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Psalm 51:10-12:  “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me!  Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your Holy Spirit from me!  Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit!”

James Collins was sentenced to imprisonment in the Alabama penitentiary for his part in a bank robbery and murder.  He escaped, settled in Quakertown, Pennsylvania, where by his hard work and honesty he became a respected citizen.  His credit was so good, local merchants said, that he could walk in to any bank there and obtain $5,000 only on his signature.  Twenty years after his crime, married and widely respected, the law caught up with him, and he was identified.  Before the officers took him back to the Alabama jail, he confessed:  “I expected this for a long time.  Never a day nor a night passed that I did not think I would be caught.  You know we raise poultry, and every time one of the State Troopers stopped before the house I would wonder if he was coming to arrest me.”

Our text was written by a man who had a guilty conscience.  It was not a bad conscience.  It was a good conscience in the sense that it was a very useful one.  David also had committed some high crimes.  Moreover, if it had not been for his alert and active conscience, he would have plunged headlong in unbelief into hell.  Instead, David is known as one of the great characters of the Bible.  David’s guilty conscience was a most important possession.  This is what we will examine today.

The Importance of possessing a Guilty Conscience

A guilty conscience is important because it gives the Christian –

1.  A sense of guilt;
2. An understanding of sin;
3. A request for pardon; and
4. A desire for renewal.

1.

With a sense of desperate urgency David cries out in the text:  “Create in me a clean heart, O God!”  In Psalm 51 David repeatedly refers to “mine” iniquity, “my” transgressions, and “my” sin.  He makes no attempt to evade the personal responsibility for his sin in order to diminish the terror in his conscience.  David might have tried to do what we so often do.  That is, he might have resorted to excuses.  For instance, he might have focused the blame on other people or things, such as, on the circumstances which led to his sin, on his personality defects that influenced him to sin, or on the underprivileged social conditions as a poor shepherd that contributed to his temptation and fall.  Yet David looked past all of these to the one overwhelming fact:  “My sin is ever before me.”

In other words, these excuses did not alter the fact that it was his sin, and that he personally was held to be responsible for it.  It was his act, and his alone.  His guilty conscience told him that.

To be sure, everyone has a conscience.  God has promised that everyone will be conceived and born with one.  Yet a conscience will differ from person to person.  For instance, many people may have a guilty conscience which is not at all similar to the holy fear of God that was in David’s heart.  Some consciences simply may be afraid due to peer pressure.  Other consciences may fear only the consequences of exposure, as the escaped convict of which we heard in the introduction.

Sometimes a conscience may be dulled through years of abuse.  In other cases it may be very sensitive, but misdirected.  Some of the most vicious acts in history such as the inquisitions and the burning of heretics prompted by the Roman Catholic authorities in the Middle Ages have been motivated by misguided consciences.  In this connection, the Lord has prophesied:  “The time comes that whoever would kill you will think that he does God a service.”

There are also people who think that it would be wrong to marry, or wrong to eat pork.

Therefore, a conscience could become perverted.  However it will be a useful instrument when it would be controlled by and directed by the will of God which is found in the Bible.  Then a guilty conscience will be an important asset to the sinner, as it was to David, the writer of our text.  David rightly was tormented by guilt because he knew that he had sinned against his just and holy God.

2.

In addition, it could be said that a guilty conscience will be an important asset when it would act with a proper understanding of sin.  For example, if your conscience would react only to certain sins, and you would hear its accusing voice only after you would commit serious sins, such as felonies, adultery, or blasphemy, your conscience will not be very good.  To the contrary, David not only repented of his great sins, but also of his sinfulness.  That is, David was horrified at the sinful nature which had produced his terrible sins of adultery and murder, and confessed:  “I was shaped in iniquity.”  In other word, he declared that he had been formed inside of his mother in sinfulness.  Therefore, David had a guilty conscience not only because he had done evil, but also because he was evil.

As a result you must learn from David that sin will not be simply a violation of a social code, or a lapse in one’s own self-respect, for you stand in a perpetual relationship with God in all of your thoughts, words, and actions.  As David admits to the Almighty:  “Against you, and you only have I sinned” (Psalm 51:4).

In fact it is this feature that makes sin so frightening.  Take the case of David!  If his sin were merely a violation of the ethics of his day, then he would have nothing to fear.  After all, he was the king.  He could do anything that he would wish.  If his sin were simply a form of self-contradiction, a private matter between himself and his soul, he could have solved that problem by making a New Year’s resolution.  However, David rightly understood from Scripture that his sin meant a rift with God.  Thus every sin endangered his spiritual relationship with God and, consequently, his spiritual life also.  In light of this, David understood that sin could bring the greatest disaster that could come upon a person’s soul.  So he pleaded with God:  “Do not cast me away from your presence!”

Have you ever thought of sin as this?  That is to say, have you ever worried at the thought that God could and should cast you away from his presence; that your sin could put an end to your relationship with God?  Do you sincerely plead:  “Take not your Holy Spirit from me!” when you sing it in the Communion liturgy after the sermon?  If you were not to plead it sincerely, then pray to God to give you a guilty conscience!

3.

So far you have seen that a guilty conscience will be important because it would give you a sense of guilt with an understanding of the sin which was committed.  Just the same, if that were all that a guilty conscience could do, you could try to get rid of it somehow.  For example, you could consider it as a “guilt complex,” and try to stifle it.  If your job would take your mind off of your conscience, you could work a lot. Yet your conscience cannot be silenced by any human efforts.  Only God’s gospel power could do it.

Hence David followed the only way, the Bible’s way, to quiet his conscience.  Thus, on the one hand, David did not ask God to change or to adapt the Ten Commandments in order to get David excused.  Nor did David ask God to change.  David asked God to change David.  That is, David prayed to God to create a clean heart within him.

Notice that David used the word “to create”!  There was nothing in David with which God could begin.  David was asking for a wonderful renewal which only God could effect.

This may seem to be rather presumptuous.  That is, David was an adulterer and a murderer.  How could he step before the holy and righteous Almighty and ask for sainthood?

The answer is that David knew the character of God.  He knew his promises.  If you would read the rest of Psalm 51 you will see that David was convinced of God’s pledges that he was a God of “lovingkindness” and of “tender mercies.”  David understood the love of God through the coming Messiah, in which God would take on our flesh, dwell among us, assume our guilt, and suffer our punishment for our sins.  As in the Old Testament’s Levitical ceremony in which God would pronounce his people pure and declare them to be clean of their sins by divine announcement because a divinely appointed animal had its life taken away after the people’s sins were laid on it, so David knew that the suffering Messiah would take on our sins and suffer their punishment: death in hell, in order for the Almighty to declare us free from our sins’ guilt and condemnation.

This is why a guilty conscience is important.  A guilty conscience will be important since it would lead you to the cross of Christ for forgiveness.  If your conscience would awaken in you a knowledge of your desperate need for forgiveness, convince you that you need a renewal in your life, and impel you to flee for mercy to the foot of Christ’s cross, thank God for having a guilty conscience!

4.

In his saving faith David not only trusted that there is now no condemnation in Christ, but he also pleaded for a renewal.  If his life would amount to anything, God in his mercy and might must give David the power to do so.  David asked for a clean heart and for a willing spirit, that is to say, in the original Hebrew language, for a spirit that would be willing to obey God, and not to sin.  Thus if your guilty conscience would make you wish for a better life, do not look within yourself!  Look upward in faith to God, and pray:  “Create in me a clean heart, O God!”

The subject of a guilty conscience may be a depressing one.  Nevertheless, a guilty conscience will be connected to a Christian’s happiness.  In fact, the ultimate purpose of a guilty conscience will be his spiritual happiness.  David realized this.  As a result, he pleaded:  “Restore to me the joy of your salvation!”  In other words, David asked:  “By your power make me to know once again the spiritual joy and gladness which I currently have lost because of my sin, and which I do not feel!”  Indeed, if a person would have sinned, it will be difficult to feel the joy of God’s forgiveness afterward.  Though you may be assured of God’s forgiveness, the joy of it will be lacking since your thinking would have been going down the road of saddening sin, and your guilty conscience would have been depressing your emotions.  It will take time for your thoughts and for your emotions to be turned around.  Therefore, the repentant sinner will need the Lord to bring his power to bear on his depressed soul, and to bloom in his soul the joy that results from God’s smiling forgiveness.

Yet sinners often will be tempted to think that they will have joy if only they would have more money, success, and popularity.  As the king of Israel, David possessed all of these.  Still he wrote this psalm.  David had learned from Scripture that there could be no real joy without the forgiveness of sins from his Savior.

So learn this also!  First of all, realize that a guilty conscience will be a blessing, for it will point you to the need for a Savior!  Then, with your knowledge of the gospel, know that you could and should flee to your Redeemer to find peace from your conscience and joy for your soul!

Do so!  Possess the joy of salvation!

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P. E. Kretzmann in the year 1946 or before.

Psalm 112:6:  The righteous will be in everlasting remembrance.

Following Scripture, a genuine Lutheran congregation will not give extraordinary exaltation to its departed members by eulogizing them at their funerals, for instance, or much worse, by praying to them for help, as in the Catholic church.  Just the same, we do acknowledge that a proper honor and memory of them is God-pleasing.  In the Apology [Defense] of the Augsburg Confession, one of our Lutheran Confessions, we hold that departed Christians could be remembered in several ways.  “The first is thanksgiving.  For we ought to give thanks to God because He has shown examples of mercy; because He has shown that He wishes to save men; because He has given teachers… to the Church…. Who have faithfully used these gifts…. The second service is the strengthening of our faith…. The third honor is the imitation, first, of faith, then of the other virtues, which everyone should imitate according to his calling” (Philip Melanchthon, “Apology of the Augsburg Confession,” Triglot Concordia, editors W.H.T. Dau and F. Bente [Saint Louis:  CPH, 1921], pages 343 & 345).

In regard to Paul Edward Kretzmann, we could and should recognize that he was a blessing to the Lutheran church, and that it would be proper and fitting to honor and to remember him in the ways in which the Apology has indicated.  In view of the fact that this Thursday (13 July) will mark the anniversary of his death, pause at this time to honor and to remember a former valued member of our blessed congregation –

Paul Edward Kretzmann

1.  By thanking God for sending a gifted teacher to bless us.
2.  By thanking God for strengthening the church’s faith through him.
3.  By imitating P. E. Kretzmann’s faith and virtues.

1.

First of all, our congregation should give thanks to God for his mercy shown in saving P. E. Kretzmann’s soul.  As he so you also were born in original sin.  You are as an unclean thing.  As a result, you daily sin much and indeed deserve nothing but punishment.  To be sure, you would be sentenced to eternal doom if not for the great mercy of your loving Lord Jesus Christ who took your place, assumed your guilt, endured your damnation, paid off your debt, and offered you his righteousness to wear.

This astounding salvation was made yours when holy baptism washed your sins away, delivered you from death and the devil, removed your guilt, gave you a saving faith in the sin-conquering work of Christ, created in you a new nature, and brought you into God’s family.  Thanks be to God for showing you such great mercy!

Thanks be to God for showing the same mercy to P. E. Kretzmann at his baptism!  He was born on the 24th of August, 1883, at Farmer’s Retreat, Dearborn County, Indiana, the son of the Rev. Carl H. E. and Elizabeth (Polack) Kretzmann.  He graduated from Concordia College, Fort Wayne, Indiana, in 1902, studied at Concordia Seminary, Saint Louis, Missouri, 1902-1903, and continued his theological education by correspondence after moving to the State of Colorado for reasons of health.

He was ordained to the Lutheran ministry in 1906; was pastor of Saint Peter’s Church at Shady Bend, Kansas, 1905-07, where he found his faithful wife, Louise Schroeder, with whom he was united in holy matrimony of 29 August, 1907; then at Emmaus Church, Denver, Colorado, 1907-1912.

P. E. K. then was called to a professorship in science and mathematics at Concordia College, Saint Paul, Minnesota, where he spent the years 1912-1919.  He was brought to Saint Louis by the call of the Literary Board of the Missouri Synod to undertake the preparation of the great Popular Commentary of the Bible, on which he was at work in his office at Concordia Publishing House from 1919 to the spring of 1923.

Dr. Kretzmann next was called to Concordia Seminary in Saint Louis, where he taught courses in New Testament interpretation and religious education from 1923 to 1946.

Besides his teaching activity the doctor also labored in the practical work of the church.  While teaching in Saint Paul, he served as an assistant pastor in two churches.  While preparing his monumental Popular Commentary and instructing in Saint Louis he was also assistant pastor of Immanuel Church, Saint Charles, Missouri, 1919-1938.

“His retirement from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, was occasioned by his opposition to the new and unscriptural trends which had begun to become evident in the faculty.  But when called to the large St. John’s Church at Forest Park, Illinois, he was both physically and spiritually ready to accept the responsibility of this exacting pastorate, and served here from 1946-1948.  He was the first to see clearly the beginnings of the apostasy from its original position which has characterized the Missouri Synod theology, especially since the ‘Statement of the Forty-four’ (Chicago, 1945) and the acceptance of the ‘Common Confession’ by majority voice vote at the Milwaukee Convention of the Missouri Synod in 1950.  When the congregation at Forest Park did not afford him the solid backing he had been led to expect in taking action against these trends he resigned from the pastorate.  Thereafter he resided for a time in Cuba, Missouri, where he was active in literary work” (Wallace H. McLaughlin).

Think of it:  if the Hebrews returning from the Babylonian captivity had remembered how glorious Solomon’s Temple had been, and consequently cried after a more plain structure was erected in its place (Ezra 3:12), how much more devastated would they have been to have witnessed the actual destruction of the Temple and its subsequent   pile of rubble!  Likewise how sad P. E. Kretzmann must have been upon seeing the Missouri Synod from the 1930’s onward willingly embrace with energy ever more false doctrine and practice which the two previous generations had avoided like the plague!  He had seen the Missouri Synod at its height, when so many fellow-laborers worked and prayed to enlarge the kingdom of God by many thousands of congregations across the country and in foreign lands, not misleading them or cheating them out of God’s Word in any way, but by bringing them the full truth of God’s pure Word in a golden age of orthodoxy.  Yet he lived to see the third generation, which “knew not Joseph,” turn its “ears away from the truth.”  It despised the priceless biblical heirlooms which it had inherited, and, consequently, discarded that birthright, as Esau had, for something pleasing to its flesh, implementing a precipitous fall from that golden age.  From a height of glory to a depth of infamy:  what a spiritual fall!  What a waste!  What an unnecessary loss!  How this tragedy must have deeply saddened the heart of P. E. Kretzmann!

“After having previously renounced his personal membership in the Missouri Synod as the first of all his brethren in the ministry to take this step, he took part with… a number of other brethren in the organization of the Orthodox Lutheran Conference in September, 1951, of which he became the first Vice President (later President), was the author of its specific confessional documents, and the first president of the Orthodox Lutheran Theological Seminary at Minneapolis (1952-1958)…. After his retirement from the O.L.C. Seminary he was for a time a member of Grace Lutheran congregation, Fridley, Minnesota, from which he obtained a transfer of membership to Good Shepherd Lutheran Church of Golden Valley… an independent congregation of conservative Lutheran faith” (Wallace Herdon McLaughlin, P. E. K.’s final pastor and long-time friend who officiated at his funeral at Good Shepherd).

He departed this life on 13 July, 1965, at the age of 81 years, 10 months, and 19 days.

The Apology also has pointed out that we could remember and honor departed Christians by thanking God for raising them up as talented teachers for his beloved church, who faithfully used their gifts for the edification of the body of Christ.  Dr. Kretzmann was indeed such a teacher.  For instance, during his earlier teaching career both in Saint Paul and in Saint Louis he did post-graduate work and attained the following degrees (none of them honorary):  An M. A. from the University of Minnesota in 1913; a Ph. D., in 1915; a B. D., Chicago Lutheran Seminary, 1920; a D. D., 1922; student (in Law) at La Salle University, Chicago; an Ed. D., in 1936, at Washington University, Saint Louis.

In addition to being a fully trained student of art and literature, P.E.K. was also a poet.  His library contains sixteen volumes of original poetry.  [Mr. Paul Darsow of Plymouth, Minnesota has his library.]  Until the year of his last illness he continued his daily reading of the Greek New Testament and Hebrew Old Testament, having read the former through more than a hundred times and also the entire Hebrew Bible many times.  He was in the habit of reading through the Triglot Concordia yearly.

In volume 29 of Who’s Who in America, 1956-1957, forty publications are attributed to him.  What a prolific writer he was!  Thank God for giving to the church such a gifted teacher!  Especially thank him for the privilege of enjoying the edification of P.E.K. in our own local congregation!

Moreover, pause for a moment, and consider this:  Dr. Kretzmann did not have to serve the church!  With his remarkable talents he easily could have made fame and fortune in the secular world as an author, lecturer, or professor.  However, he did not.  He reverently bowed his head and humbly offered his talents to the gracious God who had been merciful to him, a sinner.  Though his monumental Popular Commentary of the Bible has sold over 80,000 copies, he never received any royalties from it.  Indeed, in his later years in Minneapolis, he was quite impoverished.  Which of you would be willing to sacrifice as much for the Lord?  “Not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called” (1st Corinthians 1:26).  Yet what faithfulness P. E. Kretzmann showed in using his talents for the edification of the church!

2.

In the second place, according to our creed, the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, you could and should honor and remember one such as Dr. Kretzmann because of the part which he has played in strengthening your faith and the faith of the church.  For example, as it was just mentioned, his Popular Commentary has sold over 80,000 copies, and was still being published after his death.  Indeed, used copies are still available.  Thus his efforts to edify the church saw fruit even after his death, not only through his Commentary, but through his other books as well.

Besides his published writings and all of the pupils which he taught, he also entered the pulpit.  For instance, according to his own count, as of June, 1956, he had assembled over 3,795 sermons, though he preached additional sermons after that.  It has been related from those who have heard him that his sermons were the preacher’s ideal:  they were to the point, easily understandable, delivered in simple language, always condescending (in the good sense) to the group he was addressing, and gave the hearer always one clear truth to take home with him.

Furthermore, P.E.K. helped by bringing souls into the church and into saving faith in their divine Deliverer.  For example, the following anecdote has been related from two different sources.  Dr. Kretzmann did not seem to waste any of his waking hours.  While teaching he had the habit of starting out for class a bit early in order to canvass, that is, to knock on doors in the neighborhood that were on his way in order to find the unchurched and lead them to Christ.  Once he came across a person who was incensed at the interruption, and promptly declared, “Do not ever knock on my front door again!”  With that P.E.K. left, went around to the back of the house, and meekly knocked on the back door.  After the resident opened and saw who it was, his resistance sank, and Dr. K. was let in by him.  Later that person became a faithful church member.

3.

In the third place, according to our excellent confession, the Apology, we should honor and remember those who have departed this life to be with Christ by imitating their trust and other virtues.  Indeed, we would do well to comport ourselves as P.E.K. did.  For instance, he was a kind Christian gentleman.  He did not insist on having his own way.  Whenever someone would have gone to him with a problem, he would respond, “What does Scripture say?”  If Scripture would be silent on the matter he would then advise, “Decide it among yourselves.”  After every meal the Dr. would have a five or ten minute devotion even if guests would be present.  Moreover, his immense learning did not get in the way of his child-like faith, even though some unregenerate scholars once chided him:  “Why does a learned man like you believe such simple things?”  The Dr. was a very calm person through any turmoil.  Yet he would be scripturally intolerant when it would come to false preaching.

We should imitate P.E.K. also in that he would obey Scripture’s directive to “test the spirits,” that is, to “test the spirit of the religious teachers.”  We should check or authenticate what they would be teaching, “for many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1st John 4:1); because the Lord occasionally permits false teachers to arise in the midst of his church in order to test his people whether they will continue in his Word (Deuteronomy 13:3; 1st Corinthians 11:19).  The Dr. was not infected with synoditis, that is to say, with the attitude which would think:  “My synod:  right or wrong.”  He kept his ear to the ground (2nd Timothy 4:5), so to speak, and was alert after false teachers arose and began to proclaim sophistries in the Missouri Synod.

At the seminary in Saint Louis, after the Second World War, a new teaching method was introduced in which the students would give their views on a subject instead of having the professor simply lecture.  In one of Dr. Kretzmann’s classes the students would introduce novel ideas with the intention “to get his goat.”  Finally, one time after the students had succeeded in aggravating him, he replied, “There is a new thinking among you new students.”  Indeed, a new generation had arisen in the Missouri Synod that knew neither Walther nor Pieper.  In fact, the seeds of this movement had begun among the clergy in New York City – the very pastoral conference which only years earlier faithfully had made a courageous assertive defense of biblical truth which, subsequently, became widely-publicized in the New York Times and in other dailies across the country (1st Corinthians 10:12). ¹   Thus, according to his typical method, the devil would get his revenge.

In the 1930’s and the 1940’s more and more pastors and professors of the Missouri Synod began to resent the priceless heirloom of orthodoxy that carefully had been handed down to them.  They conspired, and “conspired” is not an uncharitable description, but an accurate one, to jettison the old fashioned status quo creed of their synod for a more fashionable creed, and in order to be in fellowship with the American Lutheran Church. This in turn created a climate for the spawning of even more errors (sophistries) in teaching and in practice, which, instead of being eradicated in the scriptural manner, were tolerated by sympathetic or intimidated synodical officials.  Though in this age of public relations synods will handle false teachers irresolutely, and not as the cancer and the leaven (2nd Timothy 2:17; Galatians 5:9) that they actually are, Dr. Kretzmann would not waver.  He would face the person and the error squarely, and would take scriptural action (Titus 1:11; 2nd Timothy 3:16).  For example, he resigned from the Saint Louis seminary after he saw unscriptural and unreversed trends in that faculty.  He accepted a call to a pastorate in Chicago (Forest Park) from which he hoped to continue his scriptural admonishment of the false brethren and of their spread of errors.  In fact, the president of the Missouri Synod was a member of his congregation at the time.  Just the same, P.E.K. fearlessly came out weekly with a mimeographed, eight and one half by eleven inches sheet criticizing President Behnken and others for failing to discipline the errorists as it was their sworn duty to do.

However, after the doctrinally flawed Common Confession hastily was adopted a few years later at the 1950 convention of the Missouri Synod, not unanimously, as a doctrinal vote must be accepted (1st Corinthians 1:10), and there was no reversal of Missouri’s liberalism in sight, P.E.K. and others were compelled to obey Romans 16:17 and 2nd Thessalonians 3:6 & 14, and to withdraw from fellowship.

Dr. Kretzmann took action.  He listened to Scripture.  He obeyed Romans 16:17 and did what former leaders and presidents of the Missouri Synod themselves had declared they would do.  For instance, C.F.W. Walther declared in an Iowa District Convention essay in 1879:  “Salvation by no means depends on us, nor also on the Missouri Synod.  So, if it would no longer preach the pure Word of God, then it will be worthy of nothing but that one should forsake it.”  Professor Franz Pieper stated in 1890:  “If it were shown us that even one pastor were preaching false doctrine and that even one periodical were in the service of false doctrine and we would not put a stop to this false doctrine, we would thereby have ceased to be an orthodox synod and would have become a unionistic fellowship.”  Thus you should not remain in fellowship with those who would reject the truth.  You should obey our Lord, and avoid them.

Some of you at Good Shepherd, especially you elder members, did do this, and met up with the Dr. in the 1950’s after he came to Minneapolis.  You had a rare opportunity which the rest of us members did not have.  May you have a blessed memory of Dr. Kretzmann, and honor and remember him by following his scriptural virtues!  Our congregation was blessed highly by the presence of this faithful servant.

Indeed, you have been blessed.  Yet to whom much is given much will be required (Luke 12:48).  The pure Word and practice which P.E.K., Wallace H. McLaughlin, and others in this congregation handed down to you is a solemn responsibility.  Will you treasure it with the same faithfulness and obedience?  Few churches remain orthodox over a hundred years.  If you or your children would not appreciate the pure gospel, then you, too, will become erroristic.  As you would stand or fall, so will be the future of this congregation.

Pray to the Lord for the desire to continue to love his Word!  Pray, too, that the Lord of the harvest may send more workers like P.E.K. to you!

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Jeremiah 29:7:  Seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the Lord for it; for in its peace you will have peace!

Until rather late in the history of the world, God kept North America unsettled.

To be sure, earlier on, there were travelers from Asia who did arrive on the west coast, and who eventually did spread across the continent.  Yet, even after thousands of years, these aborigines were still few in number, and the continent remained, in effect, a wilderness.

Travelers then came from the opposite direction, that is, from the east, from Norway via Iceland and Greenland and settled on the east coast of Vinland hundreds of years before Columbus came.  Nevertheless, as the settlements in Iceland and Greenland perished, so nothing permanent ever became of any Norse settlement that had been founded in North America.

What was God’s purpose in keeping North America unsettled?  It was what his providence always has been in regards to man:  it was in view of man’s afterlife:  That the Lord of heaven and earth wants all those born in time to recognize their sins, to be sorry for them, and to receive from him his promised gift of salvation, obtaining it by an act of faith.  After that the Lord will take all those who have believed in his promised salvation home to be with him.  In this case God kept North America unsettled in order to provide a home, a nursery, if you will, for those followers of his recent Reformation in Europe.  That is, he had reserved a promised land in which his gospel could grow and spread, indeed, to become one more westward stepping stone from where the gospel ultimately could proceed full circle around the globe before the end.

It was in the spirit of such reverent acknowledgment of the providence of God that Columbus named the first land in the Western Hemisphere “San Salvador,” that is, “holy Savior” and did not pick a careless and flippant name such as “Devil’s Lake” in North Dakota.

In fact, not only was it a precursor of things to come in North America that the Norse in Iceland had a republic in 925 A.D., but, more importantly, that fifty years before this, when the Norse first landed, they found orthodox Christians in Iceland, Irishmen, who had remained aloof from the great falling away (2nd Thessalonians 2:3) in the Western Christian church.  Later in time North America indeed would become a home for orthodox Christianity, predominantly for the German and Scandinavian Lutheran immigrants.

After the handful of explorers of the 1500’s and 1600’s, settlers started to come to North America with the intent to establish a permanent home.  Just the same, of these initial settlements some were disastrous failures; others barely survived.  Of those that did survive, even these amounted to little more than tiny outposts which clung to the shores of the Atlantic.  Hence it appeared that nothing much ever would become of these homesteads.  At this time, 130 years after Columbus, immigrants came in only as a trickle as compared to the waves of immigrants from northern Europe and Scandinavia in the latter third of the 1800’s which poured into this country in the hundreds of thousands.  Thus America was settled in the beginning in various places sparingly, in fact, in human estimate, randomly and haphazardly, with no unified intent or purpose with a view toward any future consolidation.

Yet, unknown to these settlers, God had a different plan in mind.  In his providence he kept his sheltering arms over the infant years of our land, and supported it with his hand as it labored to take its first steps.

An eyewitness account of this unfolded blessing is given by none other than George Washington in the year 1783, who articulated it in these words:  “The citizens of America, the sole lords and proprietors of a vast tract of continent, are now acknowledged to be possessed of absolute freedom and independency.  Here Heaven has crowned all its other blessings by giving a fairer opportunity for political happiness than any other nation has ever been favored with.  The rights of mankind are better understood and more clearly defined than at any former period.  The collected wisdom acquired through a long succession of years is laid open for our use in the establishment of our forms of government.  The free cultivation of letters, the unbounded extension of commerce, the progressive refinement of manners, the growing liberality of sentiment, and, above all, the pure and benign light of revelation, have had a meliorating influence on mankind.  At this auspicious period, the United States came into existence as a nation” (George Bancroft, History of the United States of America [New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1888], VI, page 84).

In fact, Bancroft himself remarked about our country:  “Our national organization… was essentially imbued with the spirit of the Reformation which rose up in Germany with Luther” (“Church News,” The Lutheran Witness, editor Carl Adolf Frank, Vol. 5, No. 6 [Zanesville, Ohio:  7 August, 1886], page 45).

Thus commemorate the anniversary of our nation’s founding in the highest manner possible by obeying Scripture’s clear command to –

Pray for the Peace of our Land!

1.  What would be lasting peace?
2. What will bring it?

1.

The Almighty commands in the text:  “Seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the Lord for it; for in its peace you will have peace!”  The story behind our Old Testament text is this:  Because the Jews had forsaken God by falling away from him, that is, by no longer believing in his gospel promise of salvation, his patience with them finally came to an end.  He kept his threat to punish them with a devastating war.  The Almighty used the armed might of the country Babylon to do this.  At the end of this war the Babylonians took the remaining Jews captive, and led them back to Babylon.  At that location the Lord proclaimed to the Jews through his prophet Jeremiah:  “I have caused you to be carried away captives.”  In other words, it was God’s will and by his doing that they were subjugated in the land where they were now.  What is more, it also was his will that they now should behave themselves in their new homeland by seeking the peace of Babylon.  That is to say, they were not to overthrow their new government, nor rebel against it, nor become disobedient, nor even to form an underground movement such as the French did in World War II, but to observe law and order which would contribute to the peace of that country.  This was God’s will.  Any other behavior God would not bless with success, but would punish.

This command was necessary for the idea of being a captive was very distasteful to the Jew.  Moreover, there were speakers among them who were fanning the flames of revolt (verse 8).  These speakers easily could have argued:  “We have been taken away forcibly from our rightful country.  Our king is an idolater.  Our government is heathen.  Our rulers are enemies of God.  They have unjust and ungodly laws.  Why should we obey them?  How could obedience to such a government ever please God?  We have every reason to rebel.  Let us revolt, and return to our homeland.”

Yet God knew all of this.  Nevertheless, in light of all of this, and in spite of all of this, the Lord made his will perfectly clear. He warned in the text:  “Seek the peace of the city to which I have caused you to be carried away captives!”

What God commands for his people in the Old Testament, he also commands for his people in the New.  For instance, 1st Peter 2:13-14 orders:  “Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good.”  This text declares plainly that rulers have been sent by God.  Stated briefly, governments have been instituted by God.  Hence they are not “a necessary evil,” as Thomas Jefferson once put it.

Thus your concern today would be to obey the government under which you find yourself.

How would you obey it?  How could you, as the text commands, seek the peace of your country?  You could do it in the ways in which the Jews in Babylon did it.  For instance, you could obey the laws that have been enacted by the government for the civil peace.  You would not attempt to break these laws, even if you would not like them, or even if a police officer would not be around to catch you.  You would submit to these laws willingly as a law-abiding citizen would.  Indeed, you could and should urge others to do the same.  As a result, God will bless you with peace.  Therefore, God commands you:  “Seek the peace!”

Just the same, was not God aware that almost all of the governments at that time were not constitutional republics with a bill of rights which recognized certain inherent natural rights of the citizen, but, to the contrary, were governments that existed without the consent of the governed; states that overtaxed them, usurped citizens’ rights at will, enslaved them, as the children of Israel were in Egypt, and overruled the laws of the land for personal profit; or that they were illegal governments that had seized power unlawfully, anywhere from poisoning the previous ruler to invading a country and annexing it?  Yes, he was.  Nevertheless, realize that God also has sent bad governments purposely as a punishment upon those who have rejected his saving grace (Job 34:30; Isaiah 3:4; Hosea 13:11).  Thus God has seen to it that people throughout the world have been sent some form of government.

Moreover, these governments have made laws in order to maintain peace within their borders.  Hence these laws are made by “man,” as the 1st Peter 2:13-14 passage puts it.  It is to these very laws of man to which the Christian is to submit.

What is more, the Christian is to obey the God-sent rulers who have enacted these laws, whether it would be the king or the governor, that is, whether it would be a high or a low official.  This obedience is to be done “for the Lord’s sake.”  In other words, faith in Christ demands faithfulness to his God-sent government.  In fact, Christians could and should be the best citizens in the land.  Since they would believe in and love God, they will be moved for that reason to be faithful citizens.  Thus, in the New Testament time, also, believers are to seek the peace of their land by being obedient to their government.  Scripture declares that it would be their religious duty to do so.

How could you make sure that there will be lasting peace for our land?  Would education work?  Some years ago Harvard student Jose Razo, Jr. was convicted of six Los Angeles-area armed robberies.  Higher education is not the answer for peace.

Could you ensure peace for our land by listening to the latest ideology of the editorialists, professors, and writers who advocate, for instance, that it is a woman’s right to have an abortion?  How could we expect to have safer streets if millions of American women have made the safest place, the womb, to be the most violent and dangerous?

Could you keep peace in our land by trusting in the political vision of our governmental officials?  Years ago Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders had a definite social vision, yet she referred to the “unchristian religious right” and added that “We’ve got to be strong to take on those people who are selling our children out in the name of religion.”  How could we expect God to bless our land when such evil things are being thought of and intended?  The Almighty warns, “I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity” (Isaiah 13:11).  While the human heart remains unchanged in its greed and lust for power; as long as human flesh is enslaved to selfishness, we never will have any real peace on earth.  Man’s depravity is so deep and so damnable that it always will break out into civil disobedience, or worse:  war, and cause suffering and death for millions.

2.

For lasting peace, therefore, we need someone who is stronger than we to change human nature. Indeed, we need God himself.  We need his power to change our hearts, to act on the prayers of his believers for peace, and to frustrate the evil intentions of those who would persist in their moral depravity.  The reason that there is no absolute peace in our land is because of sin.  Because of sin there is continual warfare between Heaven and earth.  That is to say, no matter how nice you may think you may be, yet, without Christ, you bitterly will hate God.  In your natural pride you will rebel against him; willfully you will break his holy law; day after day your sins will separate you even further from him, as you would reject him instead of receive him; as you would hate him instead of hold to him.  As a result, “there is no peace… to the wicked,” Scripture declares (Isaiah 48:22).

So acknowledge that your sins call down the Almighty’s righteous anger on you!  Realize that you could never remove yourself from this anger of God!

Nevertheless, understand that the Son of God, Jesus Christ, with his measureless mercy, came to bring you peace!  It was no easy task for him to reconcile Heaven and earth.  For example, every last sin had to be suffered for, the demands of divine righteousness had to be met, and the guilt of every trespass had to be removed.  The only way in which this could be done was for Christ to make “peace through the blood of his cross” (Colossians 1:20).  In other words, God himself had to come into this world of wickedness to die in the sinners’ stead.  Cruelly crucified as your substitute, Christ served your time in hell, so that you could live in resurrected radiance.

What has this to do with lasting peace for our country?  It is this:  If all of the human beings in our land would believe the sin-removing power of Christ’s blood, and would practice his program of love and peace in their lives, we will witness a marvelous era of brotherly love and national harmony.

How would this be possible?  As soon as God would move a man to acknowledge that he is a sinner, but that Jesus Christ is his Savior, he will become a new man, with a new love for peace and harmony, and a holy hatred for war and selfishness (2nd Corinthians 5:17).  As soon as a sinner would become regenerated by the soul-influencing power of the Holy Spirit, he will lose his appetite for selfishness, preferring peace to hatred, preferring forgiveness to revenge.  As he would remember his divine Redeemer laying down his life for those who crucified him, the believer will be led by the Holy Spirit to follow Christ’s commandment to “love one another” (John 15:12).  In fact, if all of the citizens of our land would be drawn to this spirit of love rather than to the madness for might and the ambition for power, we could have avoided all of the civil disobedience, rioting, hatred, crime and other national sins that have burdened and divided our land for so many years; for those who have been reborn again into the new life of faith in their Savior Jesus Christ will build a national righteousness which could give lasting peace to our nation.

For instance, in the 1940’s the Chicago Tribune featured an article on Frankenmuth, Michigan.  At that time the town had been 102 years old, but had never had a crime of violence in all those years.  During the last twenty-five of those years its jail had been entirely empty.  Throughout the Depression not one person had been on the relief rolls.  Since its founding Frankenmuth had been first in the State of Michigan to report all of its taxes paid in full, and it had given more than the average in charitable drives.  What was the secret to this marvelous record of peace and prosperity?  The answer is simply this:  95 per cent of the people in Frankenmuth were Christians, members of Lutheran congregations.  Likewise, if every community in the United States were filled with men, women, and children who loved the Lord, there would be no crime waves, lawlessness, or scandals which are begun by the love of sinning; for the Lord, as he has repeated promised in his Bible, also would shower his blessings upon an obedient people, which would compensate for their weaknesses, failures, and lack of understanding, and in so doing would give them a personal and a national peace in spite of their own feeble and frail attempts to do so.

What could you do, then, in order to have this national peace?  First of all, you must have real trust in the Savior, for without him you “could do nothing” (John 15:5).

Secondly, as the text indicates, you must pray for the peace of our land.  Even though the government would not be perfect; even though there would be corrupt laws, corrupt makers of those laws, and corrupt citizens who elect those lawmakers, the only way to straighten things out and to receive rich blessings from Heaven would be to approach the Most High in sincere, faith-filled prayer.

Thirdly, believers scattered from sea to shining sea must help the citizens in their communities repent of their sins and return to God.  In the shocking 11 September attacks of 2001 that humbled this nation, God gave us a startling sign of his displeasure.  Yet there was no repentant response from coast to coast.  Think about this:  Just what would it take, what more would God have to do to get this land to wake up and to repent?  In the days of Samuel the prophet, the Israelites humbled themselves and, after a solemn worship service of repentance, Heaven gave them a long period of peace (1st Samuel 7:14).  Similarly, today, a penitent, Christ-trusting America without a doubt would receive from the Lord the blessing of internal and international peace.  “If God would be for us, who could be against us?” (Romans 8:31.)  Therefore, support mission work in order to re-Christianize our nation!

Fourthly, do not be hypocritical, but behave as a genuine follower of Christ!  Obey his commandments!  Do not be lawless and break them!

Fifthly, take care of your civic duties and privileges, such as, obeying the speed limit, voting, informing your elected representatives of your opposition to abortion, to gambling, and to other legislation which is detrimental to the lives and morals of our republic, so that, as the “salt of the earth” (Matthew 5:13), you may not lose your godly influence on those around you!

Probably the highest question, then, that could be asked of you this Independence Day would be this:  How could you best serve your country?  The answer would be:  By getting it to be blessed, not cursed by the Almighty.

How could you do that?  It will be by seeking the peace of our land by being a law-abiding citizen, and by praying the Father for the peace of our land.

Serve your country and your Savior in this way!  Do it today!  Then be assured that you truly have been patriotic!

TO READ IN BOOK FORMAT, OR TO PRINT THIS ARTICLE, CLICK ON THIS LINK – 16-The-Lord-defends-a-powerless-Nation-Jehosaphat

2nd Chronicles 19:4-20:32

About nine hundred years before the birth at Bethlehem of Jesus Christ, mankind’s Savior and God, there lived a king by the name of Jehoshaphat.  His capital was Jerusalem.  Spiritually, he was a believer in the one and only true God:  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, for the Bible speaks favorably of him, reporting, for example, that he brought his idol-worshiping citizens “back to the Lord God of their fathers” (19:4), and that he did “what was right in the sight of the Lord” (20:32).

That was not all, this godly king then appointed judges to administer justice according to the rule of law, that is, to administer justice without favoritism.  To be sure, far from banishing the God of heaven from his courtrooms, far from ordering federal workers to strip the walls of every last biblical symbol, as has been done in recent years in America, the king charged his appointees:  “Let the fear of the Lord be upon you; take care and do it, for there is no iniquity with the Lord our God, no partiality, nor taking of bribes…. You shall act in the fear of Lord, faithfully and with a loyal heart…. Whatever case would come to you from your brethren who would dwell in their cities… you shall warn them, lest they trespass against the Lord and wrath come upon you and your brethren.  Do this and you will not be guilty” (19:7, 9-10).  By doing this the king intended to bring upon his beloved people an era of peace and of blessing from the Lord.  Jehoshaphat knew that in order to receive Heaven’s precious blessing, his nation needed righteousness.  The only way in which this could be done would be to turn the hearts of his people away from their idols, urge them to repent and to believe the gospel of God, and in this way transform their minds through the mighty power contained in the gospel words themselves so that they could act righteously, responsibly, and helpfully before God and toward their neighbors with peace and love in their hearts.

Just the same, as the king was working intently and prayerfully at this, a national emergency arose.  Three neighboring nations conspired to attack his nation of Judah.  This was no minor threat.  They vastly outnumbered Judah’s army.  In man’s eyes, according to man’s estimate, speaking strictly in human terms, these nations could devastate Judah thoroughly.

What did Jehoshaphat do?  Did he call together his generals?  Did he order an immediate draft of all men who could fight?  Did he order his arsenals to stay open around the clock in order to turn out more spears, swords and arrows?  He did the right thing.  He did the wisest thing.  Knowing the commands and promises from God’s own mouth which the Bible records, yet the word “knowing” is not enough; better: “being convinced strongly” by the commands and promises in the Bible, the king went to the Lord in prayer.  The text relates that he “set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah” (20:3).  By proclaiming an abstinence from large meals, the king wanted all of his people to center their appetites on the serious issue facing all of them.
Next he summoned all of his citizens to assemble together in order to urge them to depend on the Lord’s promises to come to their aid, and to deliver them.  Where is such leadership today?  God is not merely consulted last, but not at all by our national leaders in public assemblies.  In a national crisis, first the National Security Council is consulted, then, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Pentagon, national political advisors, congressional leaders, NATO, and the UN.  How would you feel if your own family would make a decision in a crisis which concerned you, but would leave you out of it?  How would God your Creator and Preserver feel?

Not only did the king determine to pray to the Lord, but he called on his citizens with a sense of urgency to join him in prayer to the Lord for protection.  While our own land in not threatened by invasion at this time, our people are being afflicted by all sorts of hardships and burdens, national and local.  The story of Jehoshaphat’s behavior demonstrates the emphatic, repeated teaching of the Bible that the Lord will keep his protection promises for an individual or for an entire nation of repentant, gospel-believing followers.

Think again about the dangerous situation recorded in the text!  The land of Judah was outnumbered by its enemies.  The enemy knew that.  The people knew that.  The Lord knew that.  So what is a person to do in such a circumstance?  Pray to the Lord!  Remind him reverently that you will continue to trust his pledge to protect you!  You do not know how the Lord will protect.  You do not know what action he will take, how he will set it in motion, how he will bring it to a successful conclusion, or what the invisible mechanics, so to speak, will be involved in order to accomplish the result.  Could you follow along if a scientist would explain to you how to construct a nuclear reactor?  How could you ever follow along if you were to be told of the unfathomable workings of God almighty?  Trying to find out the unknowable workings of God is not where God wants you to look in order to get assurance. The assurance which you would need will be found only in his protecting pledges.  That is where he will direct you to look.  Will you not do so?

Listen to Jehoshaphat’s prayer!  “O Lord God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven, and do you not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations, and in your hand is there not power and might, so that no one is able to withstand you?  Are you not our God, who drove out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel, and gave it to the descendants of Abraham your friend forever?  And they dwell in it, and have built you a sanctuary in it for your name, saying, ‘If disaster would come upon us, such as the sword, judgment, pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this temple and in your presence for your name is in this temple, and cry out to you in our affliction, and you will hear and save’.  And now here are the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, whom you would not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them and did not destroy them, here they are, rewarding us by coming to throw us out of your possession which you have given us to inherit.  O our God, will you not judge them?  For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon you” (20:6-12).

What a prayer!  What political leader today in the United States, name me one, could compose a prayer as this in his own words?  Decades ago our Presidents could and did.  Read Lincoln’s declarations for the various days of Humiliation and Prayer which he called on this nation to observe during the dark days of the Civil War, and for his public praises after a victory!  A Christian theologian, after suffering for years in the school of affliction, and experienced in prayer composition, could not have written anything finer.   However, for decades now U. S. Presidents have used talented, articulate ghost writers to draw up their speeches.  Indeed, to win elections, Presidential candidates are simply required to have plenty of hair, good writers, good debating instincts, and other such non-leadership and non-morals qualities, not to have repentance and faith, nor to be competent at composing a prayer.

In this prayer Jehoshaphat bared his soul as to what he believed.  In fact, he put his trust into practice.  He prayed openly and urgently in public to the Lord, reasoning with him to stand by his stated promises of protection, and to keep those pledges by doing something physically to help.  To be sure, God did not need to be reminded of what he had promised.  So why did he let Jehoshaphat go on with his long prayer?  Think about that for a moment!  Since God knew what was on the king’s mind, indeed, since God himself moved the neighboring countries to threaten Judah militarily (Amos 3:6), why did God wait for the king to make a prayer?

Take note!  It will always be for this reason:  God wanted the king to exercise his faith.  This is the reason.  He wanted the king’s trust in his pledges to be stronger.  This is why God let the king pray.  This is why God brought on a situation which would move the king to pray, and to be a great example and encouragement to his people. By this situation the Lord impelled the king to flex his faith’s muscles to the intent that they would be made stronger.  The Lord wanted him to sink the footings of his trust deeper into the foundation of his pledges.  Jehoshaphat’s ordeal gave him a deeper trust in God’s promise to help.  It was a difficult, but a beneficial exercise, for through the Lord’s holy training the king was blessed with a stronger hold on Heaven’s help, and a clearer conception of his ever-present protection.  The king would not let an overwhelming military threat dissuade him from the certainty which had been pledged him that God will protect his believers.

This is why the Lord brings hardship upon his repentant followers.  It is not to punish them, but to move them to exercise their faith so that their trust would become more strong, firm, and reliant on his pledges to feed, to clothe, to protect, and to save them.
While God wants you to wait for him as he fulfills his pledge in the best way and at the best time, God nevertheless had surpassing mercy on King Jehoshaphat and the gathered citizens of Judah, for he spoke through one of his prophets explaining to them how he would deliver them.  To be sure, through this prophet, God the Holy Spirit assured the people more than once not to be afraid, because he knew that their sinful flesh inside them would doubt and fear because the sinful flesh ever refuses to look to God’s promises.

The high lesson which you could and should take to heart from this prophet’s words; the surpassing reassurance which the Lord would give you, is this:  “The battle is not yours, but God’s” (20:15).  “Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you… Do not fear or be dismayed… for the Lord is with you!” (20:17.)

How did the king and the people respond to this mighty assurance?  Did they shake their heads in serious doubt, exclaiming, “How could this be?  We cannot see any way out. God must be wrong”?  Did they resort to drilling their people in military warfare?  The text reports that they believed this further pledge of God, bowed to him in reverence, and worshiped him (20:18).  They did the right thing.  They got an A+ on the Lord’s test of their trust. Where is America’s reverent response?  How does it stand in doing the right thing before the Lord?  Would this country pass or fail?  Presently, the overwhelming majority has failed.  Still the sneer rises up from the citizenry:  “Who needs God?”

What is more, the Lord’s prophet invited the people of Judah to go out and to see the Lord’s power in action, that is, to witness how the Lord would carry out his promise to save their lives.

Did the people hesitate to go out?  Did they show signs of doubt in the Lord’s pledge or selfish fear as the overwhelming majority of American citizens do?  Confidently, they traveled to the designated place, all the while singing to the Lord, and praising the beauty of his holiness (20:21).  To be sure, only believers who are certain of the Lord’s promise, only those who are convinced and sure that he will keep his pledges faithfully, can face any evil triumphantly in this life, including death.  They could and should triumphantly sing high compliments to God, and go down life’s path with calming assurance.  Do you want to be this way?  Listen to God’s gospel promises as they invite you to trust in the Lord with all you heart, and do not lean on your own understanding! (Proverbs 3:5.)

After the king and the citizens arrived at the designated place, they were amazed.  Their deliverance from their enemies had already taken place.  They saw the result.  Two of the three enemies had fought against the third one.  Then the other two fought against each other until no one was left alive.  “No one had escaped” (20:24).  Without Judah raising one sword, its enemies went down to defeat.  How?  Learn the lesson well!  It was because of God’s doing, none of man’s.  God had held out a protection promise to Judah.  The people of Judah responded by trusting it.  God then kept his word.  On the other hand, the three enemies of Judah ignored God’s protection pledges, proposed sinful, indeed, murderous behavior, trusted in the mighty arm of man, as Scripture terms it (Jeremiah 17:5 ), that is they trusted in their combined military might.  Because they made no effort to put themselves on the Lord’s side, they went down to annihilation – not one was left.  Turn the pages of the Old Testament and see this sad event occur over and over!  Read the passages (Psalm 44:3; Jeremiah 48:25) which warn against the folly of trusting in the arm of men!

Yet men will not listen nor learn.  Various Americans propose solutions to our critical problems which leave God out, and put their hope in the arm of men.  Others who would bring up God put him on the side of the white hats against the black hats.  Yet the question is not:  “On whose side is God?” rather:  “Who is on the Lord’s side?” (Exodus 32:26.)  Are You?  If your response would be “No,” then get on his side!  Repent and believe!

Realize that unforgiven sin separates you from God!  It inflames God’s fury and calls down his terrible punishment, both in this life and in the next.  “God is a just judge, and God is angry with the wicked every day” (Psalm 7:11).  “The wicked shall be turned into hell” (Psalm 9:17).

Confess your “transgressions to the Lord” (Psalm 32:5)! Then, pray:  “Save me for your mercies’ sake!” (Psalm 4:5)!  Depend on his promised mercy toward you (Luke 18:13)!

Indeed, be assured, based on God’s own pledge, that he has declared you righteous (2nd Corinthians 5:19), freed you from sins’ guilt and your sins’ punishment by the holy life of and by the punishment in hell of God the Son – Jesus Christ, who did it to gain your release!  What love he has shown you!  To be sure, “God proved his love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  Much more then, having now been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him” (Romans 5:8-9).

Therefore, “put your trust in the Lord!” (Psalm 4:5.)  Confess confidently:  “You are my King, O God.  You have saved us from our enemies” (Psalm 44:4, 7)!  Do not trust the might of men!  “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord!  For he will be as a tree planted by the waters which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; but her leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit” (Jeremiah 17:7-8).