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Be Strong in the Lord!

 

Yes, it is important to be strong. The Bible urges you to be strong (Ephesians 6:10).

Yet what is there that could make you strong? Immediately, the Word of God gives you a reply, stating, “The power of his might” (Ephesians 6:10). In other words, not from your weak nature, but from the divine power which is given to you by the Lord from his limitless supply, will you be strong in the Lord.

For what purpose does the Lord want you to be strong in him? He wants you to be spiritually strong so that you will remain in your gospel faith which he has given you. The Lord knows that every day you commit countless sins. As gasps of air can be let out of a balloon bit by bit until the balloon would finally collapse, so each sin which you would commit will take away life from your faith until it will finally die.

The Lord also knows that every day countless temptations will assault you unannounced with great stealth, deceit, and appeal. To fight off these assaults, and to keep your faith alive in order to get to heaven, the Lord knows how much you need strength, his strength. So go to him for it! Be strong in the Lord!

Where does the Lord supply you with strength? The gracious and almighty power of God for your faith comes to you through the gospel promises. Only in connection with them will God bring his power to you. It is in these pledges that the Lord wills to work his might on you (1st Corinthians 2:4-5; Galatians 3:2, 6).

So be strong, then! Be strong in the Lord’s might!

—

Lord, open now my heart to hear,

    And through your Word to me draw near.

Let me your Word e’er pure retain;

     Let me your child and heir remain.

Christian Worship: A Lutheran Hymnal 282:1.

 

 

Your Birth.

 

While waiting for your birth your parents and relatives wondered who you would be. Yet your loving Lord was not taken by surprise. He knew who you would be. Not only did he know about you, but also before creation, already in eternity, the Lord of life decided to create you. According to his gracious will he determined that he wanted you to exist. Therefore, he planned the time when you should be born, where you should be born, what you should look like, and what your personal talents and characteristics should be, even down to the detail of what your name should be.

More important, however, is this: that you should be assured by the Lord’s teaching about your election, that he created you specifically for the purpose that you should live with him in his heavenly home. The holy Scriptures remind you, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will” (Ephesians 1:3-6).     “God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, to which he called you by our gospel” (2nd Thessalonians 2:13).

To accomplish this, the Lord, therefore, carefully arranged and especially saw to it that after your birth you would be baptized, and in this way be brought into his holy family of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. After this you would be raised up and taught more about the Lord’s own precious promise of forgiveness, and of the life to come with him forever.

Later, throughout the rest of your life, your loving Lord will send you people and testings, crosses and encouragements, which would be designed and tailored by him to keep you clinging to the only thing that will bring you into heaven, namely, the sure, powerful gospel pledge of God. You have his promise for this.

In order to assure you that this is his intent, your loving Lord has given you his precious pledge of predestination, “[God] has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began” (2nd Timothy 1:9). See how blessed you are!

 

 

Your Purpose.

 

Your purpose is to serve God and your neighbor with good works until you are brought home to heaven. You are to use the talents which God has given you to accomplish this.

God has seen to it that you have been born at this time and in this place – not at some other time or place. He will supply you with what would be necessary to complete your mission.

So use your God-given gifts so that he will be complimented, and so that your neighbor will have his needs met with mercy, justice, or Christian faith (Matthew 23:23)! In fact, keep busy those who are around you, giving them Christian work to do! Pass down to your descendants the compete truth of God’s gospel, and work to strengthen them in the one true faith!

 

         God, from all eternity

           In your Son you did elect me;

         Therefore, Father, graciously

           In my course to heaven direct me;

         Send to me your Holy Spirit,

           That his gifts I may inherit.

Evangelical Lutheran Hymn-Book 343:1, altered.

 

 

Your Baptism.

 

After the true and triune God created you, and shaped you in the womb, the next step in his plan was even more wonderful. He gave you another birth – a new birth, a better birth than the first. He brought you to know him as your kind, gracious Father who has loved you with an everlasting love. He did this through baptism.

Indeed, look at all of the marvelous things which your loving Lord has done for you in baptism! To begin with, the Scriptures state that God cannot have rebellious, unregenerate, hell-bound children in his family. So in order to adopt you, an unregenerate baby boy (Ephesians 2:1), so that you could receive God’s name (Matthew 28:19), the Spirit first had to make you heaven-bound by commanding your parents in the Words of the Bible to baptize you (Matthew 28:19) in order to subject you to his power (John 3:5), promising to work his wonderful might through baptism to rescue your soul (Galatians 3:27). Next the Lord approached your soul by way of his saving pledge of forgiveness which is in baptism (Acts 22:16), handing it over to you (Acts 2:38), placing forgiveness into your personal possession by powering your soul (Ephesians 1:19) to clamp onto it tightly (Matthew 11:12) by an act of faith; which forgiveness, being brought to you, in a sense, washed your sins away (Acts 22:16) and, consequently, removed your guilt (1st Peter 3:21) causing God to consider you to be righteous (Romans 5:11).

Since the all-holy Almighty cannot have a sin-controlled, adopted child, he also had to affect a change in you, that is, in your intellect, will, and desires. Therefore, through his gospel pledge in baptism, the Lord made a severe attack on your “flesh with its passions and desires” (Galatians 5:24), broke the deadly spell which sin had over you (Romans 6:6), and regenerated you (Titus 3:5), that is, the Lord gave you spiritual life where there had been none before (2nd Corinthians 5:17), in which you were given a new nature of righteousness and holiness as God has (Ephesians 4:24), through which you became dead to sin but alive to God (Romans 6:11), your newly adopted Father. What is more, the Spirit will continue to keep your faith alive (1st Peter 1:5) until the time when you could understand language, and have your faith fed and preserved by the gospel report from the Word of God (Romans 10:17).

What a blessing your baptism has been to you! Think of it! Thank God for it!

 

 

The Gospel according to the Alphabet.

 

ALL men had deserved to die

BECAUSE all had sinned,

CAUSING God, the just judge, to demand their

DEATH for

ETERNITY.

FAVORABLY for all men, God gave his

GOSPEL plan to

HELP us by

INTERVENING. Though God is

JUST and must punish offenders, he is also

KIND,

LOVING, and

MERCIFUL.

NICELY, therefore, he sent his

ONLY BEGOTTEN Son, according to his gospel

PROMISE, to

QUIET his just anger against all,

REBELLIOUS

SINNERS.

TRUSTING this gospel pledge

UNCONDITIONALLY, you will gain the

VICTORY everyday over

WICKED unbelief, and not end up in hell, but will

eXCEL in strong, gospel faith

YET evermore until you enter the heavenly

ZION: God’s paradise.

 

A Prayer for Forgiveness.

 

Unless you would repent, you will all likewise perish (Luke 13:5).

[The Lord is] not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance (2nd Peter 3:9).

God has also granted… repentance to life (Acts 11:18).

If we would confess our sins, {God] will be faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1st John 1:9).

Dear Father, Son, and Holy Spirit:

By the stern warnings of your law passages, point out to me the unpleasant truth that I am hopelessly lost – bound for a most terrible, fiery punishment which will last for an eternity! Give me a humble, repentant mind by which I will freely confess my complete guilt as a sinner! Prompt me to plead for pardon for my sins! Then bring me your happy promise that simply by your grace, for the sake of Christ and his saving blood, you have already cleansed me from my sins, and have opened heaven to me! Fasten mine attention to this pledge! Strengthen me to believe it! Assure me that by relying on this great pardon purchased by Christ, I am saved eternally! What a gracious God you are! How merciful you have been to me! Lovingly assure me that I need only believe that while I was still a sinner, Christ died for me, to possess your full, free forgiveness! What a kind gift this is! How merciful you are to present this salvation to me! Move me to thank you always! Purge my life of sin! Help me to lead a holy life! Amen!

The gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus (Romans 6:23).

Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift! (2nd Corinthians 9:15.)

—

       Since Christ has full atonement made

         And brought to us salvation,

       Each Christian, therefore, may be glad

         And build on this foundation.

       Your grace alone, dear Lord, I plead;

         Your death is now my life indeed,

       For you have paid my ransom.

Christian Worship: A Lutheran Hymnal 390:5.

The Making of a Prayer.

 

State the facts!

State your desire as to what God should do with his power in regard to the facts!

Recall some law passages which state your unworthiness!

Think of the promises of God which cover the matter at hand!

Remember some gospel passages which state Heaven’s help for the believer!

Use gospel exhortations at the end to encourage you!

Confess that you most certainly believe what the gospel passages have promised you, professing, for instance, “Yes, I believe that God will do this for me”! Mean it! Put an exclamation point after your “Amen”!

—

The Lord my pasture shall prepare

                And feed me with a shepherd’s care;

             His presence shall my wants supply

                 And guard me with a watchful eye;

             My noonday walks He shall attend

                 And all my midnight hours defend.

                 The Lutheran Hymnal 368:1.

 

A Prayer for Repentance and Faith.

 

[God] commands all men everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30).

Repent! (Mark 1:15.)

Who, then, can be saved? (Matthew 19:25.)

Joy will be in heaven over one sinner who repents (Luke 15:7).

Who is this that forgives sins? (Luke 7:4.)

Christ forgave you (Colossians 3:13).

 

Dear Lord Jesus Christ, my only ransom from eternal ruin:

Give me your guidance to salvation! Through your gospel pledges, draw me to your power! Secondly, by your power, move me to desire your pledges, prompting me to accept your promise that you really are the rescuer of the whole human race, which includes me! As I read the facts from the Bible of your terrible suffering in hell on the cross, open my mind to realize not only my many repeated transgressions, but also your unending love for me! Then move me not only to be sorry for my sins, but also to look up to your gospel pledges for mercy and salvation! I have no help, but from you. Keep me as your own by powering me to believe the gospel throughout my life! After this is done, bring me home to heaven! Amen!

You, being dead in your trespasses, [God] has made alive… having forgiven you all trespasses (Colossians 2:13).

To you the Word of this salvation has been sent (Acts 13:26).

Hold firmly the Word of life! (Philippians 2:16.)

 

—

     Faith has a living pow’r from heav’n

         That grasps the promise God has giv’n,

     A trust that cannot be o’erthrown,

         When fixed upon his pledge alone.

 

     I thank you, then, O God of heav’n,

         That you to me this faith have giv’n

     Through mighty word and sacrament

         To trust the pledge which you have sent.

     Christian Worship: A Lutheran Hymnal

       404:1 & 4, altered.

 

Strengthen your Faith!

 

Does the Bible speak of strengthening your faith? Yes, it does.

How could your faith be made stronger? For the answer to this you will need to look at what faith is.

In order for faith to exist, there first needs to be a promise. In order for the saving faith of a Christian to exist, there needs to be a promise of salvation. God knows this. When God planned a way to hand over his salvation to you, he chose to put his salvation into the form of a promise. Whenever a promise would be presented to you, it will call for you to believe it.

Upon believing a promise, you will receive and enjoy what that promise has pledged to you. Upon believing the gospel promise of God, you will receive and enjoy what his promise has pledged to you: salvation. This is why your caring Lord invites and urges you, imploring, “Believe the gospel!” (Mark 1:15.) “He who believes… will be saved. He who does not believe will be damned” (Mark 16:16). Belief in the gospel pledge saves you. This is the way God planned his salvation. Unbelief in the gospel would not save anyone, because that person will not have salvation in his possession.

How could you be strong in your belief in the gospel pledge of God? First of all, look at what saving belief is, what it does, and what it involves! Saving belief, or saving faith, is an act of your will in your soul by which the saving acts of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, which are found in the gospel promises, are accepted as true and as completely capable of saving you. Saving faith is the trust by your soul in the gospel promises that God has done what he has pledged he would do in regard to your salvation. It is the clear and unmistakable knowledge about the gospel pledge, of what it means for you, and of its benefits for you. Saving faith is the assurance which your soul exhibits after it has received assurance from the gospel. Saving belief is the personal reliance of the soul on what God has pledged. Described negatively: saving faith will surrender all prideful righteousness, and will not tell God on what terms salvation should be given.

What is it that weakens your saving faith? Two things weaken it: your sinful nature, and the sins which your sinful nature commits. Your sinful nature, variously called by the Bible “the old man” (Ephesians 4:22), the “outward man” (2nd Corinthians 4:16), “the body of sin” (Romans 6:6), and the “flesh” (Romans 7:18), which is under the rule of sin, “wars against” (Galatians 5:17) your saving faith. Among other things, your sinful flesh rejects the things of the Holy Spirit (1st Corinthians 2:14), which would include the gospel. Therefore, in regard to the gospel, your sinful flesh will do the very opposite of what saving faith will do: your flesh will doubt, distrust, disbelieve, reject, disagree with, and not rely on the gospel pledges.

What is more, the sins which your sinful flesh produces in your thoughts, speech, and actions, also will weaken your saving faith. Thus your saving faith will need to be strengthened against the terrific fight which your sinful nature will put up, and because of the drain of energy which your sinning will cause on your saving faith.

Where could you get strength for your saving faith? Scripture quickly responds that you will get strength from the gospel pledges themselves, and from God. The Bible teaches simultaneously that the power to believe comes from God (Ephesians 1:19), and that the power to believe comes from the gospel promises (Romans 10:17). Thus the Word of God will urge you in many passages to strengthen your saving faith by turning to the gospel pledges for their divine power, and to get power from God, who will supply your faith with strength through those same gospel pledges. Now do it!

 

A Prayer for Strengthening.

 

Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am weak! (Psalm 6:2.)

Thus says the Lord: I will strengthen you (Isaiah 41:10). My strength is made complete in [your] weakness (2nd Corinthians 12:9).

Lest you be wearied and faint in your minds (Hebrews 12:3), be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might! (Ephesians 6:10.)

Dear Lord Jesus Christ:

Show me that without your salvation I am hopelessly lost; that I have sins in need of forgiveness, guilt in need of removal, and a sinful soul in need of change! Teach me to come before you humbly to ask pardon for all of the evil in my life! I need salvation. For that you have given me your gospel pledges. I need possession of that salvation. For that you have given me a faith in your gospel promises. Yet I need strength to keep my faith strong. For that you, again, have pointed me to your gospel. Enrich my faith with your power through these gospel pledges! May the pledges themselves enrich my faith with power! Surround me with your promised protection!     Yet more than this: make me trust your gospel promises more strongly so that through all the changes in my life, my hold on your salvation will always be most firm! Reassure me that even when I am too weak to exercise my faith, you will move me to do it by releasing your power on me through the gospel pledges!

Help me firmly to believe the gospel facts that your death in hell has removed my sins’ punishment; that your holy life has opened heaven for me! Use this joyful, gospel news to pour your strength into my soul to calm my fears, to remove my doubts, and to kindle new courage in me! I ask this, being reassured by your own mighty promises, that you will, indeed, do this. Amen!

Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus! (2nd Timothy 2:1.)

Be strengthened with might by his power (Ephesians 3:16), established in the faith! (Colossians 2:7.)

“Be strong and of good courage!” (Joshua 1:6.)

 

 

 

Seven, Simple, Saving Statements

From your Savior.

Your sins are forgiven (Matthew 9:2).

Be of good cheer! Be not afraid! (Matthew 14:27.)

He who hears my Word… shall not come into judgment (John 5:24).

The Words that I speak to you are… life (John 6:63).

Peace be with you! (John 20:19.)

Where I am, there you must be also (John 14:3).

Because I live you will live also (John 14:19).

—

           Jesus is the perfect Savior,

             Only source of all that’s good;

           Ev’ry grace and ev’ry favor

             Come to us through Jesus’ blood.

 

           Jesus gives us true repentance

             By his Spirit sent from heav’n

           Whispers this assuring sentence,

             “All your sins are now forgiv’n.”

Christian Worship: A Lutheran Hymnal 354:2 & 3.

 

One Dozen Descriptions of Saving Strength.

 

God has salvation. God holds out his salvation to you. He wants you to have it. In order for you to have it, God will put it into your possession. To make this happen, God has already put his salvation into the form of a promise. Now God will bring his salvation promise to you in the additional form of a loving, warm, and urgent invitation.   At the same time the divine power that this promise has by nature will move you to believe this pledge. As soon as you would believe God’s promise of salvation, you will possess his salvation. God considers it to be so, and he will assure you of it. This possession is what is called “saving faith.”

As an act of your will, your saving faith will need to be fed in a spiritual manner. It will need to be kept healthy. It will need to be kept firm through toughening. It will need to be kept strong through exercise. This is because your perverse, sinful flesh will stubbornly fight to make your soul spiritually starved, sick, broken down, and weak. On account of this, your saving faith must be strengthened by a regular supply of power.

God has recognized this need, and, therefore, has urged you in many salvation pledges to be strong, which he has put into the form of exhortations. Next, through these same salvation pledges, God will use his power to make your saving faith strong (Ephesians 1:19; 3:16), just as the divine power of the pledges themselves will also work to make your faith strong (1st Thessalonians 2:13; Hebrews 4:12). How helpful! How wise! How concerned your Lord is for you!

The following is a list of one dozen descriptions of strength which the Lord wants you to acquire for your saving faith. For instance, his Scriptures give assurance that –

 

1)  The Lord God is my might (Habakkuk 3:19), and

2)  The strength of my salvation (Psalm 140:7).

3)  Since God is the rock of my heart (Psalm 73:26),

4)  He will make me bold with strength in my soul (Psalm 138:3).

5)  Because God is my stronghold (2nd Samuel 22:33),

6)  The Bible urges me, “Be strong!” (Isaiah 35:4) and again:

7)  “Be powerful in the grace that is in Christ Jesus!” (2nd Timothy 2:1.)

8)  As a result, God’s power is made complete in my weakness (2nd Corinthians 12:9),

9)  Since to be strengthened with power through the Holy Spirit in the inner man (Ephesians 3:16),

10) Means to be powered with all power according to God’s glorious strength (Colossians 1:11).

11) Because the God of all grace has called me to his eternal glory, he will fasten me firmly (1st Peter 5:10) in regard to my saving faith.

12) Since I have this robust comfort, namely, that God has laid an oath on top of his promise of salvation (Hebrews 6:17-18), I, in turn, will be made robust (1st John 2:14).

—

               O God, forsake me not

                 Take not your Spirit from me;

               Do not permit the might

                 Of sin to overcome me.

               Increase my feeble faith,

                 Which, for me, you have got,

               Oh, be my strength and pow’r –

                 O God, forsake me not!

Christian Worship: A Lutheran Hymnal 424:2,

altered.

 

 

 

The Gospel stated in Words of One Syllable.

 

The gospel, that is, “the good news of great joy” (Luke 2:10), is not hard to understand at all. In fact, it could be stated in words of one syllable. Here it is!

 

At the start of time, God had made man in a pure state. Yet man threw all of that out when he first sinned. God had warned man that should he sin, he would have to die a death that would have no end. Thus when man did sin, he brought on his soul, as well as on the souls of the whole race, a death in hell where God’s wrath on them would have no end.

Yet out of his great grace, the Lord willed that he would save the whole race of damned souls so that it could still live with him on high, while at the same time he would keep his law just. So how would he do both?

The plan which God thought up was this: God the Son would come down to earth and be born a man. In this state Christ could now live a pure life in our place so as to keep the great law of God which was laid down for man, but which man had not kept. This work had to be done if man would be pure once more in the sight of God.

Next Christ would have to pay the price for the guilt of all men, or, as the Word of God puts it, he would have to take on him all of the sins of the whole world. By this Christ would take on the full wrath of God which was meant to be poured out on the whole world. This took place in the great pains of Christ on the cross.

These are the two great acts which Christ your Lord of love has done for you. What a great God he is! What grace he has shown to you! Hear it, and be saved! For the Lord in his Word has made an oath to you. This oath swears that you will live with Christ for the rest of time since you have faith in the pledge that Christ in his two great works on earth has done all to save you from death and to bring you home to live with him on high. This is the “good news of great joy,” as the Word of God puts it. This is the grand pledge of God that saves you.

So say in your soul: “I have faith in this pledge! God, keep my faith firm in your pledge!”

—

           In your promise firm we stand;

               None can take us from your hand.

         Speak – we hear – at your command,

               We will follow you.

 

Christian Worship: A Lutheran Hymnal 436:2.

 

Ten Treatments of Saving Confidence.

 

Christ your Lord has worked out and won salvation for you. Christ guarantees this fact in his gospel pledge. This gospel pledge is then trusted by your saving faith.

At the heart of your saving faith is confidence. Confidence is your “Amen!” or “This is most certainly true!” to the salvation which your Lord has promised to you. Confidence is the result of the gospel which comes “in power… and in much assurance” (1st Thessalonians 1:5).

To be confident, then, you will need to hear the gospel so that your mind could be exposed to the gospel’s power, and, as a result, be assured by that gospel promise. To stay confident, then, you will need to be exposed and assured regularly by the gospel promise. Therefore, let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly! (Colossians 3:16.)

The Holy Bible describes this state of confidence as –

 

1) Having the knowledge of salvation of which the believer is persuaded and assured: “I know [Christ] whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have entrusted to him,” that is, my faith (2nd Timothy 1:12).

2)  Christian confidence is variously described as confident persuasion (Ephesians 3:12);

3)  As boldness to which the believer holds firmly (Hebrews 3:6) and does not “cast away” (Hebrews 10:35).

4)  Confidence is the state of having good courage (2nd Corinthians 5:6).

5)  It is a confidence of the heart living firmly and immovably (Hebrews 3:14).

6)  Saving confidence is trust (2nd Corinthians 3:4);

7)  Confident boasting (2nd Corinthians 9:4);

8)  Being fully persuaded (Romans 4:20);

9)  Full assurance (Colossians 2:2); and

10) Having full assurance of faith (Hebrews 10:22).

 

To be sure, you must be certain of the gospel before you could be confident. The holy Scriptures, therefore, describe the Christian as “knowing the certainty” of the gospel (Luke 1:4).

However, in order for you to be certain, the ground of your certainty must be found outside of your weak, sinful, unsound mind. In other words, you will need to have an outside witness in order to be certain. Only the divine gospel promises could do this, for only the gospel promises will be able to create in your mind full assurance that your sins are forgiven (1st Thessalonians 2:13). Thus whenever you would read the gospel pledges, your confidence will be mightily strengthened. In fact, whenever you would apply the gospel pledges to yourself, and confess, “That forgiveness includes me,” it will mean that you are confident.

This is why God chose the singular method of salvation by promise: so that you could be completely confident of your salvation. How wise of him! Be confident, then! Trust his gospel promises!

 

—

   By grace! This ground of our salvation,

       As long as God is true, endures:

   What saints have penned by inspiration,

       What God by His own Word assures,

   What all our faith must rest upon,

       Is grace, free grace, through His dear Son.

 

   By grace! May sin and Satan hearken!

       I bear my flag of faith in hand

   And pass – for doubts my joy can’t darken –

       The Red Sea to the Promised Land.

   I cling to what my Savior taught,

       And trust it, whether felt or not.

 

Evangelical Lutheran Hymn-Book 311: 5 & 10, altered.

 

The ABC’S of Saving Faith.

 

APPEARED.    [Christ] APPEARED to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself (Hebrews 9:26).

BAPTISM.    BAPTISM does also now save us (1st Peter 3:21).

CUP.           This CUP is the new testament in my blood (Luke 22:20).

DEPTHS.    You will cast all of our sins into the DEPTHS of the sea (Micah 7:19).

ETERNAL.  God has given to us ETERNAL life (1st John 5:11).

FAITH.        FAITH comes by the gospel report (Romans 10:17).

GOSPEL.      Believe the GOSPEL! (Mark 1:15.)

HOPE.         [Be] not moved away from the HOPE of the gospel! (Colossians 1:23.)

INIQUITY.  [Christ] shall justify many, for he shall bear their INIQUITY (Isaiah 53:11).

KNOW.        KNOW that you were not redeemed with corruptible things… but with the precious      blood of Christ! (1st Peter 1:18.)

LAY.             LAY hold on eternal life, to which you were also called! (1st Timothy 6:12.)

MERCY.      The MERCY of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him (Psalm  103:17).

NAME.        Your sins are forgiven you for [Jesus’] NAME’S sake (1st John 2:12).

ORDAINED.   As many as were ORDAINED to eternal life believed (Acts 13:48).

PROMISE.    This is the PROMISE that he has promised us: eternal life (1st John 2:25).

QUIETNESS.   When [God] gives QUIETNESS, who, then, can make trouble? (Job 34:29.)

REPENT.     REPENT, and believe the gospel! (Mark 1:15.)

SAVED.        If you would confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that  God has raised him from the dead, you will be SAVED (Romans 10:9).

TESTAMENT.  I will make a new TESTAMENT…. I will forgive their iniquity (Jeremiah 31:31, 34).

UNDERSTAND.  UNDERSTAND what the will of the Lord is! (Ephesians 5:17.)

VIOLENT.   The VIOLENT take [the kingdom of heaven] by force (Matthew 11:12).

WASHED.   [Jesus Christ] loved us and WASHED us from our sins in his own blood (Revelation  1:5).

eXALTED.   Let the God of my salvation be EXALTED! (Psalm 18:46.)

YOUTH.      O Lord God, you are my trust from my YOUTH (Psalm 71:5).

ZEALOUS.   [Christ] gave himself for us, that he might… purify for himself his own special people,  ZEALOUS for good works (Titus 2:14).

 

—

       God loved the world so that he gave

         His only Son the lost to save

       That all who would in him believe

         Should everlasting life receive.

 

       Christ is the solid rock of faith,

         Who was made flesh and suffered death.

       All who rely on him alone

         Are built on this chief cornerstone.

 

       God would not have the sinner die –

         His Son with saving grace is nigh.

       His Spirit in the Word does teach

         How we the blessed goal may reach.

 

Christian Worship: A Lutheran Hymnal 391:1-3,

   altered.

 

What does the Bible say about Strength?

 

When God would convert an unbeliever, he will give life to that unregenerate person in order for him to become a believer in the gospel promise. Thus the believer is said to have “life through” Jesus’ “name” (John 20:31). He is now “alive to God” (Romans 6:11).

To show how important belief in the gospel pledge is, the Holy Spirit will contrast this with what the person formerly was, and will describe him as having been “dead in sins” (Ephesians 2:5), and “dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1).

Prior to believing, a person is then in the state of unbelief. Unbelief is when the soul in separated from God. Scripture refers to unbelievers as those whose “iniquities have separated” them “from God” (Isaiah 59:12). They are “strangers from the contracts of promise,” and are “in this world without God” (Ephesians 2:12). Their unbelief is a “departing from our God” (Isaiah 59:13), to which the Almighty must finally declare on Judgment Day, “Depart from me!” (Matthew 7:23.) Thus death is as far away from life as a person could get.

In order to keep a regenerated person regenerated, God will continue to give him the life which he first gave him at his conversion, but with this distinction: From now on God will call this life by a new name. He will call it “strength.”

When the need would quickly arise for you to know to which supply you should go to draw out this strength, Holy Scripture happily points you to the place, or, to state it better, Holy Scripture happily points you to the means which God will use for this purpose. They are the same means which the Lord first used to give you spiritual life. These means are the gospel pledges. The gospel pledges are what God first used to convert you. “I have begotten you through the gospel” (1st Corinthians 4:15); “the gospel… by which also you are saved” (1st Corinthians 15:12). They are also what he now uses to keep you in the state of regeneration and belief. “Man will… live… by every Word which proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). “The Word of God… effectively works also in you who believe” (1st Thessalonians 2:13).

The Word of God will also speak of various kinds of strengthening which the gospel promises would accomplish for your spiritual life, which life the Bible commonly calls your “faith”. These various kinds of strengthening are termed “assuring”, “comforting”, “promising“, “making certain“,   “making   sound   in   faith”,   “healing”, “exercising”, and “putting in mind.” In fact, you could and should also think of these strengthenings in this way: When God first gave to you spiritual life, he assured you of salvation by his gospel pledge. After this, in order to keep spiritual life in you, he would continually reassure you. Indeed, it could be stated that the Lord will also now re-comfort, re-promise, make more certain, make more sound in faith, re-exercise, and remind you. For instance, the Holy Spirit urges that “we, then, who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of the weak” (Romans 15:1) by “strengthening all the disciples” (Acts 18:23). This strengthening would include those efforts to teach people to”know assuredly” (Acts 2:36), to “comfort one another with these words” (1st Thessalonians 4:18), “to stir up your pure minds by way of reminder” (2nd Peter 3:1), “that you may know the certainty of those things” (Luke 1:4), and to urge others to “be sound in faith” (Titus 2:2).

Besides this, the holy Word of God urges you to “be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might” (Ephesians 6:10). That is, it is the Lord’s     will that your own saving faith in his promise of forgiveness should be strong; for every time that you would sin, you will drain your faith of whatever strength it had. In addition to this, your sinful flesh “wars against” your faith (Galatians 5:17) constantly. Therefore, to strengthen your faith, you are to meditate (Psalm 1:2) on the gospel pledges, not merely to look them over, but to “let these words sink down into your ears” (Luke 9:44), to know what they pledge to you, to become certain of their truth, and to become confident of what they promise.

As you meditate, or ponder (Luke 2:19) on God’s gospel pledges, the three, divine powers which these pledges possess will have an opportunity to strengthen your saving faith. Each gospel pledge has the power 1) to teach you to understand what it is saying (John 15:13); 2) to hand over to you the spiritual gift which it is offering (2nd Thessalonians 2:10); and 3) to move you to take into your possession this spiritual gift of salvation by an act of faith in the gospel promise of your salvation (Romans 10:17).

Thus if a doubt should ever weaken you, use a gospel pledge for reassurance! Likewise, if you should ever be troubled, disbelieving, uncertain, weak, wavering, or forgetful, use these pledges to comfort, promise, make certain, make sound in your faith, heal, exercise, and remind yourself!

“Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus!” (2nd Timothy 2:1.)

 

Law and Gospel Passages.

 

God is angry with the wicked every day (Psalm 7:11).

[We] were by nature the children of anger (Ephesians 2:3).

Though you were angry with me, your anger is turned away…. Behold, God is my salvation (Isaiah 12:1-2).

God did not appoint us to [his] anger, but to obtain salvation (1st Thessalonians 5:9).

If God perhaps would grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil (2nd Timothy 2:25-26).

God has also granted… repentance to life (Acts 11:18).

Repent! (Mark 1:15.)

Our Savior Jesus Christ… has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel (2nd Timothy 1:10).

Believe the gospel! (Mark 1:15.)

[The] gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power (1st Thessalonians 1:5).

The Word of God… effectively works in you who believe (1st Thessalonians 2:13).

To you it has been granted… to believe in [Christ] (Philippians 1:29).

[Strive] for the faith of the gospel! (Philippians 1:27.)

—

       What God does in his law demand

         And none to him can render

       Brings wrath and woe on ev’ry hand

         For man, the vile offender.

       Our flesh has not those pure desires

         The spirit of the law requires,

       And lost is our condition.

 

       Yet as the law must be fulfilled

         Or we must die despairing,

       Christ came and has God’s anger stilled,

         Our human nature sharing.

       He has for us the law obeyed

         And thus the Father’s vengeance stayed

       Which over us impended.

Christian Worship: A Lutheran Hymnal 390:2 & 4.

 

A Prayer for more Certainty.

 

You are able… to be… participants of his promise in Christ through the gospel (Ephesians 3:4).

Believe the gospel! (Mark 1:15.)

Believe to the saving of the soul! (Hebrews 10:39.)

Dear Holy Spirit, my Lord and God:

How I wish that I could be more certain of my salvation! How I wish that I could have peace of mind, and be free from doubt! Yet I am at fault. Too often I have been proud. I have been willingly distracted by worldly desires, and I have even desired to sin. As a result, I have weakened myself, and brought on doubt, distrust, and uncertainty. Remove this uncertainty from me! First of all, show me where I could find certainty! I cannot turn to mine own ideas. They are worthless as a foundation. Neither could I look to mine own power for confidence, for it is weakened by sin which pulls me to doubt.

Remind me, therefore, of your dependable gospel promises!   Point to them as the only certain foundation on which I could build my trust, and bring my trust to its fullest certainty! Only the gospel pledges have saving certainty. Only on them do you want me to rely. Indeed, in them you have put divine power which will calm my troubled mind, cast out doubt, and give me full confidence through certainty. See to it! As your gospel pledges will put certainty into the minds of all those who rely on their promises, so now make me certain! Amen!

Lay hold on eternal life! (1st Timothy 6:12.)

 

—

       Lord, your mercy will not leave me –

           Truth does evermore abide –

       Then in you I will confide.

           Since your Word cannot deceive me,

       My salvation is to me

           Well assured eternally.

 

       The Lutheran Hymnal 384:4, altered.

 

 

The Exercising of your Faith.

 

Does the Bible speak of the exercising of your faith? Yes, it does. The same Greek word which God’s Word uses in its passage “bodily exercise profits little” (1st Timothy 4:8), from which term we derive our English word “gymnasium,” Scripture uses to comfort you that the cross which God will lay on you for the purpose of exercising your faith will bring forth “the peaceable fruit of righteousness” (Hebrews 12:11).

In many other passages which do not employ this Greek word, however, synonyms of exercising are used which speak of accomplishing the same thing, such as “to strengthen,” “to comfort,” “to assure,” “to make confident,” “to make sure,” and “to edify,” among others.

How would you go about exercising a thing such as your saving faith? Think of how you would exercise your arm’s muscles! To move your arm, you would use your muscles. To exercise your muscles, you simply would move them more often. So it is with saving faith.

To have saving faith is to have faith in God’s saving gospel promises. To exercise your saving faith, you would put your faith in these saving gospel promises more often. That is to say, you would rely on God’s pledges more often. Stated another way, you would trust them more. Then you would be more confident of them, more certain of them, and more assured of them. The basic way to exercise your saving faith is simply to believe more; to meditate on the gospel passages more, so as to allow them to convince you more.

Yet there are other ways to exercise your saving faith; ways in which you would be doing something in connection with your faith; ways which will prompt you to grasp the gospel even more. You could also exercise your saving faith by –

Praying;

Professing your faith;

Serving your neighbor; and through

The cross which God would lay on you.

How would you exercise your faith by praying? When you would speak to God in any of your prayers, you will be keeping in mind the promises which he has pledged to you. You would pray to him on that basis. Thus by praying, you would put into practice the pledges which God has given you to believe; pledges which are intended for your trust to receive his assurance, comfort, and so forth, as you wait for him to fulfill these pledges as he has promised. For example, if you would pray to God for help, you will do so while believing the pledge that “our help is in the name of the Lord” (Psalm 124:8). If you would request forgiveness, you will do it all the while being assured that “there is forgiveness with you” (Psalm 130:4). As a result, prayer will exercise your faith, not by virtue of the fact that in prayer you would be speaking to God, but for the reason that you would be keeping both your eyes on his promises, and would be relying on them to do what they said they would.

This is what faith normally does. Yet if you would do this while you prayed, then you will be exercising your faith: increasing your faith.

Professing your faith is another way of increasing your faith by way of exercising it. An example of professing your faith is if you would confess the Apostles’ Creed, in which you would recount the gospel acts of the Father and the Holy Spirit, and the redeeming acts of the Son, all of which has been done graciously for you, the sinner. You would exercise your faith by doing this, because you will be bringing the various gospel promises to mind, parading their gospel facts before your view one by one, consciously recalling what each one means to you, the poor, miserable sinner, who is in need of saving.   It is for these reasons that the apostle Paul declares, “If you would confess with your mouth…. You will be saved…. With the mouth confession is made to salvation” (Romans 10:9-10). All the while that you are confessing what you believe, your faith is nodding its head at each gospel pledge one by one. This is exercising.

Singing a Christian hymn also would be making a profession of your faith for the same reason just mentioned, except that you will be using your musical voice. Moreover, as with prayer, so the profession of faith could be done publicly or privately.

To be sure, there is a confession of faith that is done not just with your speaking voice or with your singing voice, but with your actions. That is to say, you could also exercise your faith in the gospel by doing humble service for your neighbor. Your Lord and Master calls such work “foot washing” (John 13:13-17) because it appears so lowly, humiliating, and degrading. However, you would become spiritually dead if you were not to exercise your faith by practicing what you believe of God’s great love for you.

In addition to this, the cross (Matthew 16:24) which God lays upon you is designed to get you to exercise your faith.   The “cross” is the Lord’s own description of the public humbling which he will send you, which would include suffering, loss, hardship, and reverses. Only God will lay this cross on you. He will do it only in those areas where he sees that you need help through exercise. Just the same, be assured by his unbreakable guaranty (“all things work together for good to those who love God,” Romans 8:28) that your cross is tailored-made for your faith’s good.

Look at these four ways of exercising your faith! Use them for the purpose of strengthening your faith! “Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might!” (Ephesians 6:10.)

 

—

         By grace to timid hearts that tremble,

           In tribulation’s furnace tried –

         By grace, despite all fear and trouble,

           The Father’s heart is open wide,

         Where could I help and strength secure

           If grace were not my anchor sure?

 

         The Lutheran Hymnal 373:6.

 

 

Prayers for Times of Suffering.

 

Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you” (Psalm 50:15).

Dear Father in heaven:

Listen to my prayer! I am very sick. The pain hurts me terribly. It will neither stop nor go away. How long must I suffer? Nothing seems to go well when I am sick. Where are you, my God and my Helper?

To be sure, because of my sins I deserve to be punished. Yet I am a believer. I believe the promises which you have given me: that you have gotten me salvation, and that you will bring me to heaven. Therefore, because you have pledged to listen to and to answer every true prayer spoken by your believers in the name of Christ, listen to and answer my prayer also! Do so! Do so now! Hear my prayer! Come to me! Pass your hand over me, and make me well again! You can do it. You have promised that you can do it. Amen!

I will call upon God, and the Lord shall save me (Psalm 55:16).

My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth (Psalm 121:2).

 

2.

 

All things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called ones according to his purpose (Romans 8:28).

Dear heavenly Helper:

My pain is too great. My suffering is too much to bear. I have looked around for help. Yet no relief has come. However, you have assured me by your persistent pledges that it is you who actually has sent me this sickness. It is you who has planned my pain; that as my Father this suffering of mine is actually a disguised form of your love; that the only reason why you have put this love into the form of suffering is to get me to rely not on outward appearances, but solely on your promises. Help me to do so!

In my pain help me to understand your glorious guaranties that my suffering is not due to your anger, but to your love! Assure me that my sickness is for my faith’s good; that I should not look to worldly comfort for help, but solely to every promise which proceeds out of your mouth! Make the suffering which you have sent accomplish the good which you intend, namely, to cleanse me from the love of this world, and to make me pure; to get me to have a truer repentance and a stronger saving faith; to get me to exercise my trust in your pledges more; to teach me patience; to awaken empathy in me for my neighbor in need; and to show me my mettle! Remind me that all things, including my suffering, work together for my good! Finally, encourage me not to give up hope, but to endure my suffering patiently by holding before mine eyes your wonderful pledge to place on my head the crown of eternal life after I have endured my suffering here below!

Thus I ask, not for health, but for a deeper trust in you. Use what you will to bring me closer to you! Amen!

Blessed is the man who endures testing; for when he has been proved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love him! (James 1:12.)

Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer…. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life! (Revelation 2:10.)

 

Your Use of the Lord’s Table.

 

Why has the Lord presented you with the sacrament of his table (1st Corinthians 10:21)? In this sacrament his purpose is to assure you of his forgiveness of all your sins.

See this from the words which he used the night on which he established this sacrament! On Maundy Thursday evening, after saying, “This is my blood,” Christ, your Lord, instructed his disciples as to what his blood would do. He stated that it is the blood “which is poured out for you for the remission of sins.” In other words, his blood that is poured out would get the disciples remission of sins. “To pour out one’s blood,” means, “to die.” Simply stated, then, Christ wanted all communicants to remember that because of his death God has gotten them remission of sins, that is, forgiveness of sins.

This is his purpose in the sacrament.

His purpose is also revealed in the words, “This is my body which is given for you.” Because his body was given over to that hellish, eternal death on the cross, Christ would remind again all communicants by these words that they now have assured pardon for their iniquities.

When Christ reminds all communicants of this gospel news, he does it for the purpose of assuring them. He wants to assure them that God has been gracious to them, and has removed their transgressions from them as high as heaven is above this earth (Psalm 103:11).

This is the purpose of his sacrament.

The purpose of the Lord’s Table is also repeated in God’s statement, “This cup is the new testament in my blood.” According to the Bible’s own definition, the “new testament” means that the Lord “will forgive their iniquity,” and will remember their sin no more (Jeremiah 31:31, 34). The “new testament,” then, means “the forgiveness of sins.” Therefore, your loving Lord wants you to take this sacrament so that he could give to you your forgiveness of sins. Indeed, each time that you would receive this forgiveness of sins from God, you will be reminded of it and reassured of it.

Why will your Lord need to remind and to reassure you of your forgiveness if you would already have it?

The Lord knows that now your greatest need is to fortify your faith. Since you would be weakened by sin, torn by temptation, and assaulted by a thousand other spiritual enemies everyday, you will need a stronger hold on his gospel pledge in order to keep your faith. To accomplish this you will need to be reminded of your forgiveness. When this would take place, the gospel pledge will strengthen you so that you would become more assured of it, and would lay hold of it more tightly. As a result, you will remain in the Christian faith and will not fall away; you will stay under God’s salvation protection instead of leaving it, and you will keep on the road to heaven.

Who else would have noticed this high need of your faith, and addressed it with a solution? How wise, then, it is for God to remind and to reassure you of your forgiveness in this sacrament! What a delight it will be for you to be assured personally by his promise every time you would commune that your sins have been removed and erased!

Yet wait! There is more. Being the supremely generous God that he is, your Savior gives you even more assurance in his sacrament.   Unique to the Lord’s Table is this added feature that Christ guarantees to you the forgiveness of your sins by giving you his own body and blood, the very things that got you your forgiveness. Just think of that!

What an assurance, then, this is! See how certain Christ is of your salvation! Should you not be certain, also? Be certain! Receive God’s own body and blood in the sacrament!

—

     Draw near and take the body of the Lord,

       And drink the holy blood for you outpoured.

     Offered was he for greatest and for least,

       Himself the victim and himself the priest.

 

     Come forward, then, with faithful hearts sincere,

       And take the pledges of salvation here.

     Before your altar, Lord, your servants bow;

       In this your feast of love be with us now.

 

Christian Worship: A Lutheran Hymnal 309:1 & 3.

 

A Sermon

For Confirmation Day

 

Sermon text: “Make your calling and election sure!” (2nd Peter 5:4.)

On the occasion of this confirmation we could ask: “Does the Bible use the word “to confirm”? The answer is: “Yes, it does.” While the Bible does not refer to the ceremony which we will be conducting, the Scriptures do use the term in the sense that we use our English word “to confirm.” In fact, one of the Greek words which the Bible uses for this is found in our text. Thus our text in 2nd Peter could read: “Confirm your calling and election!”

This Greek word “to confirm” is a legal term. It means an act by which something was legally guaranteed; by which it was reinforced, shored up, fortified, or established (Hebrews 6:16). Thus the Lord wants your calling and election to be reinforced, shored up, and made firm.

What is your calling and election? First of all, your election, as Holy Writ teaches it, is the decision made by God already before creation to see to it that you would be born, come to possess God’s salvation, and, finally, end up in heaven with him. Your calling is your Christian calling into which the Lord called you at your baptism, namely, at which time he converted you, and brought you into possession of his salvation for your soul.

“To make one’s calling and election sure,” simply means this: “Keep believing in the gospel pledge!” “He who believes and is baptized will be saved. He who does not believe will be damned” (Mark 16:16). Belief in the gospel will get you to heaven. Unbelief would keep you out.

Why is it necessary for the Holy Spirit to urge you in the text to make more sure and more firm your current state of saving faith? It is for this reason. Since you still have a sinful nature in this life, you will find yourself falling into all sorts of sins. These sins, in turn, will weaken the hold which your faith has on God’s salvation promise. If your faith were to become so weak that it would die, you would no longer hold onto God’s salvation pledge. You would have lost possession of it. Then you would find yourself in a state of unbelief. Then you would not make it to heaven.

For the purpose of impressing upon you the urgency of this matter, and thus the need for your vigilance, Scripture testifies that believers not only could have weaknesses (Hebrews 11:34), but could also “become weary and discouraged” in their souls (Hebrews 12:3). Indeed, many are spiritually “weak and sickly”   (1st Corinthians 11:30). Our Lord warns that “the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41), and prays that Peter’s faith would not fail (Luke 22:32). Paul notes that the faith of some have been overthrown (2nd Timothy 2:18), while he has “kept the faith” (2nd Timothy 4:7), and urges that other believers should, literally, “be healthy in the faith” (Titus 1:13).

By these warnings, urgings, and appeals, including the one in our text, the Spirit would have you make more firm your hold on God’s salvation. To do this you should believe his promise more. By acquiring this greater and stronger belief, you will have a more firm hold on God’s salvation. This is what the text urges you to do, namely, to “be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus!” (2nd Timothy 2:1.)

How would you acquire a stronger belief in the gospel pledge? You will acquire it by getting the power or strength to believe his promise more.

Where would you get the power or strength to believe the gospel more? The Bible replies, “Seek the Lord and his strength!” (1st Chronicles 16:11.)

Where is the Lord to be looked for with his strength? Again, Scripture answers, “In the gospel.” “The gospel of Christ… is the power of God for salvation” (Romans 1:16). “The message of the cross… is the power of God to us who are being saved” (1st Corinthians 1:18). The gospel passages, then, are the places where the Lord will work his power on your faith to give it a stronger hold on your salvation. So go to them! Become stronger! It is the will of your Lord. Meditate on the gospel pledges daily! Draw up a list of them, if necessary, for your viewing! In doing so, you will “confirm your calling and election,” that is, you will reinforce, shore up, and make firm your faith so that you may remain on your way to heaven.

The Lord knows that it is important for you to do this. This is why he fills his Holy Scriptures with earnest warnings, urgent appeals, and insistent exhortations. He wants to impress upon you the urgency of becoming firm in your faith. In fact, God, who is the inventor of thought, and of our language which is marshaled by thought, thoroughly exhausts our vocabulary in his efforts to urge you to be firm. Look at the Hebrew of the Old Testament, and the Greek of the New Testament! See how God enlists nouns, verbs, and adjectives in order to cover this whole matter of firmness most thoroughly, for the purpose of removing all doubt, and for assuring you completely! For instance, the Lord speaks of might (Ephesians 6:10), of strength (Psalm 140:7), of power (2nd Corinthians 12:9), and of force (Habakkuk 3:19); of being a rock (Psalm 73:26), firm (2nd Peter 1:10), established (1st Peter 5:9), steady (1st Corinthians 7:37), steadfast (1st Peter 5:9), unmovable (1st Corinthians 15:58), faithful (Psalm 78:8), sound (Titus 2:2), healthy (Hebrews 12:13), courageous (Psalm 138:3), and robust (1st John 2:14), prompting you to stand (Colossians 4:12).

How urgently God must want you to become firm in your faith! Do so! Pray to him to enrich you with all might so that your faith may become as firm as a rock, so that no one could shake you from his gospel pledge!

A Prayer to prepare Yourself

For the Lord’s Table.

 

The cup of blessing which we bless: Is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break: Is it not the communion of the body of Christ? (1st Corinthians 10:16.)

Take! Eat! This is my body (Matthew 26:26).

Drink from it all of you! This is my blood of the new covenant (Matthew 26:27-28).

The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel… I will forgive their iniquity (Jeremiah 31:31, 34).

This is my covenant with them: when I take away their sins (Romans 11:27).

Dear Lord Jesus:

As I prepare to come to your sacrament, help me to be humble, repentant, filled with awe, and eager to receive your sacrament! Then lead me to recall what I will be doing there, and what I will be receiving! In addition, through your communion passages in the Bible, remind me also of the holy purpose of this sacrament, of the wonderful pledges which it contains for me, and of the great forgiveness-bearing benefits which it will hand over to me so that I may look forward to them eagerly with joy!

First of all, you have urged me to eat the bread and to drink the wine in the sacrament so that I may receive your body and blood. You have pointed out to me that your body and blood are what you used on the cross to suffer in hell in order that I could be released from that punishment, and, thereby, be forgiven. Thus when you give me your holy body and blood, these are a pledge from you to me of that accomplishment. By handing over to me these highest and holiest things you would assure me of that forgiveness which your body and blood gained for me on the cross. How helpful and kind of you to do this!

Then help me to recall that the holy purpose of the Lord’s Table is to do this very thing, namely, it is to assure me personally that my sins have been taken away! To accomplish this, point me to your gospel promises in those biblical passages which speak of communion! Show me that when you personally pledge, saying, “this cup is the new covenant in my blood which is poured out for you” (Luke 22:20), the purpose of my receiving this cup of wine together with your blood is to receive that forgiveness which your blood has gained when it was poured out in suffering on your cross! Teach me that since a promise of my forgiveness is the same thing as an assurance of my forgiveness, the Lord’s Table will thus benefit me by assuring me personally that your blood was poured out even for me! Impress upon my mind this assurance in order to strengthen my faith!

Just think of it! How blessed am I by this sacrament! How good you are! Encourage me to look forward to this sacrament with joy! Amen!

Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup! (1st Corinthians 11:28.)

Hunger and thirst after righteousness! (Matthew 5:6.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A Brief Summary of your Salvation

 

Through [Adam] sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned (Romans 3:12).

These will go into everlasting punishment…. into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels (Matthew 25:46 & 41), which is the second death (Revelation 21:8).

God is the God of salvation; and to God the Lord belong the escapes from death (Psalm 68:20).

God will buy back my soul from the power of the grave (Psalm 49:15).

The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23).

[Christ] has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel (2nd Timothy 1:10).

The Word of this salvation has been sent to you (Acts 13:26).

Believe to the saving of the soul! (Hebrews 10:39.)

God… now commands all men everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30).

Repent, and believe in the gospel! (Mark 1:15.)

If we would confess our sins, [God] will be faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1st John 1:9).

[God has] given to us the greatest and precious promises (2nd Peter 1:4).

How will we escape if we would neglect so great a salvation? (Hebrews 2:3.)

[Strive] for the faith of the gospel! (Philippians 1:27.)

 

Your Faith

 

In what could and should you have faith?

You could and should have faith in God’s promise of salvation.

How did God bring about his promise of salvation for you? He brought it about in this manner: after their fall into sin, as Adam and Eve were cowering in hiding from the divine anger which they had stirred up by their transgression; as they were shaking in terror over the eternal torment which they now faced, God had grace in his heart toward them. His intent was to rescue them. His motive was to hand over a gift of his grace, and to give them a righteousness which they lacked.

To accomplish this, the Second Person of the Trinity came down to earth, and took on a human body and the name of “Jesus.” His title was “The Christ.” Then he lived a holy life in the place of everyone and obtained righteousness for all. He also suffered everyone’s eternal torment. By doing so he delivered every sinner from that punishment.

Looking back at what Christ had just accomplished, God then declared the whole ungodly race to be righteous, freed from everlasting punishment, and ready to enter heaven. When everyone was still ungodly (Romans 4:5), God decreed that he had forgiven the world on account of the eternal suffering which he had suffered on the altar of his cross for all.

Since the Lord has accomplished this for all, he has accomplished this for you. See it!

Yet how would this salvation do you any good? Remember: sinful man could not look into the mind of God and read his thoughts!

The answer is this: God gave his salvation by promise (Galatians 3:18).

First the Lord put his salvation into the form of news, the “good news of great joy” (Luke 2:10), which is “the gospel.” Then he framed this news into the form of a pledge (Acts 13:32).

However, this was not all. Since it is a pledge, the gospel is also an offer, or, to be more precise, a proffer. A “proffer’ is a “proposal for acceptance by another.” It is a “proposal brought before you, brought to your attention for the purpose of presenting it to you with the intent that you should accept it.”

Why did your salvation-giving God put his gospel promise into the form of a proffer? It is because he intends for you to accept it. You will obtain his salvation by believing it. It is as simple as that.

Thus the God of promise (2nd Corinthians 1:20) wants you to be one of his “children of promise” (Romans 9:8), and to take part in “his promise in Christ through the gospel” (Ephesians 3:6) by having faith in that promise (Acts 13:32; Romans 10:16).

This belief is what the Bible calls “your faith.” Realize that the function of faith is to believe a promise! Since the function of your faith is to believe the gospel promise, your faith could and should be called “your saving faith” because your belief grabs onto the promise of salvation. In other words, you are saved because of the salvation which your faith has grasped.

What pledge, then, is worthy of full acceptance? It is the promise that “you, being dead in your trespasses, [God] has made alive… having forgiven you all trespasses” (Colossians 2:13).

What is it that will bring your faith to life?

The gospel pledge itself will create this faith in your soul. “Faith comes by the gospel report” (Romans 10:17). Thus the creation of faith in your mind is all of the gospel’s doing, none of yours. Therefore, the gospel is called “the Word of faith” (Romans 10:8) because it is that “Word of God which effectually works in you who believe” (1st Thessalonians 2:13) to bring about your faith. Since God has “fathered us through his Word of truth” (James 1:18), you have become one of “the sons of God through faith” (Galatians 3:26). Thus your faith is created after God’s gospel pledge is brought to your attention.

How would your faith be kept alive? It will be kept alive in the same manner. After you would contemplate the gospel promise of God further, more life will be furnished to your faith.

Of what, then, would you need to do more? You will need to think more about the gospel pledge. Do so! Confess your faith in his pledge by declaring, “This pledge of salvation includes me. The Lord has promised”!

All That You have is a Promise

 

God has a promise.

…which he promised before through his prophets in the Holy Scripture (Romans 1:2).

 

 God assures you that he is truthful about his promise.

All of the promises of God in [Christ] are “Yes!” and in him “Amen!” (2nd Corinthians 1:20.)

 

God will keep his promise.

He who promised is faithful (Hebrews 10:23).

 

God gave his promise already a long time ago.

By the mouth of his holy prophets, who have been since the world began, [God] spoke…. To perform the mercy promised to our fathers (Luke 1:70 & 72).

 

This promise is called “the gospel.”

… the gospel of God which he promised before through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures (Romans 1:1-2).

 

His promise is for the whole world.

[The gospel] by the prophetic Scriptures has been made known to all nations according to the commandment of the everlasting God (Romans 16:26).

 

It is an important promise.

[God] has given to us the greatest and precious promises (2nd Peter 1:4).

 

His gospel promise is about salvation.

… the gospel of your salvation (Ephesians 1:13).

 

His promise is meant for you.

The promise is to you and to your children (Acts 2:39).

 

God wants you to obtain his gospel promise of salvation.

To you the Word of this salvation has been sent (Acts 13:26).

 

The Lord wants you to obtain his gospel promise of salvation by believing it.

Repent, and believe in the gospel! (Mark 1:15.)

 

God’s promise will alert you to what it is:     salvation from God.

The holy Scriptures… are able to make you wise for salvation (2nd Timothy 3:15).

 

His pledge will hand over to you of what it consists – salvation.

You are clean through the Word which I have spoken to you (John 15:3).

 

The divine power of his promise will move you to believe it, and thus to possess it by an act of faith.

Faith comes by the gospel report (Romans 10:17).

 

After receiving God’s gospel pledge and upon believing it, you will receive personal possession of your salvation.

I declare to you the gospel… by which also you are saved, if you would hold firmly the Word which I preached to you (1st Corinthians 15:1-2).

 

The gospel of God pledges that the work of Christ has obtained salvation for you.

God has not appointed us for [his] anger, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us (1st Thessalonians 5:9-10).

 

After Christ accomplished your salvation, he promised that he had done it.

After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished…. said, “It is accomplished!” (John 19:28 & 30.)

 

It is God’s will that you could and should keep a grip on his gospel pledge of salvation by an act of faith.

Believe in the gospel! (Mark 1:15.)

 

Ten Questions and Answers

 

1. Are you happy?

Be of good cheer! Your sins are forgiven (Matthew 9:2).

 

2. “Who could say: “I have made my heart clean’?” (Proverbs 20:9.)

For out of the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, extramarital sex, thefts, false witnessing, [and] blasphemies (Matthew 15:19).

 

3. What must you do to be saved?

Repent, and believe in the gospel! (Mark 1:15.)

 

4. What is the gospel?

[It is the] good news of great joy which will be for all people (Luke 2:10); that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day (1st Corinthians 15:3-4).

 

5. Are you also forgiven?

God in Christ forgave you also (Ephesians 4:32).

 

6. Would you want to be assured of going to heaven?

[God] justifies the ungodly (Romans 4:5).

 

7. Would you want a closer walk with God?

Draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having [your] hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience…. by the blood of Jesus! (Hebrews 10:22 & 19.)

 

8. Why was Christ Jesus crucified, dead, buried, and risen again?

It was done for you.

 

9. What is love?

Love is sacrifice.

[Christ] appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself (Hebrews 9:26). By this we know love, because [Christ] laid down his life for us (1st John 3:16).

 

10. Why do you have to suffer?

Whom the Lord loves he disciplines (Hebrews 12:6).

 

 

Law and Gospel

 

See the importance of the salvation of God in this comparison of the law and the gospel passages of the Bible!

The law passages will be given in italics and the gospel in the regular style.

 

Those who are in the flesh cannot please God (Romans 8:8).

 Having made peace through the blood of his cross… [Christ] has now reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy, blameless, and irreproachable in his sight (Colossians 1:20-22).

 

I am carnal, sold under sin (Romans 7:14).

 Our great God and Savior Jesus Christ… gave himself for us, in order that he might buy us back from every lawless deed (Titus 2:13-14). In him we have this buying back through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace (Ephesians 1:7).

 

You… were dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2; 1).

 You, being dead in your trespasses… [God] has made alive together with [Christ], having forgiven you all trespasses (Colossians 2:13).

 

Who will deliver me from the body of this death? (Romans 7:24.)

 Our Savior Jesus Christ… has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel (2nd Timothy 2:10).

 

Our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has grown up to the heavens (Ezra 9:6).

 Where sin abounded, grace abounded much more (Romans 5:20).

 

By the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in [God’s] sight (Romans 3:20).

 God justifies the ungodly (Romans 4:5).

 

We will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ (Romans 14:10).

 Jesus answered….”He who hears my Word and believes in him who sent me has everlasting life, and will not come into judgment” (John 5:19 & 24).

 

Consider the goodness… of God! (Romans 11:22.)

 

 

A Prayer for Assurance

 

Be sure your sin will find you out! (Numbers 32:23.)

You are clean through the Word which I have spoken to you (John 15:3).

Dear sustaining, strengthening, and supporting Spirit of God: Help me to look at your gospel passages, not only for the answer to the perplexing problems of life, but chiefly for your powerful assurance that my sins, as repeated and ruinous as you know them to be, have been pardoned, sent away, and drowned in the depths of the sea! What gracious kindness you have shown toward me! How could I ever find the words to express it? So hold before mine eyes the saving acts of Christ in which, as my substitute, he suffered my penalty for me, completely paying off to Divine Justice its demand for my punishment, in addition to fulfilling my place Heaven’s requirement for a perfect life! Then, through the living power of your gospel pledge, enable me to build securely and solidly on this assurance from you that since you have now declared the whole ungodly race to be righteous and ready to enter heaven, this declaration would include me! Make me confident of this fact by turning mine eyes often toward this gospel! Have your gospel guaranty turn me from doubt and hesitation to boldness and determination! Increase my faith’s power from the least to its fullest confidence! Evermore cement me on your purest pledge that you have proved your love for me in that while I was still a sinner, Christ died for me! What a glorious promise this is! What more could I ask? Therefore, lift me high above all doubt to the state of full certainty, in which I could and should confess, “I am confident of this gospel promise which you have given to me, and I am convinced completely that it is able to save me.” Amen!

–

[God has] given to us the greatest and precious promises (2nd Peter 1:4), to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins (Luke 1:77).

[You are able to be] participants of his promise in Christ through the gospel (Ephesians 3:6).

[Strive] for the faith of the gospel! (Philippians 1:27.)

 

 

Your Salvation is Your Lord’s doing

 

God’s intent –                  to rescue

His motive –                    to hand over a gift of his grace

His spirit –                        mercy

His purpose –                  to sacrifice

His cost –                         his life

His object –                      you

His benefit –                    none

Your benefit –                 all of the best

His resolve –                    to get you to heaven

His responsibility –         it is all his doing, none of yours

His acts –                          the saving acts of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit [1]

His proof –                       the sacrifice of himself on the cross

His guaranty –                his resurrection

His means –                     his gospel pledge

His mark –                       your baptism

His result –                       your life in heaven

                                                                                   

[1 ]  The Father saw his plan through, the Son lived a holy life for the sinner and died the sinner’s death in hell; and the Spirit puts this salvation into the sinner’s possession.

 

The Nine and Five Theses.

 

Martin Luther wrote his Ninety-five Theses in 1517. These theses God used as a spark to set off the gigantic Reformation. Believe the same salvation which Luther did! Confess it today and get to heaven! Profess your own Nine and Five Theses!

Thesis 1

I need salvation because I have broken all of the commandments of the holy God. “If we would say that we have no sin, we will deceive ourselves” (1st John 1:8). Indeed, “there is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin” (Ecclesiastes 7:20).

Thesis 2

Because of this unwarranted evil, I deserve to die, for “the soul who sins will die” (Ezekiel 18:20). That is, I am cursed to be punished for all eternity by all of the fury of the enraged Almighty who threatens, “Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire!” (Matthew 25:41.)

Thesis 3

Since in my natural, sinful condition I am dead spiritually (“dead in trespasses and sins,” Ephesians 2:1), I am not only unable to save myself, I am also determined to remain in my sins, resisting any holy, divine effort to change my misery.

Thesis 4

Yet the Lord of all mercy announced already to my first ancestors, that is, to the very first sinners, his gracious decision to intervene so that I could inherit the kingdom of heaven.

Thesis 5

Against the constant conceited objections of my sinful flesh, the Lord did not ask me to contribute anything toward my salvation. In order that my salvation would not be ruined, he kept it out of my hands entirely, accomplishing it all by himself (John 19:28) perfectly and flawlessly in order that I could have absolute assurance that it most certainly has been completed.

Thesis 6

In order to meet God’s demands for punishment on the one hand while sparing me from that same punishment on the other hand, the Second Person of the Trinity took my place. As my mighty substitute he wrapped himself in his power, took on my punishment in hell, and suffered it all the way through to its completion after he had first obeyed all of the commandments in my place to gain righteousness for me.

Thesis 7

In order to get this salvation to me so that I could possess it, God recounted all of the saving acts which the Father, the Son, and the Spirit had done for me, and then, he put them down in writing in the form of a promise which he intended me to believe so that I could possess my salvation. To this promise he gave the endearing name “the gospel,” “the good news of great joy” (Luke 2:10).

Thesis 8

So that I would not hate the gospel promise and reject it, the gospel promise has an inherent and mighty power (Hebrews 4:12) to prevent this by accomplishing three results in me: 1) The gospel promise makes itself clearly known to my understanding (1st Thessalonians 2:13), thus overcoming my natural spiritual blindness to it (1st Corinthians 2:14 & 12); 2) The gospel promise gives me the very thing which it says that it is, namely, a pardon (2nd Thessalonians 2:10); and 3) The gospel promise moves my soul to reject this pardon no longer, but to obtain it and to possess it as my very own (1st Thessalonians 1:5) by the act of believing the gospel pledge (Romans 10:17).

Thesis 9

After the power of the gospel moves me to believe its pledge, I obtain pardon at once.

(After all of this has been done, the all-wise Lord knows that my most important need now is to fortify my faith in his pledge of pardon. To accomplish this he will do the following for me.)

Thesis 1

The Lord will proceed to assure me of my pardon by swearing oaths to that effect (Hebrews 6:17), and by giving me guaranties (2nd Timothy 2:19), in order that his gospel promise might be sure to me, that is, in order that my heart may be persuaded (1st John 3:19) to believe with certainty ((Acts 2:36) so as to cement me so firmly on the foundation of his pledge (2nd Timothy 2:19) that I could not be moved.

Thesis 2

Since the function of faith is to believe the gospel promise, my faith needs to be safeguarded. To do this the Lord will also comfort me through his pledges of pardon. That is to say, after my faith would have been weakened through sinning, as I would contemplate his promises, the power of those precious pledges will strengthen me. The gospel promise will strengthen my faith.

Thesis 3

Moreover, the loving Lord will fortify my faith by sending me suffering – of all things! He also will fortify my faith by driving me to prayer and by impelling me to confess my Christian beliefs. In all three of these exercises of my faith I will be divinely drawn to think on his promises. As a result, the power from his gospel pledges will increase my faith. Stated again: Whenever my faith in these pledges would be exercised, the might of the gospel promises will cause my grip on them to increase and to become more firm.

Thesis 4

The true and triune God also has provided me with the sacrament of baptism in which he will adopt me “into” his holy family whose name is “the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19), and thus will further strengthen my saving hope through this gospel assurance that I will now live with him in his heavenly home.

Thesis 5

The Savior from sin has also spread before me a heavenly banquet for my faith which is called the “table of the Lord” (1st Corinthians 10:21). He gives me this sacrament for frequent use in order to reassure me of my complete forgiveness by giving me not only his gospel pledge to that effect, but also the very things which got me my forgiveness: his very body and blood. Thus my faith is further fortified.

 

 

A Prayer for Forgiveness

 

I will declare mine iniquity; I will be in anguish over my sin (Psalm 38:18).

There is forgiveness with you (Psalm 130:4). Pardon mine iniquity for it is great! (Psalm 25:11.)

_

I cannot find the words to express my thoughts adequately. My sins are great. I am ashamed to admit them. The guilt of them weighs heavily on my mind. My guilt has robbed me of joy and peace. I know my sins to be wrong. I also know that you are angry over them. I am sorry. I apologize to you for them. Hear me! I do not want to do them again. Help me! I need your help. Do not leave me! I need the comfort of your forgiveness.

You have pledged that you will look to that sinner whose spirit is sorry (Isaiah 66:2). That sinner is I. Come! Be merciful to me! Heal my soul of the trespasses against you! You also have promised that there is forgiveness with you. Give me that forgiveness! Do it now! Take my sins and cast them behind your back! Drown them in the depths of the sea! Cleanse me now and every day from all my transgressions through the holy blood of Christ! Make me confident of this! Keep me from returning to the harm of my crimes! Let me love to do your will!

How good you are to me! How wonderful you have been to give me your pledges of forgiveness! They are where your help is. Remind me of them! Lead me to them! I confess that I believe them.

Be my forgiving God and I will serve you! Show me how to show you my thanks! Amen!

_

If we would confess our sins, he will be faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1st John 1:9).

Christ forgave you (Colossians 3:13).

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you! (James 4:8.)

Keep (yourself) unspotted from the world! (James 1:27.)

 

 

 

The Synonyms of Forgiveness

 

It is due to the influence of the Apostles’ Creed and to that distinctive phrase in it which its authors chose to sum up the salvation of God that most church writers for centuries now have commonly used the expression “the forgiveness of sins,” literally, “the sending away of sins” (Acts 13:38). Just the same, the Lord recognizes that his remarkable report of salvation is too wonderful an announcement to be limited to one term only. Therefore, the Lord, who is the creator of all human thought and expression, exhausts the limits of our language in order to paint for you such colorful portrayals of his salvation, which are rich in revelation, by employing vivid metaphors, striking scenes, and blazon images.

Listen to the almost four dozen different descriptions which the Lord uses to portray his salvation for you!

At length the assuring Almighty describes his salvation as –

1. Being gracious to you (Colossians 2:13);
2. Being merciful to you (Luke 1:78) to as great an extent as heaven is high above the earth (Psalm 103:11);

3. Sighing deeply in pity over your misery, and being moved to act (“to comfort” you, Isaiah 40:1);
4. Casting your sin behind his back (Isaiah 38:17);
5. Drowning your sin in the depths of the sea (Micah 7:19);
6. Separating your sin from you (2nd Samuel 12:13) by sending it away (as with a scapegoat, Leviticus 16:10);
7. Putting sin far off (Psalm 103:12), as far as the east is from the west;
8. Setting you free by the payment of a ransom, which ransom is the blood of Christ (Ephesians 1:7);
9. Freeing you from all your iniquities by paying a price (Psalm 130:8);
10. Freeing you from the power of the grave by paying a price (Hosea 13:14a);
11. Lifting sin up and away from you (Psalm 25:18) multiple times (Isaiah 55:7);
12. Loosening sin away (Luke 6:37);
13. Having your heart sprinkled with the blood of Jesus (Hebrews 10:22 & 19; 4:14; Leviticus 16:14- 16);
14. Washing you thoroughly of iniquity (Psalm 51:2) in the blood of the Lamb (Revelation 5:9), who is Jesus Christ (Revelation 1:5);
15. Cleansing you with hyssop (Psalm 51:7), a plant dipped in water used for sprinkling in a cleansing ceremony (Numbers 19:18);
16. Having your body washed with pure water (Hebrews 10:22; Numbers 19:19);
17. Blotting out sin, that is, wiping it up, absorbing it, or erasing it (Psalm 51:1) as greatly as a cloud could (Isaiah 44:22);
18. Covering your sin (Psalm 32:1);
19. No longer remembering your sin (Psalm 25:7);
20. Hiding his face from your sins (Psalm 51:9);
21. Making his face to shine upon you (Psalm 31:16);
22. Lifting up his face to you (Numbers 6:26);
23. Passing over your sin (Romans 3:25);
24. Changing sin’s color from guilty red to innocent white (Isaiah 1:18);
25. Rescuing you from your sins (Matthew 1:21);
26. Delivering you from all your transgressions (Psalm 39:8);

27. Not retaining his anger against you (Micah 7:18);
28. Turning away from the fierceness of his anger (Psalm 85:3b);
29. Drawing his unrestrained wrath back to himself (Psalm 85:3a);
30. Having his anger turned away from you (Hosea 14:4);
31. Not causing his anger to fall on you (Jeremiah 3:12);
32. Causing his anger toward you to cease (Psalm 85:4);
33. Turning to you according to the multitude of his tender mercies (Psalm 69:16);
34. Being reconciled to you (2nd Corinthians 5:19);
35. Making peace through the blood of his cross (Colossians 1:20);
36. Having broken down the middle wall of partition [Matthew 27:51] between us (Ephesians 2:14);
37. Paying off your iniquity (“to pardon,” Isaiah 40:2);
38. Not charging iniquity to your account (Psalm 32:2);
39. Erasing the handwriting in the decrees against you (Colossians 2:14) which indicted you with guilt;
40. Having nailed this erased handwriting to his cross (Colossians 2:14) as a public testimony that your sin debt has been paid in full;
41. Giving to you the Lord’s righteousness (Jeremiah 33:16);
42. Declaring you to be righteous (Romans 4:5);
43. Bringing forth the declaration of righteousness (Isaiah 42:1);
44. Clothing you with the garments of salvation (Isaiah 63:10); and
45. Being a light to the peoples (Isaiah 51:4).

Realize that your loving Lord has expressed these synonyms of forgiveness, not for his sake, but for yours! He has designed them to rivet your attention to them in order to bring you into contact with their power. After that is accomplished, God’s chief purpose is to use their great gospel might to convince you with absolute assurance that his salvation already has been accomplished for you decisively.

Believe it!

“Blessed are those who hear the Word of God, and keep it!” (Luke 11:28.)

 

 

 

 

Why must I suffer?

Whom the Lord loves he disciplines (Hebrews 12:6). As many as I love, I scold and discipline (Revelation 3:19).

[You] must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God (Acts 14:22).

“My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways,” says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9).

God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not discipline? (Hebrews 12:7.)

Though [God] would cause grief, yet he will have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies. For he does not afflict willingly (Lamentations 3:32-33).

All things work together for good to those who love God (Romans 8:28).

We suffer with [Christ] that also we may be glorified together (Romans 8:17).

When I thought how to understand this, it was too painful for me until I went into the sanctuary of God. Then I understood (Psalm 73:16-17).

[Christ] has done all things well (Mark 7:37).

It is good for me that I have been afflicted! (Psalm 119:71.)

 

 

Why does God send Suffering?

 

First of all, the Almighty sends suffering to punish the unbelievers for their sins. “I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity,” he threatens in Isaiah 13:11. In other words, God judges that these people have not yet paid sufficiently for their wickedness. Instead of waiting for Judgment Day, the Almighty has begun to punish them already in this life. Indeed, this ought to bring them to their knees in repentance. Moreover, the Lord, the ruler of heaven and earth, states that he is the one who will be sending the suffering. “If there would be calamity in a city, will not the Lord have done it?” (Amos 3:6.)

Secondly, the Lord testifies that he will be the one who will send suffering to those who believe his gospel promise. “Whom the Lord loves he disciplines” (Hebrews 12:6). Indeed, the apostle points out that “we must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22). A “tribulation” is a “distress,” a “trouble,” or an “affliction.” Are you a believer, or not? As a believer, all of your suffering, whether it would be of the body or of the soul, would come under the heading of “your cross.” What a name! Why would God’s unbreakable Word call it that? As condemned criminals long ago had to carry the very instrument on which they would be crucified to death through the main streets so that they could be humiliated before the general public, likewise God has laid a cross on you, so to speak, his believing and most loved child, which, at times, will cause you intense suffering and deep humiliation before the unbelieving public.

However, your cross is unexampled and exceptional. It is the extraordinary way which God has chosen to show you that he loves you (Revelation 3:19). See it! Believe it! It is the way in which the hidden God has decided to reveal himself to you in connection with his gospel pledges.

Why does God do this through a cross? He assures you of his reasons. First of all, as God has chosen to reveal himself to all through the cross of Christ, so he has chosen to reveal himself to you additionally through the cross which he lays on you (Proverbs 3:11-12).

Secondly, as God the Son suffered, so you, as his disciple, will likewise have to suffer. Yet the Lord encourages you with his remarkable guaranty that your sufferings are not yours alone, but you share in those sufferings which Christ also had. “You share in the sufferings of Christ” (1st Peter 4:13). “We suffer with him” (Romans 8:17). To be sure, because you have suffered with Christ, Holy Writ vows that you will also be glorified with him, which will cause you to rejoice with exceeding joy (1st Peter 4:13).

Thirdly, the Lord has sent suffering to you, his child, in order to put to shame the prideful thinking of your mind in matters of salvation. He does this to demonstrate that it is useless to look to your mind for help. To show you what great, saving power his bare promises have, the Lord decided to wed his helping promises to the one thing which your flesh despises the most: suffering. The very thing which your flesh believes could only hurt you is what God has intentionally chosen to work his miraculous power through to turn something unquestionably evil into something undeniably good. As God has wedded his promises to other outward signs, such as, to the rainbow, so he has wedded to your suffering his high comforting pledge that “our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen” (2nd Corinthians 4:17-18); that your cross is Heaven’s way in which the power of Christ could rest on you to help (2nd Corinthians 12:9).

Look to God wherever his promises are! There is his help; even in your suffering.

 

Biblical Maxims

(Expressions of general biblical truths)

 The cross of Christ is the only instruction in God’s Words, the truest theology (Luther).

True theology and knowledge of God are found in Christ crucified (Luther).

The cross alone is our theology (Luther).

God makes himself known only through Christ’s suffering.

Just the same, God makes himself known through the individual’s suffering.

Suffering is the Christian’s most precious earthly treasure, for God makes himself known through suffering (Luther).

Heaven is open to all through the reconciliation accomplished by the suffering Christ (Franz Pieper).

The sins of the world are forgiven (Franz Pieper).

Christians are not perfect. They are forgiven sinners.

When you would pray, as you would exercise your faith in God’s promises, your faith will grow stronger.

When you would confess what you believe, as you would exercise your faith in God’s pledges, your faith will grow stronger.

When you would perform humble self-sacrificing service for your neighbor, as you would exercise your faith in God’s promised, great self-sacrifice for you, your faith will grow stronger.

When God would lay his humbling cross upon you, as you would exercise your faith by disregarding all of the sufferings which your senses could feel, but by regarding all of the Lord’s pledges of his good will which you could not feel, your faith will grow stronger.

 A Prayer for America

 

It is clear from the various passages in both the Old and in the New Testaments that it is the will of God that believers should also pray for their government and for the citizens of the land in which they live. With that in mind the Christian residing in America could and should pray for his country. Of what things could and should such a prayer be composed? See the following commands and promises of God! Then pray this prayer!

Come boldly to the throne of grace! (Hebrews 4:16.)

Lord, you have heard the desire of the humble   (Psalm 10:17).

I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and for all who are in authority…. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior (1st Timothy 2:1-3).

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

I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity (Isaiah 13:11).

The Lord is a man of war (Exodus 15:3).

They chose new gods. Then there was war (Judges 5:8).

All nations that forget God will be turned into hell (Psalm 9:17).

The nation and the kingdom which will not serve you will perish, and those nations will be utterly ruined (Isaiah 60:12).

Stand in the gap before me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it! (Ezekiel 22:30.)

See the example of Abraham’s prayer! (Genesis   18:23-32).

Note the prayer of Daniel! (Daniel 9:3-27.)

 

Dear true and triune God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the true founder and preserver of my country:   Since I will stand on holy ground (Exodus 3:5) whenever I would come before you in prayer, as the high priest in the Old Testament (Hebrews 7:27), so I must first cleanse myself of mine own sins by repenting of them, and by believing your gospel pledge before I could bring the sins of my fellow Americans before you. Therefore, I humble myself, leaving behind my prideful heart and laying my selfish soul in the dust. According to your command (Ezekiel 22:30-31) and to your promise (Psalm 10:17), I now confess the grievous sins of my country, plead with you that they may be forgiven, and pray for the peace of this land from its deserving punishment. Where should I start? There is atheism in our colleges, unbelief in our high schools, and rejection of the Creator in the grade schools. The holy name of Christ is locked out of our public buildings with a vengeance. The American family is torn by turmoil, robbed of peace and love because its members have cast aside your commandments and gospel – the only remedies for home happiness. The American workplace reeks of profanity, gossip, and backbiting. Too many churches deny that Jesus Christ is God, and that his bible is God’s own truth. Of these, and of so many other insulting sins, I confess to you, O most holy God. Though thousands cry, “God bless America!” how could you bless it when hundreds of millions of Americans reject what is required of them by you to bring down your blessing? Therefore I plead with you to forgive my countrymen of their sins, and not to punish this land from sea to shining sea as it so justly deserves. Hear my prayer!   Spare this people!   Save this land!   Thank you for all of your past mercies which you have poured down upon my country in mighty showers. May all of civilization note it, and compliment you until the end of time for making us such a highly favored nation! What patience, mercy, and help you have shown to us! Bless you for it! Amen!

If my people who are called by my name would humble themselves, and would pray and would seek my face, and would turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and will heal their land (2nd Chronicles 7:14).

 

The Meaning of your Life

 

Your intent –         to serve God

Your motive –       an appreciation for God’s salvation

Your spirit –           your Christian nature which has the mind of Christ (1st Corinthians 2:16)

Your purpose –     to bring praise to God and help to your needy neighbor

Your objects –       God and your neighbor

Your means –        love and sacrifice

The result –        the accomplishment of the good works for which you were created (Ephesians 2:10)

Your salvation –   God’s gospel pledge

Your faith –           to believe God’s gospel pledge

Your end –             to live with your Creator in heaven

 

 

TO READ IN BOOK FORMAT, OR TO PRINT THIS ARTICLE, CLICK ON THIS LINK – 8-An-All-important-Lesson-

From Luther

by the Reverend H. W. Wehrs

 

“I.  Because death is a departure from the world and all its affairs, it is necessary for a man to make arrangement for his money and property in order to remove all dispute and all mistake, that else might arise among his relations after his death.

“II.  That he also take leave in a spiritual manner, i.e. that he kindly with all his heart and for the sake of God forgive all those, by whom he has been offended; and again, he, on his part, should sincerely and for the sake of God beg the pardon of all those he undoubtedly will have offended, if only by setting a bad example, or showing too little charity, which he ought to have exercised according to Christian and brotherly love, so that his soul may not be burdened by any affairs of this world.

“III.  After having taken leave from all things temporal, he should turn to God to whom the way of death also turns and leads.  And here the strait gate and the narrow way to life properly begins.  In this a man must venture cheerfully.  Although narrow, the way is not long.  It is, as with a child, that is born in danger and anguish from the small habitation of its mother’s womb into this spacious world; man passes through the strait gate of death from this life into eternal life.  And though we consider heaven and earth we now dwell in, as very large and extensive, nevertheless, when compared to the future heaven, they are a great deal smaller and narrower than a mother’s womb as compared to this present heaven.  Hence the dying of the beloved saints is called a new birth and the day of its commemoration is called in Latin ‘Natale’, that is, birthday.  But for the narrowness of the way of death we think this life to be broad, and the life to come narrow.  Therefore future life is a matter of faith, and passing from this life into future life is likened by Christ to the natural birth of a child, when saying:  ‘A woman, when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come, but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish for joy, that a man is born into this world’.  Thus it is with dying; anguish is the thing we are aware of, but we know that after death there will be plenty of room and great joy.

“IV.  If we wish to prepare for death properly it will be incumbent upon us to confess our sins and to receive the sacrament of the body and blood of Christ, to long for it devoutly, and to participate of it with great confidence, when it is to be had; if not, the longing for it shall not the less be of comfort to us, and we shall not feel alarmed if, by circumstances, we are hindered to receive it, for Christ says:  ‘All things are possible to him, that believeth’.  For the sacraments are but signs that serve to attract faith, as we shall see, without which faith they are of no avail to us.

“V.  We should care that the holy sacraments be highly esteemed and honored with us, so that we frankly and cheerfully depend upon them and regard them superior to death, sin and hell; that we occupy our minds more with them and their virtues, than with our sins.  But how to render due honor to the sacraments we will now learn.  The honor of the sacraments consists in this, that we believe to be true what they mean, and that all of God’s proclamation therein pertains to us, so that we say with Mary, the mother of the Lord, Luke 1, 38:  ‘Be it unto me according to thy word’.  For as God speaks and testifies by the minister, He may not be more dishonored in His word, than by our doubting its truth; nor may He be honored more than by our believing it to be true and by trusting in it.

“VI.  To learn the efficacy of the sacraments we must know the evils they combat, and the reasons why they have been given.  There are three,  1. The frightful image of death; 2. The horrible and manifold image of sin; 3. The unbearable and inevitable image of hell and damnation.  Now, each of these grows strong by way of addition.  Death grows strong by this, that frail and timid human nature imagines to itself too deeply its horrible image and turns its eyes but to this.  In addition to this the devil is very busy in keeping before man’s eyes the terrible features and image of death, in order to make him faint-hearted and despondent, for he will most likely present to him all kinds of terrible, sudden and evil deaths man has ever seen, heard or read of.  Into this he will sprinkle the wrath of God and show how, at sundry times, God has punished and destroyed sinners; all this he will do to drive man into fear of death and inordinate love and care of this life, that man, burdened with such thoughts, may forget his God, flee and hate death, and thus be found disobedient in the hour of death.  For the more death is feared and looked at, the harder it is to die.  In life we ought to occupy our thoughts with death and look toward it when it is yet afar off and not pressing upon us, but in the hour of death this is dangerous and vain.  At that hour we must hurl from us its image and not be willing to look at it.  Behold, thus death has its power and strength from the timidity of our nature and from our looking at it in the wrong time.

“VII.  Sin also grows large and strong by looking at it and contemplating it too deeply.  To this helps the timidity of our conscience, that dreads God and reproves us.  Now the devil finds a chance he has long sought for; he presses upon us, he magnifies and multiplies our sins, he presents to us all those that have sinned, and have been damned even for a few sins, so that poor man must become faint-hearted and unwilling to die, and thus forgets God and is found disobedient towards Him at his departure, the more so, because a dying man generally thinks he ought to contemplate his sins and he was doing well in that.  So then man finds himself unprepared and indisposed to die, for in the moment of death we must not look at our sins, but while we are living.  But the evil spirit sets everything upside down.  In death, when we should place before our eyes only life, grace and salvation, he presents to us nothing but death, sin and hell; in life when we always should keep death in view he conceals its dire image from our eyes.

“VIII.  Hell grows large and strong when looked at in undue time.  It grows still more so by inquisitive thoughts in regard to predestination.  Here the devil begins to display his greatest skill to lead man away from the word of God to look for signs and wonders in order to become sure of his election and salvation, and to suspect God as not willing to save him.  In short, he tries to extinguish unto man the love of God as by a storm and to arouse hatred against God.  Now, the more a man yields to the devil and such thoughts, the more precarious his state is: he can not longer withstand, but finally falls into hatred against God and into blasphemy.  Man is said to be tempted by hell, when he is tempted by thoughts concerning his election; this is much complained of in the Psalms.  Whosoever conquers in this, has conquered sin, hell and death all together.
“IX.  You must take pains so as not to invite those images to your home, they will all by themselves rush in too strongly and try to claim your whole heart for their disputations and visions, and if they prevail against you, you are lost and God is forgotten.  For these images are out of place in the hour of death.  At such time you must expel them, when they begin to tempt you.  But who wishes to subdue and expel them, will not find it sufficient to wrest and dispute with them, for they will prove too strong for him, and things will grow worse and worse.  The proper art consists in dropping them altogether and not meddling with them.  But how is this to be done?  It is to be done in this way:  You must look at death in the mirror of life; at sin in the mirror of grace; at hell in the mirror of heaven.  To this image you must cling, though all creatures, all angels, yea, even God should seem to present it to you in a different way.

“X.  You must not look at death as it is in itself, nor as it is in your nature, nor as it is in those, that were slain by the wrath of God, whom death has conquered, else you will be conquered like these and be lost; but you must turn away your eyes, your thoughts, your heart from all such images and look at death steadily as it is in those that have died in the grace of God and have conquered death.  You must look at death as it is in Christ and then in all his saints.  Behold, presented in this image, death will not be terrible to you, but weak, conquered and swallowed by life; for Christ is nothing but life, consolation and salvation.  The deeper you will press this image into your mind and the more you will look at it, the more the image of death will vanish and finally disappear, and so your heart may be at peace, and you may die in Christ cheerfully, as is said Rev. 14.:  ‘Blessed are the dead, that die in the Lord’.  This is signified in Num. 21.  When the Israelites were bitten by fiery serpents, they were not told to wrest with them, but to look upon the serpent of brass, by so doing the fiery serpents fell off by themselves and disappeared.  Thus your mind must be absorbed in the death of Christ and you will find life; but if you look at death without Christ, it will cause you great torments and trouble.

“XI.  Even so, you must not look at sin as it is in sinners, nor as it is in your conscience, nor as it is in those, that finally remain in sin and are lost, else you will surely follow them and be conquered; but you must turn away your thoughts from all this, and look at sin as it is in the mirror of grace.  This you must impress into your heart and keep it always in sight.  The image of grace is Christ crucified, and all his saints.  How is this to be understood?  Answer:  it is nothing but grace and mercy, that Christ crucified takes away you sins, bears them and blots them out for you; and to believe this and to keep it constantly in mind, means to look at the mirror of grace and to impress it into the heart.  Further, all saints labor and suffer the same as you do, as it is written:  ‘Bear ye one another’s burden’, and Matth. 11.:  ‘Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest’.  Thus you may look at your sins without fear.  Your sins are sins no more, but made up into one lump and swallowed in Christ; for He takes upon Him your sins, conquers them by His righteousness, from mere grace.  If you believe, they will not harm you any more.  Thus Christ, the mirror of grace and life, is our consolation against the image of death and sin.  This Paul testifies 1 Cor. 15.:  ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.  O death, where is thy sting?  O grave, where is thy victory?  But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ’.

“XII.  You must not view hell, its everlasting torments and predestination in yourself, nor in them that are damned, you must not trouble yourself at the multitude of those that are not predestinated to eternal life, or else you will plunge into an abyss; close your eyes toward all this.  You will not unravel the secrets of God though you try for thousands of years; you will only destroy yourself.  Therefore look at the heavenly image, Christ, as descending into hell for you, as being forsaken by God for you, as one damned forever when he cried from the cross:  ‘My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me’.  Behold, in this image your hell is conquered and your election made sure.  For if you pay attention only to this and believe, that all this has been done for your sake, you will surely be kept in faith” (The Lutheran Witness, Volume 9, Number 8 [21 September, 1890], pages 59-60).