Sermon in Minneapolis 17.04.2005

Peace from the Prince of Peace, may they increase unto each and every one of us from the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Let us join in opening our services this evening with a prayer of thanksgiving.

Dear Heavenly Father, holy, righteous God, humbly we draw nigh unto you in prayer, asking for your presence and blessing, Father. We today desire to thank you for this beautiful spring day of grace that you have given unto us. We have been able to rejoice again in the warmth and the blessings that you give as the winter has passed and now spring arrives again to our area.

We thank you, Father, for the abundant blessings that you have given unto each and every one of us in our lives and in this our homeland. We ask that you would not cease from giving us or guiding us or protecting us, but rather you would continue your protection, guiding, and grant wisdom to our leaders to guide and lead our land for the benefit of all of our fellow citizens, and that we can freely gather and worship you.

We thank you, Father, above all, that you did send your Son, Jesus Christ, into this world to suffer and die on behalf of all of us and the sins of all of mankind. We pray that you would allow the grace of God to shine in your gospel so that each and every one would be able to comprehend, come to the knowledge and understanding of their own sinfulness, that they come knocking on the doors of thy kingdom and hear and ask for the salvation of their own undying souls.

Bless our services, Father. Divide unto us of the morsels of your grace that we are able to be refreshed and strengthened and take one more step on this narrow way of life. All of this we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.

I shall read from this little study from the 40th chapter of Isaiah, the end of the chapter, starting with verse 26, the following holy words of God:

"Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, my way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God? Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard? That the everlasting God, the Lord, creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary. There is no searching of his understanding. He gives power to the faint, and to them that have no might he increases strength. Even the youth shall faint and be weary, and young men shall utterly fall. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint." Amen.

The prophet in this portion, in some sense, is almost as if getting frustrated with his own people and their lack of faith, and their lack of understanding of the power of God, and their own lack of belief in God's all-powerfulness and all-seeing, all-knowing nature. It's as if the prophet is trying to reawaken them to the knowledge of looking at their own lives, and looking at the power of God, and looking at things that they see about them in the universe, and recognize, asking them to recognize once again, "What is man, and who am I, that I, before the face of God, would attempt to place myself so far above him, that I would not admit or recognize or acknowledge his presence, his power, his ability to move the world and to keep the world spinning?"

And then, in that same sense, to be aware of what is happening in my own life, and in my ways, in my footsteps, in my trials, in my temptations.

So this whole chapter, the prophet is as if going through a listing of things that speak to the power of God, and the battle that the children of God have before them. And he starts out this chapter saying, "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably unto Jerusalem. Cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, and that her iniquity is pardoned, for she has received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins."

So the battle that the children of the Old Testament time fought was, in that sense, no different than the battle that you and I fight today. It is a battle against temptation and sin in the world, against our own sin corruption, against our own iniquities, against sins of the flesh, against even the rational wisdom of man, and fighting against God, and against even the devil in the world.

And the prophet wants to make sure that we know and understand that there was sufficient payment for all. He says here, "double for all her sins."

There is so great measure to the sea of grace that at one point when the prophet tried to measure the depths of that sea, he found that, first of all, he was wading in it, and then walking in the water, and finally he had to swim. It was bottomless. So great is the sea of mercy, and so abundant and boundless is the grace of God that we cannot measure it.

He has provided abundance of grace, forgiveness, and mercy for each and every one of us, for each and every one of you, your brothers and sisters. This is the wonderful portion that you have been given, that God calls you by name, and calls also you to the knowledge that he has provided such great, abundant grace and things for you.

So there is no reason for us to be as if depressed or saddened or worried about is there sufficiency in God's grace for me that I am such a great sinner. For God wants us to know that who has paid the price and that if we have that knowledge of sin, then we no longer would sin willfully, but in suffering from sin it also gives us power to see and fight against sin.

So then in the end of this chapter we come to this portion that I read where the prophet is turning our eyes to look at the work of God and look at those things about us in this world that does God really have an idea or is he aware of what is happening in my life, in my footsteps, my trials, my temptations? Because I am tried and tempted.

You see every one of us experiences this battle. We say in our minds and we think, "Is it true that God really knows how great my trials and my temptations are? And why wouldn't he ease my burden? Why am I so tried and tempted?" This is the way our minds are. This is the way your mind is, your brothers and sisters. I am sure you fight the same battle. It is a common battle that every person fights because, of course, we would prefer to have a walk of faith that was without trials, without difficulty, setback, tribulation. Wouldn't it be so easier, so much easier to believe if that was our life?

Unfortunately, you, I'm afraid, are like I am, like every person in this world is. People have always been that we are so earthly and corrupt that if we are not given trials and tribulations, we tend way too easily and readily to forget God, to forget who is the giver of life, the giver of all good things.

So God reminds us with these trials and difficulties, with these temptations, what is our position and what is our loss. And then, of course, when we have difficulties, it is so easy to fall to the other extreme and think, as I already said, that God is not aware.

So this is where the prophet is when we read in this text, "Lift up your eyes on high and behold who has created these things, that brings out their hosts by number. He calls them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one fails."

God it is that has created the heavens and the earth as he has created each and every one of us, as he has created everything that is in this world and keeps going by his power until that day that he has set forth ending. This is in his work and in his might and in his majesty.

And so it points out to us the might and the majesty of God.

So then we come the prophet writes, "So why do you say, O Jacob, and why do you speak, O Israel, my way is hid from the Lord and my judgment is passed over from my God?"

Well, how easy it is to think that God does not know my footsteps, my trials, and my way.

So corrupt and earthly are we that it seems that God does not and is not aware of what is happening in my life.

Have you not known? Have you not heard? That the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, does not faint, neither is he weary. There is no searching of his understanding.

So the prophet turns the question to the other side: What do you think God is? Is God so limited by our own ability to comprehend and think of him that because we weary as humans, because we lack in understanding and become faint, because we are such as such limits on our own ability, that therefore limits God?

So he brings the focus back: the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the earth, of the universe, of everything that is. He is so far above our ability to comprehend, so powerful, so mighty, so all-knowing that he never becomes weary and never thinks, never is lacking in understanding, never is without being able to know, understand, and follow what is going on and keep track of even those things in our lives so he would have knowledge of what we do.

God is so far above us that we cannot attempt to raise ourselves to that level, that we replace ourselves as to be equivalent of God, that he as if would have to lower himself to be at the level we are at. He is so far beyond us, as the prophet writes, "There is no searching of his understanding."

The mind of man is not able to come anywhere close to that, what is the wisdom of God.

And Paul writes that when man by his wisdom knew not God, he pleased God by this foolishness of preaching to save them.

So this is the place of salvation. This is where God gives strength and refreshment, gives grace and abundance, and reassures us of his mercy.

This foolishness of preaching the apostles saw in their time. They lived in the midst of a world where on the one hand there was this continual searching for wisdom, for earthly wisdom and knowledge and understanding. We could say it in many ways represents the same search we see in our time. People constantly looking for something new and some new understanding and some new knowledge and wisdom.

And so isn't that also a picture of our time?

But then on the other hand, in those cultures there was rampant and we could say even decadent evil and sin and corruption to the level that we could say that our time is starting to compete with that time for its decadence and corruption, and so that the people of our nations begin to suffer because of the unhealthy lifestyles of our citizens.

It is in that kind of environment that the apostle Paul came preaching in the city of Corinth, which was in some aspects called the seat of Satan because there was so much evil in that city.

But yet the gospel of the kingdom of God came there and shone as if a very bright light in the midst of that darkness.

And what happened? God said unto Paul, "Do not fall back, hold not your peace, for I have many souls in this city."

So Paul preached, so the apostles preached, so those who receive the grace to repent from their sins and believe them forgiven preached and believed, and God gave them strength to fight against those sins of the flesh and of the mind.

And so this is also our lot, brothers and sisters.

God has given us his wondrous grace, and in that grace he gives us power to fight against sin so that we are not as if captive of our time where we have to be enslaved by the same wickedness and corruption and decadent lifestyles that are part of our culture also or becoming a part of it.

So we can fight the good fight of faith to lay hold of eternal life unto which you are called.

This is our part, and this is where we are called so that we can be here even in the midst of sin and evil as those who shine the light of the gospel of the kingdom of God.

We all feel our own sinfulness, we feel our own weakness in confessing faith. We also feel in our own place that we are very poor at confessing and letting those around us know who is the Lord of our hearts.

Sunday school this morning, teaching the confirmation class the lesson on courtship and marriage. One of the things we discussed there is the great differences between the life of believer and the life of this world.

One of the brothers pointed out that in this way is children of God because we don't follow after the same traditions and we can say even corrupt customs of the ways of the world.

In these things, a child of God will stand out different from the others in that way much more brightly than any other way because you do not, dear young people, follow after the same customs as they do.

You do not partake in the same customs of dating and courtship or dances and those kind of things that feed the flesh, but rather you desire to follow a life that is according to the teachings of the word of God and the spirit of God, which leads you to consider even the issue of courtship to be something that is leading to marriage and not just something that plays with feelings and with the loss of the flesh.

It is also God's plan for man and woman, and marriage is, and the estate of marriage is holy because God created it and commanded it to be so.

And of course, we see it as his blessing for the health of the whole family, for the parents, husband and wife, as well as for the children therein.

God gives his blessing and that we are all able to grow here as his children, understanding and learning of his teachings of the way of faith.

So there is no searching of his understanding. We cannot comprehend the ways of God. We do not know about us in this world who are those whom God will call, and we do not know even in confessing faith that will let confession of faith offend or will it heal.

God promises your boys and girls that when you confess faith, when someone asks you how you believe, that that word that you speak is not just your own words but God through his Holy Spirit is with you.

So that when you confess faith, even though you may feel the words were weak and said and trembling and there were not much perhaps even an understanding in helping someone find the kingdom of God, God is with you and he gives power to those words more than you can even imagine.

He gives power to the faint and to them that have no might he increases strength.

One of the songwriters of Zion wrote essentially in poetry of this portion, and in that song he says that there's dark rolling clouds coming out of the world, and sometimes it feels that the temptations and the ways of the world and the customs of the world are as if these waves of dark clouds are going to smother us.

So where is then the strength found to battle against these things that come upon us?

If we attempt to say or think in our own selves that I am so mighty and I am so strong and I have the power of faith to resist the attacks of the enemy and these temptations in the world, then we will fall.

But if we look at ourselves as being weak, we look at our own strength as often failing and lacking, then God is the one who gives us strength.

Then it's not of us, we're of our own understanding, we're of our own faith, but God promises that where there is weakness, where there is even we feel ourselves being exhausted and fainting in the battle, he comes as the prophet says, he gives power to the faint and to them that have no might he increases strength.

Believe, dear brothers and sisters, dear boys and girls, that this is also your lot in life, that God is there with you. He knows your trials, as the prophet here has written, and he knows the difficulties that you will come up against, and he is also able to strengthen you so that you can be victorious.

So that even though the enemy may cause you to fall and fail and wound you with sin, nevertheless you will be victorious.

Victorious not because you have been such a great victor or warrior, but victorious because Jesus has been victorious and that you can be by faith partakers also of the power of his resurrection victory.

So even though you see about you in the world, as the prophet here then says, "Even the youth shall faint and be weary and the young men shall utterly fall."

So isn't this the case around us in the world today?

For how many there are who fall into these traps of the enemy, fall into the ways of sin and evil and corruption, fall into the ways of the world, fall into those things that feed the flesh, and in feeding the flesh they fall ever farther away from God and away from faith and away from understanding.

The apostle writes of such that because their consciences are burned with a searing iron, it's almost as if their conscience has been so hardened and burned that they can no longer even comprehend the depth of their fall.

Only if God reveals it can a person again comprehend it.

If God does not reveal it unto someone, no matter how they search and no matter how they ask, they cannot find it.

And the scripture says of Esau that he found no place of repentance even though he sought it carefully with tears.

Esau had lived the life of sin, took unto himself wives from the different peoples around them in the world, and that life of sin caused him to lose faith.

And then when he would have received a blessing, when he wanted a blessing, he did not get it.

And so then he was searching for a place of repentance, a place to again receive the gospel, to receive the blessing of his father.

And the scripture says he found no place of repentance; his time of grace was passed.

It speaks a solemn message unto each and every one of us that we do not use our time of grace here on this earth unwisely but rather wisely, seeing and knowing the time as the spirit reveals it unto us in the kingdom of God.

We hear and understand what is the time and what is the sound of the trumpet and its call, and we, in taking heed of that call, our obedience that allows us to fight against the attacks of the enemy.

So when the spirit says that such and such in this world is not fitting for the child of God, in obedience we humble ourselves to that instruction, and it preserves us, helps us remain in faith so that we can be victorious and not fall and not become wounded.

Faith is a wonderful grace gift.

And so even though the people around us in this world fall and they faint and they do not understand and they cannot be successful in fighting against the attacks of the enemy because they have no faith, but you have faith.

And because you have faith, your calling is as the prophet says here, "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint."

You are on the way, dear brothers and sisters, that brings you to eternal life in heaven.

And because you have this wondrous calling, God promises that I am with you every day unto the end of this world, unto the end of your life.

I will lift, I will carry, and I will bring to the destination. He will take you home. He will call you home. He will bring you there where you no longer have to worry about the attacks of the enemy and the onslaught of this world.

You will never have to worry about the dark heavy clouds rolling out of this world you see about you.

How God blesses in the kingdom, gives you strength for the duties that he has asked you to perform.

And so then you are able to fight the good fight of faith.

God gives you daily such as you need, his grace in abundance, his mercy, his forgiveness.

And herein is your fount of strength that your sins are forgiven in Jesus' name and blood.

Therein you have peace and freedom and joy.

This is your calling, and in this way you are able to remain on this way which leads to eternal life.

And so that even though this world about us becomes more evil and the people of this world do not comprehend, but you comprehend and you see that this is the way of faith, and herein there is life, salvation, forgiveness, and mercy.

Believe, dear brothers and sisters, all sins forgiven in Jesus and in blood.

There is your source of strength and refreshment, and therein you receive power to fight the good fight of faith.

I also ask for myself, and I believe my own sins and false feelings.

I desire to believe together with you in Jesus' name. Amen.