Services/Sermon in Cokato 26.01.2020

In the name of the Father and of our Son, our Lord Jesus, let us quieten our hearts in thanksgiving and prayer.

Our dear Heavenly Father, as God has once again given us this grace to gather here at the feet of Thy beloved Son, our Lord Jesus, we simply ask, dear Father, feed and nourish us. You who know our lot in this life, our struggles, the trials and difficulties that beset, the weariness, the sorrow, of the endeavor that weighs often upon us. Dear Father, feed and nourish. Grant unto us comfort. Uplift our weary arms. And grant unto us that which Thou sees that we are in need of.

And we ask, dear Father, preserve us here in this place of a little child. Dear Father, keep within us the hunger for Thy living word. Dear Father, keep us safe here in Thy kingdom. Thank you, dear Father, for Your grace gifts, for the beautiful blessings that Thou hast placed here in this beloved Zion wherein we have been placed. But above all, dear Father, we thank You that Thou hast called us by name to be Thy child, to dwell here in the beauty of Thy house until Your angels come to gather us to the beauty of everlasting life in heaven.

Dear Father, we pray as Your beloved Son has taught us. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.

I thought to pause this evening before a portion of God's word where one of the former saints had been pleading unto the Heavenly Father for help and guidance in this life. And certainly this opening hymn that we sang certainly reminds us that we can cast all our care and sorrow on Him who cares for us.

And so we'll read from the 121st Psalm and the words are in Jesus' name as follows:

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved. He that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is thy keeper. The Lord is thy shade upon the right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil. He shall preserve thy soul. The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth and even forevermore. Amen.

Boy, where to begin? I guess it would be good to once again extend our heartfelt thank you for remembering us during this time of trial and difficulty of health issues and during the time of my father's passing in Finland where I was unable to be there by his bedside. God, God, God, but Your love has carried us and I thank you for this from the bottom of our hearts.

God has given me about seven weeks of Christmas Day where I was able to dwell in the peace of Christmas day after day. That incredible sweetness of His grace and His love and the prayers that you spoke unto the Heavenly Father, this is what has carried us.

When I spoke to my mother, she just requested one simple request from you. She's devastated as you well can imagine if you and I even would be able to be given the gift of 70 years of marriage. And her request was simple: Tell them to remember me in their prayers. And so greetings from her and our loved ones there in Finland.

Maybe I should relay just a little bit of my experiences before we begin to pause here for a few moments. When I was having a heart attack, in the midst of the pain and anguish I had a fear. And I spoke to my wife and she very lovingly calmed my fears and preached the gospel unto me. That was all I needed even then and there in the midst of the pain. From that moment onward I was at peace.

Oh yes, on the way to the hospital I prayed to the Heavenly Father. I prayed for life and I prayed for health to return. But there was no fear. I didn't know if that was my last day, the last moments of my life, but there was no fear. I was alone in the ambulance with the attendant. That, my dear brothers and sisters, is a blessing from God.

And I look at the whole happening that happened unto me and into all their lives, heart attack. I look at it as a blessing from God in our life. It certainly stopped me. And I knew from whence help cometh.

You know, when I got home from the hospital they had told me to walk three times a day for two or three minutes. And yet I felt good. I had felt by the time I got into the hospital room after the surgery better than I have felt. I can't remember when. But I was weak. I was weak as a kitten. And from that day each week I've been able to get more and more strength back.

God reminded me and showed me where help comes from. God reminded me who it is from where grace and blessings come from. He reminded me I do not, nor neither can you, carry burdens upon your own shoulders, concern or worry over your beloved ones, but rather put your trust and faith there from whence help cometh.

Here in this psalm that we read, the psalm writer had struggled in the previous psalm. He had spoken of the distress: "In my distress I cried unto the Lord and He heard me." That hundred and twentieth psalm is very short also, seven verses, and the seventh verse he said, "I am for peace, but when I speak they are for war."

And the hundred and twenty-first psalm now begins in this way: "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help."

Isaiah writes in that fortieth chapter in this way: "Lift up your eyes on high and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their hosts by number; He calleth them by names by the greatness of His might; for He is strong in power, not one faileth. Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard? That everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary; there is no searching of His understanding."

And then He says here in this way, reminding us, "Oh Zion, that bring good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain. Oh Jerusalem, that bring up good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength, lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God. Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand and His arm shall rule for Him. Behold, His reward is with Him and His work before Him. And He shall feed His flock like a shepherd; He shall gather the lambs with His arm and carry them in His bosom and shall gently lead those that are with young."

This is the kind of living Heavenly Father we have. We often in our life tire; God does not oftentimes. We are weary; God never is. Oftentimes we become sleepy and sluggish on the endeavor of faith; God is always awake. He says here that "My help cometh from the Lord which made heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved. He that keepeth thee will not slumber."

I was going to bring your greetings also; I forgot, but I want to bring them now so I don't forget again. I was going to bring them right at the beginning. We had an LLC board meeting yesterday there in at the office and the greeting, the loving greetings that I can bring you from there is this: that the brothers dwell in the unity of the Holy Spirit, in the unity of understanding.

And not only the brothers there from the office but was related to recent contacts with the brothers there of Finland from the SRK, its brothers' greetings from them. There is unity of spirit and understanding in God's kingdom. It's good for us to remember this.

We know that each one of us personally knows and has felt and has experienced in our personal endeavor of faith how the tempter comes so very slyly, even as we heard from last Sunday's services when God reminded us of the enticement and the slyness of the enemy of the soul.

When our first parents, our first mother questioned, "Did God really say so?" Nothing has changed. There are those of our dear brothers and sisters in living faith today who question, "Did God really say so?"

The psalm writer here reminds us of a very important matter: God will not forsake us nor leave us. He says here He will not suffer thy foot to be moved from this narrow way of life, the narrow way of endeavor, the narrow way pathway to heaven. We can rest assured of that. That is how safe and secure we are here in God's kingdom, that we can dwell here in the beauty of Zion and partake and behold and marvel at the beauty and the wisdom of our Heavenly Father that He has set here and placed here in our midst.

We are living a time, dear brothers and sisters, where some have begun to question, "Is it really so?" and have begun to diminish the danger and the power of sin. And the enemy of the soul has led such a one then in directions away from the narrow way of life, has brought confusion into the hearts and souls of dear children of God to begin to question about many things that the living Holy Spirit of our Heavenly Father has revealed unto His children from the beginning of time.

One begins to question when one is pulled in those directions: Is sin so dangerous? And yet God's word very clearly reminds us the wages of sin bringeth death.

And where does our power come from? It comes from our Heavenly Father directly unto us, as the brother reminded us, that when that gospel is preached unto you that your sins and doubts are forgiven in Jesus' name and precious blood. It is a poor child of God who has preached that precious message unto us, but it has been the voice of the Holy Spirit indeed, God Himself in heaven, who has forgiven you those sins at that time.

And that has been so from the beginning of time that sin has been forgiven here upon the earth first, and those sins are forgiven in heaven by our Heavenly Father, preached through the lips of sinful ones but yet pardoned sinners.

Often when we read from that message unto the early Christian believers there, the Hebrew believers, the Jewish believers of that day, that wonderful 12th chapter of Hebrews where God reminds us, "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, heavenly angels that live here upon the earth, that dwell in God's kingdom, this great cloud of witnesses of God," and He says, "Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which does so easily beset us and let us run with patience the race that is set before us."

It's a reminder unto us that when sin besets us, let us lay aside that sin and that weight burden. And how do we set aside sin? Only by believing the precious gospel message of our Heavenly Father that your sins are forgiven in Jesus' name and precious blood.

He reminds us here a little later in this 12th chapter because there has been confusion around this matter. If one—well, there has been confusion—He says here in the fifth verse, "Have you 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 scourges every son whom He receiveth. If he endure chastening, God dealeth with us as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?"

And so God loves our undying souls so greatly that oftentimes He sends angels unto you and I to remind you and I about some sin that has beset us. This is God and this is God's work unto His children.

"Have you forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children? My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him," rebuked by God through His angels.

And so this leads us into another aspect that some children of God are having difficulty with today, and that is a mistrust toward those whom God has chosen to serve Him here in the beauty of His tabernacle.

Later here this writer unto the same Hebrew believers and reminding us this evening, here He says in this way, "Remember them which have the rule over you," or I think in a finished Bible it speaks of those who teach you or who have taught you, who have spoken unto you the word of God.

There it is: those who have taught you, who have spoken unto you the word. It may be your father at home, that shepherd of that little home congregation in your home. When your believing father speaks unto you and reminds you of the matters of living faith and approaches you and lovingly rebukes you of some bad thing that you have done, this is the love of God from heaven speaking unto you. That's all it is.

"Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God; whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation."

And here again He says in the 17th verse in this way, speaking of this very same matter, "Obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves; for they watch for your souls, as they must give an account, that they may do it with joy and not with grief; for that were unprofitable for you."

That they may do it with joy, that when we're approached lovingly, approached gently, approached with compassion and humbleness and meekness and gentleness, that is God approaching us through His angels that He here upon the earth that He has sent unto us.

This morning we were reminded of Ananias whom God has chosen. Although Saul was in unbelief and Ananias he had much fear to approach Saul who had cast believers into prison unto death, and yet he was obedient unto the voice of God who asked him to go to rebuke Saul of the evil and the sin that he had done. This was the love of God.

And we see how Saul's heart had been opened.

What does it say when Jesus spoke unto those seven ministers, those seven servants from those seven churches there in Asia Minor? He says, "As many as I love, I rebuke and I chasten; be zealous therefore and repent."

This is the voice of God unto you that is speaking, you who are in the throes of sin, you whom the enemy of the soul has captured, you who have experienced defeat, you whom the enemy of the soul has pulled away from the narrow way of life into your own understandings, your own wisdoms.

And when and from where that voice began speaking and teaching you that, "Did God really say so?" it is the love of God speaking to you: be zealous and repent. There is grace.

The Holy Spirit is speaking unto us, this Holy Spirit from this Holy Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It is three in one. The Holy Spirit here in God's kingdom never battles against itself. It has never battled against itself from the beginning of time.

This loving Holy Spirit of our Heavenly Father calls, lovingly calls, it exhorts, it gathers, and it sanctifies and makes us holy.

And so it is great love of God unto you when you are approached with compassion and gentleness to repent.

And then Jesus says here He's now speaking unto you, you whose heart may have hardened, you whom the enemy of the soul may have caused to fall into grievous sin. He says, "Behold," these are the words of Jesus, "Jesus said, Behold, I stand at the door. He is standing at the door of your heart. If any man hear my voice, open the door; I will come in to him and will sup with him and he with me."

The voice of chastisement is nothing more than that great love of our Heavenly Father unto us.

And how has it been with you here, my dear brother and sister in faith? Have you been able to be successful? Have you been obedient unto the will of God? Or have you been like me who feels one's own sinfulness, corruption?

But the psalm writer reminds us. He says, "Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall never slumber nor sleep. The Lord is thy keeper. The Lord is thy shade upon the right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day nor the moon by night. For the Lord shall preserve thee from all evil."

Yes, even from those sins where one has fallen into.

There is another portion where the psalmist reminds us of God where he said, "I will even go into the depths of hell to get you from the arms, the grasp of Satan."

This is how much love God has for your undying soul.

He gives rest and refreshment unto us a very simple way. All that's required of us this day and this moment is to believe even now all your doubts, your sins, your trespasses all forgiven in Jesus' name and precious blood and cling and hold and believe this message from God to you that your sins and doubts are forgiven in Jesus' name and precious blood.

And I need to hear this too, that can I have my sins and doubts also forgiven? And it is with joy that I believe with you.

The question never has been who has sinned. The question always is and has been, how can I help a sinner? Because you are the messengers of God. It is your duty. The love of Christ constrains you and I to help one another.

And God always grants unto us peace and joy and righteousness from the heat and the weariness that often attaches onto us and from the cold and the deceitfulness and the oppressive darkness that the unbelieving world tries to ensnare and surround us.

We are such a blessed, we are such a blessed people. We do not need to fear nor to quake.

Yes, the enemy of the soul is powerful. Yes, the wages of sin bring death. But we need not fear, for God sees you and I and He has promised, "I will lift and I will carry and I will never forsake you."

And what is required of us? It is to simply believe and to trust upon Him who has saved us, who has redeemed us, who has sanctified us, who has made us holy and who has preserved us to this day in living faith, simply to believe and to trust upon the message of the gospel of the forgiveness of sins that has preserved us to this day in the place of a little child.

And the psalm writer reminds us, "The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil; He will preserve thy living soul."

God here is reminding us we need not be fearful but to believe.

And as the psalm writer has reminded us, the voice of salvation and the voice of rejoicing is heard here in the tabernacles of God from the pardoned sinners who have again and again been washed through the blood of Christ and made white and pure through His merit work and through believing that gospel message.

And so rest assured, sins and doubts are forgiven in Jesus' name and precious blood and may God preserve you to that moment when the angels will come and gather you to the glory of heaven.

It pays to believe. It pays to cling unto the gospel message.

God reminds us it is the power of God unto salvation and that there is the simplicity of living faith. That is all that is required of us.

But yet, and yes, the love of Christ constrains us to endeavor to be obedient, to endeavor to help one another, to endeavor to carry one another, visit one another, gather together in your homes, go visit the elders and the lonely ones, visit one another, sing psalms and hymns of Zion, hold home services there.

The love of Christ constrains you to do this. That is what we want to do.

And yet the sinful flesh so many times gets in our way.

"The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth and even forevermore."

This is the kind of living Heavenly Father we have. He will preserve us, keep us here in this life to that day when time is changed.

This will be left, this what we see and know now today will be left and forgotten, and before us in eternity and for eternity in heaven is nothing but joy and peace and righteousness.

Our living souls will be given a new body there in heaven to dwell with God forever.

It pays to believe, to preserve and to hold faith and good conscience in Jesus' name. Amen.

We'll close in closing prayer and benediction.

Dear Heavenly Father, we pray as Your former saints have prayed unto Thee before us. We pray for peace in Zion. We pray, dear Father, that You would preserve each one of us safe and secure here as a little child here in Thy blessed kingdom.

And we ask, dear Father, of this blessing: 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.