Church Sermon - July 17, 2005

Rev. Bernt P. Tweit

Epistle Lesson; Romans 8:26-27
Gospel Lesson; Matthew 13:24-43
Sermon Text; Isaiah 44:6-8

Our young people, (and even us, as adults), live in a very challenging world. Our beliefs are being challenged everywhere that we are turned. As we heard from our Gospel Lesson this morning, we know that the devil tries to sow seeds, or weeds of destruction among us, as believers. That is his goal, to pull us away from our faith and to bring us to be with him in Hell, for all eternity.

As we look at that theme today, that there are weeds among the wheat, I want to just share with you some things that happened at camp this past week. This past week there were 80 youth and 20 chaperones, for a total of 100 people, (about half of them were from here, at Holy Cross). Now, not only did we have an opportunity to bond with one another, to have fellowship with one another, (for example, my ‘tree house’ where I was a counselor, had our very own, special handshake that we would greet each other with), but, we also had time to stop and pause, and to look at God’s Word. We looked at the gospel of John this last year, under the theme, "I Tell You the Truth."

Monday I was privileged to lead the Bible Study sessions. During the course of those Bible Study sessions, there were two very practical questions that two young Christian women asked. I want to share those with you, today. One of them raised her hand, during the morning Bible Study session and said, "Pastor Tweit, I have a friend who doesn’t believe that Jesus is God. What can I tell her?"

So, we talked about what it is that she could share with her friend. She could go from what her friend knows, to what her friend doesn’t know. She could start by talking about, "Yes, Jesus was a Man. He was tired. He was hungry. He was sleepy. He was a Man. He was born of the Virgin Mary."

But, God’s Word also tells us that Jesus is true God. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit. Jesus did miracles. And, every time Jesus did miracles, it was to show that He was true God. In the gospel of John, we looked at those miracles.

Jesus also is true God, and He shows that through His almighty power.

And so, she was going to take that and she was going to go, (if the opportunity arose itself), to share the truth of God’s Word with her friend.

There was another girl who came up to me. She was embarrassed to ask this in front of everybody, so she came to me after the afternoon Bible Study session. She said, "Pastor Tweit, I have a friend who comes to church with me. But, she doesn’t believe that Jesus is her Savior. If she would die today, what would happen to her?"

I said, "What is it that we learned today?"

She told me, "We learned Bible passages like this. ‘Jesus is the way, and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’ We learned that Jesus is the gate and nobody can pass through to the Father, except through Jesus."

And so I asked, "What will happen to your friend, if she dies?"

She answered that question, as a tear rolled down her face. She said, "She would go to Hell."

I said, "You are right, but take heart, because your friend is still going to church with you. She may not believe that Jesus is her Savior right now, but she is coming with you to a place where the Holy Spirit has the opportunity to work faith in her heart. Wherever God’s Word is read, wherever God’s Word is preached and wherever the Means of Grace is administered, (Baptism and the Lord’s Supper), there we have the promise from God’s Word that the Holy Spirit is working."

She went away with a smile, knowing and praying that her friend, through the working of the Holy Spirit, would hopefully someday come to faith to believe in Jesus as her Savior.

No less than 27 times in the book of John, does Jesus begin teaching by saying, "I tell you the truth." For example, Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, I am the gate." Jesus also tells us, in the book of John, "Trust in God, trust also in me."

Really that is what our sermon text is all about today. The LORD, through His Word, tells us that we can put our trust in the LORD, our God. There are two reasons, from our text, why we can put our trust in the LORD, our God. First of all, it is because of the way that He reveals Himself to us. (In a little bit, here, we are going to look at the seven different ways that the LORD reveals Himself to us.) But then, He also says that we can put our trust in the LORD, our God, because of the predictions He makes. His Word is solid, and they are reliable. They are truth.

As you look at the sermon text in your bulletin today, you will see that there are seven ways in which He identifies Himself to us. It is like looking at the diamond on a diamond ring. We are looking at the same person, and yet we are looking at different facets. So let’s just look at those seven different ways that He identifies Himself to us.

First of all, He reveals Himself as the LORD or Yahweh. When we look at that word in scripture, we are looking at the graciousness or the mercifulness of God. God is gracious. He shows His undeserved love to us, who are sinners. The clearest way that God has revealed His grace to us is by sending His Son to the cross. There, Jesus suffered, died, and rose again proving that our sins are forgiven, proving that believers have eternal life in Heaven.

He also reveals Himself to us as King, as Israel’s King. What is the work of a king? The work of a king is to fight battles, on behalf of his subjects. The best example of that, in the Old Testament, is King David. King David fought battles on behalf of his subjects, the people of Israel. He fought the Philistines, and he fought others.

That is exactly what Jesus has done for us, too. Jesus has fought battles on our behalf. He has defeated our three greatest enemies, sin, death, and the power of the devil.

He also reveals Himself to us as our Redeemer. The word "redeem" simply means, "to buy back, or to set a people free." That is what God did, when He redeemed the Children of Israel from slavery in Egypt. That is exactly what Jesus has also done for us. He has redeemed us from our sin. He has bought us back from death and He has freed us, by giving us eternal life in Heaven.

He reveals Himself to us as the LORD Almighty. He is omnipotent. He is all-powerful. God simply needed to speak the Word, and things were created. Jesus simply needed to speak the Word, and water was changed into wine.

He reveals Himself to us as the first and the last, or the alpha and the omega. God was around before He created the world. And, He will continue to be around after this heaven and this earth melt away and He creates a new Heaven and a new Earth. He is eternal. He is God. The title God simply means, "He provides for us." He provides for us food and clothing, home and family, property and goods, everything that we need for this body and life.

Finally, He reveals Himself to us as the Rock. He is solid. He is reliable. We can put our trust in the LORD, our God, simply by looking at the different ways that He reveals Himself to us.

Secondly from our text for today, we see how we can put our trust in the LORD, our God, because His predictions and His Word are reliable. Pull out your bulletin this morning and let’s just look at that middle section of our text for today, verse 7 and the first part of verse 8. Isaiah here shows us God’s predictions and His Word. At verse 7 it begins by saying,

"Who then is like me? Let him proclaim it. Let him declare and lay out before me what has happened since I established my ancient people, and what is yet to come-yes, let him foretell what will come. Do not tremble, do not be afraid. Did I not proclaim this and foretell it long ago. You are my witnesses."

In these verses here, the LORD is pointing to His record. And, every time the LORD speaks, He is 100 percent correct with His predictions in His Word.

In the Old Testament, people wondered about the prophets, if what they spoke was really from the LORD. In the book of Deuteronomy, God simply said,

"If a prediction by one of the prophets doesn’t come true

then you know that they were not sent by me."

God’s Word is full of predictions that He has made. For example, in the Garden of Eden, God told Adam and Eve not to eat from the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden. For, if they would, they would certainly die. The devil came to them, sowing seeds of destruction and said, "You will not surely die. Rather, you will become like God, knowing good and evil."

Well, what happened after Adam and Eve ate of that fruit? God’s prediction came true and they died.

God made a prediction that a descendant of Eve would crush the head of Satan.

"When the time had fully come God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons."

Yes, everyday of our life, the devil tries to sow seeds of destruction in our lives, to try to pull that faith away from us. This last week, I saw examples of that at camp as well, as those two young Christian women, showed how they have struggles in their lives with questions that had been asked of them. Today we pray that while unbelievers live among us, that we can be strengthened in our faith and can put our trust completely in the LORD, our God, because He reveals Himself to us in many different ways and also because His predictions and His Word are trustworthy and true.

Jesus is the way

and the truth

and the life.

No one comes to the Father,

except through Him.

I tell you the truth.

Jesus is the gate,

through which we pass through

to get to the Father.

As we have already done today, we have confessed that we are sinners. This last week we have sinned against God, in our thoughts, in our words, and in our actions. We confess those sins again today. And know that our sins are forgiven for Jesus’ sake. Now we pray that we continue to be strengthened in our faith, until God harvests into the barn of His heavenly Kingdom.

Amen.

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