Sermon in Ishpeming 08.06.2008

Peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, let us unite into thanksgiving and prayer.

Dear Heavenly Father, Father, as Thou hast granted us grace this morning to gather around Thy holy and precious Word, we wish to acknowledge and thank Thee for the many gifts and blessings Thou hast so abundantly provided for us. We thank Thee for our homeland and the freedom and the peace of our land, the freedom which we have been able to enjoy. We thank Thee, dear Father, that Thou hast granted unto us a workday wherein the work of Thy kingdom can freely go forward. We thank Thee that Thou hast so richly blessed the work of Thy kingdom here upon this earth, and especially here in our home Zion of North America.

But most of all, we wish to thank Thee, dear Father, for that love which Thou hast revealed unto us in Thy dear Son. He who came into this world to redeem the lost and condemned sinner. Amen.

Who shed His blood and gave His life and through which we have the gospel of the forgiveness of sins. We thank Thee, dear Father, that Thou hast called us to be Thy children and to own in our hearts that peace which passes all understanding and a living hope unto life everlasting. We ask that Thou would preserve us as Thy children unto that moment when faith will change to seeing.

And so this morning we ask that Thou would bless Thy word, grant utterance for the welfare of our undying souls and unto the glory and honor of Thy holy name. We pray the prayer that Thy dear Son has taught us, saying, 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, the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.

The epistle text for this Sunday is found in me. Beginning ten verses of the second chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews. We read these words in Jesus' name:

And you hath He quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein time passed ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the Spirit of God, the Spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lust of our own flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace ye are saved, and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Amen.

The thought or the theme of today's texts refer to lost and found. This letter of Apostle to the Ephesians is a very precious reminder for us today. I am sure you agree, brothers and sisters.

According to the Holy Scriptures, we learn that in the beginning the first human pair, Adam and Eve, had fallen into disobedience, had fallen into sin. And we, through faith, understand and believe that because of this fall, every person has come under that same destruction, the same sentence of death. When God told them that if you sin, you shall die.

But the Apostle has very encouraging words here for the Ephesians and for us also when he says, and you hath quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. The Old English word quickened means made alive.

We recall the events of Easter when Jesus was delivered, falsely accused and judged unto the death of the cross. And there he died. And there he shed his holy and innocent blood, which is a very great example of that love which poured forth from his heart, his life's blood, by and through which life was given or brought into this world.

And so then the powers of death were not able to hold him. But he rose a victor over the power of sin and death and hell. And so therefore his resurrection victory is also our victory when by faith we are able to believe upon him and believe that message of the gospel that he has prepared for all sinners, for all mankind.

And that is that from grace we are able to believe and only from grace the forgiveness of our sins in his name, and in his precious atonement blood, as it is proclaimed here in his kingdom according to that power and authority which he entrusted onto his own.

The apostle here described the former lives of these pagan people of Ephesus. And so even among the believers today, there are those who experience the power of God. And so many of them experienced the quickening or the life-giving power of the gospel when at some point in their lives their childhood faith was lost and the ways of this world were the ways of life, the way of sin.

As the apostle here described that according to the lust of flesh, desires of the flesh and of the mind, and also were by nature the children of wrath. But God in his love through the gospel has called even as he called Adam and Eve, the very first human pair. He called, Where art thou?

A certain brother once, speaking on this matter, then said, Why did God call them? Did he not know where they were? God is an all-knowing and all-seeing God. And that is certainly true. He knows every heart of every person in this world. He has known all. But because he has such a great love, he calls even though he knows.

And when he calls, it is a sign unto such a hearer that he is outside of that fellowship of God's kingdom. You, brother and sister, when you hear this call of God's kingdom, does it not remind you how fortunate you are in that God has granted you grace to believe the message of the gospel, whether it be from childhood faith unto this moment, or whether it be at some point in your life when you were called from the way of darkness, from the way of unbelief, into the kingdom of God's dear Son.

Certainly, had it not been for this grace call of God, we would all be hopelessly lost. But we have reason, brothers and sisters, in faith to thank and praise our Heavenly Father for his great love and for that great sacrifice that his only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, has fulfilled or accomplished in our behalf.

So we can certainly join with the words of the Apostle in the second portion of our text when he says, But God, who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace are ye saved. Amen.

This is the call that our teacher father Luther heard in his life. And he went on then to describe or to explain the third article of the Creed with which we are going to be talking, all familiar.

And in explaining it, he says that 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, enlighten me by his gifts and so forth.

And so, in addition to having been called by the Holy Spirit, I believe that God has granted us grace to receive the message of life, the gospel of his Son.

And then Apostle further describes and says, and hath raised us up together and has made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. It is a place of security. It is a place of hope.

When we pause for a moment concerning the world in which we live, we are able to see in some small way how the prophecies of the Scripture are being fulfilled and that the time, end of time, may even be closer than we might think.

We know, according to God's word, that no one knows that exact time. Not the angels in heaven, nor even the Son of God, the Lord Jesus, but God the Father only.

But we are given in his word the power of God. And we are given signs of this end time. And we are able to see how the values and the morals of our society here in our own homeland have waxed worse and worse. And throughout the world it is much the same.

There is no security for us in this world. Apostle here mentions that this world is governed according to the prince of the power of air and the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.

But we, brothers and sisters, are reminded even this morning how important it is to keep our eyes of faith focused on that treasure which we own in our hearts by faith.

Apostle has written that we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.

It seems that it is so important that we would in the prayer of faith ask our dear Heavenly Father that he would grant us faith sufficient to accept the way in which the world is going. We might say from bad to worse.

But yet, despite these hopeless predictions or prophecies concerning the world, we also want to live as we believe. And with that prayer of faith that even in some small way we might be able to live in peace.

We might be able to encourage those who are hopelessly lost that they might find God's kingdom. They might find a gracious and loving God and a Savior who has given his life by and through which the Gospel has been prepared.

As Apostle here says that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

And then for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is a gift of God.

We could not begin to emphasize or to describe sufficiently this grace of God. It is immeasurable.

Apostle John writes that it is grace from grace. And when Jesus was born into this world he came full of grace and truth.

When God the Heavenly Father entrusted unto his Son power and authority, his word teaches us that it was without measure.

Jesus himself explained that all power and authority is given unto me in heaven and in earth. And he tells his disciples to go ye therefore into all the world preaching the gospel of repentance and the forgiveness of sins.

And so it is not of any work that anyone could do. The Old Testament prophet says that man in his very best state is altogether vanity. And even the best and greatest works of man are as a filthy rag before God when it is done in the hope of pleasing God and receiving the reward of everlasting life.

It seems it may have been Luther who once wrote that when man endeavors to earn his own salvation he falls into even greater sin. And it is for this reason that it overshadows or puts to naught the precious redemption work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

So it is not of works lest any man should boast.

And then finally for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

And what is that good work? Jesus answered that question by saying that it is the work of God that you believe on Him whom He has sent.

And so it is entirely from God's love that He has shed His grace so abundantly on you and I, brother and sister, so that this morning we are not hopeless but we have a living hope.

Even though the world around us is so sinful and so evil and so uncertain, and we could say very dangerous when we think of the potential of the destruction of the weapons of warfare.

But may God grant us grace to be content to believe by faith, especially this, that our sins are forgiven in Jesus name and in His precious blood, and that we have a living hope to one day enter into eternal peace and rest.

So this morning brother and sister be uplifted and be encouraged once again to hold to those promises which are sure. God is faithful and He does not forsake us.

He will according to His promise carry us onto that victory when we endeavor with a childlike heart and mind to hear that word which is spoken through the power of the Holy Spirit here in His kingdom and which assures us that our sins are forgiven.

So brother and sister believe even at this moment the forgiveness of all journey faults and sins in Jesus name and in His holy and precious blood. And be of good comfort.

And may God grant us the strength to believe and to be of good faith. And I ask can I believe together with you my own sins forgiven in Jesus name. Amen.