Church Sermon - February 23, 2003

"AMEN"

TO GOD’S PROMISES!

Rev. Mark F. Bartels

Old Testament Lesson; Isaiah 43:18-25
Gospel Lesson; Mark 2:1-12
Sermon Text; 2 Corinthians 1:18-22

Sometimes we change our minds, and we change them for good reason. For example, if we were to ask a little boy, today, "Do you think that girls are yucky?"

He would undoubtedly say, "Yes!!!"

But, if we were to ask him that same question, 15 years from now, "Do you think that girls are yucky?"

Probably, he would have changed his mind, and would say, "NO!!!"

And, he would have changed his mind for good reason, because he had matured.

Maybe a son asks his dad, "Can we go fishing tonight, when you get home from work?"

And, the dad, who cares about his son and wants to spend time with his son, says to him, "Yes! I would be happy to do that! I would like to do that!"

But when the father gets home from work, he finds out from Mom that their son has been disobedient all day long. He didn’t do a single thing that he was asked to do.

And so, when that son comes to his dad and asks, "Dad, can we go fishing tonight?"

The father changes his mind and says, "No son, we can’t do that anymore. There are consequences for the bad choices that you made today."

His yes, turned into a no. The boy’s father changed his mind, for a good reason.

Maybe a young woman is asked by a young man, "Will you marry me?"

And, she says, "Yes!"

The wedding is 6 months off, and during those 6 months, she finds out that he is abusive to her and would not make a good husband. And so, before those 6 months come to an end, her "Yes", turns to, "No, I won’t marry you."

She changed her mind, for a good reason.

The reason I bring up those examples is because, as Christians, sometimes we look at things that God has said to us, and we wonder whether what used to be "Yes" has turned into "No".

Maybe a year ago, if someone would have asked you or me "Do you believe that God forgives your sins?"

A year ago, I would have said, "Absolutely yes!"

But then, during the past year, I may have fallen into some terrible, deep, evil sins. They have caused me to have great guilt in my heart. No matter how many times I have promised to God that I am going to stop and get rid of that sin, I continue to fall into it, over and over again.

And, if someone would ask me today, "Does God forgive you of your sins?"

In my heart, I may struggle and wonder if whether what used to be "Yes" has now turned to "No." I may think that maybe God doesn’t forgive me, anymore.

Maybe somebody would have asked you a year ago, "Do you believe that God works everything out, for your good?"

A year ago, we would have said, "Yes everything is going well in my life. Everything seems to appear to be going well. Yes, I believe that God works everything out for my good."

But then you ask me today. And, when I look at the trouble I am now going through, all of the trails, and the tribulations, it is hard for me to have that confidence. I wonder, "Has God’s "Yes", turned to "No"? Has God changed His mind, for some reason?"

Does God change His mind, toward you and me? In order to answer that question, I want you to go back 8,000 years ago,

when Adam and Eve fell into sin. God made a promise. The promise God made 8,000 years ago was:

send a savior and

will

save you

from your sin.

For the next 6,000 years, God continued to make that promise, over, and over, and over, again. And, He continued to make that promise, in more and more detail. During those years, unfortunately, the Children of Israel began to fall away, more and more, leaving less and less of them who really trusted in God, and really believed in Him.

And so, God had every good reason to change His mind from "Yes I am going to send a savior" to "No". But did God change His mind? No, He did not.

2,000 years ago, it finally came time for the Father to say to His dear Son, "Son, it is now time. The hour, the day, the moment has come for you to go down to that earth. It is time for you to give up all of your divine power and glory. It is time for you to give up all that you have here. It is time for you to give up your robes of glory, and be clothed in a diaper." Did God change His mind, when He had His Son stoop so low, as to be clothed in a diaper? The answer is no, He did not.

"And now, my Son, it is time for you to go. You, my dear Son, whose voice created all things in heaven and earth, and all things that exist, now my dear Son, it is time for you to stoop down so low that you have to be burped by your earthly mother." Did God change His mind, when He saw how low His Son would have to stoop? The answer is no, He did not.

When God watched how this world mistreated His dear, dear Son, did He change His mind? Have you ever seen someone mistreat your child? God did. God watched, as this world mocked and made fun of His Son. God watched, as people went into closed rooms and made desperate plans on how they were going to murder His own, dear Son. The Father could have changed His mind, stepped in and brought it all to an end. Did God change His mind? The answer is no, He did not.

Did God, the Father, change His mind, when His dear Son lay, face down on the ground, with His arms spread out, sweating as it were, great drops of blood and praying from the very depths of His soul,

not once,

not twice,

but three times,

crying out to His Father, "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me."

God heard the pleas of His own, dear Son, begging that if it were possible, God could somehow change His mind. Did God, the Father, change His mind? The answer is no, He did not.

Did God, the Father change His mind, when He watched as they shredded the back of His Son with the whip? Did He change His mind, as they spit in the face of His Son, as they mocked Him and ridiculed Him? Certainly the Father had every good reason to change His mind. Did He change His mind? No, He did not.

Did God change His mind, when they hung His Son on the cross? Did God change His mind, when His own dear Son cried out, from the depths of agony, "My God. My God. Why hast thou forsaken me?"

The Father heard the voice of His dear Son, crying out, "Father, Father why have you turned your back on me? Why are you harming me, hurting me and punishing me?" The Father did not have a cold and calculating heart, where He thought nothing of His Son. So, did God change His mind? No. The Father continued, even though He dearly, dearly loves His Son, He continued to strike His Son, with these heavy blows. Blow, after blow, after blow, that you and I deserve for our sins.

And, when it came time to deliver the last blow, and the hardest and the heaviest blow to His own dear Son, the blow of death, did God, the Father change His mind? The answer is no.

When that last blow was delivered, God’s promise was fulfilled. Our sins were absolutely, 100%, completely paid for. The world was redeemed. God was restored to us and we to God. God forgave all of our sins. Thank God, He didn’t change His mind, through all of that.

And so the question is: When God says, "Yes" to you, can He ever change His mind and say, "No"? Our scripture reading for today says,

"No matter how many promises

God

has made,

they are "Yes"

in Christ."

The key word there is Christ. If God has promised, promised, that your sins are forgiven in Christ, then they are forgiven.

So, you look at your sins and say, "What terrible evil sins I have committed. How great my sin has become. How far I have fallen, in the eyes of God. Now, because of this, can God still keep His promise to me? Does He still keep His promise to me?"

What is the answer? Would the Father, at that point look at His Son and say, "I know that you gave your precious blood to pay for this person’s sins, and that you purchased him with your very life. But his sins are so big and great that your payment was not enough for his sins, and I will not accept your death as satisfaction for his sins." Would the Father ever do that to His Son? Absolutely not!

Could God change His mind? No! In Christ, the Father fully and absolutely accepts the full, pure, and perfect payment of His Son, for our sin.

That is why the Bible says,

"No matter how many promises

God has made,

they are

When God says that your sins are forgiven,

they stand forgiven,

today,

tomorrow and

into eternity,

because God’s promises do not change.

His mind does not change.

When God says, "Yes",

He means "Yes!"

It will be "Yes", and

will remain "Yes",

God says, "All things work together for good, to those who love God."

As you look around, you ask, "Can God really be working things out for my good? Maybe, now God is saying, "No" to me. He will not work things out for my good, anymore."

Would the Father ever do that to His Son? Would the Father ever say to His Son, "You have purchased that person with your own blood. You sought their highest and greatest good, but now I don’t want good for that person, anymore."

Would the Father ever do that to His Son? No, He would not say that to His Son. That is why the Bible says,

"No matter how many promises

God has made,

they are

God promises to answer your prayers. But, when you look around it seems as if, "God can’t be answering my prayers". It appears as if His "Yes, I promise to answer your prayers" has turned to a "NO".

Would the Father ever do that to His own, dear Son? God’s own, dear Son, gave up His very life, (the highest price that could possibly be paid) to make you a Child of God and make God, your Father! Would God ever say to His Son, "I am not going to treat that person (that you purchased), as a father would treat his child." No, He would not say that to His Son. Which is why scripture says,

"No matter how many promises

God has made,

they are

So who benefits from all of those promises? Believers benefit from all of those promises that stand absolutely firm, sure, unshakeable, and unmovable in Christ! You believe all of those promises. You believe in Jesus as your Savior, and that your sins are forgiven, and they are forgiven. You believe in Jesus as your Savior, and God does work out everything for your good. You believe that Jesus is your Savior, and God does answer your prayers. And, His answers stand firm.

That is why our scripture reading goes on and says, "And so through Him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God." Through Jesus, we say "Amen" to God.

What does "Amen" mean? When I was a little kid, I always thought it meant that we had finally made it to the end! We said the prayer and "Amen" meant, we got to the end. We said the Apostles Creed and "Amen" meant, we finally got to the end. The Pastor said "Amen" at the end of the sermon, which meant, we finally made it to the end! And when the church service was over we sang, "Amen, Amen, Amen." So I was thinking, "We made it. We made it! We made it! It is over. It is over! It is over!"

That is not what "Amen" means.

Amen is a statement of faith.

Amen is a Hebrew word that means, "Yes, Yes, it shall be so."

Amen is a statement of faith that says, "I firmly, absolutely believe that when God makes a promise to me, it is so, it shall be so, it will be so! God will not, does not and cannot break His promises to me, in Christ Jesus!" That is a statement of faith!

Our scripture reading concludes by saying,

"He anointed us,

set His seal of ownership on us, and

put His Spirit in our hearts

as a deposit,

guaranteeing what is to come."

There again, God wants you to know that He will not break His promises to you. When He says, "Yes", it is always "Yes".

Think about this. It says He put His mark of ownership on you. He put His seal of ownership on you. When you own something, what is the seal that you put on it, to show that it is yours? You write your name on it. God did that to you! When you were baptized, He took you individually, personally, by yourself, and He wrote His name on you. "I baptize you, in the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen." There, God marked you with His name, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. He put His sign of ownership on you!

It says He gave you the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. When you were baptized, you received the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit entered into your heart. God here says, that is a deposit. It is a down payment. It is earnest money. When you give earnest money to someone, you are saying, "I am coming back and I will complete this transaction." When God gave you the Holy Spirit in your baptism, God was saying, "I will complete the promises I made to you. I will bring this all to fulfillment."

When God gave you the Holy Spirit, who now lives in your heart by faith, the Holy Spirit causes you, causes you, to take absolute comfort in the fact that your sins are all forgiven, in Jesus Christ! Heaven is for people who God sees as holy and perfect. God, now, chooses to see you as holy and perfect, for Jesus’ sake!

Would God give you the Holy Spirit, would God live in your heart, and bring you all that comfort, only in the end to say, "No, I am taking it all away. I never meant it in the first place." No, the Holy Spirit is a deposit, guaranteeing that God will fulfill His promise to take you to Heaven. And, to all that we say, "Amen." It shall be so. God’s Word is infallible! It cannot fail. His promises are true. They cannot be moved. Therefore, we build our hope and confidence on God’s promises.

Amen.

Top of Page || Church Sermons || Return to Home Page