Sermon in ElkRiver 17.10.2010

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, let us quieten our hearts in opening thanksgiving and praise.

Our beloved Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for this beautiful autumn morning, and for this new day of grace that Thou hast gifted us. But above all, dear Father, we thank Thee that Thou did not leave us to die in our sins, but that Thou gave unto us Thine only begotten Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus, through whom we have received the hope of eternal life in heaven with Thee. Amen.

Through whom we have received, through His precious merit work, the forgiveness of our sins and transgressions. Through whom we have been made perfect before Thee, through Thy precious gospel. And we thank Thee, dear Father, for our homes and our families, and for Thy abundant temporal blessing that Thou hast gifted us with. And all that is included in this, our daily bread.

And we ask this morning, dear Father, to remember those who are in the midst of trials and difficulties of this life. Grant unto them that assurance that they yet have the greatest reason to rejoice, even in the midst of sorrow and difficulty. For their names are recorded in Thy Lamb's Book of Life.

And we also pray, dear Father, on behalf of those who are unable to be here with us, for those loved ones who are off in far off places, off time in the service of this country, or for whatever means. Remember them, dear Father, in that lonely place of watching. And grant unto all of us strength and peace. Amen.

To endeavor yet this day of grace, grant unto us and increase our faith, dear Father. And we ask this morning yet for Thy service blessing. Open Thy word unto us, dear Father, wherever Thy word is preached this day throughout this world. Feed and nourish us, dear Father. And for all this we ask in Thy beloved Son's name. In Jesus' name. Amen.

I'm going to take a portion of scriptures from the Old Testament portion, from the second book of Chronicles, from that period of the life of the children of God when they were being besieged by a van, the last army. Around the walls of Jerusalem were stationed 185,000 soldiers of the armies of the Assyrians, which were taunting and ridiculing the believing God and the true faith.

In the walls of the city the children were trembling. And the king Hezekiah then spoke unto them with these words that we read here this morning, found from the 32nd chapter. As I mentioned, from the second book of Chronicles, I'm going to read the 7th and 8th verses. And these words are in Jesus' name as follows:

Be strong and courageous and be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria nor for all the multitude that is with him. For there be more with us than with him. For with him is an arm of flesh and an arm of blood. But with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles. And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah, king of Judah. Amen.

I want to first of all bring greetings of love and God's peace from down the road a ways there in Cocado. Cocado. It's a wonderful thing that we, even though in this fast-paced whirlwind of life that we live in, it's good to pause before God's word.

It's especially important to me that we are able to, and it's also important for the children and the youth to come to the feet of Jesus as well as all of us to hear what He has to say unto us. And this living faith that we've been gifted with is such a marvelous and simple faith that as you sit here this morning, you haven't come here to listen to what George has to say unto us. You've come here to hear what God has to say unto us through His Holy Spirit. And that's how simple it is.

And yet it's important even for you little children and youth and everyone to come here with that prayer in your heart that our Heavenly Father would give unto us that which we need. That's why we've come here, isn't it? To hear what God has to say.

Cocado there, we've been building our new church there and it's been a beautiful summer and I'm very happy to be here. And the autumn and the hearts have been joyful. A lot of energy has been expended there on that site. And the building is rising out of the ground and getting closed in. And we walk there and we just marvel at it. And we marvel at the goodness of God.

This portion of scriptures that we read here of course takes place many, many hundreds of years ago, many, many thousands of years. But nothing much has changed. The same loving Heavenly Father watches over us as He watched over these children in Jerusalem who were trembling there when the armies of the Assyrians had encircled the city.

You know, you could go to your... Actually, you could check on the internet even. I was going to say, you can go to the libraries and read the history of this portion where the general, Senacharib, who was the leader of that army and who had come throughout the land already and had already captured 46 of the cities. He had encircled them, overcame them, took the people, slaves, into Assyria and took all the goods.

Now he was approaching Jerusalem. And he wrote in his journal, you can read his journal for portions of it. And he wrote in his journal that I'm approaching onto Jerusalem and I have Hezekiah like a bird in a cage. And when he came to the walled city of Jerusalem, he said, I'm going to kill you. It's written in the scriptures how he taunted the believers. He taunted and ridiculed the living God of Israel.

And he told the people, he had his ambassadors go to the wall there. And many of the people and the soldiers within the wall were there at the height of the wall looking over. And there the ambassadors began to taunt. That do not listen to Hezekiah, for his God cannot save you. Look it, we have already destroyed 46 of your cities. Surrender and come on out. We have much good for you in Assyria.

We're living in a time, nothing like this. We can freely gather here, come to the hearing of God's word. And the precious gospel message has been openly proclaimed, freely proclaimed. And the sweet message of the gospel has touched many ears and hearts, believers and unbelievers alike.

On the other hand, we have been living a time with much uncertainty. Very much so, trouble on the economical side, the work side, seems to be in turmoil. Not much work for many, for some, no work. Much of the laws that have become laws of this land are contrary to the Holy Bible. The morals of many of our people have deteriorated. And we have to be careful that they are living in open sin. And oftentimes they want to accept this.

And so we are living a time where oftentimes we may be troubled. What is happening around us and to our land? And to our peoples. Oftentimes we have great concern.

Of course, I remember growing up as a child. My parents, coming from Finland. I was too young to remember anything there. I was just a baby when they immigrated to Canada. But I heard much of their life growing up there in Finland during the war, and the turmoil, and the anxiety, and the sorrow, and the difficulties that they had. Where it seemed to them that the entire world was burning. There was world war in many, many places. There were many of those who thought that the end certainly must be near. But it was not.

And I remember my brothers and sisters from the time of Adam and Eve, when they first began to await for the fulfilling of the promise of God that He would send the Savior. The end of time was near. Throughout living Christianity, throughout the history of living Christianity, throughout the generations, the end was near.

Dear brothers and sisters, unto us today, the end of time is near. Without question. All those former saints who have come and gone from the beginning of time, who have slept away in living faith, who now are resting on the bosom of Abraham, safe and secure, their time, in how we measure time, has ended. Time has no meaning to them.

On the last day when they open their eyes, to them it will be an instant from the time they closed their eyes to the time they opened them again. And so then, how then do we know that the end of time is near? The Bible says that no man knoweth, no, not even the angels in heaven, that day when our Lord and Savior Jesus comes for the second time.

But this we know: how important it is to preserve faith in our place of watching, personal faith. Because without living faith we will never get to heaven. And as we have experienced in our midst, our loved ones who have closed their eyes for the last time, their time of faith had ended. They are now resting upon the bosom of Abraham. Time has ended for them.

And so dear brothers and sisters, the end indeed is near unto each one of us. It is not for naught that Jesus reminded us to watch and to pray, and again I say unto you to watch, so that we would be watchful in our place, personally, that we would preserve faith and good conscience and trust. Have trust.

And God has said, I will never forsake you. I will never leave thee. And it is true what God has reminded us when we endeavor in the place of a child, putting sins away, clinging to the Gospel message, endeavoring to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit which guides and directs us, that we would endeavor in the place of a child.

That we would endeavor to heed the word of the Holy Scriptures, which the Psalm writer has in a very picturesque way reminded us. What is this word of God like? He said it is like a lamp. It is like a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our way. Such is the word of God. Such is God's word. It is our light and guide to heaven.

And even though we are living in a time of relative ease compared to many even of our parents and grandparents, certainly when we look at the history of living Christianity, many of the times when those former saints endeavored, very difficult times.

Dear brothers and sisters, we are living a time of ease, even though we have many concerns and anxieties. We struggle oftentimes mightily. Yet even this portion is so comforting unto us.

You know when you study and read about the life of King Hezekiah, when he was a child, he lived in an extremely difficult time. His father was the King of Israel. He was an unbelieving man. Do you know what he did? He closed the doors of the school so nobody could come here to listen to God's word. He went into the temple and he took the holy vessels and he threw them out the door. He tore the precious metals and he gave them away.

Then he began to worship idols and false gods. And then he told the children of Israel to worship them. It was a difficult time. It was a very difficult time. And yet the loving arms of our heavenly Father encircled those children of God who endeavored to remain in living faith. And He protected them, those who remained in the place of a child.

Then Hezekiah's father died. Hezekiah was 25 years old. We've got some guys here 25 I'm sure, close to it, right? He became the King of Israel. He was 25 years old. He was a believing lad. He had been able to preserve living faith.

He went and got the Levites and priests and he cleansed, had them cleanse the temple. And he had only the believing priests speak. And the word of God was openly proclaimed there then. And the Bible says the people rejoiced. They were able to hear this same precious message that we hear today openly and freely.

He sent messengers throughout the land. He wrote and told them, be not stiff-necked as your fathers were. And he invited them. It was two weeks before Easter, or Passover as it was called in the Old Testament time, and told they had huge Passover service. Huge Passover service is there.

And the Bible says the blood of the lambs and the calves and the bullocks flowed, showing that example of the precious blood of Christ that flowed so freely on our behalf and the behalf of all sin-fallen mankind. And many, many people received the grace of repentance. It was a precious time then.

When young Hezekiah became king, God gifted Hezekiah with gifts, and Israel flourished. Living faith flourished. Then the armies of the Assyrians were beginning to make their attacks later on.

And Hezekiah then began to prepare for this assault. And he began to make swords and shields in abundance. He raised and trained armies there in Israel. He stopped, the Bible says, he stopped the springs in many parts of the land so that the invading armies would not have water.

If you look on the internet, he did one. It's actually recorded in history. He did one of the great feats of antiquity, one of the greatest feats of engineering in the Old Testament time. And it's there today in Jerusalem.

There were artesian wells outside of the city of Jerusalem, and he dug through solid rock underground some 2,000 feet long so that artesian waters, the fresh spring waters, would flow into the city of Israel. It's there today yet, the same aqueduct that he made through solid rock.

And yet the prophet Isaiah, who lived during that day, reminded Hezekiah what our living heavenly Father can do. Hezekiah also trembled and was fearful. Hezekiah was afraid.

The prophet Isaiah comforted him and he said that not one arrow of the Assyrian army will fly. Nothing will be destroyed. It was a reminder unto the children of God.

On one hand we think, well, it was very prudent of the king to prepare an army and to train and to produce the armaments of war, wouldn't it be? But on the other hand, it reminded Hezekiah and showed Hezekiah what the arm of God can wrought.

One night as the armies were besieging the city, an angel of death came. But it didn't go into the walls of Jerusalem. The angel of death went around the city. And in the morning when the children of Israel awoke, there were 185,000 dead soldiers that were lying around the walls of the city.

It says here that when Hezekiah spoke and tried to calm the children of Israel, he said, Be strong and courageous. Be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for the multitude that is with him. For there be more with us than with him. With him is the arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles.

Dear brothers and sisters, we are in such a safe and secure place here in God's kingdom. It doesn't matter what the unbelieving world may do around us, how they may rage and roar, because we have with us the living Heavenly Father who has promised, I will lift and I will carry you. I will lift and I will carry you. I will lift and I will carry you. I will lift and I will carry you. I will not forsake you.

And this is why it is so comforting for us here in Zion, in the kingdom of God here upon the earth, much the same way as in your home, when your little children go off to school or wherever they may go off to, but they come home and they come home to that safe, secure nest where mother and father are, where the mother and father preach the gospel.

So it is here in God's kingdom. We have our Heavenly Father in heaven. We have our congregation mother here in our midst. And the precious gospel message is proclaimed and preached unto us to forgive us of our sins and to calm and to comfort us.

In the Bible it says that during these days Hezekiah became sick and ill. And when you read from the scriptures of this time, Isaiah, the prophet, was told by God to go to speak to Hezekiah and to remind Hezekiah to set thy house in order.

It's one thing to set your house in order in a temporal sense, which is prudent for us to do. But Isaiah was reminding Hezekiah now to set his spiritual house in order.

I'm going to read from a portion here what happened when Isaiah went there. If I can find it. Yeah, 20th chapter, 2nd book of Kings. It says here, In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah, the son of Amoz, came to him and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order, for thou shalt die and not live.

Now this sick bed was to become his death bed. Hezekiah had wandered in his heart and he was not able to see the truth. It says here, Then he turned his face to the wall and prayed unto God, saying, Listen to these words. I beseech thee, O Lord, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight.

And Isaiah wept sore. Hezekiah wept sore. Did this sound like that which came from a humble child of God? Without question, Hezekiah had done much there in Israel. But Satan came at some point and he began to take the honor and glory unto himself and the praise unto himself rather than the honor and glory going to our Heavenly Father and the praise unto Him.

Isaiah had become, as one speaker brother said in this way, he had become mired down in the deceiving bogs of self-righteousness. Isn't that a picturesque sentence? We can imagine that picture in our mind, how you're walking through a bog, a sinking bog, and you begin to sink, and the more you try to get up, the deeper you begin to go down.

This is what happened to Hezekiah. He was bogged down, mired down in the deceiving bogs of self-righteousness.

And it says here then that when Isaiah came to remind him of these matters and that now death was very near, he was only 38 years old. That's young. You boys and girls might think it's pretty old, but that's young. I'm sure somebody here is 38 years old. That's not very old.

I remember once when I was visiting with somebody at the nursing home and the father, the father, grandfather was dying there. And he died shortly after that. But the family was gathered around. And then the stepmother was there.

I remember when the stepmother and this grandfather were married, they were old in my eyes. I mean, they were old. And then I happened to ask the stepmother that, well, how old were you when you were married? And she says, George, I was 50 years old. And I said, I was 50 then. And I said, 50. I said, I'm 50 and I feel young. And she says, George, I felt very young.

But yet in my eyes, being that much younger as a child or a youth, to me it looked like these two old people were getting married. And I said, well, I'm not married. I was just a little girl.

Isaiah was 38 years old. Now he was on his deathbed. Then when the prophet came there to remind him of these matters, that self-righteous heart, he turned. The Bible says he actually turned away from the prophet and he faced the wall and he began to pray unto God that, Father, I have been perfect before Thee. He said, Father, I have been perfect before Thee.

No one is perfect. What could Isaiah do? Isaiah, the Bible says Isaiah left and he walked out of the palace and he was on the way home. And God appeared unto him again. And God told Isaiah to return.

And God said unto Hezekiah, for Hezekiah has seen his place. The grace of God had revealed unto Hezekiah where he was in his place of watching, mired down in a deceiving bog of self-righteousness.

Hezekiah was in the slackness. The slackness. The strateness from other arthritis... and hey, the l garn. It was araysh. And he said to God, Yea, I have been perfect before Thine own mouth.

And Hezekiah knew it. He said to God, Hezekiah, Thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption. For Thou hast called all my sins. For Thou hast cast all my sins behind Thy back. For the grave cannot praise Thee. Death cannot celebrate Thee. They that go down into the pit cannot hope for Thy truth.

But the living, the living, he shall praise Thee as I do this day. The father to the children shall make known Thy truth. And the Lord was ready to save me. Therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of God.

And so on. Isaiah was given the grace and the mercy from our heavenly Father and above all, the forgiveness of his sins.

And if you remember then, it even goes on further. And the prophet Isaiah took that fig and he placed it upon those boils that were troubling him and mentioned to him that thou will have 15 more years of life.

But Hezekiah, in his weakness, he said, Hezekiah's weakness wanted some kind of sign. Do you remember that sign, boys and girls? Do you know what happened there that time when Hezekiah wanted that sign from God that, Now this is what will happen?

The prophet said that, Shall I make the sundial go forward 10 degrees or backward? Well, the sundial goes forward every day, so that would not be anything unusual for the sundial to go forward 10 degrees.

As Hezekiah said that, he says, Make it go back. And I've seen a painting of this King Hezekiah lying on his deathbed. But now, at this point, he had received the grace of repentance and the promise of 15 years more of life and was given that sign.

Now, we know that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. And in the old days, they had the sundials to tell them what time of the day it was. And Hezekiah was lying on the bed there. And as the shadows of evening came, the shadows then would go up the steps, of course, on the sundial, same way.

But then God stopped time and He made the sun to start going to the east. And the sun would go up the east. And the shadows started coming down in the evening. And so, for the 10 degrees, the sun went back to the east as a sign to Hezekiah.

And Hezekiah did live those 15 years in the place of a child, desiring to believe that same gospel message that we desire today.

And we note in that Psalm of David, I mean, of Hezekiah, he didn't praise Isaiah. We don't praise the preacher of the gospel message, be it a child, a mother, father, grandfather, grandparent, whoever it may be, when we receive the forgiveness of our sins.

We praise our living Heavenly Father for this grace that He has granted unto me the forgiveness of my sins.

And so, in this portion of scriptures, it was an example unto us of what happens when the enemy of the soul taunts us in that way, that when we're able to do much work here in God's kingdom, and how Satan wants us to take a little bit unto ourselves of the honor and the glory and the praise, what can happen? Amen.

And yet, when we think of this, dear brothers and sisters, how dependent we are on the work of our brothers and sisters here in God's kingdom. The work that our brothers and sisters do on our behalf benefit us, but that one who is working doesn't benefit them.

And that's why it's so important that we help one another, that we remember one another above all that commandment of Christ, that no new commandment I leave unto you, but that you love one another as I have loved you.

That we would serve one another, even as Christ gave that example unto us. Because we, each one of us, need so much help here in God's kingdom. We are totally dependent upon our Heavenly Father for everything that we receive.

And it's important, dear brothers and sisters, then, that you remember your brothers and sisters in living faith, and especially in a time of difficulty and trial, but even on the sunny days, that we would help one another, uplift one another, comfort one another, because I need so much help.

None of us are able to get to heaven by ourselves. But you and I can help our brother or sister in need to get to heaven. And so in that way, we are totally dependent upon the Congregation Mother here upon the earth so that we could get to heaven. Isn't it so, dear brother and sister?

And so we have much reason to thank God for the help that we receive. Amen. And not of any of this minute merit that we may have. Not any for the understanding and the wisdom that may be given unto each one of us. That will never get us to heaven.

Our praise goes to our Heavenly Father for all things in all matters, all times. He is the giver of everything that we have. And He has given it for one reason. Those gifts that God has given you, dear brothers and sisters, have been given unto you to help your brother and sister. That's how simple it is.

And dear brother and sister, do we not need much help? The world is raging around us. It's making its enticements. It's making its enticements so pleasuresome for us to behold. This sin-corrupted flesh is indeed so corrupted. And Satan is roaring if he's ever roared. And he's using much finer tools of enticement to try to deceive us. Isn't he? Amen.

Would you go? Would you go, dear brother and sister, if you would see the blackened horn form of the devil? And he'd be there to come this way. Would you go? No. We would run to the place of the gospel. We would try to go as far away from Satan as possible.

But he doesn't do this. He uses much finer tools to try to deceive us in our thoughts, in our understandings, and in our actions. And that's why we're so dependent upon one another. Because we need so much help in all ways and all matters.

And thank God that He has made salvation in this way, that our hope of heaven is not dependent in these sinful hands. And that our hope of heaven is not dependent in these sinful hands. And that our hope of heaven is not dependent in these sinful hands.

For there's no way that we could ever do anything, merit heaven in any way. It is only by the grace of God. And by the grace of God go I each day, totally dependent upon Him in all matters. Isn't it so, dear brothers and sisters?

And thank God that He's made it this way, that all we need to do is to believe this precious gospel message that is preached unto us daily from our homes, from our loved ones, from our brothers and sisters in faith.

And believe even now, dear brothers and sisters, all sins and doubts forgiven in Jesus' name and precious blood. And be of good comfort. We have a precious, loving, heavenly Father. And He has promised, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.

We are so safe and secure here in God's kingdom when we endeavor to believe in a place of a child. And I also need to hear this gospel that, could I believe my many sins and doubts also forgiven, dear brothers and sisters. I desire to believe with you.

And in this way, God leads us home. Living faith is so simple. Simplicity of living faith. To believe and to trust upon Him who has called us to this place.

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 hands upon us and give us peace.

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen.