Epistle Lesson; Acts 10:34-38
Gospel Lesson; Matthew 3:13-17
Sermon Text; Isaiah 42:1-7

She grew up as a young girl, actually enjoying going to Sunday School. She liked to listen to the lesson. She liked to look at the Sunday School book. She loved to answer the questions the teacher asked. She enjoyed going to Confirmation Class. She liked to memorize the Bible passages. She liked to learn the concepts in scripture. And, she really grew to love her Savior. She had a deep and profound faith in Jesus. She had a real desire to live for Christ.

When she went to high school, facing certain temptations, she was firm and resolute. She wanted to live for her Savior. She continued to go to church on Sundays, every Sunday. She had a firm, strong faith in Christ, as her Savior.

Then, she went away to college. Something happened at college. At college she wanted to be accepted. One evening, some friends invited her out to a bar and she went. They were drinking and she thought to herself, "Well, should I? Is that ok?" But she thought, "I can have one drink. There is nothing wrong or sinful about that. My Savior wouldn't be opposed to that." So, she had one, and then she had another one. Then, she started to get tipsy. She found out that she was ‘fun to be around,’ when she was tipsy, so she got drunk.

She went home that evening and was wracked with terrible feelings of guilt, because she had sinned against her Savior.

The next week came and her friends invited her out again. She was lonely and thought, "I will go out with them, but I won't drink this time."

But, she was feeling uncomfortable there, while they were all drinking, so she ordered one, and then another one, and then another one. And, she got drunk again. She was ‘fun to be around,’ when she was drunk. But when she went home, she was wracked with feelings of guilt again.

Then came Sunday morning. She thought to herself, "I can't go to church today. I would be a hypocrite to go to church, to sit in the pew, to act like I am some big, strong Christian, when I have fallen from Jesus." So she stayed away from church. She felt awful.

This went on for several months. One day she fell into some terrible sin and again, was wracked with guilt. She was in her dorm room, with tears streaming down from her eyes, as she looked at herself, and wondered, "What has happened to me? What has happened to me?" She looked back on her past life and thought, "I used to have such a strong faith. I used to love to hear God's Word. I used to hear about my Savior. I used to love to go to church. I used to love to live for Jesus. I used to be so firm, strong, and resolute. And now, look at me. What has happened to me? Have I lost my faith? Don't I believe in Jesus, anymore? What if I die tonight? Am I going to go to Heaven? Oh how I loathe what has happened to me. I loathe my sin. I loathe the fact that I have become who I am and what I am. Oh how I wish, I wish that Jesus would forgive me. But, will He forgive me for what I have done and how I have treated Him? Oh how I wish I could be back with my friends, back at my old church, because I know they would build me up and lift me up."

Now, let's suppose that young woman came and poured out those emotions to you, those feelings to you and she asked you, "Is my faith strong enough to get to Heaven? Am I a Christian? Will I be saved?"

What would you answer that young woman? That is a critical question. And, I want to tell you, from the way that I described that young lady, that young lady had what we call a saving faith. I want to tell you why I say that. She had a weak faith, but she had saving faith. Our catechism asks this question.

"How does weak faith show itself to be saving faith?"

Now, what do I mean that she had a weak faith? Well, you could see it, by what had happened to her life, couldn't you? Her faith was weak. But, how does weak faith show itself to be saving faith? Our catechism answers with these three points.

Number one, weak faith shows itself to be saving faith, because it has a hatred of sin.

Number two, weak faith shows itself to be saving faith, because it has a desire for grace in Jesus Christ.

Number three, weak faith shows itself to be saving faith, because it has the love for Christian brothers.

Let's look at the lady that I described. Our catechism says that weak faith shows itself to be saving faith, because it has a loathing for sin, a hatred for sin. The Bible says St. Paul said, "The good I want to do I don't do. And the evil I don't want to do I keep doing. Oh, wretched man that I am!"

A Christian

is someone who looks at their sin

and loathes their sin.

And that is exactly what was going on in that young lady's heart, wasn't it. She was looking at her life and asking, "What has become of me? I hate this. I wish I was not like this. I wish I had lived a different life." She had a loathing, a hatred for sin. She was repentant of her sin.

Number two, weak faith shows itself to be saving faith by a desire for grace in Christ.

"Lord, I believe.

Help my unbelief."

That young lady had a desire for grace in Christ, didn't she? She said, "I wish that Jesus would forgive my sins." What does that mean? That means she knew that in scripture the promise is that Christ has paid for sin and she longed for that forgiveness for herself. She longed for grace in Christ.

Number three, she had a love for the Christian brothers. The Bible says this is how

we know we have crossed from death to life,

because we love the brothers,

the Christian brothers.

In her heart she thought to herself, "I wish I could be with my Christian friends. I wish I could be like them. I wish I could live like them and be supported by them." And so, she had a love for the Christian brothers.

There is a question in the catechism that says,

"Is true faith always strong?"

True faith is not always strong. Sometimes, our faith can be very weak. It says this.

"Faith may at times be so weak

that the Christian

hardly dares to except God's gracious forgiveness,

but even such weak faith has full salvation."

And then it uses, as a proof text, the Bible passage that is found in the Isaiah passage I read today. It is such a comforting passage. The proof text is this, (talking about Jesus). It says,

"A bruised reed

he will not break

and a smoldering wick,

He will not snuff out."

That is a beautiful picture. There, it tells us you may be ‘a twig that is almost broken.’ You may be just hanging on by a thread, but

"A bruised reed,

He will not break."

Even though your faith may be very weak, a weak faith is saving faith.

"And a smoldering wick,

He will not snuff out."

Your faith may not be a big, burning flame. It may be nothing but a smoldering wick, but what does it say about Jesus? "A smoldering wick, He will not snuff out." Faith saves, whether it is weak faith or strong faith.

And we thank God for that. Thank God John 3:16 does not say, "God so love the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him, with a really strong faith, shall not perish, but have everlasting life." I would never know if I was going to Heaven, because I would never know if my faith were strong enough. "Was I clinging to Jesus tightly enough? Have I forsaken sin strongly enough?" I would never know that. But, the Bible simply says,

"God so love the world,

that He gave His one and only Son

that whoever,

whoever believes in Him

shall not perish

but have everlasting life."

Such a comfort to all of us that weak faith is saving faith, just as much as strong faith is saving faith.

Our passage goes on and says this, in talking about Jesus, "In faithfulness He will bring forth justice. He will not falter or be discouraged, until He establishes justice on earth."

What is it that faith clings to? What is it that faith finds its confidence in? Here it talks about Jesus as the One who will bring forth justice. He is the One who will not falter, until He establishes justice, here on earth.

If you go down to the Wisconsin state capitol, you will see the statue of Lady Justice. And you know what she has in her hand? In her hand, Lady Justice is holding scales. The pans are the scales of justice. It is a picture that if you do the wrong thing and the scale goes down, then you need to be punished so that the scale goes back up. Justice is done. It is a picture that if you do the right thing, there will be blessings. That is the scale of justice. Here, the Bible says,

"Jesus came to establish justice."

As that young lady I described looked at the pans of justice in her own life, what did she see? She saw that her pan had dropped down to the very depths. She saw the weight of her sin. She saw what she had done. And, she saw that she sat in that pan condemned. She understood that she was a sinner. She understood that she did not deserve God's love, God's mercy, God's grace. And, she was overwhelmed with a feeling of guilt. Her pan had gone down.

As you look at your own life, each one of us in this room ought to see our sin in the scales. See your sin in that scale. See how your side of the scale goes down. See your thoughts. See your words. See your actions that go against the commands of our Savior. See how imperfect you are in your faith. See how you have fallen. There in the scale of justice your pan goes down. And, you deserve condemnation.

But, what is it that faith clings to? Faith clings to this. Faith clings to the fact that in the other side of the scale climbs Jesus. In the other side of the scale climbs the holy, spotless, sinless Son of God, as your substitute.

Through the obedience of the One Man,

Christ,

the many will be made righteous.

In the other pan of the scales of justice climbs Christ, with your sins on His shoulders.

The Lord has laid on Him

the iniquity of us all.

Into that pan climbs Christ and He is the atoning sacrifice, not only for our sins, but for the sins of the whole world.

And there, in Christ, justice is done. Sins are paid for. And when Christ climbs into that scale, His side of the scale goes down and our pan flies up to Heaven, itself! Sins forgiven, declared not guilty, for Christ's sake! That is the righteousness, the justice that Christ came to establish and that is what faith clings to. That is what saving faith is. Saving faith is the bold, daring, confidence that what Jesus did, He did for me. My sins are forgiven, for Christ's sake. And, I am going to Heaven, not because of who I am, or what I have done, but because of what Jesus did for me. Thank God that we are saved by faith alone, in Christ alone, whether our faith is weak or is a strong faith.

Do you remember the story in the Bible of the man who had a son who was demon possessed? He brought his son to Jesus and said this little sentence to Jesus. Listen very carefully to how he structured his request to Jesus. He said,

"Lord, if you are able, please heal my son."

I want to ask you a question. Did that man have faith in Christ? Did he? "Lord, if you are able, please heal my son." The Lord turned to him and said,

"If you are able?"

What was He saying to the man? It is not a question of "If I am able. I am able." Jesus turned to the man and said, "If you are able." He looked at the man and said,

"Anything is possible for him who believes."

Did the man believe? Did he have faith? Well, the very fact that he brought his son there, showed that he believed that Jesus could heal. On the other hand, the way he structured his sentence showed that he was struggling with doubts. And Jesus said to him, "Anything is possible to him who believes."

Do you know how that man responded to Jesus? I love the man's response! And this should be the response of the heart of each one of us in this room. He said to Jesus,

"Lord I do believe.

But help thou my unbelief."

That ought to be our prayer, every day of our lives. "Lord I do believe. I do believe. My faith may be weak. It may be floundering. It may be faltering. But help thou my unbelief. Strengthen me in my faith. Draw me closer to you. Enable me to live more and more for you, every day of my life."

Isn't that why we are still here on this earth?

To live for our Savior.

And so long as we are here, to grow stronger in Him.

As we close our service today, we are going to say a little prayer that comes out of the Lutheran Book of Prayer. We will say it together. I have said it many times in my life, and I would encourage you to save this prayer so you can pray it, as well. It is a prayer for stronger faith, and it is a wonderful prayer. It is something that we, each one of us, every day, should consider praying that God would continue to give me a stronger faith, that I live for Him more and more, and cling to Him more and more. Certainly that is accomplished, as we center ourselves around God's Word:

Taken from Lutheran Book of Prayer:

"Lord Jesus, I believe. Help my unbelief! Strengthen my weak and flickering faith. I know that You are my wisdom, my righteousness, my sanctification, and my redemption. Lord, strengthen this faith in me, that I may never fear nor faint in any trial or temptation. You alone are the Author and Finisher of my faith. Though my faith be tried with fire, may I ever be found strong and unmovable to the glory of Your holy name. Let me firmly trust in Your blood, which cleanses me from all sin, that though my sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. When I am enticed by sin and the world beckons and my own passions want to yield, help my unbelief, and give me the strength and will to resist. When trials, sorrow, and affliction want to rob me of this trust, O Lord, help me to remain steadfast and true. Strengthen my faith in Your promise that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are called according to Your purpose to be Your own here in time and there in eternity. You, O almighty Lord, can help; You , O gracious Lord, will help my unbelief; You, O merciful Lord, will strengthen my faith. Lord, I believe! Amen." God grant that for Christ's sake."

Amen.