Services/Sermon in Minneapolis 21.10.2018

I'm proud of our service this afternoon with prayerful hearts that the Heavenly Father would grant unto us those words that He knows are needed and necessary for us. I thought to read from the 7th chapter of Revelation, beginning with the 9th verse through the end of that chapter. The words are as follows in Jesus' name.

After this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues, stood before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes and palms in their hands, and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God, which sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb. And all the angels stood round about the throne and about the elders and the four beasts and fell before the throne on their faces and worshipped God, saying, Amen. Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might. Amen.

And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? And whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said unto me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat; for the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them and shall lead them unto the living fountains of waters; and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. Amen.

This portion of God's word wasn't one that I was planning to use for this afternoon, but it came to mind when we consider the departure of our dear sister. We have also, brothers and sisters, experienced this year a great number of our older elders passed from this life to eternity. One brother recently commented how it was also the same before the time of the last heresy when there were many elders who were granted that kind of grace to leave before that sad day of heresy took place. Surely I'm no prophet at all, but yet we can rejoice that so many of our older brothers and sisters, those ones who have endeavored by faith their life traveled as a grace beggar in God's kingdom. I'm so grateful that I'm able to be a part of that.

The graces of God have not been sparing over me, and I can be of the hope of your grace both on your books but also between you. I pray for the most through and that waits for all of God's children: the peace and joy and the glory there in heaven.

This book of Revelation was written by the Apostle John. He was given to see many wondrous things, visions, dreams there. And he wrote them when he was there in prison on the Isle of Patmos, living the last days of his life. He had been taken there because, as so many of the Apostles were, persecuted and ridiculed, some even losing their lives for how they believed.

And I've thought, oh, how fortunate a matter it was for John, as he was there in prison, to be comforted so greatly by our Heavenly Father. In this portion of God's Word, he was able to see the throng of saints waiting there in the glory of heaven.

As we near the end of this calendar year, we will also be hearing about the time of the end of the church calendar, which speaks of the judgment day and so on. When we think of judgment, and how Jesus will come that last day to be that judge on behalf of his Father, He will speak on behalf of His Father. He will speak on behalf of His own. We will be called from that Lamb's Book of Life that is there already reserved in heaven. The names of all of God's children are recorded there. And you, dear brother and sister, can with faithful hearts believe that your name is also recorded in that Lamb's Book of Life.

Thank you. Nilo Rauwala. Thank you.

He had heard of Jesus, and of course he knew of Jesus well. He was the one that baptized Jesus. He was the one that said, He must increase and I must decrease. He is the one that said, I am not worthy to loosen or tie his shoes. John the Baptist knew how little he was in the face of Jesus, but also knew that Jesus was his Lord and Savior. His testimony was this: Behold, the Son of God that takes away the sins of the whole world.

Yet when John was there in prison, in his own quiet thoughts, he wondered, doubted, and he sent his disciples to Jesus and asked, Are you the one, or do we wait for another? And Jesus told the disciples of John to go and tell John that the lame walk, the deaf are able to hear, the blind are able to see, and to the poor, the gospel is preached. John needed comfort there in his own time of prison. John the Baptist. And so also, I'm sure, did the Apostle John when he was there nearing the end of his life in the solitude of prison.

But this vision that came to John, of what our text speaks, and after this I beheld, prior to this he had seen the four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God, and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.

And he goes on to number many of those from the tribes of the children of Israel: Judah, Asser, Simon, Ishikar, and so on. And then after this he says, I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, of which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne and before the Lamb. There they were with white robes and palms in their hands. Those saints were there crying, praising God, Salvation to our God, which sitteth on the throne and unto the Lamb.

The songwriters sing of that day when the child of God is called to the glory of heaven, and our tongue of clay will be loosed to praise God as we ought. Today our hearts often sing. We are often filled with those moments of thanksgiving and praise when we are in the midst of a battle. As it was last weekend, when I gathered there personally, for me it was a time when I was able to say with a confident heart that this is God's kingdom. The cup runs over at those times when God touches us with His loving hand and gives us comfort and strength to take another step towards heaven.

So this John was able to also see, and he writes of this, of those who cried with a loud voice, praises unto the Heavenly Father of salvation and the glory of heaven. And it says, and all the angels stood round about the throne.

And when I was a little boy, I wondered about heaven. And I liked to sing, but it doesn't take long and my voice gets tired. I'm not a professional singer by any stretch of the imagination. But I like to sing. And as a little boy, I remember Grandma and Grandpa even telling me that, Hey Eric, in heaven, there will be angels and we'll be like angels and we'll be singing. We'll sing in eternity. I thought, hey, I don't want to sing all the time. Most of the time, but not all the time. There must be better things to do in heaven than sing.

But now as I've grown older and I think of those angelic voices that will be there in the glory of heaven, you know, all the worry of this life will be behind us. Faith will be changed to seeing. And there won't be any of those kinds of worries or doubts or fears or time or illness, but rather only the peace and joy in eternity.

And this is what today our departed sister and where she has been taken. Her time of sorrow is over. Her time of trial is over. And now waiting for her is those angels in the glory of heaven. And the angels stood about the throne and about the elders and the four beasts and fell on the throne on their faces and worshipped God.

How will we be able to thank God? Here we can't. We only understand in part. We know in part as the Apostle Paul has written. But there, one day, these tongues of clay and the often doubting hearts will be moved and be able to see in perfection all of that which God has prepared for those that love Him.

And these angels, as they stood around worshipping God, their song of praise was this, Amen. It is over. It is finished. Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be unto our God forever and ever. Amen.

For John to see this, it would have been surely a comforting matter. And he praised God even for this blessing that he received. But then one of these elders, he answered to John and asked him, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? And whence came they? John didn't know who they were. And so he told this elder, Sir, thou knowest. And so this elder said unto me, These are which came out of great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

It's a child of God who endeavors on this narrow road of faith, who gathers those blood drops of Jesus daily, who is able to believe that through the blessing and merit work of Christ, everything has been finished for us. And we can rest and rely on that which Jesus has done for us.

As a little boy, I wondered because I know God. I think I know God at least to some degree. And I know God is so powerful and knowledgeable. God knows everything. I was taught this as a young boy and I believe it's still the same. Nothing is hid from God. He is omnipotent, omnipresent. He's there all the time. He knows all things. He's created things. He's created me. He's created you. He's given us life. He's also the Lord of life and death. This is God.

The Bible tells us that our ways are not God's ways and God's ways are not man's ways. He says as high as the heavens are above the earth, so are God's ways higher than man's ways. In some ways, we can't even approach God because He is so majestic and powerful. But yet in God's Word, it talks about God as being that kind of a loving Father who recognizes and knows His children. He's given them life and carries them as His own. Forgives us our sins. He's given us when we're in trouble. He's given us when we hear the Gospel and so on.

But I wondered as a little boy that, you know, although my sins are forgiven, why can't God even see them? If He can see everything else, surely He could also see my sins. But this is one of the mysteries that come from faith. The Bible says that when our sins are forgiven, they are washed away and buried in the sea of grace. And God remembers them no more.

When God looks down at His children today, He sees us through the merit work of Christ. It is a cloak or a robe that we've been given. And this is the way that God sees us through His Son. So this was a comforting thing for me.

And even in the book of Matthew, the time of judgment, when it talks about this, how Jesus will speak on behalf of His own. He will say that that is one of mine. I know Him. It is a very comforting and a very peaceful feeling that comes when we realize and understand that Christ will speak on our behalf.

I had this kind of experience when I was a young boy. I was in grade school and I had done something that I was sent to the principal's office for. I don't remember what the reason was. But perhaps the teacher was mistaken. But probably not. I went to the principal's office and I was there and the principal's office was a big door, glass window. And I could see the principal through the door. He was talking on the phone and the secretary told me to sit on that bench right there and wait for the principal. And I sat there and I waited and I was just a wreck. A wreck. Knowing that now I would have to face this principal.

When I was finally called into the principal's office, the principal asked what happened and so on and I stumbled through my excuses, whatever they were. But in the end this principal is a very, I would say, he's a very patient man. But anyway, he didn't condemn me and he didn't do anything bad but simply encouraged me to behave and go back to my classroom and hopefully that bad behavior doesn't happen again.

But I've thought of this one experience sitting in that principal's office waiting in the light of eternity. You know, if we were to stand before the judge at the end of time naked, if we didn't have faith and if we didn't have Christ's righteousness for us, we would be of all people most fearful. I wouldn't want to, maybe, and I'm sure none of us would want to try to answer for our corruption and our sinfulness.

We talked about this at Confirmation School even when we teach on this last coming, second coming of Christ and time of judgment. And we talked about how there will be two lines there: those that will be divided on the right and those on the left. Those sheep and those goats as the Bible says.

And I told the children there that each one of us will stand before that judge and we will be asked and our lives will be discussed. God, Jesus, do this judgment. And I thought how many of us would want to stand there alone? I surely wouldn't. Where my sins and my life and my questions that Eric, why did you do this? Or when you did this? Why did you do this?

I remember even as a little boy my dad would ask, Why did you do that? I had just my typical answer: I don't know. I remember promising that I was never going to ask one of my children that, Why did you do that? Well, it was a hollow promise. I remember some years ago when one of my daughters, one of my younger daughters, came home and we had heard of some sad things of her life and we had to visit with her and the first thing that came out of my mouth was, Why did you do such a thing? And this daughter of mine, she looked at me with tears in her eyes and she says, It's because I'm a sinner. You know, it stopped me in my tracks and I told her that her father's also a sinner.

So we had that kind of service there where the gospel was able to be preached. But to think of those in the unbelieving world when they're facing death, when they're facing eternity, what would they feel or consider compared to that which the child of God faces? Christ will speak on our behalf and he will say, That is one of my own. I know him. He has washed his robe in the blood of the Lamb. And that's how God sees us today, brothers and sisters, and how he has also seen our departed sister. She was that one of those who passed away from this life with faith in her heart. And that faith will one day be changed to see.

I remember one dear brother some years ago now was nearing the end of his life, a very close friend of mine. And it was so that it was evident that his health was deteriorating to the point where it wouldn't be long before the angels would come to take him home. And I told this brother that it won't be long now before the angels come to take you to the glory of heaven. And this brother said, Well, I hope they don't miss me.

I think as God's children we feel often doubting because of our own corruption, our own sinfulness. We don't doubt God's goodness. We don't doubt the merit work of Christ. We don't doubt that which God has prepared is perfect. But yet we often doubt as John did because of the corruption that we carry that weighs us down, as we sang also in that song before lunch, how the journey can become long and tiring. But yet we are comforted and able by day as we journey homeward.

So when John was given to see, I thought of this as a great blessing for him. In the midst of trials he was able to see a glimpse of heaven. And what did he see? He said I saw these, or this, this elder told him, These are those which came out of great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.

It will be a reunion of reunions. It will be where God's children will be gathered from the four corners of the earth there and sit there in the glory of heaven. And John was given to see that they shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more. Worries of this life are over.

That's why Jesus also said, Seek ye first the kingdom of God and its righteousness and all else shall be added unto you. It's the first and foremost thing that Jesus told us to search for: God's kingdom.

He also, at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, took his disciples close and he wanted them to look to the birds and the flowers of the field and he said, You can see how beautifully these flowers are arrayed and how perfectly God has cared for the birds, but God loves you even more than them. God has promised for his own end in the glory of heaven.

The book of Jeremiah writes of this end when he says that God wants us to have a successful end to our journey. So this hungering is gone and the thirst is gone and neither shall the sun light on them.

Those of us who have lived in the southwest know even the intensity of the sun and how you try to flee from that sun in the heat of the day to find shade. When we think of the shepherd's psalm, King David writes there, The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. And how he leadeth them beside the still waters and those grasses of God's kingdom we are kept. It is a peaceful and restful place also in God's kingdom but not nearly as peaceful and restful as it will be there in the glory of heaven.

Neither shall the sun light on them nor any heat; for the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them. I've wondered what will this heavenly manna, what will this food of heaven be? Of course, in our own minds we've laughed and shared memories or our thoughts of what heaven is. I'm sure you've had your thoughts of what heaven would be like. How can we even attach ourselves to what heaven is? But it's greater than anything we can imagine. More peaceful than anywhere we've been. More comfortable in our lives. More comfortable than even the most comfortable spots we've experienced.

But there the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them and lead them unto living fountains of waters. And then last of all it says, And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

I remember as a little boy my mother would often say, Take her thumb and wipe away a tear. How comforting that was for me as a little boy. I have had similar experiences in life where it would be loved ones or my beloved wife would have been able to wipe away those tears, comfort in time of difficulty and trial. But there this will be God's last loving service for his own when he will wipe away the last tears from our eyes.

You can believe all sins forgiven in Jesus' name and in the precious blood.

Brothers and sisters, this is that which waits for us. Our sister has gone on to her place of rest. Do you also have a place of rest? Wait for that time when your turn will come. You can patiently wait. God knows the day in which he will call. God knows the day in which he will come for you. Be not with doubts but believing. Be with faith. As God has carried you until this day, he will carry you all the way to the end of your journey.

God's kingdom is a kingdom of children. A kingdom of those doubting ones. Those fearful ones. But this is the reason that Jesus came. He came to heal the sick, to comfort the poor, for the gospel to be preached.

Uplift your heart this afternoon. Your travel friend. Your sins are all forgiven in the name and precious blood of Jesus. Be not doubtless but believing. In Jesus' name and precious blood. In Jesus' name and blood. In Jesus' name and blood. In Jesus' name and blood. All sins and doubts are forgiven. In Jesus' name and precious blood. In Jesus' name and precious blood. In Jesus' name and precious blood. All sins and doubts are forgiven. In Jesus' name and precious blood. All sins are forgiven.

Can I also get here the gospel for my own sins and doubts? One day, brothers and sisters, this journey will end. We will be welcomed into the glory of the glory of heaven.

Let us close these services this day in prayer and benediction.

Holy and righteous God, beloved Heavenly Father, we thank you today for your word. We thank you for this gift of faith. We thank you for your kingdom, where we can travel as your children. Carry us, dear Father, forward to that day when this life will end successfully on the shore of heaven.

We ask also that you would remember those loved ones who have been led astray by the enticements of the enemy of souls. Lead them back also to your kingdom, to this kingdom of grace and forgiveness.

And we yet say, 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 of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.