Sermon in Ishpeming 02.05.2010

May the peace of God which passeth all understanding strengthen and comfort your hearts through Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

According to His measure of grace. In Jesus' name, the words are as follows: Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love.

In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. Amen.

When we read and study the Holy Scriptures, we will always find a very special and precious emphasis on love. All of the writers of the Holy Scriptures, in one form or another, wish to remind sin-fallen man—you and I, brothers and sisters in faith—of God's great love for all mankind.

Love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love. These words are not unfamiliar and are often referred to as the mini gospel from the Gospel of John: For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, and that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Whatever He wished. If there is any hope in His deep throne, in every great grace, any clothing He could remember, He could see generation she and limit rise through shift and slows over His soul. You do so much more. Never sire. But it is.

And so we find here in this short portion how the Apostle John, who as we have often heard, is known as the Apostle of Love, wrote these words. He was certainly constrained by the love of God, the love that he himself experienced as a disciple of the Lord Jesus, and he wished to especially emphasize God's great love.

That love was manifested in the very beginning to Adam and Eve. As we remember from Scripture, how the enemy of souls had beguiled, tempted, and deceived the first human pair, which resulted in their unhappiness and the loss of that close companionship to God the Father and Creator.

But God, in His love, gave them a promise—a promise that was prophesied by the Old Testament writers—that a Savior would be given to atone for their sins. And as it is written in Scripture, not only their sins or our sins, dear travel friends, but the sins of the whole world.

And so this certainly was a manifestation of God's great love. Jesus Himself said that He came to fulfill the will of the Father. He came to do that for which He was sent, and truly He did.

He also mentioned at one point how that greater love can no man have than that he would lay down his life for his friends. And so we have this sure testimony of the Holy Scriptures that Jesus did submit Himself first to the cruel punishment and persecution, false accusations, and allowed Himself to be nailed to the cross.

And there He suffered, suffered and died. And there He shed His holy and innocent blood, which brought the hope of life here upon this earth—His life-giving blood—through which such power is given, in which we, brothers and sisters, have experienced here in the Kingdom of God.

In the Kingdom of God, through the shed blood of our Lord and Savior, and in His holy and precious name, we have been able to hear the good news, the message of the Gospel, the forgiveness of all our sins.

And so we can always be confident that this Gospel is with us. Remembering a certain portion of a dear brother's introduction, and I think he was referring to Luther's teaching concerning the Kingdom of God, into which God has entrusted this life-giving Gospel.

And the writer wrote in this way: The Gospel is with the Kingdom of God, and no one can take it away. We have, with various ones, talked about this since our ministers' camp and marvel how such a simple statement or message is so comforting and so reassuring.

That we who have been called into this Kingdom through the grace and love of God our Heavenly Father have this Gospel in our midst, and there is no power that can take it away from us.

And it is here that we can again and again find that grace altar where the blood of Jesus flows freely, cleansing the sinner from all sin, from all transgressions, from all doubts and fears.

Brothers and sisters, you may believe even at this moment the forgiveness of all your faults and sins in Jesus' name and holy and precious blood. And I ask if I can believe also together with you. Glory to You, Lord.

This is the testimony, the manifestation of the love of God through the Gospel. So Apostle John, we could say, is speaking to us through these words which we would trust and for which we would pray that the Holy Spirit inspires and gives life to such words.

As the Apostle says, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love.

For the love of God is love. For the love of God is love. And the love of God is love. For the love of God is love. For the love of God is love.

And we should know and believe, and that is what the Holy Spirit says. And He says, I shall be with you. Now I will be with you. And I will be with you. I will be with you.

In another place, Jesus, advising and teaching, says that if you love Me, you will keep My commandments. And what are His commandments? His commandment, according to Apostle John, is not a grievous commandment but is this simply: that we believe on Him whom God, the Heavenly Father, has sent.

How can we believe except it be by and through the love and grace of God? And we can join with the words of Apostle Paul this evening. I believe you, brother and sister, would agree to say that by the grace of God, I am what I am.

We remember how Apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesian believers: For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.

So John continues, in this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him.

When Jesus was teaching, He was teaching His own. He prophesied or told them what must take place. And as we heard this morning through our dear brother, those disciples were hearing His words, but as Jesus told them, they would not be able to comprehend or accept them.

But He assured them that later, through the Holy Spirit, that mystery of the power of the Gospel, of the Word of God, would be revealed unto them.

And we remember how He appeared unto His own before He ascended into heaven and gave that power and authority unto them.

Remember how He approached them behind the closed doors when they were for fear, behind locked doors. And when He appeared unto them, He said, Peace be unto you.

And then He said, As the Father hath sent Me, so send I you. And whosoever sins you remit, they are remitted unto them. And whosoever sins ye retain, they are retained.

This is the mystery that Apostle Paul also referred to; it is the mystery that is hidden from those who are lost. But Jesus assures us, even this evening, brother and sister, that unto you has been given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of God, the mystery of the power of the Gospel, the mystery of our soul's salvation.

The mystery that we, through faith, perhaps very dimly and remotely, look for and long for that eternal blessing in the glory of heaven.

Isn't it for that purpose, and that purpose alone, dear travel friends, that we are endeavoring in faith and with weak prayer we seek and plead from our Heavenly Father grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, as children of His Kingdom, and that He might protect us from all evil.

Remember how Jesus spoke to His own when He said that you are in the world but not of the world. And as our brother mentioned this morning, I believe it was this morning, when He said, In the world you shall have tribulation, but fear not, I have overcome the world.

We have, dear brothers and sisters, a very good and precious friend who knows our needs and who has prepared for us the way unto everlasting peace and rest.

We are encouraged to follow that way that He has prepared for us, and we can only do so by and through the strength that we receive through the power of the Gospel.

So we are reminded again how it is so much from God's love and grace. As the Apostle writes, herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Jesus also reminded His own and reminds us this evening when He said, You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you.

It is the work of God through His Son that He has called us through the Gospel of His Son.

And as Luther has also explained those very familiar and very precious words in his explanation of the third article of the Creed, when he said, I believe that I cannot with my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to Him.

But the Holy Ghost has called me through the Gospel, enlightened me by His gifts, and has sanctified and preserved me and all believers in this most precious Kingdom.

And where we have been daily and richly reminded through the Gospel of the Holy Ghost that our sins are forgiven in the name and in the precious blood of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

And so, the last verse of our text, we are again reminded, and there are many places in Scripture that remind us of this: If God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.

It seems as though the simple way to describe what this love truly is, is that it is a forgiving love.

That forgiveness, again, was revealed first unto Adam and Eve when God, through the Savior, promised them, forgave them their sin.

And throughout all time, this message has been the message that has carried believers from the beginning of time even unto our day unto that eternal hope.

Those who have passed from this life, under the power and through the power of the Gospel, have completed their journey, that journey prepared through the redemption work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

He is, again, as we are reminded in Scripture, the author and finisher of our faith.

So this evening, we can find once again that comforting word that is proclaimed from the Kingdom of God, which is described to be the pillar and ground of truth.

It is here where this message of love is proclaimed, and it is proclaimed freely and without condition to the penitent one, to one who finds himself a sinner, to one who finds himself in need for strength to believe.

Those familiar words of Apostle Paul when he said, I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

So we are, of all people, most fortunate to be members of this Kingdom and to own the name of a child of God, and to be assured through the Holy Scriptures that believing on Him, that we have a living hope unto everlasting life, that our names are written in the Book of Life in Heaven.

To you, travel friend, who will come to the Lord's table this evening, you are invited to come freely as you are.

Come believing upon Him who has prepared all things for you, who has suffered and died and shed His holy and innocent blood, through which you may freely believe the forgiveness of all your sins.

So you may come believing just as you are to receive that body and receive that blood which has been given and shed for you for the remission of sins. In Jesus' name, Amen.