Sermon in Cokato 03.01.2016

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, let us unite our hearts and our thoughts in prayer and thanksgiving.

Our dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for Thy blessings of the year past, which Thou hast blessed us so abundantly. And as we begin this new year, dear Father, we simply beg of Thee to preserve this gift of Thy Christ Child in our hearts, this gift of living faith into which Thou hast called and chosen us to be Thy children. Dear Father, simply preserve us here in Thy home and kingdom, here upon the earth.

And we ask, dear Father, we who so oftentimes experience the onslaughts of the enemy of the soul and the temptations of the world, and battle even against the sinful flesh that we carry: dear Father, grant unto us power and strength to cling to this gift that Thou hast granted unto us.

Dear Father, we thank you for our homes and our families, our family here in Thy blessed kingdom, our brothers and sisters in faith, but above all, for this gift of Thy beloved Son, who prepared the way of salvation unto us in such a simple way, that all we need do is simply trust upon Him and believe Thy grace gospel message.

And so we ask this morning, dear Father, open Thy Word unto us. Wherever Thy Word is spoken this day, feed and nourish us. Grant unto us that guidance and light through Thy Holy Spirit. And for all this, we ask in Thy beloved Son’s name, in Jesus’ name, Amen.

On our church calendar, today is the second Sunday after Christmas. The beginning of a new year, and the theme for this Sunday on the church calendar reminds us of how we are in the house of the Lord. And that is the theme: In the House of the Lord.

And I thought I’d read one of the Psalm texts that’s been set aside for this Sunday, a very familiar text, I know. We’ve heard it many times, and yet it continues to uplift and comfort us each time we hear. For God’s Word is not a dying word; it’s a living word. And whenever God’s Word is read or studied through the Holy Spirit, it opens that Word unto us in marvelous ways.

And so let’s read this morning from the eighty-fourth Psalm, a psalm that the children of God sang in times past. And it’s a psalm that’s marked for the children of Korah. And we’ll begin with the first verse, and these words are in Jesus’ name as follows:

How amiable are Thy tabernacles, O Lord of Hosts! My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God. Yea, the sparrow hath found a house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O Lord of Hosts, my King, and my God. Blessed are they that dwell in thy house. They will be still praising Thee. Selah.

Blessed is the man whose strength is in Thee, in whose heart are the ways of them, who passing through the valley of Baca, make it a well, and the rain also filleth the pools, and they go from strength to strength. Every one of them in Zion appeareth before God.

For a day in Thy courts is better than a thousand.... And I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. Amen.

Of course, in the Old Testament times, there were those periods when the children of God were taken from their homes and brought often to faraway lands and kept in bondage there as captives. And there, from that long distance, they longed for that temple of Jerusalem.

Even today, and throughout this time of the New Testament, there have been those times when the children of God have been far from home. Today, there are those that are serving our nation, oftentimes in those far-off places, lonely, desiring a taste of home. And then there are those who have struggled, not even that far away, perhaps even here, who have been lonely and been troubled in their mental sense, perhaps depression, but lonely and seemingly far away. Many are the times when a child of God longs for the temple of Jerusalem, for home, for God’s kingdom.

The children of Korah, they also longed, and they were very near. Their fathers, through their flesh and their fleshly mind and understanding and reason, began to go that way where the fog of human wisdom began to obscure the way of faith unto them, and they went from that fog, where faintly that light of the Holy Spirit still shone unto them that, “This is the way.”

But those fathers of Korah did not heed that seemingly faint light that they saw when they were struggling within their own understandings concerning the matters of faith, and their fleshly pride and their fleshly glory wanted unto themselves that which, to them, seemed that Moses was receiving, and he was not. Moses gave all honor and glory unto God.

And so from that fog, yet as a child of God but struggling mightily, they went into the darkness of heresy and unbelief. And the children of God then went from their side. They were very near the kingdom of God, and the children of God standing there also saw when the earth opened and their fathers sank alive into perdition, into damnation, into the fires of hell.

How do you think they felt at that moment when they saw this? And that was the last time they ever saw their fathers.

And God, the loving embrace of God, embraced those children of Korah, drew those children into the midst of His kingdom, and the children of our Heavenly Father pressed against them. And they could hear the singing of praise and thanksgiving from those children, that sweet melody, that beautiful music that arose from the Kingdom of God, and into this, then, they were taken.

And this is what they sang: “How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of Hosts! How beautiful is thy kingdom, dear Heavenly Father, Creator of all things.” Taken from the midst of immense grief and sorrow, and were given to see the beauty of God’s kingdom.... It still happens today, that God is very near unto us.

How amiable are Thy tabernacles, O Lord of Hosts! My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God. Yea, the sparrow hath found a house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O Lord of Hosts, my King, my God.

We have recently celebrated the time of Advent. It’s a beautiful time preparing for Christmas. Even the children are anxious for that Christmas Day. And Christmas Day has come, that holiday that’s marked on the twenty-fifth of December, and it has gone.

Dear children, beloved youth, mother and father, dear brother and sister, we celebrate Christmas every day. Those who have experienced that longing for God’s kingdom from far or near, you and I, we have experienced when God has approached us and has been very near and dear unto us.

You children, God has really blessed you. The vast majority of you have a believing mother and father. He’s placed you into that place of refuge and security, in that little nest there at your home. And what is so remarkable is that this Christ Child of whom we celebrate, He is also there in your home. He is very near and very close unto us. Even you who are alone there in your home, Jesus is very close and very near every day and every moment.

“Blessed are they that dwell in thy house. They will be still praising thee.”

Beloved youth, it pays to believe. The temptations that the world has nowadays are so fine. They’re different in many ways from the temptations that your grandparents had, and even your parents. Satan has found a way to come very close unto you at all times and at all moments.

I just spoke to a young father yesterday. In the midst of grief, he was praising God. And he spoke of the technology, what a great temptation it is, and yet what a great blessing. He had not been able to come to services for a long, long time, and yet he listened through the modern technology that we have today, whenever he had a chance.

Jesus spoke of the signs of the end of the world. We can read them from the Bible. Ask your grandparents what they think, what has changed in their life, or even your father and mother. How society is crumbling and the walls of morality and goodness are being torn down.... Satan has been very energetic, very busy, devising very fine tools for one purpose: to deceive you, to cause you to forsake living faith, and to wander into the darkness of unbelief.

The Bible says, and our Heavenly Father reminds you, “Blessed are they that dwell in thy house.” There is only one blessing, even as Esau learned in his life. There is only one kingdom in heaven and upon earth. There is only one heaven. There is only one God, and one Lord, and one living faith.

“Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee, and whose heart are the ways of them.” They go from strength to strength. Every one of them in Zion appeareth before God.

You, dear children, beloved youth, and brother and sister, when you approach another child of God, asking for the forgiveness of your sins, you are standing before our Heavenly Father. And it is our Heavenly Father who grants that grace and forgiveness unto you through the lips of your mom or dad, or whoever it may be, who preaches the gospel unto you.

And every time we receive the forgiveness of our sins, we have defeated Satan. It is as simple as that. It is as those former saints have said, and the Bible, our Heavenly Father, says here: “We go from strength to strength, from victory to victory.”

It is such a blessing, beloved journey friends, that God prepared the way of salvation in this way unto us. There is nothing possible that we could do to merit God’s grace, His salvation. We are totally dependent upon that atonement work of the Lord Jesus. And thank God that He prepared salvation in such a simple way.

So many times we lament how little understanding we have. We read the Holy Scriptures, and we wonder, what does this mean? Sometimes in the midst of discussions with believers, we wonder, and understanding isn’t given. We’re not saved through wisdom. We’re not saved by the amount of understanding that we have.

There have been many, and it’s a blessing today here in Cokato... There have been many elders who have received the grace of repentance at the end of their life through young maidens, young girls, who simply preached the gospel. How much understanding did they have at that moment about living faith, of the doctrine of the Kingdom of God? All they knew and experienced before they passed from this life was distress, and anguish, and the weight and the burden that pushed them to the earth. Yet when they heard, received, and believed the gospel, they went from darkness into light.... By the grace of God.

It says here that, “Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well, and the rain also filleth the pools.” It’s speaking of that everlasting water that flows in God’s kingdom.

That Samaritan woman that stood at that well, Jacob’s well, and she told Jesus that our fathers have drunk from this well. Indeed, it is Jacob’s well. And Jesus told that woman, “The water that I give unto you...” I’m gonna read that, so I don’t misquote.

In that fourth chapter of the Gospel according to Saint John, I’m gonna read from the twelfth verse when she’s discussing with Jesus, and she says, “Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself and his children and his cattle? And Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again. But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst. But the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water, springing up into everlasting life.”

The woman said, “Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.”

And something remarkable here happened also. I’ve thought of this often. “Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither. The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus saith unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: for thou hast had five husbands, and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband. In that saidst thou truly.”

We have to remember, she was yet in unbelief. She was an unbelieving woman, and she had remarried five times. And I suppose, probably, all five of those people were probably living, at least some of them were. And she realized herself, in her unbelief, that she had done sin.

But when she received the forgiveness of her sins, her unbelief and all those sins have been forgiven unto her. The sins of adultery, the sins of divorce and adultery and divorce and adultery and divorce, all washed away with the blood of Christ. And now she was a child of God, and from her, these everlasting waters flowed.

And it so happened that she went back to her village and spoke to her fellow neighbors, and they also wanted to believe. And so that is what happened there. The whole village came to listen.

The sermon of grace and forgiveness, the sermon of mercy, that loving and calling and inviting gospel that’s heard yet today: that you don’t need to be there in that anguish and distress.

And it’s a sermon unto those in unbelief, and it’s a sermon unto you, dear brothers and sisters. You whom the enemy of the soul has caused grievous sin to come upon you and your life. This gospel cleanses entirely all those sins.

And there are those times even when such grievous sin comes that when you hear the gospel preached here from the pulpit, and yet you are unable to believe that they’re forgiven. God has given us a great grace privilege, where we can seek our loved one and speak unto them of that burden that weighs upon us. And those living waters gush out and cleanse of all filth and sin.

This is the kind of living Heavenly Father we have. He is continually calling those lost and straggling ones, those who have been deceived by the enemy of the soul into the outer darkness of the world and of unbelief.

Even those in unbelief who are so spiritually rich in themselves, God is calling them: that that is a filthy rag that you have, and He is calling and speaking unto you. He is very near and close unto you. And He is always reassuring, “Come this way,” and the light of the Holy Spirit guides your footsteps here to this place, where these living waters continue to flow in God’s kingdom from heart to heart.

One of the prophets was able to experience this in quite a remarkable way when that water began to flow into that abode where he was. It went over the threshold, and it was around his ankles, and soon it was at his knees and at his chest, and soon he was engulfed entirely by this living water of our Heavenly Father.

It is a picture of the grace that our Heavenly Father has for you, and that mercy that He has. The psalmist reminds us, it’s as high as the heaven is above the earth, so great is His mercy unto those who love Him.

“For a day in Thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.”

Oh, how Satan makes that temptation so pleasing unto us, and the flesh desires to partake of that which the enemy is setting before us. And even partaking of that sin brings pleasure unto the flesh.

But soon we find ourselves in that far-off place, lonely, and we have another child of God sitting next to us, and yet we feel how far off we are, how much we need that grace and mercy, and forgiveness of our Heavenly Father. And He is near. He’s here in our midst.

And boys and girls, when you go home, you beloved youth, He’s there in your home, that the living waters of our Heavenly Father flow there continually.

And... boys and girls, how does it feel when you’ve had your sins forgiven? You know, in one moment, you were troubled and burdened, and you were sad, and your mom preached the gospel, or your dad, that your sins are forgiven. How did it feel? Brother and sister, how does it feel?

Doesn’t it feel good when our Heavenly Father approaches us? Comforts and uplifts, teaches and instructs. Oftentimes, that consuming fire of God burns, but it burns away that sin and filth. And then we feel that warmth, that love, that loving embrace of our Heavenly Father, when He once again gives us that new power and strength that we could continue yet for a few moments.

This is of which the psalm writer reminds us. This is of which those former saints oftentimes spoke, of how we go from victory to victory to victory through the gospel of forgiveness, putting sin away.

He says here that, “For a day in Thy courts is better than a thousand.” Well, we could put it in this way, that a day in living faith, here in God’s kingdom upon the earth, is better than a thousand days of pleasure and joy and sensual, uh, that which the enemy of the soul offers.

Why is that? Or one could even say in this way: one year is better here in God’s kingdom than a thousand years of continual... Well, it wouldn’t be continual, because even those in the darkness of unbelief experience pain and sorrow and difficulties in this life. But the enemy of the soul makes it seem so easy, and it’s not.

He reminds us, it’s a blessing to be in God’s kingdom. And why would it be such a blessing to be in God’s kingdom for one year rather than a thousand years in unbelief, enjoying the sins and the pleasures? Because the thousand years come to an end.

And then one experiences that which the fathers of the children of Korah experienced. They’re right there on the edge of God’s kingdom. God’s kingdom was there, and they were here, and the earth opened, and they were swallowed alive into perdition, into damnation, into the fires of hell.

That is why the songwriter here reminds us, “A day in Thy courts is better than a thousand.” And he even says, “I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.”

You know, it doesn’t matter if we’re a street sweeper. We don’t see them here, but when I was a young lad in Finland, I saw these older ladies, and they had these horse brooms, and they were sweeping the streets. I haven’t seen that in later years now, but I haven’t been there in the summertime for a long time.

It doesn’t matter what we do here on this earth. If we’re a street sweeper or if we’re a brain surgeon, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that which we do here in this life, we could do it within this kingdom of God as a child of God.

And of course, our Jesus reminds us and teaches us that: “Love thy neighbor. Love thy enemy. Do good unto all people.” And as the Apostle Paul then reminded, especially unto those of the household of God.

This comes from that living spirit that God has placed in your heart and soul and mind, that we want to do, and we want to help. We want to go and visit the elders and those that are lonely, and we want to go and uplift and to help those that are struggling in living faith and those that are in need.

Dear brother and sister, be bold in this, in the Holy Spirit. Preach the gospel. Don’t be ashamed of the gospel. Forgive one another and bless one another.

And even now, this is the message of our Heavenly Father unto you, that your sins are forgiven in Jesus’ name and precious blood. And I also need to hear this gospel, that can I believe my sins and doubts also forgiven? I certainly desire to believe with you.

Where else would we or could we go to experience the peace, joy, and righteousness of our Heavenly Father? Only here in God’s kingdom.

And now, this morning, it’s good that we once again... that we go into those upper chambers with the disciples. We go there, and our Lord is preparing unto us that basin and that last meal, Holy Communion, that we could partake of His body and blood for the refreshing and strengthening of our life of faith.

And He is speaking to you the same message that He spoke unto Simon Peter: “Simon, Simon, Satan desires to have you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.”

Again, Jesus is teaching us how important it is that we bless one another, that we help one another, that we carry one another.

And so, come partake of this Lord’s Holy Supper, and partake in this visible form of His body and His blood for the strengthening and refreshing of thy faith. And we say in Jesus’ name, Amen.

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 Ghost. Amen.