Sermon in Phoenix 04.03.2007

Grace be unto you and 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 join our hearts in mutual thanks and prayer.

As we have gathered together, dear Father, on this beautiful Sunday morning, we wish to thank Thee. We wish to thank Thee for Thy great love and goodness. Thou hast given and provided for all our everyday needs. But most of all, we thank Thee, dear Father, that Thou hast given unto us the gift of faith. And by and through this precious gift, we have been able to receive that living word of the Gospel proclaimed from Thy Kingdom here on this earth. That message which has been prepared for us and for all people when Thy dear Son, whom Thou didst send into this world, suffered and died and shed His holy and innocent blood, by and through which we have the forgiveness of sins.

We thank Thee, dear Father, for Thy Kingdom and for the many blessings Thou hast granted unto us to lead us and guide us and preserve us in this most beautiful world. We thank Thee, dear Father, that Thou hast, in Thy love, called even us to be partakers of that living hope that one day we can reach that eternal home in Heaven. We pray that Thou would grant us grace to be a partaker of that living hope. We pray that Thou would grant us grace to travel in obedience of faith. That our ears would be open to hear what Thy Holy Spirit speaks unto us. And that Thou would give us strength to fight against the onslaughts of the enemy and the temptations that are so prevalent before us.

We thank Thee, dear Father, once again for that great gift and pray as Thy dear Son has taught us. 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.

We will read a portion of God's Holy Word which is found in the first epistle of Apostle Paul to the Corinthians. The first chapter, verses 17 through 31. And once again with that prayer of faith that God will grant unto each one of us according to His measure of grace. In Jesus' name, the words are as follows.

For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel. Not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. But unto us which are saved, it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

For the Jews require a sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block and unto the Greeks foolishness. But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. And God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. And these things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence.

But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, that according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Amen.

Dear brothers and sisters in faith, we have received grace to gather around God's holy word. And as mentioned already, it is with that prayer that He would open unto us His word that each of us would receive that portion that He, our Heavenly Father, knows we need. As His word teaches, He knows our needs before we have them. And so by faith we trust and believe and with prayer seek His goodness. And that we might always be able to keep our eyes of faith focused on that reward which we have. Amen. Amen.

A promise in His holy word. The words of Jesus come to mind when He was encouraging His own. When He said that, great is your reward in heaven. Is that not your hope and your goal, dear brother and sister, this morning? Maybe there are some who have come from very difficult trials or experiencing sorrow, temptations, sickness. Yet we look to the author and finisher of our faith who invites us, calls us, come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Amen.

Remember Jesus, take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

So as we begin this service, dear brother and sister, be encouraged to believe even now the forgiveness of all your faults and sins in Jesus' name and in His holy and precious blood and be of good comfort. And I also ask if I can believe together with you my many faults and sins forgiven. It is of grace, as Apostle John says, grace from grace, that we are able to believe upon Him who has paid our sin debt and has promised to carry us and be with us even unto the end of the world.

It is He of whom Apostle here in our text is referring to as His Savior. As He received commission to serve in the precious work of the Gospel of God's Kingdom.

Last Sunday we heard to our dear brother what manner of man Apostle Paul was before he received the grace of repentance. He was a very ruthless man. The believers of that time were very fearful of him. And as we heard, he was one who consented to the first martyr of the New Testament time, Stephen.

However, Apostle then, in his first sermon, he said, He was a man of God. He himself, in one of his epistles, mentions how that God has used him as an example to show how great a love God truly has for the sinner. One who persecuted the believers, the living church of God here on this earth. Yet, God had mercy upon him. And he granted grace for this ruthless man to receive the forgiveness of his sins and was authorized to serve in the work of God's kingdom.

As we heard, Apostle, and as we have been taught over the years, Apostle was a very learned man. He was a very good man. However, here we find how it was not for this reason that he was chosen, but rather, he was chosen as one who humbly accepted and believed from grace the gospel of the Lord Jesus. And then he very simply confesses as we heard here, for Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel.

So, according to the scriptures, we understand and believe that Jesus established the sacrament of baptism as well as the sacrament of the altar or Holy Communion. According to the scriptures, these are the only two sacraments. They are holy because they have been established by the Lord Jesus. But we do not find in scripture that either of these sacraments bring salvation.

Simply described, baptism is a covenant of a good conscience with God. It is for that reason that Christianity has throughout all time baptized children. They are born into this world as sinners, but they are born as pardoned sinners into the grace covenant of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that baptism is then a testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ of that covenant. And it is something that is visual and that we partake of and by faith believe that it is holy.

Even though our understanding might be small concerning this holy sacrament, yet does it not suffice that we would by faith accept and believe that we are holy, that Jesus established it for a purpose, and that even that purpose is understood through faith.

We can't say the same for the sacrament of the altar, the Lord's Holy Supper. It has not been intended as a place of repentance. It does not bring us to a place of hope. It has been established by our Lord and Savior for the strengthening of our faith. And that we as believers are invited to come to the Lord's Holy Supper in order to receive that body and that blood which has been given and shed for us.

In this way, our Lord and Savior has prepared an outward way that we as believers can be partakers and be assured that it is a most holy sacrament.

So, Apostle says he was not sent to baptize, but he says to preach the gospel and not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. And then in the next verse, he says, for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

He, in the letter to the Romans, also assured that the cross should be made of none effect. The believers there in Rome of this, when he wrote unto them and said, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believe it, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

This gospel is not established on the wisdom of man, but it is a mystery unto those who have not received it. Jesus himself comforted his own when he told them that unto you has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God. But unto them who are on the outside it is hidden and unto them it is foolishness as the apostle here says.

This mystery of the power of the gospel is not agreeable to the carnal mind or to the gospel. It is not agreeable to the mind of man. It does not seem sufficient to bring the hope of salvation. But man in himself has a tendency always to be able to do something that would merit or from which he could receive the reward.

But the hope of salvation as God has established it in his son is not established on works nor is it established on wisdom or is it established on one's ability to fulfill the holy command of the law. But rather it is salvation that is attained only by and through faith and believing that gospel message of the Lord Jesus.

We could step back and consider what is written of the prophet Abraham, the patriarch Abraham with whom God has given us the power to do things. And that is why we are here today in this day when we first visited and gave him a promise. And then as a seal of that promise he established circumcision.

The apostle explains this that was Abraham then saved through circumcision or was it by and through faith. And he says that it is by faith even before he was circumcised. And so it is also in baptism. That is the only requirement for baptism is that one is believing.

And according to the Scriptures, each child that is born into this world is born with the gift of faith and therefore is prepared for baptism. So this is something that the Apostle is referring to when the wise of this world are confounded and cannot accept even this simple explanation of the Scriptures that a child is born with the gift of faith. It is a believer.

Even though it is not able to speak or to do anything, even to think that it could do anything, yet it is a believer. The wise of this world teach, many of the wise of this world teach that it is first of all important that one can understand before he can believe. But this brings to mind always those words, those words of Luther when he said that faith does not come from understanding but understanding comes from faith.

And so Apostle here then continues saying that God in His Word says, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. And then these questions, where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wise of this world?

For that after the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

How good it is, brother and sister, that our hope of salvation, our hope of heaven is not established on knowledge or wisdom, but it is established on faith in the Lord Jesus who has purchased us, who has paid our sin debt and calls us to come to Him and where we can hear the good message that though we have sinned, we have failed, we have been unsuccessful, yet we can believe that message that assures us that our sins are forgiven in His name and holy and precious blood.

The Apostle describes the Jews and the Greeks. And by faith we understand that as Apostle also explains, that there is a God, there is a spiritual significance to the Jews and the Greeks. And he says that he that is a Jew is not a Jew outwardly whose circumcision is in the flesh, but he is a Jew whose circumcision is that of the heart.

And so it is that the gospel is able to cleanse the heart, it is able to turn one who is in the way of unbelief onto the way of faith, even as it happened in the life of the Apostle Paul. And so it was by and through the foolishness of preaching that even Apostle Paul was able to hear onto his heart and soul that message. He, being a Jew, in a natural way, also then became a spiritual Jew.

The Greeks, as Apostle, refers to those who are of the Gentile nations. And all who are not Jews are Gentiles. And how good it is, brother and sister, when we find that the Holy Spirit is the one who is the God of the world.

How merciful and loving our Heavenly Father is that already through the Old Testament prophets He foretold that even the Gentiles would have the grace of a visitation time. And this visitation time began in the early days of the New Testament Church.

Apostle Paul himself is known as the Apostle of the Gentiles. And it is that time in which we today are living. The visitation time of the Gentiles.

This Gospel message has traveled, as Apostle explains, from faith to faith, from generation to generation, and from nation to nation. This is all according to the prophetic words of the Lord Jesus and His command that this Gospel would be preached unto all nations and all kindreds in all tongues, even unto the four corners of the earth.

When we think of this visitation time, we also by faith understand that God gives an opportunity to individuals, gives a visitation time to individuals. That at some time in one's life this concern of one's salvation, soul salvation, is given.

But we understand that as Jesus says, many are called, but few are chosen. And God says Himself that He will call whom He will call and harden whom He will harden. But He also says that when today, when you hear My voice, harden not your heart.

This visitation time can be when an unbeliever is in contact with a believer, it can happen when an unbeliever attends the services of the believers, of the children of God. It can happen in many different ways.

And there are those who have given such testimony as to how God led them and revealed unto them His kingdom. And how through the Gospel they have been lifted from the way of hopelessness and everlasting condemnation unto the way of a living hope and unto the way of eternal life.

The Apostle says here, but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God.

And in the last part of our text, the Apostle explains that but of Him are ye in Christ. That is of God. It is God's work. It is God who has called. It is God who has selected. And as the Apostle calls it, a holy calling.

Jesus says that you have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you. You have not first loved Me, but I have first loved you.

And so, the Apostle says, the base things of the world and the things which are despised, God hath chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence.

But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.

And then finally, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

Is it not good and precious, brother and sister, that we as sinners, unmeriting sinners, have been called, and have been granted grace, to receive this Gospel into our hearts by faith?

The Apostle wrote to the Ephesians saying, that by grace are ye saved, through faith, and not of yourselves, but it is a gift of God.

When we are saved, we are saved by faith.

When we think of it as a gift of grace, is it not important? Is it not good that we could always remember that that gift which has been given us, that we would treasure it? We would pray that God would grant us strength to fight against anything that would take away this precious gift.

And there is only one thing that will take it away, and that is sin.

God has given us, as we heard through our services last weekend, a precious grace privilege. When we have stumbled and fallen into sin, and our hearts are grieved, and the way of faith becomes very difficult and heavy, we are invited, as the writer to the Hebrews says, to come boldly to the throne of grace, where you will find mercy, and grace to help in the time of need.

How important it is, brother and sister, to put away sin, to travel by faith, keeping a good conscience. This is a very precious grace, gift and privilege.

So when the way seems difficult, and doubts and fears seem to overtake, or if there has come a moment in travel where something has enticed us and drawn us into sin, whatever manner of sin it is, remember how it is written in God's holy word, that where sin abounds, grace does much more abound.

We are always encouraged to go to that throne of grace, where we will be able to hear that sweet message of the gospel. It is proclaimed through the believers here in God's kingdom. It is proclaimed without condition. All sins, all doubts, all fears are forgiven in Jesus' name and precious blood.

In this way we are strengthened and encouraged and refreshed. And our hope is established on that goal of eternal peace and joy in the glory of heaven.

May our heavenly Father grant unto each one of us from grace this hope so that we would always endeavor to keep faith in a good conscience. Keeping in the fellowship with the believers where we are able to be carried in that perfect love of the heavenly Father.

In this way, brother and sister, the way unto eternal peace and rest remains open and before us. And we can travel with a happy heart, with joy, and with that peace in our hearts that Apostle describes which passes all understanding.

So, brother and sister, believe, even now, this message of the kingdom, the message of the Lord Jesus Christ who has paid your sin, death, and full and continues to proclaim through His own this message of peace. Believe, sins forgiven, in Jesus' name and precious blood. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Let us close in the Lord's benediction. 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.