Church Sermon - November 28, 2004

Rev. Mark F. Bartels

Epistle Lesson; Romans 13:11-14
Old Testament Lesson; Isaiah 2:1-5
Sermon Text; Matthew 24:37-44

We believe that our Savior, Jesus, has freed us from sin. But what does that mean that Jesus has freed us from sin? It means four things.

I want to talk about how completely Jesus came to totally free us from sin in every single aspect of the word.

First of all, we believe that Jesus came to free us from the guilt of sin. What is guilt? If I break my mother’s favorite piece of china, I am guilty. That means I am responsible. I am the one who did it. And, because I am responsible, that means I am going to have to take the punishment.

Jesus came to free us from the guilt of sin. That means He came to take away our responsibility for sin. In other words, He is the one who came and said, "I am the one who broke your mother’s favorite piece of china. I am the one who told the lie (that you told). I am the one who had bad thoughts about somebody else." Jesus took all of our guilt. He took all of the responsibility, for every single one of our sins. That is why the Bible says,

"The LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all."

Jesus literally took your responsibility for sin away from you, and He took it to His very self.

So, Jesus came to remove the guilt of sin. I am not guilty for my sin anymore. Who is? Jesus is guilty for my sin. Because of that, Jesus was also punished for my sin. The punishment, the ultimate punishment for sin, is death and eternal condemnation. The Bible tells us the punishment that brought us peace, was upon Him. So, when Jesus hung on the cross, the full wrath of God was poured out, because He took my guilt. He took my responsibility for sin. Therefore, He took my punishment for sin. The full punishment for sin was paid. There is no punishment for sin left. On the Day of Judgment, when Jesus comes back, those who trust, "Jesus took all of my guilt away from me. He took all my responsibility for sin. He took all of my sins to the cross", those who trust in Jesus, do not have to fear the punishment of God. When God comes back, He will come back to punish sin. But those who believe in Jesus know that their sin has already been punished. It has already been paid for. God promises,

"Whoever believes shall not perish,

shall not perish,

but have everlasting life".

On Judgment Day, Jesus is going to come back and He is going to deliver us into everlasting life, so that we never ever, ever, ever have to fear again the punishment of sin!

But, not only has Jesus taken away the guilt of sin, and the punishment of sin, but Jesus also came to remove from our lives the power of sin. You know, right now, as long as I live here, on this side of eternity, I still struggle with sin. And, you do too. I know you do. Your heart is the same as mine. We still have evil thoughts. We still do things that we don’t want to do. We say things that we regret saying. That is why St. Paul said,

"The good I want to do,

I don’t do.

The evil I don’t want to do,

that is what I keep on doing."

We still struggle with that power of sin. But, on Judgment Day, Jesus is going to come back and He is going to, in a miraculous way, fully, completely, totally remove the power of sin from our hearts. He is going to change us, so that we will not sin anymore. He is going to remove our sinful natures from us, so that, beginning on the Day of Judgment, we will never ever sin again, for all eternity!

Jesus also came to save us not only from the guilt, the punishment and the power of sin, but also the results of sin. What are the results of sin? The result of sin – anything in this life that is trouble is the result of sin, because you and I have a sinful nature. Of course the ultimate result of sin is death. That is why we are going to die someday. The Bible says,

"The soul that sins,

it shall die."

But any other trouble is also a result of sin.

Those are all a result of being sinners and living in a sinful world. On the Day of Judgment, on the Day of Judgment, Jesus is going to come back and He is going to deliver us from the results of sin. He is going to raise the dead and destroy that ultimate result of sin, which is death. Our bodies are going to be changed to be like His glorious body.

So it is pretty awesome to think how Jesus came to completely deliver us from sin. He delivers us from the guilt of sin, from the punishment of sin, from the power of sin and from the results of sin. The Bible says,

"Our salvation is nearer now,

than when we first believed."

That means that the day is getting closer and closer. If you became a believer 75 years ago, when you were baptized as an infant, that means you are 75 years closer to the day of ultimate deliverance from all sin, in every way, whatsoever. You are 75 years closer to never having to worry again about the punishment of sin. You are 75 years closer to being perfect for all eternity. You are 75 years closer to never, ever having to suffer any results of sin, for the rest of eternity!

So when the Bible says, "Our salvation is nearer now, than when we first believed" as Christians, that is a day we look forward to, with anticipation.

So our scripture reading says the day is closer, "our salvation is nearer now, than when we first believed." It also says, "The night is nearly over; the day is almost here." It is telling us that the Day of Judgment, that day of ultimate deliverance, is almost here. We don’t know when it is going to come, but it is almost here.

Which then gets us to the nub of today’s scripture reading. Given everything that I just talked about, here is what it says.

"The night is nearly over;

the day is almost here."

"Let us behave decently,

as in the day time."

Behave decently, as in the daytime. In other words, the day is almost here. As a Christian, you are longing for this day. You are longing to be free from the total punishment, the total power, and all the results of sin. And so it says, "Behave decently." Behave like you are already there.

And, how do people, who live in Heaven, behave? They are people who follow the Will of God. They are people who do not sin.

When we pray, "Thy will be done on earth, as it is in Heaven" there we are praying, "God help me to behave like I am already in Heaven." I want to strive. I am longing to be free from the power of sin. I don’t want to commit sins anymore in my life. I want to live like someone who truly wants to be rid of sin in my life!

Behave that way. Strive to live as someone who Christ has redeemed from the power of sin. That is why our scripture reading says, "Do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature."

Why would I ever want to gratify the desires of my sinful nature?

The Bibles says that we should not think about how to gratify the sinful nature. Why would I ever want to serve a sinful nature that brings all of those terrible consequences into my life? Rather, it says, "Let us behave decently as in the daytime". I want to live for Jesus. I want to live for my Savior. I want to live for the One who redeemed from the power of sin. I want to live my life here on earth to the best of my ability, as someone who is headed for final deliverance from all of my sin.

So, how do we do that? You know, in the passage we read, you notice it starts out by saying, "Do this, understanding the present time." In other words, understanding Judgment Day is almost here. You are almost in Heaven. You are almost going to be made perfect.

It says, "Do this". Do what? What was it talking about, right before this passage? It says,

"Let no debt remain outstanding among you,

except the continuing debt to love one another."

There the Bible tells us "you want to live like you are already in Heaven. You want to live like somebody who has been freed from the power of sin". Then, love.

Then, St. Paul goes on and explains what he means. He quotes some of the commandments. He says, "Honor your father and mother. Don’t commit adultery. Don’t steal." And he says, "All of these commandments can be summed up in one simple little way. Love your neighbor as your self."

Love is fulfilling God’s Will. It is following what God wants us to do. If we could love perfectly, if we could love perfectly, we could keep the commandments perfectly, then we would be in Heaven.

That is why I like, when Martin Luther wrote the explanation to the commandments, he not only wrote what it means to sin against the commandments, but he also wrote what it means to keep those commandments. Let me give you two examples. The Fourth Commandment says,

"Honor your father and mother that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth."

What does this mean? (Here comes the explanation.) "We should fear and love God so that we do not despise our parents or superiors, nor provoke them to anger, but honor, serve, obey, love, and esteem them".

Children, if you honored, served, obeyed, loved, and esteemed your parents all of the time, do you know what your parents would say? "This is Heaven. This is Heaven! That is what Heaven is going to be like!"

Another commandment, the Fifth Commandment says, "You shall not kill".

What does this mean? "We should fear and love God, so that we do no bodily harm to our neighbor, but help and befriend him in every bodily need."

If we helped each other, every time we were hungry, every time we were thirsty, every time we were lonely, you know what that would be? That would be Heaven. There would be no more hunger, or thirst, or loneliness. That would be perfection.

And so, St. Paul said, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, as this day gets closer and closer, and you are about to be totally free from all sin, in every way, live like somebody who is on their way to Heaven.

Behave decently, as in the daytime.

That is something that we all want to grow in. We are not perfect at that, yet. And how do we grow? The only way we grow is when the Holy Spirit continues to work in our lives. The Holy Spirit works through Word and Sacrament. As we use the Word and Sacrament, the Holy Spirit draws us to

Our salvation is nearer now, than when this sermon began! So, let’s behave decently, as if we are already in Heaven!

Amen.

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