“Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.” John 3:9-13

The question of Nicodemus, “How can these things be?” is not uncommon today. How can it be that one must be born again to see God’s kingdom? How can a man be born of water and Spirit? How can God’s Spirit through baptism give a person new life with the assurance that his sins are washed away in Jesus’ blood and that God forgives and accepts him as His own dear child?

Nicodemus was a teacher of God’s people and did not grasp these truths. And, if we are honest, these things are beyond our own reason and understanding as well.

Yet, Jesus was testifying to the truth – to things known and seen by Him! Jesus, as well as His disciples, had seen the mighty working of God’s Spirit in those coming to Him confessing their sins and being baptized in Jesus’ name (cf. John 4:1ff.; Mark 1:4ff.). These were born again of water and Spirit – God’s Spirit had given them new life through faith in God’s Son, their Messiah and Savior! And, like the wind, the effects of the Spirit’s working could be seen even by those who could not see the Spirit.

Nicodemus, up to that point, had not received this witness to the truth. He and the rest of the Pharisees and experts in God’s law had rejected God’s counsel for them by not confessing their sinfulness and being baptized of John (the Baptist). It was the tax collectors and known sinners who accepted God’s counsel and were baptized. They came away with God’s forgiveness, with new life and with a place in God’s eternal kingdom!

Jesus asked Nicodemus, “If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.”

If we are unwilling to believe in God’s workings here on earth, how will we believe God’s testimony concerning those things going on in the heavenly realms? What if He were to tell us the details of the spiritual warfare going on behind what is visible to our eyes? When just a part of the struggle was revealed to Daniel, even he could not understand these things.

What if He were to reveal to us the glories of God’s throne? It is far beyond our grasp. Would we believe this if we are unwilling to believe that God can regenerate us and make us alive to Him through the waters of baptism?

Jesus points out that none of us have ascended into heaven to see these things but the One who came down from heaven, the Son of Man who is in heaven. Here is another truth beyond mankind’s limited understanding. In Jesus, God the Son took on human flesh and blood and dwelt among us, a true man. Yet, at the very same time He dwelt among us, Jesus was also in heaven filling and ruling over all things.

Our minds cannot grasp how Jesus could or can be present everywhere – how He can rule over and fill all things? But this is what He has told us. Jesus, even when he lived among mankind on earth was in heaven. And Jesus, even when in heaven, is still present with us here in this world – He said, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20).

Dear Lord Jesus, grant me faith to receive Your witness and trust that You have, by Your innocent sufferings and death upon the cross, paid in full for all my sins, and that through the “washing of water by the word” You have made Your pardon and forgiveness my own and given me a place in Your everlasting kingdom. Amen.

Paul’s Letter to the Believers at Colosse (continued)

“And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.” Colossians 3:15

Numerous Old Testament priests and prophets cried out, “Peace, peace,” when there was no peace (Jeremiah 6:14; 8:11). Today, too, ministers and preachers say all is well when it isn’t.

You see, there can be no peace between God and man without atonement for sin, and there will be no peace between men and God without repentance on man’s part. And so, the preachers and prophets who seek to assuage troubled but impenitent consciences with words of peace may give a little false comfort to consciences, but not peace; for man can have no peace with God apart from godly sorrow over sin and faith in the Son’s atoning sacrifice for the sins of the whole world.

While the world goes about seeking peace and comfort of heart in all the wrong places, the believer in Messiah Jesus knows true peace; for Jesus suffered and died for the sins of the whole world and brought about peace between God and man – the peace of atonement made and sins forgiven for the sake of Jesus’ holy and precious blood shed upon the cross for all.

The Bible tells us in Ephesians 2:13-18: “But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For He is our peace, who hath made both [Jew and Gentile] one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in Himself of twain one new man, so making peace; and that He might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: and He came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.”

That is why, when Jesus was born, the angels glorified God saying, not “on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests,” but “on earth peace, good will toward men” (Luke 2:14). Jesus paid for the sins of all and won God’s favor and peace for all mankind.

The Bible tells us, in 2 Corinthians 5:19-21, “that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.”

God is reconciled toward man; for Jesus, God’s only-begotten Son, paid in full the just punishment for the sins of all when He suffered and died upon the cross. His resurrection is proof (cf. Romans 4:25). God pleads with us to be reconciled toward Him by acknowledging our utter sinfulness and accepting His pardon and forgiveness for the sake of the sacrifice of His Son in our stead.

Jesus shed His blood to make peace and has appeased God’s just wrath against sinful man. When we, by the gracious working of God’s Spirit through the Word of God, see and acknowledge our sinfulness and failures to keep His commandments and place our faith and trust in the perfect life and innocent sufferings and death of Messiah Jesus in our stead, then we know peace – peace between God and man – and fellowship with God our Father.

This peace (shalom / eirene) is a perfect peace, for Jesus has paid for all our sins and they have been removed from us “as far as the east is from the west” (Psalm 103:12). Nothing can “separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39). “If we confess [homologomen – to say the same thing as God about] our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

This is the peace of God which is to rule and govern our hearts. This is the peace to which we and all believers in Christ’s body – the church – have been called. This is the peace for which we have every reason to be thankful.

We were enemies of God, rebelling against Him and His commandments and going our own way. There was NO PEACE! But Jesus paid in full for all our sins – for the sins of the whole world – reconciling God’s heart toward us and all sinful mankind. In His grace and mercy, He reaches out to us, offering to us pardon and peace. When, by the gracious working of God’s Spirit through the Word, we are brought to see our own sinfulness and also to see and trust in His forgiveness and peace for the sake of His Son, Messiah Jesus, then we KNOW PEACE!

O LORD God, heavenly Father, You have graciously given to us peace through the forgiveness of all our sins for Jesus’ sake. Grant that this peace – this knowledge of Your forgiveness and acceptance – rule and govern our hearts, driving out all fear of wrath and punishment. Thank you for granting to us and all believers Your peace in Jesus. In His name we pray. Amen.

Pastor Randy Moll

We All Believe in One True God:

A Summary of Biblical Doctrine

By Wallace H. McLaughlin

(The entire book is posted under Pages on the Church Web log)

VIII. The Vicarious Atonement

The fundamental doctrine of Biblical Christianity which forms our topic is usually treated, in more detailed presentations of Christian doctrine, as a subheading under the general subject of Christ’s three-fold office: a). His prophetic office, in which He during the days of His flesh by word and deed proclaimed Himself as the Son of God and the Savior of the world, and throughout the ages as supreme Prophet stands behind all prophets, evangelists, and apostles through whom He has revealed Himself, as well as all preachers of the Gospel who proclaim His truth in its purity in full accord with inspired Scripture; b). His priestly office, in which He, both priest and sacrifice, in His active and passive obedience offered Himself without spot to God as the one atoning sacrifice for the sins of all men (the specific theme of this present exposition), and still intercedes for us at the throne of grace; c). and His kingly office, which as kingdom of power extends over all creatures, as kingdom of grace embraces Christ’s Church militant upon earth, and as kingdom of glory rules the Church triumphant in heaven, including the holy angels, unto all eternity.

We now concentrate our attention upon the central act of the office and work of Christ for our salvation, as sketched above: His vicarious atonement or substitutionary satisfaction for all sinners, which He carried out, as our High Priest, in His spotless life and His innocent sufferings and death for us. We offer first a brief definition of the vicarious satisfaction, which we shall then analyze into its component parts, as a convenient frame-work for the grouping of the precious Scripture texts upon which this central doctrine of our most holy faith is based.

Definition: Vicarious satisfaction means that Christ vicariously (in the place of man) rendered to God, who was wroth over the sins of man, a satisfaction which changed His wrath into grace toward men.

1. The immutable justice of God which pronounces the sentence of eternal damnation upon all transgressors of His Law, the wrath of God against sin and sinners. It is only upon the dark background of the wrath of God (“It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God,” Heb. 10:31) that we can rightly appreciate the wonderful work of Christ for our salvation. “If, when we were enemies” (lying under the enmity and wrath of God against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, Rom. 1:18), “we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life” (Rom. 5:10). There is no more fearful declaration of the wrath of God against sinners than the awful sufferings of Christ, the spotless Son of God, when He, taking the place of sinners, subjected Himself to that wrath which is our rightful lot and took our curse upon Himself. “Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them” (Deut. 27:26; Gal. 3:10). This is the situation of every one of us, guilty before God, His enemies, hated by God, lying under God’s wrath, or the curse of His Law. To deliver us from this wrath and curse, the guiltless Savior took our guilt upon Himself, put Himself in our place, becoming our Substitute, and thus made Himself subject to the avenging justice of God. When God’s Son became our Substitute, and the guilt of our sin was thus charged to His account, or “imputed” to Him, God “spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all” (Rom. 8:32). “It pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief” (Is. 53:10). That is the meaning of the profoundly Scriptural lines in Thomas Kelly’s great Lenten hymn (No. 153 in The Lutheran Hymnal):

“But the deepest stroke that pierced Him was the stroke that Justice gave.”

That is also the meaning of Isaiah 53:4–6: “Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” All this came upon Him because “He was numbered with the transgressors” (compare Mark 15:28 and Luke 22:37); “and He bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors” (Isaiah 53:12).

2. The willing obedience of Christ in accepting the obligation in man’s stead both to keep the Law and to bear the punishment the Law exacts of the transgressors. The three passages of Scripture which (especially in the original Greek) bring out this substitutionary idea most clearly are Matt. 20:28 and Mark 10:45 (identical in wording): “Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many” (literally: “in the place of many,” “in the stead of many”); also 1 Tim. 2:6: “Who gave Himself a ransom for all” (literally: “a substitutionary ransom for all”).

As our willing Substitute and Redeemer Christ rendered full obedience in two respects: a). By doing — by keeping perfectly for us the Law of God, which we were obligated to keep but unable to keep; b). By suffering, by enduring for us the full penalty of our transgressions, by suffering for us in His infinite Person, as the God-man, during the days of His flesh and especially in those last bitter hours upon Calvary, all that we should have suffered throughout eternity in hell. The very voice of this unimaginable and infinite suffering of the God-man as our Substitute is heard in His fourth word from the cross: “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” (Psalm 22:1; Matt. 27:46; Mark 15:34).

“Deserted! God could separate from His own essence rather; And Adam’s sins have swept between the righteous Son and Father; Yea, once Immanuel’s orphaned cry His universe hath shaken, It went up single, echoless: ‘My God, I am forsaken!’ It went up from the Holy’s lips, amid His lost creation, That of the lost, no son should use those words of desolation.” (Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “Cowper’s Grave.”)

This is indeed the very suffering of hell itself when He for our sins is forsaken. And this suffering of which He could say at the end of those three dread hours of darkness: “It is finished” (John 19:30), was truly equivalent to the eternal suffering of all sinners in hell, because of the infinite Person of Him who suffered. This equivalence of the infinite God-man’s suffering, which He finished and brought to an end in a few hours, to the eternal suffering of finite man in a living death which never ends, is beautifully expressed in the following little poem on “The Crucifixion” by Alice Meynell:

“Oh, man’s capacity For spiritual sorrow, corporal pain!

Who has explored the deepmost of that sea,

With heavy links of a far-fathoming chain?

“That melancholy lead, Let down in guilty and in innocent hold,

Yea, into childish hands delivered,

Leaves the sequestered floor unreached, untold.

“One only has explored The deepmost;but He did not die of it.

Not yet, not yet He died.

Man’s human Lord Touched the extreme; it is not infinite.

“But over the abyss Of God’s capacity for woe

He strayed One hesitating hour; what gulf was this?

Forsaken He went down, and was afraid.”

The Scripture testimony to this willing obedience of our Savior is fittingly divided, as before mentioned, into two groups of texts:

a). His obedience by doing, commonly called the active obedience: Matt. 5:17: “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.” (N.B. “Fulfilling” the Law means keeping it, obeying the commandments of God. This we were obligated to do, but could not do because of our sinful corruption. This Christ, being Himself God, was not obligated to do, but did for us, as our Substitute). Gal. 4:4, 5: “When the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.” The eternal Son of God, the Lawgiver, became incarnate, born of a woman, in order that He might come down under the Law with us, and in our stead render that perfect obedience to the Law which we were unable to render.

b). His obedience by suffering, commonly called the passive obedience: Gal. 3:13: “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree” (Deut. 21:23). Compare Gal. 3:10 (Deut. 27:26), quoted above, that you may fully understand why and for what purpose Christ had to become a curse if we were to be redeemed from the curse, and was willing to become a curse for us. 2 Cor. 5:14: “For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead.” On this text Dr. Walther remarks: “This is a golden text, which shines with the radiance of the sun even in the luminous Scriptures. Since the death which Christ died for all is a death for the purpose of reconciliation, it is the same as if all had suffered death for this purpose. It follows, then, that, without entertaining the least doubt, I can say with perfect assurance: ‘I am redeemed; I am reconciled; salvation has been acquired for me.’ ” (“Law and Gospel,” trans. by Dr. Dau, p. 274; compare also p. 374). 2 Cor. 5:19: “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.” (N.B. The “Word of reconciliation” is the Gospel of the finished atonement, the unconditioned Gospel of the redemption of all men). 1 Peter 3:18: “Christ hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.” 1 John 2:2: “He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”

3. God lays His anger by. The vicarious satisfaction which Christ rendered by His active and passive obedience has resulted in appeasing God’s wrath against men, has set aside God’s judgment of condemnation and put in its place a judgment of universal justification. God has forgiven all the sins of all men for the sake of Christ’s substitutional obedience and death, and has sealed this universal amnesty by raising Him from the dead. As His condemnation was the penalty for our sins meted out to our Substitute (“the stroke that Justice gave;” “the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all,” Is. 53:6; “He was delivered for our offenses”), so when He was justified (from our sins, not His own, for He had none) by His resurrection from the dead, this was really our justification, the assurance that God was fully satisfied with the satisfaction He had rendered for us, that for Christ’s sake our sins are forgiven: Rom. 4:25: “He was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification.” Rom. 5:18: “Therefore as by the offense of one (Adam) judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of One (Christ) the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.” In conclusion, 2 Cor. 5:21: “He hath made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.”

“He shows to man His treasure Of judgment, truth, and righteousness,

His love beyond all measure, His yearning pity o‘er distress,

Nor treats us as we merit, But lays His anger by.

The humble, contrite spirit Finds His compassion nigh;

And high as heaven above us, As break from close of day,

So far, since He doth love us, He puts our sins away.”

(Lutheran Hymnal, Hymn 34, stanza 2)

What Do We Believe?

What do we believe about the Means of Grace? Consider the following summary statement and look up the supporting Bible passages:

MEANS OF GRACE

We believe that God offers, gives and assures to men the forgiveness of sins and eternal salvation, which Christ won for all by His innocent sufferings and death on the cross, through certain means: namely, the Word of the Gospel, Baptism, and the Lord’s Supper. Through these means, God the Holy Spirit graciously tells us of our salvation in Christ and assures us that, for Christ’s sake, we are forgiven of all sins and have everlasting life in heaven (Mark 16:15-16; Luke 24:47; 2 Corinthians 5:18-21; Romans 1:16-17; 10:15; Acts 2:38-39; 22:16; Colossians 2:11-15; 1 Peter 3:21; Matthew 28:19; 26:26-28; 1 Corinthians 11:23-29; 10:16-17). We believe that it is through these means of grace that the Holy Spirit creates and sustains saving faith in men’s hearts (2 Thessalonians 2:13-14; Ephesians 1:13-14; Romans 10:17; 1 Peter 1:2,23-25; 2:2; John 3:5-6; Titus 3:5; Colossians 2:12; 1 Corinthians 11:23ff.; Philippians 1:6).

Bible Study in Preparation for Sunday

The Adult Bible Class continues its study of the Gospel of John. To prepare, read John 1:1-18. Who is the Word in 1:1? What does the Bible say of the Word in v. 14? How did this happen? Why is this all important to man’s salvation? How have we received of His fullness? What was given through Moses? What came by Jesus Christ? What does verse 18 mean?

The Catechism Class will continue studying the Second Article of the Apostles’ Creed and learning of Jesus and what He has done to redeem all mankind. Catechumens may prepare by considering the three-fold office of Christ. How is He our Prophet? Our Priest? Our King?

Sunday School Classes are scheduled to study the account of Jonah. Bible texts behind the lesson are in the book of Jonah.

The Sunday Sermon will be based on the appointed reading for All Saints Day recorded in Revelation 7:9-17. In preparation, read the Scripture lesson and consider the following questions: What happens to a believer when he dies? What will it be like in heaven? Who will go there? What comfort can we take from this Word of Scripture?

Remember to Pray

Remember to pray for our church and for all our members that none be lost to Christ’s kingdom, but continue in repentance and be strengthened and built up in the true and saving faith in Christ Jesus through the hearing and study of His Word. We continue to pray for any who have been sick or suffering among us, and for our adopted soldiers. Pray for the Lutheran Churches in the Philippines who have suffered much from repeated Typhoons.

Upcoming Events

The Choir is practicing for upcoming services, including our Thanksgiving service. More voices are welcome.

Wednesday night Bible studies are being considered for the new year. Advent services will begin at the end of November and, if members are interested, we could continue meeting at the church on Wednesday nights for Bible study in the new year. Please let Pastor Moll know if you would be interested in attending.

Member photos – If any families or individual members wish to have a photo taken before the Christmas season (at no cost), please see Pastor Moll. He is offering to take the photos at church and write the images to a CD for members. He will also use the photos to update those on the bulletin board. If there is interest, he will take the photos after church in November, beginning on Nov. 8.

Information for bulletins or newsletters may be sent to Pastor Moll by calling him at 479-233-0081 or by e-mail at mollfoto@yahoo.com.

“Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith: to God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen.” Romans 16:25-27

[Scripture in this Newsletter is taken from the King James Version of the Bible]

Dear Friend,

The Bible tells us that Jesus Christ, God’s Son, is coming again soon to judge the living and the dead. Are you ready to stand before Him and to be judged by Him?

The Bible also tells us that: “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). This means that all of us – including you -  have sinned against God and deserve to be condemned to suffer forever in hell!

That is a frightening thought for each of us, but there is hope. There is a way to stand in Christ’s judgment on the last day.

The only way to be saved from the eternal punishment we so deserve on account of our sins was provided by God Himself when He sent His only begotten Son into the world as a true man to live a holy life in our place and to suffer and die upon the cross for the sins of the entire world. Jesus Christ bore the just penalty for the sins of all when He died upon the cross, and His resurrection on the third day is proof that God accepted His sacrifice and payment for sin – that the sins of all people are paid for in full and pardoned! Jesus, by His death and resurrection opened the gates of heaven to all!

God, in His Word, tells all of us: that we are “justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24). This means that God pardons us and forgives our sins for the sake of His Son’s holy life and bitter sufferings and death in our place.

God’s Word also tells us: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31). Through faith in Jesus Christ, God’s gracious pardon and gift of life eternal is yours!

The Bible tells us that “there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).

And Jesus said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life” (John 5:24).

Dear Friend, I urge you to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ – to trust in Him as your Savior from sin and the eternal torments of hell. Then you will not be condemned in Christ’s judgment, but stand and receive instead the everlasting joys of heaven which Jesus Christ won for you!

For more information on God’s gift of salvation in Jesus Christ, or for help and guidance from God’s Word, please contact us.

“… Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God … Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” John 3:3,5 Read John 3:1-8

When Nicodemus, a Pharisee and ruler of the Jews, came to Jesus by night, Jesus told him that unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God (John 3:3). So also today, unless one is born again, he isn’t able to see or understand what the kingdom of God is.

When Nicodemus questioned Jesus about how a grown man could be born again, Jesus told him, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:5,6). It wasn’t enough to be a descendant of Abraham and to be a part of a strict religious sect of the Jews; a spiritual rebirth was needed.

Nor is it enough today to born into a religious family or to be a member of a church organization; one must be born of God!

As the Greek text makes clear, this rebirth is of water and Spirit (EX UDATOS KAI PNEUMATOS); it is “the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost” (Titus 3:5) and “the washing of water by the word” (Ephesians 5:26). It is the gracious working of God’s Spirit through the water of baptism to offer and guarantee to the penitent sinner the forgiveness of sins and eternal salvation which Jesus purchased with His own blood, shed upon the cross (cf. Acts 2:37-39; 22:16).

The Pharisees had rejected the counsel of God and did not repent and receive the baptism of John the Baptist for the remission of their sins (cf. Mark 1:4; Luke 7:30).

Nicodemus needed to see and acknowledge his own utter sinfulness before God and be baptized into the name of Christ for the forgiveness of his sins, and God’s Spirit would work in him a new spiritual life and make him a part of God’s eternal kingdom.

And, of course, nothing has changed today. Jesus’ Word is still true. Unless you acknowledge your utter sinfulness before God and turn to Him and receive the forgiveness of sins which Christ won for you upon the cross, and which God offers and gives through the word of the Gospel and Christian Baptism, you cannot enter into God’s eternal kingdom.

That is why, when Jesus gave His great commission to go into all the world and teach (MATHETEUSATE) all nations, He commanded His disciples to baptize them “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost….” (Matthew 28:19).

That is why Peter, on the day of Pentecost, said to those troubled in their hearts over their sin and rebellion against God: “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the LORD our God shall call” (Acts 2:38-39).

Messiah Jesus won forgiveness for all by His innocent sufferings and death upon the cross; only in Jesus is there forgiveness of sins and life everlasting! He offers this forgiveness and life through faith in His name. He offers to wash away all your sins and raise you up to new life in Him.

In the words of Ananias to Saul, “And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord” (Acts 22:16).

O dearest Jesus, I know that I am a sinner and have not lived according to your holy and perfect will for me. I have broken your commandments and deserve everlasting punishment in hell for my sins. Graciously forgive me and wash away my sins for the sake of your holy and precious blood shed upon the cross for me. Amen.

Paul’s Letter to the Believers at Colosse (continued)

“And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.” Colossians 3:14

A mark of the new nature created in the heart of believers by the Holy Spirit is “charity” – not just as we think of the word today, but in its older meaning: selfless love – the kind of love that God showed toward us in giving His only-begotten Son to die for us and redeem us.

The Greek word translated as “charity” in the King James Version and “love” in most modern translations is “agape” (agape). The Bible speaks of such love when it says: “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10).

This is the kind of love spoken of in what is often called the “love chapter,” 1 Corinthians 13.

Paul calls this love the bond of perfectness (or completeness) because it is such love which God requires in the hearts of all, and it is such selfless love which moves people to obey God’s commandments.

Paul wrote to the believers in Rome: “Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13:8-10).

When asked what was the greatest commandment in the law, Jesus responded: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:37-40).

Why is it that love for God and love for our neighbor are the greatest of the commandments and the fulfilling of the law? Simply put, love is the motivation of the heart – which God requires in us – which moves people to obey all of God’s commandments. If one loves God with all his heart, mind and soul, he will not have other gods or serve them. Nor will he neglect to set aside time to consider God’s ways and worship Him. He will gladly and willingly read and study God’s Word, listen to it and heed its message.

If one loves his neighbor – other people in this world – as he loves himself, he will not dishonor or disobey parents and authorities. He will not hurt or kill, adulterate God’s design for marriage, steal, lie, slander or covet.

The problem is that, since the fall into sin, people do not love the LORD God with all their heart, mind and soul. Nor do they love others as much as they love themselves. Thus, our lives and the lives of all people in this world are full of selfishness, rebellion against God, disregard for parents and authorities, abusive and selfish relationships, evil thoughts, murders, deceptions and thefts.

That is why God sent His only-begotten Son into the world to fulfill the law for us and to bear our punishment by suffering and dying upon the cross!

Make no mistake. The command to put on selfless love is not the gospel of salvation; it is the law of God. We sinners cannot hope to achieve God’s favor and be saved by putting on love; we put on love because God first loved us and sent His Son to die for us and win for us forgiveness and life everlasting. “We love Him, because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19).

Because God loved us and sent His Son, Christ Jesus, to die for us, and because He graciously brought us to faith in Jesus, washing away our sins in our baptism and raising us up to new life in Christ Jesus by the mighty working of His Holy Spirit, we seek to live for Him – indeed, to be like Him – and to love others as we have been loved by Him.

Thus, as we continually acknowledge our sinfulness and failures to love as God demands, as we put off our sinful and unloving nature which was punished upon Christ’s cross, we also put on the new and loving nature which has been created in us by God’s Spirit – a nature which loves God and others with His kind of love, a love which moves us to live in accord with God’s holy and perfect will revealed to us in His commandments.

As You have loved us, O Lord, and given Yourself to redeem us and make us Your Own, create in our hearts faith which receives Your merciful love and forgiveness; and move us to put on Your love so that we love You in return, and also love our fellowman and live our lives in accord with Your good and perfect will. Amen.

Pastor Randy Moll

We All Believe in One True God:

A Summary of Biblical Doctrine

By Wallace H. McLaughlin

(The entire book is posted under Pages on the Church Web log)

VII. The States of Christ

Every Christian believes that when the eternal Son of God, “true God, begotten of the Father from eternity,” came into the flesh, became “true man, born of the Virgin Mary,” He entered into human flesh not without, divested of, His divine attributes, but with all His divine attributes intact; for it is written: “In Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Col. 2:9). The fullness of the Godhead does not exclude but includes omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, etc. Therefore it will not enter the believing mind to suppose that Christ in His state of humiliation should have lost possession of anything pertaining to His Godhead, to His divine nature, much less that He should have laid aside that Godhead as such. If, as some false teachers have ventured to assert, Christ laid aside His divine nature when He humbled Himself and reassumed it when He entered His state of exaltation, then He is not and never was the God-man, and the personal union, so clearly taught in Scripture, as we saw in the preceding article, would never have taken place. The Christian position over against such an error is clearly defined in 1 John 4:2, 3: “Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.”

Whoever believes “that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh” will therefore not be tempted to suppose that He abdicated His throne on high when He came on earth to die or that the Infant born in Bethlehem is other than the Godhead veiled in flesh. This “veiling,” then, cannot consist in the loss of anything that is essentially His from eternity, but only in the temporary and voluntary refraining from the full use through His human nature of those divine attributes which were communicated to His human nature when the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.

In full accordance with this Scriptural teaching on the Person and States of Christ, we read in two of the most precisely worded answers in the Explanation of Luther’s Small Catechism commonly used among us the following definitions: “Christ’s State of Humiliation consisted in this, that according to His human nature, Christ did not always and not fully use the divine attributes communicated to His human nature. Christ’s State of Exaltation consists in this, that according to His human nature, Christ always and fully uses the divine attributes communicated to His human nature.” (Answers to Questions 134 and 148). Thus it is entirely clear that the difference in the States of Christ does not in any way affect His possession of divine attributes but only His use of them, and that even in this respect the difference is not one of use and non-use but of full use and partial use according to the human nature. No change whatever is brought about in the divine nature either by the humiliation or by the exaltation (“I am the Lord, I change not,” Mal. 3:6).

While all this, however, may be, and indeed must be, entirely clear to the Christian on the basis of Holy Writ, there is still a possibility that one may unwittingly confuse Christ’s humbling Himself with the incarnation itself, since the two coincide in time. But this confusion would logically lead to a consequence which no believing Christian would be willing to draw, namely: If Christ’s humbling Himself consisted in His becoming man, then His exaltation would consist in His ceasing to be man. This inference would contradict everything that Scripture says concerning Christ’s coming into the flesh, which produced an eternal union between the Second Person of the Holy Trinity and our human nature. It is Jesus, who “was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin,” who now intercedes for us at the throne of the Majesty on high (Heb. 4:15). “There is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:5). And when He comes again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead, those who brought about His death “shall look on Him whom they pierced” (Zech. 12:10; John 19:37; Rev. 1:7). Yes indeed, the incarnation, which took place at a definite time in the days of Herod the Great, at the time of the census ordered by Emperor Augustus, lasts unto all eternity. Now it is quite conceivable that God’s Son might (if He had so chosen, and if that had accorded with His plan for bringing about our redemption) have become man without any humiliation whatsoever, as He shall come again at the last day “in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him” (Matt. 25:31). Our Lord’s humiliation did not consist in His becoming man but in the manner in which He became man and in the sort of life He led and the kind of death He died as a man upon the earth. The state of humiliation, beginning, as it does, at the very same moment at which the incarnation took place, does, nevertheless, logically follow after the incarnation and is consequent upon it.

The logical sequence of incarnation and humiliation is taught most clearly in that great passage, which more than any other in Scripture teaches us all we need to know of the States of Christ, Phil. 2:5–11; for there, as in the definitions quoted from our Catechism, we are told that both humiliation and exaltation took place in and according to the human nature of Christ, which prior to the incarnation did not exist. “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

“Being in the form of God” does not refer to the Son’s eternal divine existence before the incarnation, but it means that when the Son of God was made man, divine attributes, majesty, and glory were given to the human nature. This “form of God,” then, He actually possessed throughout His state of humiliation. Occasionally, as in His miracles, He gave men a glimpse of this form of God, but as a general rule men who came into casual contact with Him in His earthly life did not perceive this in Him but regarded Him as an ordinary man like other men, or at best as a great prophet like one of the prophets of old or a teacher come from God (Matt. 16:13, 14; John 3:2). The glory which His disciples saw in Him (John 1:14) was seen with the eyes of faith. And this hiding of His glory was His own voluntary and purposeful act, for a full manifestation of His divine glory during His earthly ministry would have impeded the great work He had come to do in suffering and dying as our Substitute. Christ’s conduct in refraining from the full use of His divine attributes through His human nature in His state of humiliation is described in Phil. 2:6 by the peculiar phrase: “thought it not robbery to be equal with God.” This expression refers to a common practice of those days. When a victorious general returned in triumph from foreign wars with abundance of booty and captives, he would parade through the streets of Rome with his army, displaying the spoils of battle, and thus make a public show of the trophies and slaves which had been taken from the enemy. “To consider as a robbery,” then, is simply, in the speech of our day: “to make a show of,” “to show off.” Christ was really throughout His state of humiliation “in the form of God,” and hence “equal with God.” But He did not make a show of this equality with God. Although He was “in the form of God” He appeared to men in “the form of a servant;” although He was “equal with God” He was “found in fashion as a man.”

Thus the humiliation of Christ took place in His human nature (which alone could be either humiliated or exalted, the divine nature being unchangeable), and it consisted in this, that in His human nature He did not always make full use of the divine attributes that had been imparted to this nature (as nothing could be imparted to the divine nature, which from eternity possesses all things). This being clearly understood from Phil. 2:5–8 with regard to the state of humiliation, it is very easy to see from Phil. 2:9–11 that the state of exaltation, which also has reference to the human nature only, is simply the reverse of what has just been described. The divine majesty, which His human nature possessed from the very moment of its conception in the womb, was and is fully manifested through this nature in His state of exaltation (beginning with the descent into hell), in which He, also in His human nature, makes unrestrained use of the divine attributes given to His human nature from the beginning of its existence. “As the humiliation was the non-use of divine majesty, the exaltation is the full use thereof.”

To speak in detail of the several acts of Christ’s humiliation: “Conceived by the Holy Ghost; born of the Virgin Mary; suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead, and buried;” and of His exaltation: “He descended into hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead” — this would indeed be a delightful task, but it would lead far beyond the limits to which this brief summary of Christian doctrine has confined itself. We shall therefore proceed, God willing, to consider in the next chapter of this book the Office and Work of Christ, especially His Priestly Office, specifically the Vicarious Atonement, as wrought by His active and passive obedience.

What Do We Believe?

What do we believe about Good Works? Consider the following summary statement and look up the supporting Bible passages:

GOOD WORKS

We believe that, while good works cannot justify a man in the sight of God or merit God’s grace and favor, good works are commanded by God in the Holy Scripture (Romans 3:10-20,28,31; 10:4; 12:1-2; Galatians 2:16; Ephesians 2:8-10; Titus 2:11-14; Psalm 119:1-5,35). Good works are those things a child of God does, speaks, or thinks which are in accord with God’s commandments, are for the glory of God and the benefit of his neighbor, and are motivated by love for God and neighbor (Psalm 119:9,133; Psalm 19:14; Proverbs 12:5; Deuteronomy 10:12-13; Matthew 15:9; 22:36-40; John 14:15; Romans 13:8-10; 1 Corinthians 10:31; 13:1-3; Luke 10:25-37). We believe and teach that no man can perform such works unless he first has faith in Christ as Savior and is regenerated by the Holy Ghost (John 15:1-5; Hebrews 11:6; Ephesians 2:8-10; Titus 2:11-14; 3:3-8). Good works of believers are acceptable in God’s sight only for Christ’s sake – because God, for the sake of Jesus Christ’s innocent sufferings and death, pardons the sins and impure motives of His children (Isaiah 64:6; 1 John 1:7ff.).

Bible Study in Preparation for Sunday

The Adult Bible Class continues its study of the Gospel of John. To prepare, read John 1:1-18. Who is the Word in 1:1? What does the Bible say of the Word in v. 14? How did this happen? Why is this all important to man’s salvation? How have we received of His fullness? What was given through Moses? What came by Jesus Christ? What does verse 18 mean?

The Catechism Class will continue studying the Second Article of the Apostles’ Creed and learning of Jesus and what He has done to redeem all mankind. Catechumens may prepare by reading the second article of the Apostles’ Creed and Luther’s explanation of it in the Small Catechism. Who is Jesus? What are His two natures? How many persons is He? How did this happen?

Sunday School Classes are scheduled to study the account of Naaman and Elisha. Bible texts behind the lesson are in 2 Kings 5.

The Sunday Sermon will focus on the Reformation Day theme. Martin Jackson will be the preacher. Consider how God has blessed you through the courageous work of Dr. Martin Luther centuries ago. What was the central theme or focus of the Lutheran Reformation? What are the “Solas” of the Lutheran Reformation? Why are they so important yet today?

Remember to Pray

Remember to pray for our church and for all our members that none be lost to Christ’s kingdom, but continue in repentance and be strengthened and built up in the true and saving faith in Christ Jesus through the hearing and study of His Word. We continue to pray for any who have been sick or suffering among us, and for our adopted soldiers. Pray for the Lutheran Churches in the Philippines who have suffered much from repeated Typhoons. Pray for Junior Slaughter, uncle to Georgia, who suffered a stroke and has been hospitalized.

Upcoming Events

The Voters of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church met last Sunday and considered and adopted recommended bylaw changes regulating meetings and offices in the congregation. Copies of the bylaw changes and copies of the constitution and bylaws will be available to anyone desiring one.

A Reformation Hay Ride is scheduled for 6 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 24, at the church. A sign-up sheet is in the back of the church.

The Choir will sing “Salvation Unto Us Has Come” this Sunday in our worship service.

Information for bulletins or newsletters may be sent to Pastor Moll by calling him at 479-233-0081 or by e-mail at randy@mollfoto.com.

“But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.” 2 Peter 3:18

[Scripture in this Newsletter is taken from the King James Version of the Bible]

“Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did. But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.” John 2:23-25

Many, at the Passover feast in Jerusalem, believed that Jesus was the Messiah when they saw the signs and miracles which He worked among them. But though they had come to believe that He was the Messiah, Jesus did not entrust Himself to them. He, knowing all things and seeing the hearts of all men, knew their hearts.

These few verses contain an important truth for us to consider. It is not enough to just know and believe the facts about Jesus. We too have heard and read of His mighty miracles. We have heard and read of His sufferings and death and of His resurrection on the third day. And, we believe that Jesus is the Son of God and the promised Messiah and Savior. But, do we know Him and trust in Him as our own Savior? Have we committed our very hearts and souls to His keeping?

Jesus knows our hearts! This can be a frightening thought since, as the Scriptures testify, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9). Yet the Lord Himself searches our hearts and tests our minds. He knows our every thought and desire. And, certainly, not a single one of us deserves that the Lord Jesus should commit and entrust Himself to us.

Yet, through His Word and the enlightening work of the Holy Spirit, Jesus does reveal and entrust Himself to us. He first reveals our utter sinfulness and unworthiness before God, bringing us to confess and agree with God’s judgment that we are sinners deserving of His eternal wrath and punishment. But Jesus, through His Word, also reveals to us His great love and mercy. He so loved us that He went to the cross to suffer and die in our stead and take our punishment. He rose from the dead in victory, and He reaches out to each and every one of us with mercy and forgiveness and acceptance.

So many people in Jesus’ day believed that Jesus was the promised Messiah because of His mighty works, but they did not know and trust that in Jesus they had forgiveness and life. And so also today, many have come to know and believe that Jesus is the Son of God and Savior; but they do not know Jesus and His love and mercy for them. Instead, their hearts remain closed and they continue on in their old ways, not seeing their lost and sinful condition or knowing the love and mercy of God toward them in Christ Jesus.

Though Jesus’ many mighty works and signs confirm the validity of His word and teaching, He has chosen to reveal Himself to mankind through His Word. Thus those seeking only signs and wonders and spectacular works are likely never to know Him; but to the ones sitting humbly at His feet, hearing and reading and studying His Word, Jesus will reveal Himself as their merciful and loving Savior.

Dear Lord Jesus, Son of God and Son of man, open my heart to hear Your life-giving Word, to acknowledge and confess my utter sinfulness, and to trust in You and Your cross for my salvation. Amen.

Scripture quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible

Paul’s Letter to the Believers at Colosse (continued)

“Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.” Colossians 3:12-13

As the elect and chosen of God, holy and dearly-loved children of God through faith in Christ Jesus and for the sake of His innocent sufferings and death in our stead (cf. Galatians 3:26-27), we are called upon to put on the image and likeness of Christ Jesus. We were baptized into Christ. All our sins and our old sinful nature were crucified on Christ’s cross. We have been raised up to new life by the working (operation) of the Holy Ghost (Colossians 2:10-15). We daily – through repentance and faith – put off the old sinful nature and put on the new (Colossians 3:5ff.). And so we are called upon to be like Jesus in our dealings with others, and especially with our fellow believers.

We are to put on “bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.”

From our innermost being – from the heart – we are to be merciful and kind toward others. Why? because we know God’s mercy and kindness toward us. Even when we were spiritually dead in our sins and living in rebellion against God, He showed mercy to us and sent his only-begotten Son to die in our stead and redeem us (Romans 5:8; John 3:16). Even though we continually sin and come short in our lives, He shows us mercy and washes away our sins in Jesus’ blood (1 John 1:7 – 2:2).

When we remember how Jesus humbled Himself, not appearing in a display of all His divine glory and power but living humbly as a man and even permitting His enemies to crucify Him that He might redeem all of fallen mankind, certainly we have every reason to live humbly and not usurp ourselves or our position over others. As Jesus lived in this world as a servant to meet our needs and win our eternal salvation, so we ought to think and live as servants in this world to meet the needs of others and bring to them the message of God’s redeeming love.

Longsuffering and forbearing with one another means that we are to be patient with others and put up with their failings and shortcomings – we suffer much and long and are yet patient. And, indeed, when we consider the patience, longsuffering and forbearance of God toward us, we again have every reason to show the same longsuffering and forbearance toward others. Again and again each of us fails to live as God intends – we go our own way, think we know better or just neglect to listen – and yet God doesn’t cast us off or condemn us. He continues to deal with us in mercy and patience.

And, instead of holding another’s sins and misdeeds against him, we are called upon to forgive as Christ has forgiven us. And, indeed, if we consider the great debt of sin which Christ has forgiven to us – even going to the cross and shedding His holy and precious blood to pay our just penalty – what is the small debt of sin against us by others? Jesus shed His blood to redeem all and to win pardon and forgiveness for all; how can we not forgive as He has forgiven?

The Apostle wrote the same things to the believers in Ephesus: “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you” (Ephesians 4:31-32).

We must remember that it is our old sinful and fallen nature – our nature which was condemned and punished on Christ’s cross – which would have us be unmerciful, impatient, unkind, proud, haughty, quick to condemn and unforgiving. The new nature, created in us by the Holy Spirit when we were baptized into Christ Jesus, seeks to be like Christ: with “bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any.”

Once again, we see our own sinfulness and failures to live as God’s redeemed children and we turn to Him for mercy and forgiveness for the sake of the shed blood of Jesus, who died for the sins of all and rose again in victory. In Jesus, we find mercy and forgiveness. His blood cleanses us from all our sins (1 John 1:7). And, in Jesus, we find help and strength to amend our sinful ways and to live each day for Him as God’s elect and chosen children.

Dear Jesus, forgive me for living according to my old evil and sinful nature. Wash away my sins in Your holy and precious blood and give me a heart like Yours, full of mercy, kindness, patience and forgiveness toward others. Amen.

Pastor Randy Moll

We All Believe in One True God:

A Summary of Biblical Doctrine

(The entire book is posted under Pages on the Church Web log)

VI. The Person of Christ

“What think ye of Christ? whose Son is He?” This most important question is asked by our Lord Jesus Christ Himself (Matt. 22:42). The Pharisees whom He interrogated failed to give an adequate answer to His question; for their reply: “The son of David,” though true, is only half of the truth. Simon Peter, by illumination of the Holy Ghost, had given the right answer when Jesus examined His disciples on the doctrine of His Person at Caesarea Philippi, for he had confessed: “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt. 16:16). The confession that He is “the Christ,” the Lord’s Anointed, includes, according to the uniform tenor of Old Testament prophecy, the recognition of Him as the Son of David; and the further confession that He is the Son of the living God gives expression to the divine mystery which David himself acknowledged when he called Him “Lord” (Psalm 110:1; Matt. 22:44). The correctness of this answer to the question: “Whom do ye say that I the Son of man am?” (Matt. 16:13, 15) was acknowledged by Jesus in the words: “Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father which is in heaven” (Matt. 16:17). Everyone who has been taught of God makes the same answer.

Luther gives this same answer in his Small Catechism: “I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord.” And every Christian of all ages, including the believers who lived in the days before God’s Son came in the flesh, agrees in this confession concerning the God-man. David, for instance, not only calls Him Lord, in the One Hundred Tenth Psalm before quoted, but he also clearly expresses his faith in the two-fold nature of this Lord, in 2 Samuel 7:19b, as correctly translated from the Hebrew in Luther’s German Bible: “This is the manner of a Man who is the Lord Jehovah.”

The blessed season of Advent and Christmas has its place in the Church Year for the special purpose of stressing this all-important Bible teaching of the Incarnation, or the coming of the eternal Son of God into the flesh. Therefore only a Christian knows the meaning of Christmas. And every Christian who kneels in worship at the manger of Bethlehem does know and confess the doctrine of the Incarnation, even though he may be unacquainted with many of the technical terms in which orthodox theology has from the earliest ages of the New Testament Church confessed and taught this divine truth. Contrary to my general practice in this little book on the principal doctrines of our Christian faith, I shall in the subsequent paragraphs of this chapter employ the very words of a great teacher of our Church, Dr. Franz Pieper, in the second volume of his Christian Dogmatics (English translation), pp. 57, 58, only eliminating a few technical terms which he introduces for the purpose of demonstrating that the truths they express are known and confessed even by Christians to whom these terms are unfamiliar, as long as they adhere to the Christian faith expressed in the simple words of Holy Scripture:

“It is an altogether false assumption that the Christian Church arrived at the true knowledge of the Person of Christ only in the course of time, and that before the ecclesiastical terms were coined this knowledge was lacking. Luther is perfectly right when he sets forth that the true doctrine of the Person of Christ was known and believed in Christendom from the very beginning, before any council passed any resolution, on the basis of the clear statements of Scripture. All that our Confessions teach concerning the Person of Christ every Christian knows and believes because it is found clearly revealed in the Word of the Prophets and Apostles.

“The Christian believes that there are two natures in Christ, for he reads or hears that the eternal Son of God became man through the Virgin Mary (Gal. 4:4, 5; John 1:1, 2, 14). He does not doubt the unity of the Person, for he reads in Scripture that one and the same Jesus presents Himself as the Son of Man and the Son of the living God (Matt. 16:13–17). He entertains no doubt about the real communion of natures, for Scripture tells him that the fulness of the Godhead dwells not beside, but in the human nature of Christ as in its body (Col. 2:9). He believes, on the testimony of Scripture, that the Lord of Glory was crucified (1 Cor. 2:8) and that this gives to the suffering and death of Christ its value (Rom. 5:10; 1 John 1:7).

“The Christian further believes, on the testimony of Scripture, that to Christ was given, here in time, according to His human nature, omnipotence, omniscience, etc. (Matt. 28:18; Matt. 11:27; John 3:34, 35). The thought is foreign to his mind that the omnipotence, omniscience, etc., of which Scripture speaks, may designate merely ‘finite, great gifts.’ And when Christ promises His Church that He will be with her always even unto the end of the world (Matt. 28:20), he cannot but think of this Savior as being present, not without and outside of His human nature, but with and within it, i.e., he ascribes to Christ also according to His human nature omnipotence, omniscience, and, equally so, omnipresence.

“And when Scripture states that the Son of God appeared in the flesh to destroy, through His activity in the assumed flesh, and through the assumed flesh, the works of the devil, and to save mankind (1 John 3:8; Heb. 2:14, 15), the Christian understands this to mean exactly that Christ performs His official acts as Prophet, Priest, and King not beside, but in and through, the assumed human nature, i.e., according to both natures.

“He repudiates the notion that the finite is not capable of the infinite, for Scripture has convinced him that the Son of God did actually become partaker of flesh and blood, that therefore the Infinite has been united with the finite into one Person. This short summary, based on clear Scripture passages, contains the entire doctrine of Christ’s Person in its farthest reaches — and all of it is intelligible to every Christian.”

As a clinching demonstration of the main thesis of this entire book: that Lutheran doctrine is simply Christian doctrine, which every true Christian, as a Christian, believes, let me present a quotation from a Christian theologian, who does not belong to the Lutheran Church but to a denomination which officially disputes against the doctrine of the Person of Christ presented in our Lutheran Confessions, in which he shows the vital necessity of just this Biblical doctrine for our faith in Christ as our Redeemer.

Dr. Alan A. MacRae, President, Faith Theological Seminary (Bible Presbyterian), Philadelphia, Pa., in “The Reformation Review,” July, 1956, pp. 202, 203: “Man is a sinner and must suffer eternally if God is to be just. Man is powerless to save himself. It is he who must pay the penalty of sin, and no other can justly pay it. It would take an eternity of suffering for any man to pay the penalty of his own sin. He could not possibly redeem anyone else. God, however, is not only just, but also loving. His great heart yearns for man’s salvation. His power is limitless. But this power can accomplish nothing, unless it can be made available to man. God cannot forgive man’s sin and still remain a just God, unless man himself first pays the penalty that is due. Man must pay the penalty but lacks the power. God has the power, but it is man who must pay. How, then, can man be saved?

“The second person of the Trinity entered the womb of a virgin and she conceived a son. The eternal One took on Himself human flesh. He was God, the infinite One. He was God, the sinless One. He had no sin of His own which must be dealt with. As man, He could pay the penalty of sin. As God He had the power to make this payment. Through the miracle of the Virgin Birth the God-man came into existence, and only thus could we be saved. All that we need for salvation is simple faith in the atonement of Christ. He, the sinless One, died for our sins. But if we are truly saved, we will go on to become true servants of God, and to do this we must understand something of the infinite mystery of the Incarnation. Only through the Virgin Birth could the power of the infinite God be made available to man in his dire need. The Virgin Birth is vital to belief in a Christ who is capable of being our Redeemer.” The above quotation is Biblical, Lutheran, i.e., Christian, doctrine.

By Wallace H. McLaughlin

Bible Study in Preparation for Sunday

The Adult Bible Class continues its study of the Gospel of John. To prepare, read John 1:1-14. Who is the Word in 1:1? What do these verses say of Him? How is the life the light of men? What happens as this light shines in the darkness? What was the role of John the Baptist? How do men receive the Word? What does this say to us about our witness as individuals and as a church?

The Catechism Class will continue studying the Second Article of the Apostles’ Creed and learning of Jesus and what He has done to redeem all mankind. Catechumens may prepare by reading the second article of the Apostles’ Creed and Luther’s explanation of it in the Small Catechism. What is the meaning of the name Jesus? What is Jesus’ title and what does it mean?

Sunday School Classes are scheduled to study Elijah being taken to heaven in a chariot of fire. Bible texts behind the lesson are in 2 Kings 2. Cf. Psalm 104:4.

The Sunday Sermon will be based on II Peter 3:1-18. In preparation, read the chapter and consider the following: Who will come in the last days? How will they walk? What do they say? Why? What do they forget? For what are the present heavens and earth reserved? Is the Lord slack concerning His promise? Why does this evil world continue to go on? What is God’s purpose and desire? What will finally happen? What effect should that have on us as Christians?

What Do We Believe?

What do we believe about Repentance? Consider the following summary statement and look up the supporting Bible passages:

REPENTANCE

We believe that true repentance consists of a troubled conscience (godly sorrow) over one’s sins and sinfulness and of faith in God’s mercy and forgiveness for the sake of Jesus Christ and His innocent sufferings and death upon the cross for our sins and the sins of the whole world. It is a coming to the knowledge of one’s utter sinfulness and of the punishment of God justly deserved; and it is a turning to God in faith, trusting that He mercifully forgives our sins and accepts us as His own dear children for the sake of Jesus’ shed blood (Psalm 51; Psalm 32; Romans 3:9-28; Mark 1:4, 15; Acts 2:36ff.; 3:19; 20:17-21; 26:20; Isaiah 55:6-7; Luke 24:45-47; 2 Corinthians 7:9-10; Ephesians 1:3ff.; 2 Peter 3:9). We also teach that a fruit of genuine repentance is a new and amended life lived for the LORD (Luke 3:3, 7-17; Acts 26:20; 2 Corinthians 5:14-15; Romans 6:1ff.; 1 John 1:5-10; 2:1-6; Isaiah 1:16-20; Ephesians 2:8-10). We believe that a true Christian lives his life here in this world in continual and daily repentance; that is, acknowledging his sins and failures to the LORD God and receiving His mercy and forgiveness for Christ’s sake – as well as the needed help and strength to amend his life and live for the LORD (1 John 1:8 – 2:2; Psalm 32; Psalm 51; Psalm 86:5; Ephesians 1:15-23; Philippians 4:13). We therefore reject the false teaching that true believers do not sin and thus do not need to continue in repentance, or that God cannot bring a fallen believer back to repentance or will not forgive those who have fallen and returned to repentance.

Remember to Pray

Remember to pray for our church and for all our members that none be lost to Christ’s kingdom, but continue in repentance and be strengthened and built up in the true and saving faith in Christ Jesus through the hearing and study of His Word. We continue to pray for any who have been sick or suffering among us, and for our adopted soldiers.

“And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.” Acts 20:32

Upcoming Events

The Regular October Voters’ Meeting of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church is set for this Sunday. A potluck dinner will follow the service, and the meeting will follow the dinner. On the agenda is a review of the congregation’s constitution and by-laws.

A Reformation Hay Ride is scheduled for 6 p.m. Oct. 24. A sign-up sheet is in the back of the church.

Information for bulletins or newsletters may be sent to Pastor Moll by calling him at 479-233-0081 or by e-mail at randy@mollfoto.com.

[Scripture in this Newsletter is taken from the King James Version of the Bible]

“And the Jews’ passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, and found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: and when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables; and said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise. And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things? Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body. When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.” John 2:13-22

All the males in Israel were required to appear before the LORD at the temple in Jerusalem at the feast of the Passover. In addition to other sacrifices, an unblemished lamb was to be sacrificed and eaten and temple taxes were to be paid. As a result, the outer courts of the temple became a place where merchants, for a profit, sold animals for sacrifice and exchanged money for the coins needed to pay the temple tax. Jesus, when He saw it, made a whip out of cords and drove them out of the temple, saying, “Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.”

When asked for a sign to prove His Messianic claims and his authority to do this, Jesus told the Jews, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” Jesus referred to His own body. The sign He gave to verify that He is the Messiah and has the authority to drive out those who abuse His Father’s house is His own resurrection from the dead; for as He said, the Jews destroyed the temple of His body, but He raised it up again on the third day. The Jews misunderstood His words, thinking of the new Jewish temple which had already been under construction for 46 years and was not yet finished. But Jesus’ disciples came to understand His words after He had risen from the dead.

What would Jesus do should He walk into our church buildings today? Would He be pleased with our activities and programs, or would He drive them out? Each church should be “a house of prayer,” not “a den of thieves” (cf. Matthew 21:12ff., where Jesus again cleansed the temple during the week of His crucifixion). Would Jesus be pleased with those who use the churches to sell their goods or advance their careers? Would He say it is okay for groups to sell insurance and retirement plans in connection with the church? Would it be alright to hold all manner of sales and raffles to raise money? What about the many fund-raisers and campaigns to support the work of the church? These are tough questions which churches must prayerfully consider and answer with the guidance of God’s Word.

But what about the temples of our bodies? The Scriptures tell all who believe: “Ye are the temple of the living God” (2 Corinthians 6:16); and, “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are” (1 Corinthians 3:16-17).

Jesus is zealous for God’s house, as the Scriptures say, “The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up” (Psalm 69:9). Not only is Jesus concerned for the earthly temples built with our hands; He is concerned with the temples of our bodies which He has both created and redeemed. What would He cast out and cleanse away in our bodies and lives? Are our bodies a “house of prayer” devoted to the LORD God and seeking His glory? Does “the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord” (Colossians 3:16)? Or, are our bodies and lives filled with our own selfishness and greed? Are we living for ourselves rather than for Christ Jesus who created us and then also redeemed us with His own precious blood? Is Jesus even welcome in the temples of our bodies, or do we question His authority to come into our lives and cast out what is offensive to Him?

Though we by our sins destroyed the temple of Jesus’ body – He was crucified and suffered upon the cross for our sins and the sins of the whole world, being condemned of God and dying in our stead – Jesus rose again from the dead in victory on the third day! He is God’s Son and our Messiah and Savior! He has redeemed us and made full atonement for our sins and the sins of the whole world! His resurrection is proof! It is the sign!

Jesus has the authority to cast out what is evil from our lives. He has the right to cleanse us, and He is zealous for us and our holiness.

He comes to us and dwells in us by His Holy Spirit, and He desires that we be wholly devoted to the will and service of God our Father. God grant that we not challenge His authority to purify and cleanse, but welcome His coming and rejoice in the mercy and forgiveness He gives to us for the sake of His innocent sufferings and death and His victorious resurrection! Jesus has paid in full for our sins and He forgives and accepts us. At the same time, He also works in us to cleanse us that we might live our lives for Him!

O dearest Jesus, come into my heart and cast out whate’er offends. Forgive me for the sake of Your precious blood shed for my sins, and cleanse my heart and soul that I might live for You. Amen.

Paul’s Letter to the Believers at Colosse (continued)

“Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: for which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: in the which ye also walked sometime, when ye lived in them. But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him: where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.” Colossians 3:5-11

“Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth … seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him.” Since Christians are joined to Christ Jesus in His death and resurrection – their sins and sinful nature being crucified with Christ, and having been raised up with Christ by the mighty working of God’s Spirit to new life in fellowship with the LORD God – they are to put to death (mortify) their sinful nature with all its desires and put on the new man which is created by the Holy Spirit and seeks to be like Christ.

Christians in this world have two natures, called in the Bible the old man (inherited from sinful Adam) and the new man (created in them by the regenerating work of God’s Holy Spirit). In the beginning, man’s nature was single and united in love for God, trust in Him and the desire to honor and glorify His holy name, for the first man and woman were created in the image of God and knew Him and His will and desired to live for Him (Genesis 1:26-27). When Adam and Eve fell into sin, that nature was lost, for they doubted God’s Word, were afraid of God and even tried to hide themselves from His presence (Genesis 3). A reading of the pages of the Bible which follow the fall reveals the sinfulness and depravity of mankind.

Those who have been raised up from spiritual death and darkness to faith in Messiah Jesus – whether it was the Messiah yet to come in Old Testament times; or as it is now, the Christ who has come and accomplished mankind’s redemption – have a new nature which loves the LORD God, trusts in Him for salvation and all things and desires to live for Him and serve Him. But, as long as Christians are yet in this world, they have as well their old sinful nature, inherited from Adam.

Thus, the Christian life is a life of struggle, not only with the world without, but with the sinful nature within. Christians, thankful for the shed blood of Jesus and the blessings of forgiveness and life eternal He has won for them, love God and want to live for Him in accord with His Word. Yet, there remains within them a nature which loves self, doubts the Word of God and would rather go its own way and seek its own glory and pleasure.

St. Paul writes of this internal struggle to the believers in Rome: “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do … For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members …” (Romans 7:18-19, 22-23).

This is why Christians rejoice in the fact of God’s continuing forgiveness for sins and shortcomings. They continually acknowledge their sins and trust that God is merciful to them and forgives them for the sake of Jesus and His blood shed upon the cross for the sins of the world. Christians do not deny or cover up their sinfulness, but walk in the light, trusting that “the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth [them] from all sin.” They agree with God and confess their sins, trusting that He is faithful and just to forgive their sins and cleanse them from all unrighteousness for the sake of His Son, Jesus Christ the righteous, who is the propitiation – the atoning sacrifice – for the sins of all people (cf. 1 John 1:5 – 2:2).

It is also why believers look forward to the day of Christ’s return, for then the image of Christ will be perfectly restored in them – they will no longer be subject to sin and their old sinful nature. As the Bible says, “Our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself … We know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is” (Philippians 3:20-21; 1 John 3:2).

And so, while believers in Christ await His glorious return and the redemption of their bodies (cf. Romans 8:23), they put to death the old man and all that is contrary to God’s Word and put on the new man which gladly and willingly seeks to live as God commands. They agree with God’s Word that such things as fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, covetousness, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication and lying are wrong; and they acknowledge their sins and failures, trusting in Christ’s shed blood for forgiveness, and then seek God’s help and strength to live for Him in accord with His Word.

The battle is not easy, for the old sinful nature and inclination is strong and is encouraged and incited by the devil and the sinful world in which Christians live. No matter how hard people try, they cannot drive out the darkness of sin from their lives. But Christians, by the grace of God, turn to Christ Jesus, the Light of the world. He cleanses them of all sin with His own holy and precious blood, and He strengthens and keeps them in the true and right way unto life everlasting!

O Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, for the sake of Your blood shed for me upon the cross, forgive me for my utter sinfulness and for my many shortcomings and transgressions in regard to Your holy commandments. Fill me with Your Spirit, give me the desire to walk in Your ways, and keep me in the true and saving faith unto life everlasting. Amen.

Pastor Randy Moll

We All Believe in One True God:

A Summary of Biblical Doctrine

(The entire book is posted under Pages on the Church Web log)

V. Saving Grace

Grace is love. But this specific term does not denote love bestowed upon an object worthy of such love and rightly entitled to it, as the love of husband and wife, parent and child, friend and friend. Grace is love bestowed upon the unworthy. Specifically, the saving grace of God is His divine forgiving love bestowed upon poor unworthy sinners. Every Christian believes in this divine grace, for Christianity is the religion of grace, and Christian faith is trust and confidence in the saving grace of the triune God.

The Biblical doctrine of grace presupposes the sinful condition of all men by nature, of which we spoke in the previous chapter of this book. Being conceived and born in sin and utterly unable to help themselves out of this condition, all men are in need of grace. The Law way to salvation is closed to sinful mortals, as we read: “As many as are of the works of the Law are under the curse” (Gal. 3:10). The grace way to salvation is therefore the only hope for sinful mortals. Thus divine grace is absolutely necessary to every man if he is to be saved from the eternal punishment justly due to his sins. “We are worthy of none of the things for which we pray, neither have we deserved them;” but we pray “that He would grant them all to us by grace; for we daily sin much and indeed deserve nothing but punishment.” We can neither by our own efforts induce God to give us a Savior nor by our own reason or strength believe in Him or accept by faith the Savior whom God has bestowed. We can certainly do nothing for our own salvation, and therefore God’s grace must do all: “By grace are ye saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast” (Eph. 2:8, 9). Thus divine grace is absolutely necessary for our salvation. But no “necessity” of bestowing grace must be ascribed to God. The very nature of grace, as bestowed on those who have no claim upon it, implies that it must be “free,” so far as God is concerned — freely bestowed by His good pleasure. Yet God’s free grace is as universal as man’s need for it.

We may now, on the basis of Scripture testimony, define saving grace as the gracious favor or forgiving love (forgiveness of sins) which God for Christ’s sake has in His heart toward all sinful mankind, and which moved Him to do everything that was necessary in order to save us from sin and Satan, make us His children, and take us to heaven. This grace is attested in the Gospel and is to be believed by all men on the authority of the Gospel.

The grace of God, as we have said, is free grace. We have done and can do nothing to merit it. Yet God did not bestow it arbitrarily, in such a way as to violate His immutable justice. Rather did His grace move Him to provide a way to reconcile His own just anger against sinful men by the vicarious sacrifice of His own Son, so that without violating His justice He might lay His anger by and give free course to His grace. “We are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time His righteousness: that He might be just, and the Justifier of him which believeth in Jesus” (Rom. 3:24–26). Thus God’s grace both provides the Savior and is based upon the Savior’s work. To imagine a forgiving love of God toward men aside from “the cost,” as Luther calls it, namely, the sacrifice of Christ on Calvary, is not the Christian doctrine of grace but a completely heathenish and unscriptural dream. When God in His merciful forbearance, even before Christ came in the flesh, refrained from punishing the sins of believers in the promised Messiah, He did so only on the basis of that sacrifice which was to be offered by “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev. 13:8), through whose death upon Calvary God’s righteousness was declared and His justice vindicated, showing that He could be and is both just and the Justifier of sinners. Saving grace is always grace for Christ’s sake.

It is surely already sufficiently evident that divine grace is not something poured into us and inherent in us, as the Papists falsely teach, but a gracious disposition in the heart of God. Therefore grace is contrasted with our works and with everything which is ours. When we say that God bestows His grace on us we mean that He exercises His forgiving love toward us. Grace agrees with faith, for it is by faith that we receive God’s grace, that is, believe that God is gracious to us: “Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed” (Rom. 4:16). Grace is opposed to works: “And if by grace, then it is no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace” (Rom. 11:6). Romans 3:28: “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the Law.” Galatians 2:16: “By the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified.” So diametrically opposed to saving grace is the attempt to be justified before God by works that St. Paul, speaking by inspiration of the Holy Ghost, warns the Galatians: “Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the Law; ye are fallen from grace” (Gal. 5:4). Of course this does not mean that the doctrine of grace hinders the doing of good works. On the contrary, it produces good works which flow from faith as a thank-offering for God’s grace. In fact only the believer in salvation by grace without works can ever do any good works, for only the believer in God’s free grace has escaped the dominion of sin: “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the Law, but under grace” (Rom. 6:14).

Having considered the central meaning of divine grace, as God’s way of salvation, in contrast to all humanly contrived work-righteousness, we may now proceed to enumerate the characteristics of saving grace, as they are enumerated in Holy Scripture:

A. Saving grace is grace in Christ. As grace is denied when human merit is united with it (Rom. 11: 6, quoted above), just so grace is abrogated if it is severed from Christ’s vicarious satisfaction. Saving grace is always based upon “the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:24). Of this we have also spoken at some length above.

B. Saving grace is universal grace. We have already said that God’s free grace is as universal as man’s need for it. It is most important that we hold this truth fast. For if even one human being were excluded from God’s gracious will of salvation, each one whose conscience has been aroused by God’s Law to a knowledge of sin would necessarily conclude that he himself must be that unhappy being; and thus faith in God’s grace would be impossible. Holy Scripture proves the universality of God’s saving grace in three classes of texts:

a). Texts which say that God’s grace extends to all men: Titus 2:11: “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation to all men, hath appeared” (marginal reading of the KJV). 1 Tim. 2:4: “Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son.” 1 John 2:2: “And He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”

b). Texts which say that God’s grace extends to each and every man: 2 Peter 3:9: “The Lord is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” Ezek. 33:11: “As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live.”

c). Texts which say that God’s grace extends also to those who ultimately perish: 2 Peter 2:1: “Even denying the Lord that bought them, and bringing upon themselves swift destruction.” Matt. 23:37: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not.” No soul of man is ever lost because of a deficiency in God’s grace, but only because of his rejection of the grace which is meant for him too.

C. Saving grace is serious and efficacious grace. God has truly set His heart on the conversion of all men and puts His full power into the means of grace to effect His purpose. Christ has commanded His church to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15), and it is His will “that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations” (Luke 24:47). And the Holy Ghost earnestly seeks to engender faith in the Gospel in all who hear the Gospel (see Matt. 23:37, quoted above) and to preserve faith where it has been enkindled (Phil. 1:6). Therefore the reason why so many hearers of the Gospel never come to faith is not due to God’s passing them by or to any lack of serious effort on the part of the Holy Spirit, but always and only to their persistent resistance to His gracious operation: “Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost” (Acts 7:51).

When the Christian hears or reads or thinks of the universal, serious, and efficacious saving grace of God in Christ Jesus, his heart must break forth in joyful song:

“By grace! This ground of our salvation, As long as God is true, endures:

What saints have penned by inspiration, What God by His own Word assures,

What all our faith must rest upon, Is grace, free grace, through His dear Son.”

(Cf. Lutheran Hymnal, Hymn 373, stanza 5)

By Wallace H. McLaughlin

Bible Study in Preparation for Sunday

The Adult Bible Class will this Sunday begin a new study of the Gospel of John. To prepare, read John 1:1-14. Who is the Word in 1:1? What do these verses say of Him? How long has the Word been existence? What was His role in creation? How did He give life? In what does this life consist? How is the life the light of men? What happens as this light shines in the darkness? What was the role of John the Baptist? How do men receive the Word?

The Catechism Class will begin studying the Second Article of the Apostles’ Creed and learning of Jesus and what He has done to redeem all mankind. Catechumens may prepare by reading the second article of the Apostles’ Creed and Luther’s explanation of it in the Small Catechism. What is the meaning of the name Jesus? What is Jesus’ title and what does it mean?

Sunday School Classes are scheduled to study Elijah and the prophets of Baal. Bible texts behind the lesson are in 1 Kings 18.

The Sunday Sermon will be based on II Peter 2:19-22. In preparation, read the chapter and consider the following: Can those who have once believed turn back into sin and be overcome? What is the end result when this happens? Cf. Jude; Hebrews 3:7ff.; Hebrews 6:4ff.; Hebrews 10:19-39; 1 John 5:16ff.; Matthew 12:31-32, 43-45.

What Do We Believe?

What do we believe about Conversion? Consider the following summary statement and look up the supporting Bible passages:

CONVERSION

We believe that conversion is the converting of a lost and condemned sinner to faith in Jesus Christ as Savior. It is the turning of an unbeliever into a believer. It occurs when a man, condemned by the Law of God, is brought to faith in the Gospel and believes that God is gracious to him and forgives all his sins for the sake of Christ’s redemption (Acts 2:37ff.; 3:19; 11:21; 16:29-34; 26:18; Titus 3:3-7; Isaiah 55:7). We believe that conversion is entirely the result of God’s gracious working in us; for man, as he is by nature, is spiritually blind, dead, and an enemy of God, and therefore cannot by his own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ as Savior or come to Him (Ephesians 2:1-10; Romans 3:10-18; Genesis 6:5; 8:21; John 1:12-13; 3:3-6; 6:44,63,65; 1 Corinthians 2:14; 12:3; Colossians 2:11-15; Philippians 1:29; Jeremiah 31:18; 1 Peter 1:2-5, 23-25). We therefore reject as false all teaching which attributes a man’s conversion to his own will or decision rather than to God’s grace alone, and also any teaching which would limit God’s gracious desire and working for the salvation of all men.

Remember to Pray

Remember to pray for our church and for our families that none be lost to Christ’s kingdom, but that all continue in repentance and be strengthened and built up in the true and saving faith in Christ Jesus through the hearing and study of His Word.

Mutual Encouragement

Now, more than ever, it is so important that we encourage our fellow believers to stand fast in the faith and not forsake the assembling of ourselves together for mutual encouragement and the comfort of God’s Word. We have been so blessed by God to have the precious promises of His Word and the assurance of God’s mercy and forgiveness in Christ Jesus given us each Sunday as we remember our Lord’s death until He comes. I encourage you to come and be with us as we worship and hear God’s life-giving Word, and I urge you to share that encouragement with others that they too might come and partake of God’s blessings with us.

“And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.” Acts 20:32

Upcoming Events

The Regular October Voters’ Meeting of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church is set for Sunday, Oct. 18. A potluck dinner will follow the service, and the meeting will follow the dinner. On the agenda is a review of the congregation’s constitution and by-laws.

A Reformation Hay Ride is scheduled for 6 p.m. Oct. 24. A sign-up sheet is in the back of the church.

Bake Sale Items will be available this Sunday at the church to benefit the church’ youth group activities.

Information for bulletins or newsletters may be sent to Pastor Moll by calling him at 479-233-0081 or by e-mail at randy@mollfoto.com.

[Scripture in this Newsletter is taken from the King James Version of the Bible]

“But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.” 2 Peter 2:1-3 (Read the entire chapter)

Our faith in Christ Jesus is built upon the testimony of God Himself, in His Word, for He gave to us the inspired Scriptures that we might know of the gift of God’s Son and the salvation He provided for all when He suffered and died upon the cross and then rose again in victory.

As the apostle writes, “We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” (2 Peter 1:19-21).

Thus, true prophets and true teachers teach God’s Word – nothing more and nothing less. They bear witness to God’s truth, saying what God Himself says of sin and evil and what God Himself says of forgiveness and new life in Christ Jesus. True prophets and true teachers are unwilling to compromise God’s truth for the sake of earthly gain or temporal peace. Like the faithful prophets and apostles of old, they are willing to suffer all – even death – rather than compromise God’s truth and proclaim anything less than God’s Word.

But, as Peter writes by inspiration of the Holy Ghost, there were false prophets (pseudo-prophets) and there will be false teachers (pseudo-teachers) who, for the sake of earthly gain and peace, privately bring in damnable heresies, dividing God’s flock by deceiving those who do not love the LORD God and hold fast to His truth (cf. Deuteronomy 13:1-5; Matthew 7:15; Acts 20:28ff.). Some even go so far as denying the Lord Jesus, who bought them with His holy and precious blood (cf. 1 Peter 1:18-19).

Coveting the goods of this world and seeking to gain a following for themselves, such false teachers make merchandise of true believers – taking advantage of them and misleading them back into sin and faithlessness. Like the prophet Balaam who so desired earthly riches and honor that he sought a way to disobey God and bring a curse on God’s people, so pastors and teachers turn aside from the truth of God’s Word and compromise its teaching for the sake of appeasing the masses and keeping positions, salaries and retirement benefits.

Peter minces no words in telling of God’s judgment upon false teachers and compromisers of God’s Word. Looking back on God’s judgment upon the angels that sinned, the wicked world at the time of Noah, and the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, Peter points out how God can and will carry out His judgment upon false teachers and yet save those who hold to the truth (cf. 2 Peter 2:3ff.).

Jesus, too, points out God’s judgment upon those who compromise His Word when He says: “For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:18-19); and, “Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels” (Mark 8:38).

Why does Peter write this warning? So that we are not deceived by such false teachers – so that we do not turn away from the hope of the Gospel and back into sin and unbelief! The inspired Word of God warns you and me against the false prophets and false teachers – who will come – because God desires that we hold fast to His Word and continue to place our hope and trust in Christ Jesus and in the redemption He accomplished for us by His innocent sufferings and death upon the cross. God wants you and me to overcome the lies and the deceit, the false teaching, the temptations and attacks of the devil. He wants none of us to be lost to His kingdom but all to continue in the true and saving faith in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting.

God grant that you cling to His inspired Word, that you hold fast to its truths and that you continue to trust in the crucified and risen Christ Jesus for the forgiveness of all your sins and a place in His eternal kingdom. Only in Jesus, can we be saved! Amen.