Sermon in Minneapolis 23.11.2001

Comfort your hearts through Jesus Christ, our Lord. We will read yet from God's holy word, the fifth chapter of the epistle to the Ephesians. Perhaps following that same thought as we have already heard this evening, from the beginning of the fifth chapter, we read the following words in Jesus' name.

Be ye therefore followers of God as dear children, and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor. But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints. Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient, but rather giving of thanks.

For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words. For because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them.

For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth, proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.

For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light. For whatsoever doth make manifest is light. Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.

See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to yourselves in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Amen. Dear children of God, brothers and sisters, in this most precious faith, I too am happy to bring greetings of love and peace from my home congregation there in Ishpeming. Many came to especially request that their greetings be brought here unto you, brothers and sisters in faith.

When coming here to serve, the words of Apostle Paul came to my mind, as he had written to the Roman believers, when he was looking forward to visiting with them. And I'll read a few verses, which also, from my heart, I wish to say unto you, brothers and sisters, when he said, making request, if by any means, now at length, I might have a prosperous journey, by the will of God, to come unto you.

For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established. That is, that I may be comforted together with you, by the mutual faith, of both you and me.

We, brothers and sisters in faith, are, of all people, most fortunate. Our dear Heavenly Father has called us to be His children. He has blessed us with countless, abundant gifts and blessings. He has revealed unto us, through the message of the gospel of His Son, His great love, grace, and forgiveness.

As we have already heard this evening, that by and through the power of the gospel, we have been preserved as children of this kingdom, as brothers and sisters in faith. So these words of apostle, written to the Ephesian believers, certainly reveal that love. The love of God which He revealed unto this world through His own Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus Himself said that 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.

Apostle Paul experienced that love when we think of his experience. That which he heard through the message of the gospel of one believer named Ananias. He had been called with a special holy calling, a divine calling. And we find in Scripture, even as He was told that He would be an apostle of the Gentiles. And He also mentions how the love of Christ constrained him to speak as He did speak.

He was able to see and experience the power of God in the gospel. As our brother mentioned moments ago, how that God has confounded the wise of this world through the foolishness of preaching.

So, through this message of the gospel, we have been drawn together into this one mutual congregation bonded in that seamless bond of love, which is God's forgiving love.

We are here reminded by apostle, first of all, when he says, be ye therefore followers of God as dear children. God in his love for us and for all people through the gospel message not only assures us of his love and grace and the forgiveness of sins, but he also teaches us with great love, wishes to reveal unto us those dangers that are surrounding us here in this world of sin and sorrow, darkness, unbelief.

We are encouraged to walk in love, as the apostle here has written, as Christ has also loved us, and he has given himself as an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor.

Walking in that love means that we endeavor to war or fight against evil, against sin. Walking in love is to travel with the children of God, trusting and believing that God has, as the apostle has written elsewhere, entrusted the word of reconciliation unto his own.

This word teaches, leads us, it advises us and warns us of the dangers that surround us.

As we have been loved, the apostle John writes, so we also ought to love one another. And that, of course, means that we would walk with that forgiveness for one another, as we have been forgiven.

A couple of weeks ago, we had services with a visiting brother, and these words have remained in my heart and mind when he talked about the forgiveness that we have received is the cornerstone of our salvation.

If there were no forgiveness, if there was not forgiveness for us, we would certainly be hopelessly lost.

As we have heard this evening, we are sin-fallen creatures. And even if it were possible that we could boast that we have not committed sin, of which we certainly cannot, but if we were able, we still must admit and acknowledge what God's word teaches us, that all have sinned, and all have fallen short of the glory of God, and there is not one that does good, no, not one.

We have inherited from the first human parents that sin. The fall was so great that it brought sin upon all people. And as apostle writes, the wages of sin is death.

But God in his love prepared in his Son a way unto life.

As we heard this evening, we all must one day face that moment of departure, even as apostle Paul was given to see that his time was very short.

We experience this almost daily, that someone, some acquaintance or someone we have known has been called from this life unto eternity.

And how sad it is that there are so many who have traveled without having their sins forgiven, who have neglected the most important matter of their lives.

But how precious it is, brother and sister, when we do receive such news of a believer who has gained that victory, who has become victorious over the final enemy, death.

Who has believed upon the Lord Jesus. Who has traveled with the children of God. Who has been cleansed by the blood of Christ through the gospel.

Though we sorrow, we mourn, the loss of loved ones. But yet when they have departed, as believers, in our hearts, we rejoice. We are happy for them.

We have this sort of an example that those who have traveled, traveled in obedience of faith, who have lamented of their own poorness and lackings, but yet have continued under the bloody banner of the gospel.

They are to us a help, knowing that God in his love and grace has carried them onto victory.

So we also ought not to faint or to be overcome by weariness, but remember those who have traveled before, who have placed their trust in the Lord Jesus, who have looked to God's kingdom for help, for guidance in all matters, and who have been empowered to travel through the gospel of the Lord Jesus.

So, Apostle, then here, in much of our text, explains very simply and plainly, concerning the evils and the things that surround us, and perhaps many of these things are very attractive to our own sinful flesh and blood, enticing, and even as Eve was tempted, Adam and Eve were tempted by the appearance of that fruit of the tree in the center of the garden, so also are many of the things that this world has to offer.

Our flesh and blood is attracted to that, which is of this life, which is temporal, and so it is a struggle and a battle, and we also need to have these reminders that God has in his word preserved for us.

Apostle mentioned quite plainly some of these matters which we will read again. He says, But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints, neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient, but rather giving of thanks.

Perhaps our own flesh and blood would sometimes feel that we are missing something in this life, some of the enjoyments, of course, which are sin.

There are many good things that God has given us for our lives here that are not sin, but because of our sin-corrupt flesh and blood, it is often attracted to those things which are detrimental to faith.

Apostle writes that the wages of sin is death, and God's word spells very plainly what is sin.

So we wish to fight against sin, and in our battle against sin we find how often we are. We fall short. We are tempted. We are sometimes enticed knowingly and sometimes unknowingly.

But how good it is that the grace gospel does not teach like God's holy law. God's holy law teaches that if you sin, you must die. The gospel teaches that if you have sin, grace and forgiveness is abundant.

Apostle Paul has written that where sin abounds, grace doth much more abound.

So, dear brother and sister, in your journey of faith, if some stumblings have happened, have occurred, if you have been enticed into sin.

And certainly the Holy Spirit teaches in the heart. It causes sorrow and fear and trembling.

The Spirit also teaches us that in the midst of God's kingdom, here in the fellowship of believers, God has placed his throne of grace.

We are invited to come, as it is written in the epistle to the Hebrews, to come boldly to the throne of grace, where you will find grace and help in time of need.

And those precious invitational words of our Lord and Savior, when he said, to come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Remembering a certain brother explaining these matters, he said in a very plain and simple way, that it is not good to travel with sin on the conscience.

Sin is a burden, and as any traveler knows, when you have a burden to carry, weariness overcomes, and soon one is not any longer able to continue traveling, unless the burden is lifted.

And so it is also the burden of sin weighs and presses one down, so that soon the journey of faith comes to a halt.

God in his love and grace always encourages, always uplifts, and teaches one to seek that place where the burden can be removed.

As we heard, we can find a trusted brother or sister. For you young brothers and sisters in faith, your Christian parents, and for those of us who have spouses, we are able to go even to our spouses to unburden our hearts and consciences, and through the gospel receive new strength and to make new promises to continue the travel toward that eternal homeland.

And as the apostle here says, but rather giving of thanks, rather than feel that we are being shortchanged, that we are missing something, perhaps trying to remember and think of how much we have received, and how much we have to be thankful for.

As yesterday, and as we heard last evening here at the Thanksgiving program, a day was set aside to remember and to give thanks for the abundance that God has given us here in our country.

It would seem that for us as believers, there is not a moment of the day that we should not be thankful.

But we know we are sin fallen, and so often, rather than thank, our minds go to those matters where we would feel we would need more, that we are lacking in some way or another.

But apostle teaches us, but rather giving of thanks.

And I'm sure you brother and sister agree that, as it has been my experience so many times, we are so quick to pray for help or for something that we feel that we would really need, but so slow to give thanks.

Thanks for all that we have received.

And as we sing in that song, even thanking for the thorns of the roses, which are a hindrance, or which, if in our own minds, would take away from the beauty and the goodness of such a beautiful flower.

But yet, the songwriter has written that, thanking God for those thorns that he has placed on the roses.

And so, even as apostle Peter has written concerning the trials, the fiery trials that a believer faces here in this life, that they are given for that purpose, that we would always look to God, our dear Heavenly Father, and depend on his grace and his forgiveness for all our faults and our shortcomings and weaknesses.

And then apostle here mentions, concerning all those sinful ways of which we know are very common in the world, and especially in these latter days.

And he says that none of these have any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

He advises here that none of these things should be named among the believers.

When we think of these and repeating again, certainly believers have been enticed and been drawn into even sins of death.

But God in his love wishes always to teach that though the sin is great, forgiveness is even greater.

Jesus also assured of this. Grace and sin besets.

When sin besets, remember him who has paid the sin death of all, that there is grace and forgiveness for all manner of sin.

The mercy seat is open here in God's kingdom.

As it is often said, 24 hours a day, at any time that a believer would feel that burden of sin and fear that if death should overtake, he would lose that hope of the reward, remember this, that grace and forgiveness is abundant.

Sin put away under the blood of Christ is separated from one as it is written, as far as the east is from the west, and God remembers them no more.

And so, in the last part of our text, Apostle here wishes to remind us of this precious fellowship into which we have been called and into which we have been united.

When he says, speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And then the next verse, which I didn't read, would feel to be a very good conclusion when he says, submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.

We, brothers and sisters, have a very precious freedom as believers in God's kingdom, a very precious freedom.

We have a freedom to talk of the journey of faith.

We have a freedom to speak of those matters that sometimes are difficult to speak of, but which are hindering, which are causing us to tremble and fear.

Be encouraged, brother and sister, young and old, to use that freedom.

Do not feel bound in such a way that you could not speak of the matters of the heart.

This freedom has been given us so that we need not ever try to travel the journey of faith with a burden of sin.

And also the freedom to ask when we would have some question, whatever the matter may be.

God in His love has given us this kingdom where we can be free and open, where we can find answers to our questions.

And also in this that we would remember that God grants unto each one of us according to His measure of grace.

And that those things that we do not understand, that we would even this unto us.

But the most important is that we would endeavor to travel in obedience of faith, as Apostle has written, holding the mystery of faith in a good and pure conscience.

So even this evening, as we have already heard, and as I even wish to also assure you, with that word, that message of the gospel, as Apostle has written, that we as believers are able to comfort one another with the comfort wherewith we ourselves have been comforted.

And so, you, brother and sister, together with me, have experienced that comforting message of the gospel here in God's kingdom.

This evening we have heard it, and we are also able, even at this moment, through grace, believe that all our journey, faults, and sins are forgiven in Jesus' name and precious blood.

And through the power of that gospel, if there are matters heavy on the heart and conscience, we are strengthened and encouraged by the Spirit of God that dwells in our hearts to unburden ourselves so we can travel as free, grace children, trusting and believing that He who has begun the good work in us is able to keep us on to that day when our Lord and Savior will take us to that eternal home in heaven.

As we have been reminded in these last two or three months, concerning the uncertainty of this world, and even the most sure things of this world have been shaken, yet we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come.

So, brother and sister, hold to those promises that we have, that through the victory of our Lord and Savior, we also by faith have that victory, and that assurance that one day we will be able to join together with Him in the glory of that eternal home where peace, joy, and righteousness will reign forever and ever.

Be of good comfort, believing sins forgiven in Jesus' name and precious blood.

And I, too, would like to ask if I can believe together with you all my sins forgiven. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Let us unite our hearts in thanks and prayer.

Dear Heavenly Father, we, Thy children, wish to thank Thee this evening for these moments we have been able to freely gather around Thy holy and precious word.

We thank Thee, dear Father, for Thy word and for that assurance that we have received through the forgiveness of our sins.

We ask, dear Father, that Thou would increase our weak faith.

Protect us and guide us as children of Thy kingdom.

Lead us one day to our heavenly home.

And so we ask, 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 of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.