the forgiveness of sins.

That's what uplifting carries us on the journey. Abraham and his men were given a victory there by the Heavenly Father. And Lot and his family were restored.

But already there were those seeds we could say that had been sown there into the herdsmen and into the families.

By the time God destroyed those two cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, there was only Lot and his family left believing. They were a great number of people.

When Lot and Abraham separated, there were so many they couldn't find a way to live off that same land. They went out and they encountered difficulties. God helped them, but yet again they began to live of their own strength and understanding and wisdom.

We can remember the sorry outcome there of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.

So, this portion that we have this evening, brothers and sisters, it still speaks of this simple message that we would want to help one another in times of difficulty and strife and battles against this threefold enemy.

Who of us can say that we don't need to be helped on the way in the journey.

So, one day perhaps we help one person or two people or a group of people who have stumbled and fallen, but then also perhaps they are that same traveler in faith that comes to preach the gospel to us when we have stumbled and fallen.

In this way we carry one another. As they say that the road to heaven is a narrow path, is marked with the blood drops of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

It is a well-worn path with the old believers, those saints of God, even those in our time who have received the rest of the righteousness. Righteousness.

It pays to believe. It pays to carry one another in love. It pays to speak of the way and the journey. And there is a great promise at the end.

And so when we're on this narrow pathway, yes it is narrow, but as we have related all, so many times that there is room for two or three or many even to walk as children of God, shoulder to shoulder, side by side, arm in arm, singing and rejoicing and praising God for those many blessings in our lives that we are children of God, traveling on that way that leads to eternal life in heaven.

There are only those two choices, eternal life or eternal death.

May God richly bless your journey to heaven.

Dear child of God and dear listener this evening, if there would be one here in our midst or one listening perhaps on the internet that wonders, how can I own the name of a child of God, that I am such a wretched sinner, to you especially this evening is offered this precious gospel message as you find yourself, uplift your heart to leave your unbelief and all your sins and doubts forgiven in Jesus' name and precious blood.

Dear brothers and sisters in faith, with me this evening, uplift your heart, believe all your sins forgiven in Jesus' name and precious blood.

I also want to believe of this same gospel, can I believe my sins and doubts forgiven this evening?

We are traveling on that way to lead, which leads to eternal life in heaven.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Let us unite our hearts in the closing benediction.

The Lord bless us and keep us. The Lord make his face shine upon us and be gracious unto us. The Lord lift up his countenance upon us and give us peace.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen. Amen. Amen.