Church Sermon - April 23, 2006

IS CHRISTIAN FAITH BLIND FAITH?

Rev. Mark F. Bartels

Historical Lesson; Acts 3:13-26
Epistle Lesson; 1 John 5:1-6
Gospel Lesson; John 20:19-31
Sermon Text; John 20:19-31

Today we will concentrate particularly on two portions of our Gospel Lesson that was read earlier.

On Easter evening, Jesus breathed on His disciples and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven."

Then a week later, Jesus said this to Thomas, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

These are your words Heavenly Father. Lead us in the way of truth. Your word is truth.

Amen.

In the 1800s C.F.W. Walter was the president of the ‘old’ Missouri Synod. He was also a professor of the seminary. And, he was also a very excellent pastor, who led his church body through some very, very difficult doctrinal controversies, and did it very skillfully and courageously. He wrote a book that is still used among Lutheran seminary students to this day, called, Walter’s Law and Gospel. And, every good Lutheran pastor should have that book on his desk, as well. He was a very, very strong Christian leader. Even if you look at a picture of him, during his younger days, he just exuded strength and confidence, wisdom and humility.

But, he wasn’t always that way. In fact, when C.F.W. Walter was a college student, he got hooked up with some students in college who were having a Bible study. They invited him to their Bible study, so he went. The man who was leading the Bible study was telling the students there, "If you want to know that your sins are forgiven, if you want to know that your sins really are forgiven, you must have a certain degree of sorrow in your heart for your sins. And, when you have reached that certain degree of sorrow, and you are really sorry for your sins, then you can know that God forgives you."

Then he asked the students, "Do you want to be sure that your sins are forgiven?"

C. F.W. Walter said, "Yes, yes I want to be sure."

So this leader said, "Then, go home, get down on your knees, and strive to come to that certain degree of sorrow and repentance over your sin."

And so, C.F.W. Walter went home and he struggled to be as sorry as he could for his sins. And the more he struggled to be sorry for his sins, the less certain he was that he was sorry enough. And, he didn’t know if he was sorry enough for God to forgive him.

What C. F.W. Walter was looking for was some kind of outward sign, an outward sign that would assure him, "Now I am sorry enough. Now I know my sins are forgiven." He was looking for an outward sign to assure him that he was a Christian.

Many churches today point their members to outward signs to assure them that they are Christians. Let me give you some examples. There are churches today, which teach their members that if you want to be certain that you are saved, and that you are a Christian, you need to be able to point to the exact hour and day in your life when you had a conversion experience, as an adult. You need to be able to say, "It was on ‘such and such’ a day, at ‘such and such’ a time, when I fell down on my knees. I repented of my sin, and I asked Jesus into my heart. And at that point the Holy Spirit came into me, and I was filled with the feeling of forgiveness." It is pointing to an outward sign.

But, what if you can’t point to that exact day and time, when you came to repentance as an adult and asked Jesus into your life? Does that mean you are not saved? Does that mean you are not a Christian? Wouldn’t that fill you with doubts and uncertainty?

Other churches teach that in order to be certain you are saved, you need a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit. If you can speak in tongues, then you know that the Holy Spirit is inside of you. You know you are a Christian and you know your sins are forgiven. But, if you cannot speak in tongues, then how do you know the Holy Spirit lives in you? How do you know you are a Christian? How do you know that your sins are forgiven? It is pointing to an outward sign as proof that you are a Christian and your sins are forgiven.

Other churches teach that you need to have certain feelings to know that you are forgiven. If you come to church, are filled with joy, sing songs that make you happy, have a good experience in church, and then you go out of church feeling good and happy about your Savior, and happy about your salvation, then you can be sure that you are a Christian and that your sins are forgiven. But, what if you do not go out of church, feeling joyful and happy? Does that mean you are not a Christian? It is pointing to outward signs, as a certainty that you are saved.

Other churches teach that if you want to be certain of your salvation, you need to do a certain amount of good works. And, if you have done a certain amount of good works, then you can be sure that God forgives you and you are on your way to Heaven. But what if you have not done a certain number of good works, or what if you don’t know how many good works you have to do? Then you can’t be certain of your salvation. It is pointing to outward signs that you are a Christian and a believer.

Thomas, who we read about in our scripture reading, was going through those same feelings and those same emotions. He had been told that Jesus had risen from the dead. But Thomas did not believe it. He doubted that Jesus had risen from the dead. Which means he doubted his own eternal salvation, because everything is connected. Scripture tells us, "If Christ has not risen from the dead, then you are still in your sins, and your faith is futile." In other words, if Jesus doesn’t have the power to get up out of the grave, there is no way He would have the power to pay for your sins, and you might as well not be a Christian. Well, Thomas was doubting that Jesus had risen from the dead, which means therefore, he was doubting, "Are my sins paid for? Am I forgiven? Is Jesus my Savior?"

And, Thomas was longing for some kind of external sign. "If only there was a sign that could prove to me, prove to me that Jesus rose from the dead, He is my Savior, and my sins are forgiven."

He even chose the sign. He even said, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it."

Our gracious Savior, a week later, appeared to Thomas. He appeared to Thomas and said, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe."

And with that, Thomas fell down on his down on his knees and he made a profound profession of Christian faith. He said, "My Lord, and my God!"

He believed Jesus was his Savior, and that Jesus is his God.

But the words that I really want to point us to today, and the words that are very instructive for you and me, are the words that Jesus said, immediately following that. Immediately following that Jesus said to Thomas,

"Because you have seen me,

you have believed;

blessed are those who have not seen

and yet have believed."

What was Jesus doing there? Jesus was pointing us away from external signs. He was pointing us away from external signs, as our certainty of salvation. And He was pointing us right to the one thing and the only thing that can give us absolute certainty of our salvation, and that is the Word of God and only the Word of God, and nothing else. It is profoundly telling that when Jesus, on Easter evening, went into that closed room where the disciples were and He commissioned them to be pastors and missionaries. The Bible says He breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit."

Do you know what He said, next? Did He say, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you can get anyone, as an adult, to come to a conversion experience, and can point to the exact time and day when he or she became a Christian, then his or her sins are forgiven?" He did not say that.

Did Jesus say, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you can get anybody to speak in tongues, then his or her sins are forgiven?" He did not point to that outward sign.

Did Jesus say to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you can send anyone away from church feeling really uplifted, then his or her sins are forgiven?" He didn’t say that.

Did He say, "Receive the Holy Spirit and if you can get your members to do a certain amount of good works, then their sins are forgiven?" He did not say that.

Jesus said,

And, because we know that Jesus did that for every single person in the whole world, that means He did it for each individual. Each single person’s sins have been totally, completely paid for. And they stand, today, forgiven. The Bible tells us that whoever believes that will be saved.

And so, Christ wants the whole world to know that simple, basic message. He sent out His disciples and told them to preach the good news to ‘whom?’

Our Savior wants us to speak the Word, and tell every single person in the whole world, "Your sins, your sins stand forgiven. It is an accomplished fact they have been paid for. You are right in God’s eyes, because of what Christ has done."

If Christ wants us to do that for the whole world, then certainly He wants us to do that for each single individual. He wants us to take that good news to each single individual and to announce it to them, on His behalf, as if Jesus, Himself, were standing there. When a pastor or another Christian looks another Christian in the eye and says to them,

"By the authority of God,

I declare unto you the gracious forgiveness

of all your sins,"

Jesus says,

"If you forgive anyone his sins,

they are forgiven."

What does our Catechism say? It says, "Confession consists of two parts. One that we confess our sins. And the other that we receive absolution, or forgiveness, from the pastor, or the confessor, as from Christ, Himself. And in no doubt, but firmly believe that our sins are thereby forgiven before God Himself in Heaven."

Christ points away from all the external signs and He points us to His Word. If He says it, if He says our sins are forgiven, they are forgiven.

When I was a young man, I remember one day I was in the car with my dad. I was struggling with some sin I had committed. (I don’t even remember what it was at this time, but I do remember the conversation.) I was not feeling very forgiven. I looked at my dad and asked, "How do you know, if you are forgiven?"

He looked at me and asked, "Why do you ask that?"

I said, "Because I don’t feel very forgiven."

He said to me, "Mark, there is a Bible passage that says, ‘This is how we set our hearts at rest, in His presence. Whenever our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts.’"

And then he said, "God is pointing us away from external feelings and external signs. You don’t know that you are forgiven, because you feel forgiven. God is greater than your heart. If He says you are forgiven, you are forgiven! Cling to His Word! Cling to His promise!"

That filled me with certainty. God’s Word says I am forgiven!

Years ago, when I was at a different church, a woman came to my office, and she was very, very troubled. She confessed to me that she had committed adultery thirty years before that, thirty years before, and she was still troubled over that sin. She said, "Pastor, for thirty years I have wanted to be certain that my sin is forgiven. But, I just don’t know if Jesus forgives me."

So I looked at her and said, "What would make you certain? What would make you certain that your sins are forgiven?"

She thought about it a little bit and said, "If Jesus were standing here, right now in this room, and I could see Him. And then, He looked me in the eye and said to me, ‘I forgive you.’ Then, I could be certain."

She was looking for some kind of external sign. I took her into the Word of God. I talked to her about the passage that says,

"This is how we set our hearts at rest

in His presence.

Whenever our hearts condemn us,

God is greater than our heart."

And then I asked her, "Do you believe that if God makes a promise in scripture, it is true, no matter how we feel?"

And she said, "Yes. Yes, I do believe that."

So then I said, "Do you believe the passages in scripture that say Jesus died for the sins of the whole world?"

And she said, "Yes, I believe that."

I asked, "Do you believe Jesus’ words, when He says to Christians, ‘If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven.’"

She said, "Yes I believe the words of Christ."

I said, "So you believe that if a fellow Christian looks you in the eye and says that your sins are forgiven that is as good as if Jesus were standing there?"

And she said, "Yes."

With that, I lifted my hands, said her name, made the sign of the cross and said, "By the authority of God, I declare unto you the gracious forgiveness of all your sins, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. The spoken word of our Savior, Himself."

With that she looked at me and said, "Thank you, Pastor. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you."

She had been taken, not to external signs or external feelings, but to the one thing that gives us certainty, the one thing, which is the Word of God and the Word of Christ. That is where we base our certainty.

C.W.F. Walter was a troubled, young man. By God’s grace, he stumbled across a Lutheran pastor. He was explaining to this Lutheran pastor, "I don’t know if my sins are forgiven, because I don’t think I feel sorry enough for my sins."

The Lutheran pastor took Walter to the Bible. He turned Walter away from external signs and feelings, to the sure and certain Word of God. He assured Walter that if God makes a promise then it is true, whether we feel it or not. He must have taken Walter to passages like the one which says, ‘If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.’ That is a promise. God has promised that our sins are forgiven. Walter was taught not to go to external signs, but to the Word and the Word alone, and was deeply comforted by the Words and promises of God.

Jesus said,

"Blessed are they who have not seen

and yet have believed."

Amen.

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