Sermon in Rockford 04.03.2018

May the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the love of God our Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us now and forever. Amen.

Let us quieten this morning in opening prayer and thanksgiving. Amen.

Holy and righteous God, our beloved Heavenly Father, we thank you for this new day of grace where we have again this morning awakened with that knowledge and joy in our hearts that we were protected through the night as your children. Amen.

We have awakened with this hope that our journey of faith will end one day there in the glory of heaven. And we again realize on this day, dear Father, how through your word and through your promise that you have kept each of us as your own. And not only in this moment, but I pray that you would allow us to be on this narrow road of living faith. We understand, at least in part, that this is the grace that comes from your loving hand. We ourselves are weak and faulty sinners. And you know that because you've created us. But you've also gifted us with the grace to be a living gift, all of those things which are necessary and required for salvation. Most of all that you've given to us, your Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

This morning, dear Father, as we gather around your holy and precious Word, Lord, we come with prayerful hearts that you would feed us according to your holy and righteous will. You know each of us as your own. You know of our joys and our struggles. You know of those things that are difficult and troubling for us. And so we pray through your Word you would comfort us. But also remind us and rebuke us according to your holy and righteous will. We need the teaching and admonition of your Word. So we humbly ask now for your service blessing. Break those crumbs of grace so small that those weakest and poorest would be nourished and fed.

Today we also remember loved ones who are not here with us. Protect them in their place of watching. Give them strength to believe. Give them hope of heaven. We also remember those prodigal ones who have strayed away, have been enticed away from your precious kingdom. We pray that you, dear Father, would lead them back to this kingdom of grace and forgiveness while it is yet day. While they still have that hope in this life as we do of eternal life one day in the glory of heaven. All of this we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.

Dear brothers and sisters, before reading a portion of God's Word this morning, I with joy bring you greetings from Winter Services in Phoenix. Many of you were there as well. But there we experienced both in the meetings that we had, the LLC board, and also smaller meetings. In addition to the visiting of believers and the fellowship of God's children. And also in the hearing of God's Word we felt God's protection. And we experienced how God's Spirit revealed those things which were necessary for each of us. It was a very secure place to be there in the hearing of God's Word and in the fellowship of God's children.

But also loving greetings from Finland and Sweden. I returned at the end of January a month ago now. Maggie and I were there for those five weeks. And it was a wonderful trip for us. Although it was work and it was at some points of the trip somewhat grueling. The overall experience was a real blessing. Personal blessing for us. There we met dear brothers and sisters in faith. We met those brothers who have served here. We were able to be at the S.F.C. office for some meetings. We were in many different homes. And the remarkable thing is that it is God's kingdom there. And it's the same as it is here. Brothers and sisters endeavoring by faith toward the shore and destination of heaven.

And I would bring special greetings to you from some of those older brothers who have served here and are remembered and often remember you. Of course, Olav Ivoitlin who served for many years as SRK board chair. Tuomas Handinen who served as executive director for the SRK for a period of time. Dear brother and older brother, Mati Lakke. We visited them in their home. And Mati is now aging and waiting for that time when God grants him grace to be taken home. Thank you. To the glory of heaven. Many, many others as well.

But we are reminded when we visit with those fellow travelers that we are on the same endeavor. And it's comforting and encouraging to know that it is the same kingdom there amongst our brothers and sisters in Finland and also Sweden. We were able to travel at the end of our trip for four days to Sweden. It was my first time there. And it was also very encouraging to be there among the Swedish believers and to see that flock of God's children there in that country.

When we left the borders of country remain and the distances remain between our organizations and also believers. But one day as the Bible says that large distance of sea will be removed. And we will be one day there in the glory of heaven together.

I thought today that I would read, thinking of those brothers and sisters there and also the work of God's kingdom. And also during this time of Lent, we so often remember as we make our journey towards Jerusalem for the time of Easter. We remember the work that Jesus has done on our behalf. And I thought to read from the twelfth chapter of Hebrews, the first verses of that chapter. The words are as follows in Jesus' name.

Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us. And let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children: My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him.

For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards and not sons.

Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence. Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits and live?

For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure, but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.

Now no chastisement for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous; nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.

Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way, but let it rather be healed. Amen.

When we think of the life of Jesus, it was quite a life that Jesus experienced. He was with his Father in the glory of heaven. And in my weak thoughts and my ponderings, I wonder what it was for Jesus there in the glory of heaven.

The Bible says, John says, the Bible says John has recorded for us that Jesus was once there with his Father. He was there at the time of creation. So was it possible that Jesus was able to witness all of those things which God did and to be a part of that glory of heaven, of which we have so little understanding?

We only know here and now. Somehow we can remember those things we've experienced in life. And as a person grows older, I often look back to see and ponder how God has cared for all things so perfectly in my life. But I cannot see into the future at all. We can only live for here and now.

But yet Jesus, with his Father there at the time of creation, created all things. And it was perfect as God said. And at the appointed time then, because of the fall of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, God had promised that he would send his Son into this world. And he did.

But was there ever any kind of discussion between God and his Son? We know how Jesus often spoke of his Father when he was here in this life, of how he doesn't know even when he will return again a second time. Not even the angels of heaven know, but only the Father.

So I've pondered that. Was it the Father? Or was it the Father? Or was it the Father? Or was it the Father? Or was it the Father? Or was it the Father? Or was it the Father? Or was it the Father? Or was it? Was is? Is that of the scenario with Adam? The Father? Is it here? Is it? He's an officer? The state? That he is? Should we write an article about and of death? And he preached and he taught of those matters that were important that his children might know and to learn and to understand.

He began his public ministry at the age of 30. And so he only had around three years or so of time to teach and to preach and explain of God's mercy and grace and rebuke and so on. And Jesus spoke often of those things that were necessary for salvation. This is the reason he came. He wouldn't have wasted many words. He spoke many words, but none were wasted.

God's word contains the teaching of Jesus. But neither does it contain all of the teachings of Jesus. It says that all of the books in the world could not contain that which Jesus has taught. So enough of Jesus' teachings have been preserved as well as all of God's word that are necessary for a person to make it to the glory of heaven.

But when we think of the last parts of Jesus' life and we think of those days leading up to his crucifixion and we'll be studying and reading more of his life, we'll be learning more of that in the coming weeks leading up to Easter.

It's very humbling to consider all of those things that Jesus endured for the sake of his own, for you and I, brothers and sisters. Jesus came from glory and he returned to glory. And it was that yearning or that as even in this portion of God's word, it says that Jesus did the work of his Father for the joy that was set before him. He endured the cross. He despised the shame and now is set down at the right hand of the Lord. He is set down at the right hand of the heavenly Father.

So Jesus has already experienced as we've already heard and learned through this time of Lent of many of the things that we also experience or all of the things that we experience. For example, he was tempted after those 40 days in the wilderness when he was hungered there then the enemy of souls came and tempted him.

How was Jesus tempted? The Bible says he was tempted like as we are yet without sin. So we have that kind of a Savior that knows us. He knows of our temptations and our struggles. He knows of our weaknesses. He knows of how faulty and weak we are as God's own.

Therefore, that is that kind of a Savior which we have, of which this text also speaks of. I have found personally great comfort in this text and this portion of God's Word. And perhaps it is because I've felt so often the shortcomings and the sins of things of things of things of the journey.

When I was a young man, even a young boy, and I remember as a young boy when the temptations of sin started to come and it felt like they came in waves. So much so that I thought that if I could make it into my teenage years or even late teens that then I'd have it made.

Little did I know that the journey didn't end or become better or easier as I grew older. But rather the journey I'm sure has been the same for you brother and sister that it's been a daily endeavor.

But when those early years of the journey of the journey of the journey of the journey of the journey of the journey of the journey of the journey of the journey of the journey of the journey of the journey of the journey of the journey my life and the temptations that would come so quickly and so readily and I felt the corruption of sin so close.

I wondered that where and who might I visit with or talk to about my endeavor. I didn't think mother and father were capable of falling into sin like I was. And neither did I expect that my brother and sister were as sinful as I was. And it's true.

So often I feel the same as the Apostle Paul, that of the sinner I am the chief. But yet, at the lowest points of those trials, difficulties, and temptations, and even with this question that where would I go, or who would I turn to for help, I would remember this portion of God's Word when it talks about Jesus.

Jesus. Although I didn't think my mother and father, or my brother and sister, perhaps had experienced the same kind of temptations I did. But here the Bible says that Jesus did.

And where do we find this kind of Jesus? We don't find Him wandering about, we don't find Him some abstract person, but God has seen it so perfect that we find His Son in our brother and sister in faith.

Look around us today. We have those kinds of brothers and sisters that are God's children, who endeavor under the same burden and cross, who are not in the cross of sin, but yet have been forgiven through the merit work of Christ, and are able to believe.

And we can turn to them, because this is where Christ is found. God has seen it so, to gift His kingdom with that word of forgiveness, that word of grace, that word where He breathes on His disciples, and He told them, as my Father has sent me, so send I you.

Each of you, brother and sister, carry through the power of the Holy Spirit that wonderful gift and blessing of forgiveness. It is a treasure that we can gain from and receive from each other.

This is where Jesus is found, in our brothers and sisters in faith, and in His kingdom, in God's kingdom, here upon earth.

And during those moments of poorness and when I felt the lowest and poorest, I thought, who would understand, who could, um, where would I go, that someone might still love me, if I was able to confess those faults which burdened and troubled my conscience.

And it's been a test for me, it's been a trial for me, that through all the years that God has granted me grace to believe, each time that I've gone to that throne of grace, I've wondered, is there forgiveness for such a sinner, and will they still love me when I speak of my faults and shortcomings.

And I found out, the enemy of souls, even in this matter, is a liar. When he says that surely brother and sister will not forgive, mother and father will not forgive, and neither will they love you.

This has been totally a false. And so this is why I, these even these words of the writer, when he speaks of these escorts or this cloud of witnesses that he writes of, it follows after the 11th chapter of Hebrews, where in that 11th chapter he writes of many of those former saints who have gone before us and how they endeavored by faith.

Our eyes and our thoughts turn to those former believers. How did they make it to the glory of heaven? And even more closely, how did your grandfathers and grandmothers make it to heaven? How did those brothers and sisters make it to the glory of heaven?

But through the believing of the gospel that is preached within God's kingdom. And so our thoughts go to those who have endeavored before us. As Jesus also said, I have paved the way, and my way is the way that leads to the glory of heaven.

So when we read from these words, wherefore seeing, we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses. These are our witnesses around us even here today. They are our brothers and sisters in faith. They are those ones that want us to make it to heaven. And they want to help us to make it to the glory of heaven.

This is the hope that we all have. That none would fall prey to the enemy of souls. None would fall prey to their own sin corrupt flesh. And also give in to the ways of this world.

But rather, he said, let us lay aside every weight which doth so easily beset us. And in the English Bible, it says doth so easily beset us this sin. And it's not entirely accurate. In other translations, it said, it says, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which always attaches.

I have made those kinds of promises, especially after being granted again grace to put away those sins that have burdened my conscience. I've made those promises that I never will or want to fall into that sin again. And perhaps you, brother and sister with me, have made those same kinds of promises.

I remember one such time when I fervently made that promise, and that was when my baby daughter died. She was two months old. And I thought that now God is punishing me for my corruption and my weakness as a father.

And I made these kinds of promises that as a father now I would be a much different kind of father. I would be more patient and loving. I would teach with grace and forgiveness. I wouldn't lose my impatience. I would never look down on any of my children or my loved ones.

And I think those promises were made in honesty. This is what I wanted to be as a father. Because that loved one that was taken, it didn't feel like I had been that kind of a father for her or my other children.

And those promises lasted but for a few moments. And you realize that we are sin and corrupt. And even those promises that we make to battle against sin, how quickly we find that we are in need of grace and forgiveness every day.

So this is that which I think when we look to those witnesses and those escorts who have gone before us. How did they endeavor? They endeavored by the grace of God. They endeavored by believing of that promise that God gave through the merit work of His Son.

And when sin comes, when sin came, they went and spoke of those sins that burdened and troubled our conscience. Sin is a very powerful force. Sin is dangerous. And we each have experienced the effect of sin.

And it is that sin, if it's not cared for, and if it's not put away, that begins to cloud the simple faith life of a child of God. And the footsteps become slow. And if that sin isn't washed away, it can very soon choke out that small little flicker of faith.

Sometimes we wonder and ponder that how much sin can I play with? I have thought these things myself. But yet, how weak in faith we are.

We remember how Jesus said, and we know and believe, that it is faith that takes us to the glory of heaven. And it is believing upon that which Christ has done. But how the effect of sin takes that journey slow.

And it is this way that those footsteps become difficult and laborious. But when we can look to the Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, it is upon him whom we believe.

And we can see what kind of life Jesus lived. It says that he endured the cross. He went and took our sins to the middle cross of Golgotha. And he suffered a shameful death for the hope and the glory of heaven.

And today, he is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. And the author here says that consider him, consider Jesus, who endured this contradiction of sinners against himself, lest you be wearied and faint in your minds.

You have endeavored as a child of God. The journey has been as it's gone. But yet, you have not yet journeyed and strived against, resisted it unto blood, striving against sin.

Jesus gave his blood, gave his blood, gave his life, so that we won't need to and don't need to, we can believe upon him of whom God has sent.

But yet, in scriptures, it also speaks of this endeavor. And I think often of that tenth chapter of Matthew where Jesus took his disciples close and he told them of those things that they were going to endure as disciples.

It was not going to be an easy endeavor. So if you felt the endeavor to be difficult, you are in God's kingdom.

I remember one discussion I had one night going home from work. I was working an evening shift and I had been visiting with an unbelieving man who was once a believer.

And he came with all kinds of things that he had, pre-canned speeches and Bible texts that were very troubling to me. And he tried to get away from this endeavor. And he was no longer endeavoring.

But it lifted parts of scriptures that were pleasing to his own mind. And when we spoke about the way in the journey, he told me that, oh, those sheep that follow after those ministers in God's kingdom or in your church, that you can think on your own, that you don't need to follow after this kind of teaching.

And as I visited with him, it became very confusing as to how I should believe. And I went home and it was late that night, and I when I got home, I called one of my dear brothers that was living close by.

And there we visited well into the morning. And my biggest concern was this, that I have remained as such a sinner. Why don't I have enough strength, and why don't I have enough faith to endeavor without that burden of sin?

But this brother told me, and I thought of it many times since then, that if you feel the effect of sin, you will be saved. And I feel the effect of sin.

And even with heavy doubts, you can yet believe that you are one of God's own children. Those that do not doubt, as he didn't doubt, this unbelieving man, it's so that they are no longer believing as a child of God.

But have depended on their own strength and their own understanding. And it was comforting for me to see that it was comforting for me to acknowledge that it's okay to be a sinner in God's kingdom.

As the Apostle Paul also experienced that he was never to be a great and strong believer but needed to rely always on the grace of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He said, when I am weak, then I am strong.

And I am strong. The child of God is the weak and the doubting one, the fearful one. The one that needs to gather the blood drops of Jesus daily for the endeavor.

It is that little child that needs the care of the father and the mother to care for them, to nurture them, and teach them.

As God's children, we need the care that God has, the care that comes from God's kingdom to help us. We are not so strong in ourselves to be able to battle on our own or even to think so precisely and so clearly that we are left without doubts and worries and sin.

But this is the endeavor of a child of God that we are in the name of the Lord and the Savior and the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are faulty and sinful travelers.

And in the book of Hebrews, it also tells us that we wouldn't look to our own corruption but rather look to that which Christ has done for us.

So during this time of Lent, we can look and follow those footsteps of Jesus. How he took step by step on that journey that led to the middle cross of Golgotha, the burden and the weight of sin, which today as God's children, we can believe that our sins are forgiven through His name and precious atoning blood.

And in this text, it also speaks about the chastening of God. Whom a father loves, he chastens.

As a father, you have wanted your children to remain as a child of God. This has been my single biggest prayer for my children.

And there have been times when as a father, I have needed to speak to my children about the dangers of sin, about the sins that they have committed, about how they should behave, and how sin, how they should act.

It's not a very easy thing for a faulty father to do because you feel your own corruption. I feel my own lackings as a parent so closely that who and how can I speak to my children when it feels like I have been so weak myself.

But yet the grace of God and the love of God constrains us to speak to our children, to rebuke them, to teach them, to care for them.

This is a small picture of God's kingdom. How the Heavenly Father also chastens and rebukes His own. He gives us trials. God does.

These trials, on the other hand, are not too much for us to bear. But it's, I thought, sometimes this way that God knows how to put His finger in the middle of the Bible and a gentle way on each of us to humble us.

He doesn't grind us down or put as heavy weight that He could. But rather He gently nudges us as a shepherd does the sheep. And we have experienced God's teaching and His nudging.

The chastening of the Lord. It's important. And it's important that we as God's children heed that chastening so that it wouldn't be our own strength or our own goodness that can make it to heaven but rather God's care for us.

God wants us to look to Him and reach to Him in those times of trial. It says in this text that for whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth, and scourges every son whom He receiveth.

God takes as the trial of faith all of those things that are of our own are burned away. And what's left is pure gold.

And this also, this chastening is done at home. It's also done in God's kingdom. We need the care of God's kingdom.

I have had those kinds of escorts, loving escorts, who have taught me and encouraged me and cared for me as a father does his child.

And if we didn't have this chastening and if we didn't have this care of the Father, He would say as it does in the eighth verse that if we be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards and not sons. You would be on the outside of God's kingdom.

But rather, and it says furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us and we gave them reverence. We loved our fathers.

And even today now, as I have experienced my own father, as many of you have already lost fathers, you see them aging and you see their health disappearing.

You are thankful for that which weak father has done for you as a child. It's the same in God's kingdom that God has given into the kingdom these kinds of fathers, if you will, these kinds of servants, these kinds of escorts that correct us, that care for us.

I remember as a young boy many times there in Minneapolis growing up, dear brother Elmer, caring for the undying souls of the young so precisely that he spoke of those dangers and those sins that so easily and often came.

I never thought of him as being anything other than a loving father that God gave. This is the care of God's kingdom. It is the care of the Good Shepherd. It is the care of the Father that cares for us as we journey towards heaven.

But then it also speaks of the Father, that temporal Father who for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure.

And it's so also that we as fathers don't know nearly as well as God knows. We only know in part how to care for our young ones, our children.

But God knows perfectly how to care for us because He's given us life. He's created us. And He wants to take us to heaven one day.

And we have had these fathers who have chastened us after their own pleasure that we might be partakers of His holiness.

And God also now, in the last part of this text, it says, No chastisement for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous. Nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.

So this kind of teaching and admonishment we all need. But also in God's kingdom, here the writer finishes, that wherefore lift up the hands which hang down and the feeble knees and make straight paths for your feet lest that which is lame be turned out of the way but let it rather be healed.

No chastisement for the moment seems good but it brings peaceable fruits of righteousness.

Today, brothers and sisters, God still loves us so much that He chastises us. He teaches us. He instructs us. He cares for us because He wants us to make it one day to the glory of heaven.

Take heed to the teaching and instruction of your fathers and mothers, dear young. Listen to them. They care for you. They care for your undying souls.

Brothers and sisters, God's kingdom cares for you, loves you, and cares for your undying souls. Don't tire in the endeavor.

One of the things that was so evident there in Finland was that there were many who have left God's kingdom. Some of the congregations are without young people.

The elders have lamented and worried that where have the young gone? But they've tired. They've given in to the teaching of the enemy.

Rather than listening to the chastisement and the admonitions and the rebuke of God's word, they've tired and left for the broader ways.

Beloved young, remain endeavoring in faith. Battle against sin. Sin is an evil force. Sin is that which separates us from God. Don't play with sin.

These were the same kinds of admonishments that I, as a young man, was given and was so necessary for me.

Sin was and is still to me such an evil force that attaches so quickly. But yet God knows this and has promised us through his Son, Salvation.

Today, your travel friend, you can, with God's grace, make it one day to the glory of heaven. And you can believe even now, sins and doubts of the journey forgiven in Jesus' name and precious atoning blood.

This gospel is that which sustains us. It's the strength of God. It's the power of God. He's given it to us to use and to use freely.

Freely use this one to another. Young, speak to those matters with each other. Forgive each other. Uplift each other. Encourage one another.

It's the only way that we can make it to the glory of heaven. None of us are without sin. None of us have been so perfect.

But rather, God in his grace has given us these loving escorts to take us and to help us all the way to the glory of heaven.

Today, as we come also to this table that has been set before us, this table of communion, come as you find yourself believing.

Even though with doubts and shortcomings and weakness, come. It is for the strengthening of your faith.

When you come, you can remember that which Jesus did on your behalf. He made those footsteps all the way to Golgotha. He carried the burden of sin for all mankind to that middle cross of Golgotha.

He atoned for the sins of each of us so that we can believe upon him.

Think and pray. Ponder that great love that Jesus had. And this is that which we remember when we come to communion.

We remember all things whatsoever God has commanded us. But mostly this, come with a believing heart, although it may be weak and tempted, it may be filled with doubts, but it may be filled with hope.

Come to be refreshed and to be encouraged that you can, through God's grace, believe your sins forgiven in Jesus' name and blood and make it one day to the glory of heaven.

Brothers and sisters, this morning I find myself to be so doubting and fearful, worrying and wondering that will I make it ever to the glory of heaven?

And I realize also that this kind of doubt doesn't end. Just this last few evenings ago we went and visited a dear aunt who's living in her 80s near the end of, or nearing the end of her natural life.

And she worries and wonders that will she make it to the glory of heaven? She feels her own shortcomings. She's been left alone without a husband, cared well for by her family, but yet worried that will this simple faith be enough to carry her to the glory of heaven?

This simple faith is enough. But I come with those same kinds of doubts today that will I also be able to make it because I feel my own sinfulness and my own corruption?

Can I today still be reassured? Can I believe my own sinfulness? Can I believe my many sins and doubts forgiven?

I want to believe with each of you, dear brothers and sisters, together we will make it one day to the glory of heaven. In Jesus' name, Amen.