Services/Sermon in Cokato 19.01.2020

Let us pray in the name of the Father who has created us, in the name of the Son who has redeemed us, in the name of the Holy Spirit who does the work of Christ in our midst. Amen.

That we as poor and weak children could receive a morsel for ourselves. That we could receive strength, nourishment to continue this journey of faith.

Dear Father, you've noticed all things, those cares that we have, those trials and temptations, and how it is that we are able to be in our place of watching. Dear Father, we ask that through Thy dear Son, through the comfort and warmth of the gospel message, that You would come close unto us this evening too. As You have already this day, through the power of Thy Word, come and teach us, comfort us and instruct us and give us that heart that we can receive Thy Word, and that we can believe it unto the benefit of our soul.

Dear Father, we ask all things in Thy name, and ask that Thou would yet call prodigal sons and daughters here to Thy kingdom, that Thou would reveal the precious message of forgiveness to all people, that our friends, our neighbors, those of our communities, those who have once been partakers of this holy calling, would again come and be with us through the door of the repentance and the forgiveness of sins. All these things we ask, and many more, in the name of Thy dear Son. Amen.

Dear brothers and sisters, I thought that we would read a familiar portion from the Old Testament, chapter 3, verses 1-9. We read with prayerful hearts, and in Jesus' name:

Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die. For God know that in the day that ye eat thereof, that your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

And when the woman saw that the tree was good for fruit, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired, to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her. And he did eat.

And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

And they heard the voice of the Lord God, walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.

And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? Amen.

This text, dear brothers and sisters, came to mind sometime during the week, when I pondered about my own place of watching. We spend maybe most of our time, or I should say, we do spend most of our time away from these services, and away from most other believers, except for maybe our spouse, and some of our family members.

And we find that in that place of watching, that the enemy of the soul comes unto us through our thoughts, as well as through our eyes, and so forth. But it seemed to so resonate unto myself, and comes so close that he approaches us through those subtle thoughts and ideas that he presents unto us.

And I'm sure that we could all give examples of how it is that he approaches us and begins to preach that sermon of unbelief. Or if someone is in unbelief, we could say he, in a way, preaches with extra power and strength that such a one should stay in unbelief and not approach the kingdom of God or seek help for a troubled conscience.

Just the other evening, matter of fact, it was last evening, we were visiting with older believers, believers that we've known for many years, and discussing many different matters, as the case may be.

And the husband of that host began to relate how it is to be an elder in God's kingdom, which, I guess I can say the same, I meant elder in God's kingdom, and the enemy of the soul does approach unto me with certain thoughts and ideas that come.

But this brother had that kind of psalm to sing or to say that the enemy comes unto him and causes doubts to come. And even in older age, he is not exempt from the workings of the enemy of the soul.

And so I know that, oftentimes, in visiting with those that are older, that the enemy, they do relate that the enemy, if so, comes to them and preaches that sermon of doubt and fear that, are you really believing? Are you ready to depart from this life?

Just as we drove over here, I thought of a mission trip into the United States of quite a few years back, in a certain part of the country, and I had been there many times before and was very familiar with the people that I had been called to serve.

And when I arrived there, the believers said that oh, this certain sister, who was affectionately called mother, that she is, has been taken to a place of, I suppose, care, because she has had so many doubts and her mind has started to fail her and so forth. She was quite old, almost 100 years old.

So I went to see her there as I had visited her many times. We went into a side room with the other believers and her first words were, she said, I believe that I have blasphemed against the Holy Spirit, that there is no more forgiveness for me.

And, of course, she has, for decades, been in faith and has had a good testimony of the children of God. There was no such way that she could have blasphemed against the Holy Spirit, but the enemy of the soul had caused such a deep doubt to come to her that she started to think that there was no more forgiveness for her.

So, I tried to comfort her with this kind of thought that I had heard and I had learned that that one does not blaspheme against the Holy Spirit with a single word or a single sentence.

But, it is most likely, and I could say most likely because who can really know but the believers have understood that the one blasphemes when they criticize the kingdom of God for a long period of time, that they are critical against children of God and so forth.

And, she was comforted; she needed to hear that even she could believe her sins forgiven.

But, there are many such instances where the enemy of the soul comes even as he did here to the distant mother Eve.

And, we know as the scriptures relate that and say that he was the most subtle of all the beasts. He was the most, we could say, cunning or deceitful or sly as he came to bring this sermon, this teaching to sister in faith and distant mother in faith, Eve.

And, with that kind of question, that, had God said this, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

And, of course, he knew that that's what God had said, and Eve knew that that's what God had said, that they had the freedom to eat of every tree of the garden, but not that tree of the knowledge of good and evil, that they could not eat of that tree.

And, so he came with that kind of questioning approach, and sly approach, and put it forth to her, is it really so that God has said this?

And, I recall, and maybe some of you recall some years back, that a brother from Finland had come here to the States, and he had, in a sermon or presentation, thought quite deeply about this very part of scripture, and he had put it in such a simple way that it was possible for the rest of us to comprehend it, that it was like a conversation, which is what it was, the conversation between Eve as the believer and the enemy of the soul who had come through the serpent.

And of course the enemy of the soul appealed to the reason that Eve had to think about cognitively, or think about intellectually, if we wanted to put it that way, about this matter of that tree.

But he had started the conversation, and Eve started to listen to that conversation, and started to think about that conversation, and what he was saying.

If I recall somewhat what the brother had said of this, it is simply that we can't ever win a conversation with the enemy of the soul, that we cannot enter into that conversation, because the enemy of the soul is more powerful than we are as individuals, and we will always be the loser, we will always come up short if we try to reason, and to think, and to discuss with the enemy of the soul anything.

Because God has, even though he has given us reason to solve, and to think about the things of this life, that reason does not apply to the things of faith, and the spiritual things that God has called forth, and revealed unto us.

So it is always so important for us that we would realize the limitations of our mind, and reason.

Some have said that the opposite of faith is unbelief, and is it really reason, but we know that reason plays a role in leading us away from God's kingdom if we try to comprehend the things of God, the mysteries of faith, with our carnal mind.

So that's why we so many times find ourselves praying that we could be children in a kingdom of children, that we could have a childlike mind when we approach the word of God, and in humility, try to understand and read and think about what it is that God is saying unto us through his word.

The preachers are the same way. They approach the word of God in humility and with that prayer that the Spirit of God would speak unto us that which God wants us to hear.

But so the enemy of the soul approached Eve in such a way that he would cause her to think carnally and with reason about the deep mysteries of God.

I have one time read what Father in Faith Luther has one time wrote about the troubling situations of doctrinal warfare and times of schisms and heresies.

We certainly know and we certainly agree that no one leaves from God's kingdom with a good conscience. That is a truth that is based in the scriptures.

Luther also had this kind of picture of it or we could say in addition to it that he says that all heresy begins with a rationalization of the scriptures.

Now in the text that we read of course there wasn't any scripture at that time. It had not been written. It was years and years later that the books of Moses and the New Testament came into a written form.

But here it was the spoken word that the enemy of the soul challenged and Eve fell into trying to reason about the word of God to intellectualize it to rationalize. The rationalization meaning, of course, as you know, that we would use our rational abilities to try to make the word of God more palatable.

It's easier to eat the word of God if it agrees with our mind. But of course that is not what we receive the word by faith. We don't receive it by reason.

So it affects us very much when the enemy of the soul comes to us in our place of watching mind to plant a thought into our mind that we know and can tell is foreign to us and not something that we should lend our ear to.

But then he'll plant another thought and a different thought and so forth and we can be deceived into trying to believe intellectually instead of by faith of the heart.

We know it is by living in faith is the faith of the heart not of the brain.

And it does no good to memorize, to recite all the understandings of Luther or Christian doctrine if there is not personal faith of the heart. These are two different things.

But so it happened with our first parent, our first mother, that fell into sin in such a way and even until this day we know that the enemy works in a very similar way.

That he wants to take away the penalty of sin as he said unto the woman concerning the eating of that tree in the midst of the garden.

He said unto her that ye shall not surely die. If you do what God has forbidden, if you are not obedient to his word, that there is no consequence to that. You won't die.

And so began that minimizing of the, we could say, of the penalty of death or the penalty of sin, that it is not so, it's not of significance if we allow ourselves this one little thing. I'll just, we could say for her, I'll just try that one time. I'll try that fruit one time.

And of course the damage is done and sin comes upon the heart, upon the conscience.

And we can picture it dear brothers and sisters, there was the perfect relationship between God and Adam and Eve our first parents. Perfect.

They had no fear of God. He was the loving parent. He had for who knows how much time instructed them, cared for them, advised them, spoke to them and they were life as good as it could ever be on earth.

But we read later how when sin came, they realized their nakedness, that they were before God, they were guilty. They had been disobedient, they had gone against his will, they had gone against his spoken word.

And then all of that seemed so good. The taking of that fruit that seemed like it was such a good thing as she said or as she noticed that the fruit was good for food, it was pleasant to the eyes and the tree was desirous to make one wise.

She wanted to be, we could say, equal with God. She wanted those things, her food and the pleasant trees of life I suppose to actually be on the same level as God because the enemy of the soul has said that ye shall be as the gods which we could understand as the triune God. You will be as the triune God knowing good and knowing evil.

And that appealed to her and he made that matter of disobedience to God seem like there would be such benefits to be a partaker of it.

And of course as we already said when she did that and gave to her Adam to eat the eyes of both of them were open they realized that they were naked before God and then they tried to cover their nakedness as it said they sewed the fig leaves together and made themselves aprons to cover their nakedness.

Of course that's also so common especially in the world but it can't even affect us as the children of God that we want to cover our sins in a way.

Of course the sewing together of those fig leaves pictures out they tried to make themselves righteous before God. They made their own clothing and later if we had time to read the entire text we know that that clothing that they had made was the clothing of self-righteousness and God had to take that away from them and he made for them coats of skins of goats and lambs and so forth.

God made that perfect righteousness for them that he could cover their nakedness with that they would be acceptable to him.

Of course we see in that picture the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and that righteousness that he has given unto us through his suffering and death and for our sins and that is the righteousness that we have, the righteousness of Christ through his redemptive work.

But we have such tendencies too dear brothers and sisters even as the children of God we fight this battle of left to right self-righteousness and leniency or worldliness and so on and so forth.

We do walk that middle way that leads into life eternal and there is a ditch on the left side and there is a ditch on the right side and we as the grace children are we know that and we know that we need to only through the care of God's kingdom through his grace and forgiveness that we can make this journey to life eternal.

So that makes us beggars of grace because we can feel within our own old portion how sinful that we are and how prone to error how easily we would make mistakes and go off this path.

It's very troubling to us when we look at the mirror of God's word and we find ourselves to be such sinful beings and so evil.

But yet on the other hand I think that when we experience temptation when we feel our frailty when we feel ourselves to be so prone to error that that is a good thing in a sense too because that means that the warfare of flesh against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh is still ongoing.

There's still hope when in us that battle surges and it makes us want to cry out unto the heavenly Father and unto the Lord Jesus Christ that he would be with us and he would keep us as his children here in a kingdom of children.

Those that have no sorrow for sin as do many in this world. Sin is not a consequence to them it is something different something that has no real bearing in their life.

It's a terrible condition to be in where one does not know even a little bit of their own wretchedness and their own need for grace and forgiveness.

We know too that we as our own selves even as the children of God we don't know the full depth of our corruption and as Luther I believe even pictured and pictured it in this way that it's if we knew how evil we are that we would feel so much despair and it would be such a burden that we could not believe that simple gospel that's preached unto us.

We don't know how it is we are. We are thoroughly corrupt and thoroughly deserving as our portion is of judgment but we do know nevertheless that we are sinful travelers upon this way and we need the grace of God to continue in this pathway that leads unto life eternal.

And so it makes us yearning for long for the gospel of the forgiveness of sins because of our frailty and the weakness of our faith and even at this time you can uplift your heart to believe the forgiveness of all sins and doubts and errors that have occurred upon the way.

So we heard further in our text that they tried to hide. They went first to sew these fig leaves and cover themselves and they went amongst the trees of the garden and tried to hide.

And of course it pictures for us so vividly and so accurately that we can't hide from God. We can't hide our sins. We can't hide anything from him. It's impossible to do.

But there again the enemy of the soul will sow those seeds into us. The first thing to do when you have fallen into sin don't whatever you do don't go to the grace throne. Hide it, pretend it's not there, cover it up and do something like that.

So we are familiar with how he has worked in our life too.

But they tried to go and hide themselves to dress themselves to make the matter less evil and cover themselves and find something in their lives I suppose that should be worth something and some merit before God.

But even as they hid themselves they heard the voice of God walking in the garden in the cool of the day and thought that they were well hidden.

And God the Lord God said to Adam, called unto Adam and said unto him, Where art thou?

And of course God knew where they were. He knew the exact bush, exact trees or however cleverly they thought that they had hidden themselves. He knew exactly where I was.

So it wasn't that on the surface that kind of a question where are you why don't you show yourself but it was a question for Adam and for Eve and even for us at times it's a question for us where are we.

So it was he wanted to cause Adam and Eve to think about this where are you in this matter where are you in your relationship with me.

You were my dear children and are my dear children who did not fear my voice who trusted in me in all things what has happened?

But that's we know that's what happens with sin then we try to hide ourselves from the heavenly Father and it only becomes worse the more we try to hide the worse our life can become and the more lost we can become.

So it's always a question it's a question I don't know if there's prodigal children that may be listening if the sermon is broadcast I don't know if others are there listening and believers in different areas that are perhaps troubled in some way but it's a good question where are you where am I in relationship to the kingdom of God in relationship to this message of grace and forgiveness in relationship to this matter of the care of the conscience where am I.

But for the prodigal son or daughter who may listen dear prodigal son or daughter you have once been partakers of this holy calling you have once been at the services of God's children you have once rejoiced in the message of the good shepherd the message of forgiveness and peace you need to ask yourself where where am I and where am I headed.

And we as the children of God we want to proclaim unto all that the house of God is a house of grace and forgiveness it is a house of peace with God through the power of the forgiveness of sins.

So if there is one listening that is concerned for their own soul salvation come on to the throne of grace.

I was thinking of this even today when thinking of some people that I knew quite well who had traveled in this world for so long had received the grace of God to come back.

One of them related their very difficult life very harsh life and full of sorrow no trust no peace nothing and knew that they needed something.

And so this particular individual said that they prayed they even wrote a letter to God asking that God help me but the individual did not relate it later that they did not even think that the answer was to return to God's kingdom.

But they were given that moment in time of grace and God called them back into their kingdom into his kingdom and they are still traveling in God's kingdom today.

But you can imagine how the enemy of the soul wanted to block that out through his thoughts the thoughts that he brought to them don't don't think about God's kingdom.

And this individual had related even further that when they lost childhood faith that they were very ashamed that of all the things that they had done and all the way that they had lived very ashamed.

And they could not the enemy spoke you cannot you cannot go and speak of these kind of things to the children of God because they won't understand and they will look down on you and they will be there won't be any forgiveness or so on.

He created such a scenario for this individual that no that that was not the answer not to return to God's kingdom not to speak of things.

But as they said such a wanton was given that grace to return to God's kingdom.

That person further related that the first time that there was going to be services how the enemy came in one more time don't go to the services don't go there those people it's been too many years there's going to be so much so many people are going to want to know what what were you thinking how did this happen how were you gone for so long and a kind of demanding type of situation.

But that individual related to me I was in that area I said go to the services and I in this case I contacted the believers where they were going and said these people are going to come they both received a grace of conversion that meet them they are worried and so they of course did that.

And what do you think was the reaction your brothers and sisters when these prodigal people had gone to their first service after 15 or more years?

Do you think that the children of God were condemning of them? Do you think the children of God demanded of them why have you been so foolish? No of course not.

The children of God rejoiced they shed the tears of joy just as the angels in heaven do when a prodigal returns to God's kingdom.

There was only joy there was happiness there was welcoming there was many hugs and cares that's what it was.

But the enemy of the soul wanted to preach again don't go don't go to services.

And I don't know even why I'm so thinking about the prodigal children but maybe maybe someone is listening and we want to encourage you come come to the services come to your home of your believing parents or friends there the gospel can be found there there will be very very warm and very joyous services for even one sinner that returns to the kingdom of God.

It's such a joyous thing and I think the call is going out unto the people of our time and even unto our prodigal children that now come now is the time.

We don't know how much more time we have either as individuals or as the kingdom of God.

It's a dark time it's a depressing time a devious time of the enemy of the soul but come here to the kingdom of God and receive that good message of the gospel that son or daughter friend believe all of your sins is forgiven in Jesus name and blood.

What a kingdom we have dear brothers and sisters none of us have to carry the burden of sin none of our children neither ourselves as parents that's where we dwell.

What a blessedness we have when the time of visitation is with us and we can so often hear the message of grace and forgiveness and hear the teachings of God's word and the instructions.

It's a blessed thing we cannot possibly overestimate or overvalue what it is when a brother can say to a brother or sister to a sister your sins are forgiven in Jesus name.

And God our brother this morning when he referred to the catechism not sure if you caught that or not but I did because I've been thinking a lot about the catechism but Luther and the catechism and other writings that he has made and one little booklet that he has been printed that he wrote the keys of the kingdom and somebody recently gave it to me as something that I could have.

And he put it in such a way dear brothers and sisters that when one was preaching to another this gospel he would ask this question or make this statement that do you believe when I preach this gospel the forgiveness of sins to you that it is as if God is here preaching it to you.

I had never thought or heard of it so closely or felt so amazed by that but that is what is taking place to brothers and sisters when we preach one to another.

It is not my forgiveness but it is that forgiveness of the Holy Spirit that comes through the power that it gives.

I don't forgive I am the mouthpiece for the spirit of God that has given us so it's such a glorious and such a wonderful thing that we can live in the house of God and be judged in time with the forgiveness of sins.

We don't have to carry our sentence to the grave no one has to do that no one has to be judged by the fiery eye judge in eternity but here in time for our sentence we can be judged with grace and forgiveness.

So such a blessed place such a blessed place we live in dear brothers and sisters be encouraged to uplift your hearts to believe once again the forgiveness of all of your sins in Jesus name precious blood believe unto freedom unto peace and unto joy.

And I too need to always live of that gospel and many times in my place of watching I'm tempted by the thoughts that the enemy of the soul brings before me my mind starts to wander here and starts to wander there and he tempts me in the same way as our first parent to subtly come and bring those ideas.

But the scriptures do teach us to bring every thought unto the obedience of Christ to war against the enemy of the soul to recognize those subtle thoughts that he is trying to plant be they of the flesh and blood and the things of the lust of this body or the subtleties that he wants to plant into our minds that confuse us as to the way of salvation and the doctrines and the teachings that we have in God's kingdom.

We believe well and we believe correctly when we believe our own sins forgiven in Jesus name and blood when we have the testimony of God's kingdom and his children and the peace of God that comes through the power of the gospel.

But I need to hear that from my own self too.

Can you bless and forget me? I desire to continue in this way that leads unto the glory of heaven together with you in Jesus name. Amen.

Let us close our services by joining our hearts in the benediction:

The Lord bless us and keep us. The Lord make his face shine upon us, 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.