Church Sermon - June 27, 2004

Rev. Mark F. Bartels

Epistle Lesson; Galatians 2:11-21
Gospel Lesson; Luke 7:36-50
Sermon Text; 2 Samuel 11:26-12:13

Every Sunday morning, here at Holy Cross, near the beginning of our service, we do something that has fallen out of practice in many Christian churches. It is seen as old and archaic. We confess our sins and then we hear the Words of Absolution. In today’s Gospel Lesson, which Pastor Tweit read, there was a sinful woman who heard the words of Christ’s Absolution. He said,

"Your sins are forgiven."

In today’s Old Testament Lesson, David a repentant sinner hears the Words of Absolution. He is told by Nathan the prophet,

"Your sins are forgiven."

The goal of today’s sermon is to help us see what a great treasure, a profound treasure we have in confession and absolution. Our scripture reading is taken from 2 Samuel 11:26-12:13

There was a young man who strayed away from church. He strayed away from the straight and narrow way. He went along the broad path that leads to destruction. He fell into many sins.

And, as he grew older and his life began to crash in around him, he began to be troubled and overwhelmed with a feeling of guilt, the horror of God’s judgment, and of Hell. He was troubled by what he had done. He realized that he deserved God’s judgment for the many, many sins that he had committed.

He needed help and he needed to hear that his sins were forgiven. So, he went to his pastor. He walked into his pastor’s office, and shaking, with tears streaming out of his eyes, he poured out his soul to his pastor. He confessed his sins to his pastor. He confessed his many sins. He expressed to his pastor a fear of God’s judgment and a horror of God’s wrath and of Hell.

As his pastor listened to him, his pastor began to tell him, "You know that Jesus died for the sins of the whole world."

The pastor went on, until the young man stopped him and said, "Pastor, stop. I don’t want to hear that Jesus died for the sins of the whole world. I can’t be comforted, until I hear that Jesus died for my sins. I can’t be comforted until I hear that my sins are forgiven. I can’t be comforted until I hear the voice of Jesus say to me, ‘I forgive YOU all of YOUR sins.’"

What that young man was longing for is what we call Absolution. Absolution is the personal word of forgiveness spoken to individual sinners, one by one.

That is what we practice here at Holy Cross. On Sunday mornings, we come before the LORD as individual sinners. What do we say? "I confess that I have sinned against God. I confess that I was born in sin. I confess that I have sinned against God in thought, word, and deed. I confess that I deserve, I deserve God’s temporal and eternal punishment. I confess that I am heartily sorry for my sins." That is individual, personal confession. That is the individual person’s heart coming to God, longing to hear that his individual, personal sins are forgiven.

When the pastor speaks the Words of Absolution, he says, "By the authority of God, I declare unto you, the gracious forgiveness of all of your sins. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."

There is spoken, to each individual, one by one, that Jesus forgives your sins.

Now, why does the church practice what we call Absolution, the speaking to each individual sinner, that your sins are forgiven? It is based on six things that we know from scripture.

Number one. We know, from scripture, that Jesus came to this world and took to Himself, the entire sins of the entire world. The Bible tells us,

"The LORD has laid on Him

the iniquity of us all."

All of our sins were laid on Jesus. The Bible says,

"He is the atoning sacrifice,

not only for our sins,

but for the sins of the whole world."

There, the Bible makes it very clear, that there is not a sin that has been committed, not one, no matter how big, or how secret, that has not been laid on Jesus. They have all been laid on Jesus.

Number two. Not only have all the sins of the world been laid on Jesus, but we also know from scripture, (and it is very clear), that Jesus has totally wiped out this entire world’s record of sins. The Bible tells us, by the perfect life of Jesus and by His death on the cross, the world’s record of sins is gone. It has been wiped out. The Bible says,

"God was in Christ,

reconciling the world to Himself,

not counting men’s sins against them."

So, Jesus has taken the sins of the world. And, Jesus has totally wiped out this entire world’s record of sin.

Number three. We know from scripture, the Bible tells, us that when the Father raised Christ from the dead, the Father was giving His stamp of approval on what Jesus had done. He was declaring to the world, the whole world, "I accept my Son’s payment for your sins and the forgiveness of sins is ready for the whole world." What does the Bible say?

"He was put to death

for our sins

and raised to life for our justification."

That means that when Jesus was raised to life, the Father stamped His approval on it and said, "You are justified. You are not guilty."

We know that Jesus has taken the sins of the world, wiped away the world’s record of sins, and the Father has put His stamp of approval on Christ’s payment for our sins.

Number four. The Bible commands that theis Good News be spread to the entire world. Jesus said,

"Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations."

Jesus said,

"Go into the world,

and preach the Good News to all creation."

So, there is the command of scripture to tell the world about the forgiveness of sins, won by Christ, our Savior.

Number five. Not only does Jesus command that we go to the whole world, but Jesus so dearly loves each individual sinner, that He commands His Church to go to each individual sinner, one by one, and announce to him or her, personally and individually, that their sins, their personal sins are forgiven.

This isn’t something that we may do. It is something that God commands us to do. The Bible says,

"Jesus breathed on His disciples and He said,

‘Who so ever sins you forgive,

they are forgiven.

He who hears you,

hears me.’"

There, Jesus tells us to go to individual sinners and tell them, individually, personally, that their sins are forgiven. And that is as good as if Jesus, Himself, were standing there saying, "I forgive your sins. Whoever hears you, hears me." Jesus loves individual sinners so much that he wants them to have the individual gospel assurance that their personal sins are forgiven.

Number six. This is taken from a man by the name, C. F. W. Walther. He says, "Now that forgiveness of sins has been gained by Christ, not only does the pastor have a special commission to proclaim this, but every Christian, male and female, adult and child, is commissioned to do this. Even a child’s absolution is just as certain as the absolution of St. Peter, himself, yea, as the absolution of Christ would be, were He to stand visibly before men, and say, ‘Thy sins are forgiven thee.’ There is no difference. For, mark you, it is not a question of what man must do, but what has been done by Christ."

There, C. F. W. Walther wants to remind us that when a pastor stands before a congregation and announces, "I forgive you all of your sins, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit," it is not because the pastor has some special miraculous power. This is an authority that Christ has given to every Christian, to go to individual sinners that He loves dearly. He wants each individual sinner to have the individual, personal, Gospel message.

C.F.W. Walther says it this way. It is like a whole city that rebelled against a king. They killed the king’s son. After their rebellion, they became troubled. They worried what the king would do to them. They worried that the king would come and destroy them.

But the king had compassion on the citizens of that city. He wrote a proclamation that said he pardoned them from their crimes.

Then, he took the proclamation and gave it to his messengers and told them to go to that city. "Take my proclamation and proclaim to them that they have been pardoned by me. I will not hold this crime against them. I will treat them as upstanding citizens."

And so the messengers went to the city and took the king’s message from the mouth of the king, himself. They proclaimed to the people of the city, the citizens, to each individual citizen, "You have a proclamation from the king. The king has pardoned you."

And Walther says, "Suppose the people of that city said, ‘No. We won’t accept that pardon. Not until the king, himself, comes and stands in front of me, looks me in the eye and tells me that he has pardoned me.’"

The citizens would not accept that message. Walther says that would be insolent.

Here, the king had made a proclamation. Here, he had freely pardoned them. Here, he had sent his messengers to spread that good news. That is absolution.

Absolution is the command of Christ. Christ has proclaimed that our sins are forgiven. He has paid the full price for our sins. Now, He sends His Church out into the world and says, "Take that message to each individual sinner and proclaim, proclaim to them, ‘Your sins are forgiven, for Jesus’ sake.’"

That is what happened with King David, in today’s scripture reading. It should happen with all of us. After King David was stricken in his heart, he realized that he had sinned against the Almighty God. He really was overcome with the horror of God’s judgment, a feeling of God’s wrath, and a fear of Hell. We all come as repentant sinners, and confess our sins to God, understanding what we deserve from a Holy God.

What did David do? He confessed his sins. He confessed, "I have sinned against the LORD." He was longing to hear that God would wipe away his sin, would not look at his sins.

What did Nathan, the prophet, do? Nathan, the prophet, said, "The LORD has taken away your sin."

Now Nathan didn’t have the power to create the forgiveness of sins. Nathan was simply announcing an established fact. He was announcing it personally to David. That is all a pastor does, on a Sunday morning. He is only announcing an established fact. Jesus has not only paid for the sins of the world, but because Jesus loves you so dearly, He has commanded that you be told your sins are forgiven, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. That is as good as if Christ, Himself, were standing there, telling you, "I forgive your sins."

What comfort that brings. What assurance that brings! That is the Gospel, the individual Gospel, to individual sinners. Jesus said, "He who hears you, hears me."

In our catechism it says, "Confession consists of two parts. One, that we confess our sins. The other, that we receive absolution or forgiveness from the pastor or confessor as from God, Himself. And in no way doubt, but firmly believe that our sins are thereby forgiven before God Himself, in Heaven."

We thank God that He has given His Church the command to absolve sinners of their sin. That is the spoken Gospel to individual sinners. And through it, the Holy Spirit strengthens us and gives us the joy of salvation, the joy of knowing that our sins are forgiven, and the desire to go forward and live for our Savior.

Amen.

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