Youth Discussion/Presentation in LLC Cokato Summer Services 05.07.2008 09.00 pm UTC

I have to stand in this corner to be able to see the screen because I'm using a PowerPoint presentation, hopefully making it a little bit easier to follow. Our topic is "Grace is a Good Teacher." So we're going to, God willing, stop before one very important word and concept in our faith life, and that is grace. Jesus asked, "Were there not 10 cleansed? But where are the nine?" That word of God is in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 17.

And it tells the story of 10 lepers. At the time of Jesus, leprosy was a very bad disease. Those who had leprosy had to live away from other people. They could not live at their homes amongst their dear ones; that separated them from the others. And I think that maybe one reason why the word of God so oftentimes uses this picture when it speaks of sin.

Sin is like leprosy. It separates from the others. It separates from the other believers. I think that we all have experiences of that. When we are doing something which our conscience and the word of God says is not right.

That means it is sin. We feel that we want to be alone. We don't want to be seen. And so the leprosy is a light. Those 10 people lived on their own.

And now one day, Jesus approached them. And with Jesus came hope. And they cried, "Good Master, heal us." And so Jesus did. And there you see a picture: nine men in the background, running towards a nearby city.

Jesus said to those men, "Go and show yourselves to the priest." Namely, there was a law at that time that if someone had leprosy and he became clean, he had to go and show himself to the priest. And the priest declared, testified that he is clean. And there were two ways to become clean. One was that the person became clean.

There was nothing left of the leprosy. And the other one was that he was all covered by leprosy. There was no healthy or good spot in this whole person. It was all covered by leprosy. And when that kind of a person went to the priest, he was declared clean.

So there were two ways to become clean. And now these nine men are running to the village to show themselves to the priest. And the tenth one, he ran with them, but he stopped. And he turned and came to Jesus. And Jesus said, "Arise. Go thy way. Thy faith has made thee whole." So he became whole. His body and his soul were healed, and not only body. He was whole.

He was not half. You know half means that the body is clean, but whole means the body is clean and the soul is clean. The heart has been washed. And how does God wash one's heart? He purifies their hearts with faith.

Says the word of God. That gospel which we have heard, that cleanses the heart and the conscience. That one became whole. So may that be like a foundation for our studying of grace. Grace of God makes him whole.

Now the word of God says and speaks in the letter of Titus, how great... We just have, sorry about this, but we have an emergency announcement to make. Megan and Markita, Karen and the... they're twins. They're three years old. They've been missing for about over an hour now, and we are very much wondering where they are.

They're the children of Bruce and Rita Karen, and so if anyone knows where they are, please let the information booth know or something. Okay? Thank you. It is good to know that these little children have their guardian angels as we all have. Grace is a good teacher.

You know the word of God divides, is being divided into kind of two parts, two areas. One is grace, the other is law. Grace and law are what the word of God brings forth. And when an unbelieving person, or a self-righteous person, reads the Bible, that is a book full of law to that person. Bible is like a law book.

It demands. It does not only exhort, but it demands. It forces. It says, "You must." And for a believer, the same word of God is a book of promises.

It promises so much. And now the grace teaches us. For the grace of God that bringeth salvation had appeared to all. So that grace which brings salvation has appeared to all, to everyone. God wants that everyone believes.

And on the other hand, the enemy of the soul wants that no one believes. The enemy of the soul hates these kinds of services. I wonder if he has tried you to stay away from services. Did you feel like, did you hear the sermon that maybe you shouldn't go? And I thought myself that there are two ways to listen to the enemy of the soul, or one way is not to listen.

Lock your ears. Don't listen. And the other is, if you listen, remember to flip it. When the enemy of the soul says that, hey, you are so tired now, that you should stay at home. Think, okay.

Thank you. Yes. I should go. I know. And if the enemy of the soul says that this sin is so small, that you should accumulate, get some more.

A nice, nice pile. Get rid of them all. Tell the enemy of the soul that, yes. I thought myself too that it's important to put it away soon. And when the enemy of the soul says that no one is such a big sinner as you are, no one will understand you if you start talking about your matters.

Tell him that it's good to know that all understand me. Remember that the enemy of the soul does not want all to believe. He wants no one to believe. Grace teaches that salvation, that which brings salvation. And God has meant that to all.

And now, what does it teach? It teaches us denying ungodliness. So we have to deny ungodliness. We have to deny worldly lust. That is what we should deny.

That's Joseph did. How could I do so heavily against the will of my heavenly Father? God bless you. You. The kids have impound.

God heard the prayers and helped us. We have good God. He takes care of the small ones and the big ones. And now this grace teaches that we should live soberly. What does it mean to live soberly?

Does it mean that we don't smoke? Well, it does not mean that. Although it would be just great. But it means that our faith should be sober, and that is much more than outward soberness. And in many ways, these two things go hand in hand.

Because this world uses such, I don't even know the word for that, which they like, which they enjoy. They use alcohol and drugs, which are not part of sober life. And they use it, or them, to receive and to get good feelings. And I suppose they give good feelings at the start.

That's not sober life. And the grace teaches against that. The word of God of course teaches against that too, but the grace also. Grace teaches. Don't do that.

It's sin. It's bad for yourself. You do harm yourself. And then we should live righteously. What is that?

That is, I think it's the easiest way to explain that we should live so that it pleases God. What does it mean then? How can we please God? We cannot stop sinning. Although our spirit hopes for that.

And we decide to fight against sin, don't we? But we cannot stop sinning. We are so weak, and the temptations arise, that we become weak, and we sin. So we need God's grace. But righteously means that we have that desire.

Now the enemy of the soul does not speak of that very much, does he? That God knows what is the mind, attitude, state of our heart. Do we want to believe or not? Do we believe or not? In fact it's quite and very simple.

Why? Do you believe or don't you believe? And God knows it. No one can cheat God. Ungodly in this present world.

And now this grace teaches us to look for that blessed hope. And the glory is appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. So now grace is such a good teacher that it reminds us that we are going to heaven. It's a good question to ask, why are we believing? I used to be a Sunday school teacher in Finland, in our own home area.

And the Sunday school in Finland, it's quite different. And the kids came to our home a couple Sundays. Well, three, four Sundays a year. And every now and then, I asked those little kids, they were from three to 10, 11. I asked them, why do we believe?

I enjoyed the question because I always got such good, bright, and clear answers. And I think it's good for us to stop thinking it, oftentimes. Why am I believing? Now the Christian doctrine in the catechism also speaks of God's grace. And I think it spoke so nicely that I wanted to take the definition of grace.

Jesus especially sought fellowship with such who were held to be unimportant and sinners. I would hope that I could use the gifts of my friends in Finland to describe what Jesus would do if he would come here. If Jesus would come into the service hall, he wouldn't go to the service director or to us, the important guys. I hope you understand me right. We are not important.

Our work is important, but we are not important. But he would call to the ones that need him, who sigh after him, and whom the enemy of the soul has said that, you may not be a believer anymore. You are so weak and sinful. That's where Jesus would go. None of us is important.

I don't want to leave that kind of impression that some here are important and some are not. This kingdom is a strange kingdom. The only sinners in the world are here. True sinners. And that's what God teaches.

Our grace, especially grace, shows that. And we'll come to that if God loves later. This comforted them, but it offended others. You know those who thought that they are something. Those who had succeeded in their lives.

I know that there are people in this world who are very nice, who have a strong moral backbone, who succeed quite well as humans. But they don't see that they go too far right. They are proud. And that's sin too. There are dangers on both sides.

And those kinds of people didn't like Jesus, because as they thought, he goes to sinners. So they did not understand that they were sinners too. In this way, Jesus showed God's incomprehensible love, which seeks sinners and wishes to save them. I would like that God's grace would find, if there is someone here who feels that I'm right on the edge. I'm walking with one hand, one foot in the world, and with the other, I'm walking in the kingdom of God.

Or if there is someone here who knows very simply that I'm outside. I'm not a believer. That God, with his grace, would seek after you. God wishes to save you. And that means that God wants to forgive.

That is God's intention all the time. That he wants to forgive. Why? Because Jesus died for all sins. For everyone's sins.

Also of those sins who do not want to believe. So he carried much sin in vain. He carried a huge burden, and that went for big. Because those people don't and didn't want to believe. He carried even those offenders who laughed and scorned when he was hanging on the cross.

It's more than we can understand. So the best praise for God is if someone wants to believe. So see how crooked the enemy of the soul is when he said that you are such a big sinner that you shouldn't believe. Especially us big sinners should believe, because that's the greatest honor to God, that we want to believe our sins forgiven. That's why he gave his son to die.

We give most honor by putting lots of sin away. That he didn't die and suffer in vain for those sins. Do not believe what the enemy of the soul said. You see what a liar he is. This love, which becomes ours without our own merit, is called grace.

Now you see that this love of God, which he shows unto us, which he so willingly gives, so abundant, so much. That is grace. So when we are talking of grace, we are talking of such love which we have not deserved. Which we shouldn't own, but God still gives. So that's why this kingdom is such a good place for sinners, because this is the greatest kingdom.

If someone would ask me, could you please define what is the kingdom of God is like, I think I would put first in the list: This is a kingdom of grace. And that means that here, sins are being forgiven.

And now the enemy of the soul says that, yes, yes, yes, but God big sins. Not those sins that you have fallen into. They are so awful that no one can forgive them. Even the big sins can be forgiven.

It has happened to me a few times that I have been contacted, either by phone, and once even the person came and talked to me. And I had realized afterwards that they wanted to put something big away. And God took my hearing away.

I didn't hear. I didn't understand what was said, but I know that forgiveness was being asked, and I forgave. And I've been thankful for that. You know, we have such a good God that He can arrange matters.

Let me tell one example of my life. That's a story of a little pen, half a millimeter pen. Do you understand what I'm talking about? A little pen with a click, the lead comes out from there.

I had worked in a workplace for a year and a half. That was in early nineteen seventies. And I've used that kind of pen for many months there. It was a good pen. I had lots of lead there, more than normally, because I wanted to be well equipped.

And then I quit the job, and I left from there. And I do remember when I was standing next to my desk, I was leaving, and the enemy of the soul said to me, "Hey, you have been using that pen for such a long time that it's kinda your pen."

And I took it. And it took months and months. And then the pen revived. It started poking me, my conscience.

I tried to squeeze my conscience to make it fit there, but it didn't fit there. I felt bad, and I felt ashamed. I have been maybe, well, many years. I had been away, I would guess, six, seven years from the workplace.

I worked at that time for SRK, and that was quite close to that place where I stole that pen from. And you know, I was an adult man, and my problem was a pen. But it poked me. It bothered me.

And lastly, I didn't have an option, but I had to go there. And I thought that I knew who will be there, that dragon, so I dared to say, that person who was very bitter, and I thought that I'll never make it.

How can I go there? I'm so ashamed that I have stolen a pen that I have to take care of this little matter. And the enemy of the soul said, "Yes, you are right. You shouldn't go there."

But on the other end, I was not free. And I didn't want to lose my freedom because of a pen. So I went there, and I climbed this fourth floor, and my steps were so heavy when I climbed there.

And the dragon was eating. And there was another lady whom I knew for years, and I said to my daughter that, you know, I had lost the pen four years ago. I ate, I ate when I lost it.

I shouldn't have taken it. I should not have taken it, because I lost it very soon when I left. It only bothered my conscience.

So I went there, brand new pen and an extra set of lead, because I had so much lead there. I didn't want that lead to start bothering me, so I brought them both.

And I told her that when I left. You know, she was very surprised. "Oh no, go. How did you come here? That was nice that you came out."

I said, "No. It was not nice that I came when I had to. That I stole a pen from here, and I felt so awfully bad that I had to bring it back."

She started crying, and she said that, "Oh, if everybody would have a conscience like you have."

So you know how it felt like when I went back. I flew the stairs down.

It was I was so thankful to God that He gave me strength to take those steps. And that pain has never bothered me anymore.

And let me tell you another example. When I was a young man, there was a book of believers, and there was the Absolution in the book. That means that there were words that you can believe your sins forgiven in Jesus' name are precious life.

And I had matters upon my conscience, and I didn't want to take care of them. So I remembered. And the enemy of the soul suggested that you go and read the absolution from the book. And I read, and I read. And I tried to believe as hard as I could.

I tried to believe, but I didn't get peace. And then I didn't have an option. I had to go and tell of my matters to the confession father, and he preached the forgiveness of sins to me, and the pain disappeared. Now I don't remember what was the matter. But you know the enemy of the soul is so full of tricks.

Now when we have sermons, which have been recorded, the enemy of the soul may say that faith cometh by hearing. Okay. Go and listen to the absolution from the sermon, and don't talk of your matters to anyone. We have received so precious instruction tonight, and today, and during these days of how important it is to take care of, especially the main sins. And especially if two have fallen into the same sin, they cannot serve one another with the gospel.

If they have joined and sinned together, they cannot serve one another with the gospel. They need the third one. And this is not law. This is the teaching of God's grace. Dear young ones, we have been there for you are now.

And we are still struggling with our faith life. So I'm asking, when grace teaches, what kind of teaching do we need now? In this time, what kind of teaching do we need in this modern time? The two words below, childlike faith. What is a good picture of childlike faith?

Let's look one. You remember we are now in Nazareth? There was a house full of people, so many people, that no one could go in. Here there's lots of space. These first rows are all empty.

But that house was so packed full, that no one could enter there. And four men came, and they carried a blind man, a man who couldn't walk. They carried him. So they opened the roof right above where Jesus was preaching, and they lowered him down. Why?

Because they believed. They were believers. See, look at the man who's being lowered down. Look at these states. You know he, I think it was quite frightening to try to stay in the very middle.

He couldn't do anything. Those men lowered him down very softly and lovingly. And there below was Jesus. That gracious and good Jesus, who willingly forgave him all his sins. He wanted to be lowered there.

He didn't fight against. He hoped for that. He couldn't walk. He was so sick. Sick of sin.

This is the Jesus that we have. I suppose you remember Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. They had a Jesus too. Their Jesus was different from our Jesus. He was the same Jesus, except that he didn't have a spirit.

They, they, No. I don't have a word. No one here to ask. They, they put him to the grave. So they served Jesus, and that Jesus was their Jesus.

So that's the highest where one man can reach with his self-righteousness. He's to serve real Jesus, but dead Jesus. The one without spirit. This Jesus was alive. Dead Jesus cannot help.

Dead is dead. And when the women went to the grave, to the tomb, they were said, Why seek ye one who is alive from amongst death? He's not here, he is risen. He is away from amongst death. Jesus is amongst the alive ones.

So childlike faith is needed at this time. Simple childlike faith. When the life becomes very complicated, and it seems that man becomes so wise and understanding. Childlike faith, and childlike sermon of faith is needed. It is important.

Then, the words faith and reason. We understand that the opposite of faith is unbelief. But reason, that means our human understanding, which is a good gift of thought. We all need good understanding in this life. Don't we?

And we appreciate it. I know there are a few kids here who came here to study English. Study hard. Read a lot. Work a lot.

And one day, you don't know how to speak English. I was done yet school. I hated English language. If it were possible, I would have said, sin. I didn't work hard.

I didn't study English. I didn't study, you know, other subjects either. And I don't boast with that. But life has taught me that it's important to study, and to work hard for good goals. So I want to encourage you, study hard.

This is your golden opportunity. Start talking English immediately. Well, not right now, but after the introduction. Go and visit with the American kids. They will love it.

They are nice. American kids are just great. Go and talk with them. So reason, human understanding is an important matter. It's a gift of God.

But it has its own area. Faith is an area where human understanding does not help. We cannot understand faith, or matters of faith, through our own understanding. May this young girl be Mary. That Mary, the only angel one day said that, You will become pregnant, and you will give birth to a child.

And she said, how is this possible? I don't have a man. I don't know a man. God says, for my thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are your ways my ways, says the Lord.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. We can never understand God through our own understanding. Never. It's impossible. Or can you reach heaven from here, earth?

We are low, and we don't see far. We need God's understanding to be able to understand. Then, we need to speak of a believing whole. We need to teach what is a believing whole like. And now we have a picture of a believing whole.

This family, this mom and dad and one child, they live very close to the city of Samara. I don't know how to say it in English, maybe you know. It's in Russia. And I wanted to show them first, because I'm going to show their home, and I want to prepare you to that, what you will see. It's a winter picture.

They are building their home, they are a believing couple, and they have been building with what they have been able to gather. And that home is a dear home. I stayed there many nights. We have kept services there. The father takes care of cars, and it's a house, a brick home, white bricks, and then there's a garage, which serves as a car shop.

And if some of you might feel like laughing, may I first ask, what have you done to have the kind of life that you have right now? What have you done? Nothing. God is a giver of gifts, and this home is a precious home. You feel if you go there, you feel at home.

And may it teach you that life could be different too. This is a believing whole. Many services have taken place in that whole. It's important for us that we teach what is a believing whole. What is best in the believing whole?

Gospel. Isn't that so? The forgiveness of all sins. If there is a father listening tonight, who feels that, I have used gospel too little in my whole. I have not preached the forgiveness of sins enough at all.

May God stop you. And may God encourage you to preach and to use a lot of forgiveness at home. This time is a time of sin and temptations. Lots of forgiveness is needed at this time. Then, this picture shows us how God still counts even our hair.

As the moms and dads camp, and the camp participants took a walk. The moms and dads. And they all have hair. God numbers our hair. Do you understand what it means?

That if one hair falls down, God knows it. Can you believe that? We oftentimes hear news from the enemy of the soul that God has forgotten you. And God knows how many hairs, how many hairs we have in our head. Do you know?

Oh, one someone may know, but I would say that you underestimate, dear brothers. A healthy head, or a kind of full hair is, I heard 80,000 hairs. 80,000. That's a lot of hair. And God knows each and every one of them.

We shouldn't forget how mighty God we have. We have a living God. Now we try to return to our topic of grace is a good teacher. And I wanted to say to that part of the picture, this man humbled himself before the feet of Jesus. And Jesus lovingly blessed him with the greatest blessing that anyone can hear or own, and that is a blessing of all, of forgiveness of all sins.

Dear brothers and sisters tonight, believe your sins forgiven. In Jesus name and precious life. It is so simple that it's almost too simple for us, and it is way too simple for many self-righteous people. They can't believe. In Jesus' time people said that, who can forgive it except only God?

And I agree. That's right. It is God's forgiveness that we are preaching. If God has said and meant it, and allowed it to be so, that we preach the forgiveness of sins. We to whom God has forgiven our sins.

Now someone may ask that, how can a sinner forgive sin? Well, what can I say? If God has seen this fit, what am I to ask him? I can't change it. Can you?

No one can change it. If God sees it fit, may it be so. It's a question of faith. Do you believe or not? The one who believes, receives all what he promises.

God forgives his or her sins. And gifts is that the peace, and joy, and hope, and love, and all good gifts. Lots of friends, brothers and sisters, gives the home Zion, and whatever. Writes his name into the lamb's book of life. Then he was a grace, gifts.

And then we get the new teacher, not the law, the heavy task master, strict teacher, which beeps. Or we'll get a new teacher. Mild, sweet, loving teacher, who teaches right. I wanted to take a picture one day of grace. Grace is being compared to sunlight.

And one day, we had sunlight, coming through the windows, and there was lots of dust in the bright sunlight. This is how great reveals sin in one's heart. You see how much dust there is. And we vacuum. To me it sounds, feels like often times, I have to do that part of the job. But that's, that's what the very bright light shows.

And that's a picture of God's grace. What is law compared to? It's compared to moonlight. And moon in a bright moonlight, you can walk or run or ski or whatever. I know.

I've been in Finland. In winter time, it's so dark that when I try to get lose my weight, I always have to run in moonlight, in winter time. So I know that if it's a bright moonlight, you can do a lot. If it's clear text, you can even read in the winter in a clear moonlight night. But you won't see dust in the air.

So that's the difference between law and the grace. Grace shows how sinful we are, and the grace teaches that grace where sins are being forgiven. Dear brothers, that is my introduction for tonight. May the grace teach you all. May the grace encourage you all to believe, to continue believing, and you can remain believing.

Sins forgiven. In Jesus' name, I'm glad.