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November - 2003 - December
| advent hymn |
| News and Notes |
| JESUS |
| Attend the Church of Your Choice - c.e.c. |
| Exposition of Psalm 11:1-7 - r.w.s. |
| Absolute Loyalty to the Word - Luther |
| A note from the publisher |
T his is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. (1 Timothy 1:15)
TLH #55
Come, Thou precious Ransom, come,
Come, O Savior of the world!
Come, Thy beauty let us see;
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Enter now my waiting heart,
Dwell in me and ne'er depart,
Ah, what riches will be mine
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My hosannas and my palms
Evermore, as best I can,
And in faith I will embrace,
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Hail, hosanna, David's Son!
Let Thy kingdom, scepter, crown,
That forever we may sing:
Amen.
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NEWS and NOTES
Cross of Christ Lutheran Church of Midland, MI
Pastor Charles E. Clubb Jr., servant of the one true God, the Triune God - Father, Son, and Holy Ghost - has passed from mortality to immortality. Pastor Charles has been transported from this vale of tears to the bliss of heaven, where he now beholds the face of his Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, the Savior who paid for the sins of the world with His holy, precious blood. Jesus Christ is the Savior - the Chief Shepherd - whom Pastor Charles Clubb faithfully served as an under-shepherd, until the Lord took him home in the year of our Lord, 2003, on the 29th day of November. Funeral services were held in Midland Michigan and Morris Illinois.
Our Savior's Ev. Lutheran Church of Morris, IL
By the grace of God a new sign has been installed via Mr. Dave Erickson & Co.
Grace Ev. Lutheran Church of New Lenox, IL
The Lord in His infinite wisdom called/summoned home Gregory S. Schilling 11/30/03 from our congregation. (son of Dale & Pam Schilling) Funeral services were held at the Crete Funeral Home 12/05/03
--- JESUS ---
(Colossians 1:14-23)
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DOCTRINE & PRACTICE
Attend the Church of Your Choice
(reprint from June 1990 ILC Journal)
Well-meaning media personnel, (from newspapers, television, radio, etc.), often publish the above statement as a public service to a community.
The statement at first, seems innocent enough, and indeed all men should be encouraged to attend Church. But consider for a moment what the statement-- ATTEND THE CHURCH OF YOUR CHOICE-- implies. It implies that the church of YOUR CHOICE is the right church wherein you learn of God and the way to heaven. A very common fallacy today is that different religious denominations simply teach various and equally valid ways of getting to heaven and the above statement promotes that fallacy.
However, let us be mindful that hope which is based on any false notion, or false teaching, is false hope. True hope is based solely in the only begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ. It is only through faith in Him-- the only true Savior from sin, death, and hell-- that we are counted worthy before God to receive salvation. As Jesus Himself says in John 14:6,
"...no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."
Choosing a place of worship then, should involve more than considering the outward appearance of a building, or the eloquence of a preacher, etc. Even the believer must be very careful when choosing a place of worship. For even though he has true saving faith in Jesus Christ, and would serve the law of God according to the inward man, his sinful flesh would serve the law of sin (Romans 7:25, 8:1ff). The flesh would choose a church by outward appearance only and one which teaches that which is pleasant to the ears-- that all believers are little gods or that God would have all His believers to be rich and prosperous in this life, etc.
It goes without saying that, when we must choose a church, we dare not trust in our own judgment. Rather, it behooves us to consult God's Word. God's Word tells us in Ephesians 2:8,
and Romans 10:17 says,
There's the answer beloved, when we must choose a church, let us by the grace of God choose one which teaches and upholds the true Word of God. For the Word of God alone produces, nourishes, and strengthens our faith in His Son our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
It would be far better if the above statement read:
"ATTEND THE CHURCH OF GOD'S CHOICE."
In the Church of His choice will be His Word and Sacraments. Let us encourage one another in this truth.
c.e.c.
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John 14:23 "Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words:"
John 6:63 "...the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life."
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EXPOSITION OF PSALM 11:1-7
(reprinted from May-June 1991 ILC Journal)
v.1) "In the LORD put I my trust: how say ye to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain?"
If a person puts his trust in the Lord his God he has no reason at all to flee as a timid bird to a mountain or to anything else. Who is as strong as the Lord and of whom is He afraid? Now, if my soul is fixed there on Him by faith in Christ what reason have I to leave my post where God, my Rock and my Strength, has placed me? All you fathers and mothers, don't let all that modern psychology trash intimidate you and keep you from raising up your children "KATA GRAPHE" according to the Scripture. Don't let the muttering of educated fleas cause you to flee from the Word of God. All you husbands and wives don't be frightened and misled by all the temptations that come in your life to forsake your marriage vows by adultery or divorce. Don't flee to the molehills of these bats and vermin of hell. Stand fast in your marriage. God will provide. All of you who are in any kind of authority, don't let fickle, blind and erring public and popular opinion sway you from the true conduct of your job, position or station in life, no, not one iota. If others want to abandon their post, let them, let them, all fly to Lake Woebegone which lies near the Slough of Despond where the sloop Timidity if tethered - you, Christian, have a God in heaven, mighty to save to the uttermost all that come to Him by Christ Jesus. Let others be like silly birds fleeing at the first snarl of the devil - yet:
v.2) "For, lo, the wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart."
The very same pusillanimous people who in a fit of fright and frustration advise the Christian to "flee" his post like a bird never tire reminding us that the enemies of Christ and His kingdom are already bending their bow and making ready their arrows to slay us with their false teaching, accusations and blasphemies against our God and His doctrine. But we say: so what's new? Once the world stops being the "devil's bride" as Luther says, and once the devil becomes a true teacher of sound doctrine and an upright, fine fellow, why then they too will always be ready, prepared and eager to join us in following the truth. But, dear man, that day will never come. Until the Lord Christ returns in great glory and power it is and shall remain "status quo" and the enemies of our Christ will always be bending the bow and lining up their arrows, ready to shoot their fiery darts -- temptation, scorn, ridicule and high-sounding but empty words at us. But what saith the Word of God? Does it say: flee, duck, hide because they are all a bunch of assassins conspiring in secret against our God? "Keines Weges!" (No Way). If we read our Bible right it says: Taking the shield of FAITH whereby we shall BE ABLE to QUENCH the fiery darts of the wicked: (Ephesians 6:16).
There is, after all, dear Christian friend, a big difference between preparing, aiming and firing from secret places and HITTING the target. Take hold of CHRIST by FAITH. When your conscience batters you and would turn you into a snivelling coward unable to stand up for the truth or speak up forcefully because of our past sins, say this:
Dear Conscience, Devil and World, begone! My sin was placed on my Christ who shed His blood for me years ago. You want my sin, do you? - Well, then, go, take it up with Christ, God's Son, who paid for it and try to tell him His price, i.e., His blood failed! See if you are man or devil enough to pull Him off His throne in heaven. He died for my sins - that stands. My sin is forgiven me and you must listen to the truth, God's Word, whether you like it or not, yes, even though I, a sinner like you, am telling it to you. I will not, with God's help, back off of sound doctrine though you have a million bows and arrows ready and in the air. You either conform to this Word, repent of your sins and believe in Christ or you go to hell. If you are that downright ignorant, be so, but with and in and because of my Christ I am upright in faith and doctrine and my Christ will help me.
v.3) "If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?"
See how consistently the Psalmist, David, inspired by the Holy Ghost, strived against the fainthearted in the land. They have advised him to "flee" his post, abandon his position and authority as king and go into exile. Then they see the insidious way Christ's enemies get together behind closed doors to line up the artillery of temptations to fire at the Christian. Against these things the Word of God inscribes the little vocable "TRUST". The world will never lack those who try to intimidate Christians to scare them away from Christ's sound doctrine or from the position or office in which God has placed them.
One day the Pharisees tried to get Jesus out of the area by telling Him that if he did not run away Herod would kill Him. They did this in order to fluster Him and send Him fleeing. Jesus simply replied:
That is exactly the mind, heart and attitude every Christian should have: Listen, I have my work God has given me to do today, tomorrow and the day after that and it does not bother me or surprise me very much that Jerusalem (that is, the outward church) is the place where prophets and true, confessional Christians perish. I expect that from the people who have been very proud of their synod, old-style church building, and the long line of illustrious fathers and simply cannot brook being told to repent of their sins. "After all, we have Abraham, David, Luther and Walther to our fathers." That we break God's Word right and left by women's rites, female church presidents and preacheresses, promiscuous communion, spurious translating of the Bible, prayer fellowship with all Lutherans no matter how much of the doctrine they compromise - all this is nothing. God will wink at this for, after all, I come from the right stock, etc.
Now in this same line of thinking David's would-be friends and associates, at least those who were always tapping the wall with the stick of reason to see if, perchance, God is still around, begin to wring their hands in despair. "If the foundation" of the state, that is, the king, counsellors, legislators, magistrates as well as the "foundation of the family and church are destroyed, "what can the righteous do?" They mean, of course, NOTHING, we poor souls can do nothing that is why it's best to flee to the mountain, that is, compromise a little, at least save your own life or preserve at least a piece of the true doctrine, etc.
That kind of advice seems extremely reasonable and logical. And it is undoubtedly true that if the foundation of the state - the government - the family and the church, that is, the outward visible assembly, are corrupted and perverted by anarchy, divorce and false doctrine, they cannot stand. They all must come down of necessity like a deck of cards. They are all built on sand and fall down accordingly when the floods and waves of God's judgments hit.
But, again, what has this to do with the Christian and His Christ? Indeed, human made foundations can be destroyed, even those groups bearing the name "church" falsely. The Holy Ghost tells me that Christ is the foundation stone Whom the builders indeed rejected but Whom God set up, for although the church leaders refused His Christ - "The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. This is the LORD'S doing; ..." (Psalm 118:22-23) - still these false teachers and tormentors of my soul push Christ, the Stone, around? All other foundations are built on clay, for they are men and of men, but Christ is God and man. "For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." Any true builder building on the foundation which "as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid" says Paul, will indeed build well and his building will not be destroyed because its foundation is eternal. (1 Corinthians 3:10-11). As long as we continue adding "lively stones" (I Pet. 2:5), that is true believers, by mortar of faith in Christ on to the "...foundation of the apostles and prophets...", that is, God's Word, [Ephesians 2:20] we do not have to wring our hands and sweat to death when we see all the other foundations of society go down around us - as they are in this very corrupt and violent age. We would have reason to cry out with our old friend, W.E. Kneed, "what can the righteous do?" if the foundation of Christ's Word could be destroyed. But it can't; and we won't. Therefore, stow that kind of talking and thinking, hold fast to your Foundation Stone, Christ, and you will survive, come what may.
v.4) "The LORD is in his holy temple, the LORD'S throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men."
What shall the believer do when he sees the foundations of church, state and family shaking and tottering; when the enemies of Christ and His Word conspire against the truth of God and those who hold to it? Why, he is simply to remember his God. First of all "The Lord is in his holy temple," that is, He dwells in His church; in the Christian congregation:
And, not only that, He also is in his holy temple, that is, each and every Christian person, for says the Truth:
The Lord of heaven and the earth dwells in and among His Christians and rules all things - even secular things such as economics, politics, military etc. - for the interest of just one of His children on earth, to say nothing of groups of them. Little do the mighty nations of this world know or recognize the value of just one Christian man in their midst. For the sake of one man's prayer God sent Word from His throne in heaven that it should rain once again, after 3 1/2 years of drought. So valuable is one such Christian in the halls of academia, politics or the military that our Lord God will spare an entire nation for his sake. Otherwise how is it that even the ungodly king of Israel cried out and called Elisha the prophet: "O my father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof."? (II Kings 13:14). The king had plenty of iron chariots and flesh and blood horsemen, as every good king must have, but what good does military hardware avail if God does not bless its use? The real defense of Israel was this one man of God whose prayer and blessing was a wall of protection around an entire nation.
Now, beloved in Christ, the same Lord and God is still in His Church and Christians and He will take care of us today as well as He did of His people over 2,000 years ago. Why, then, should we tremble run and hide from these false teachers and these mighty, smart, sharp, sophisticated and arrogant leaders, shapers and shakers of society who ridicule our God and His Christ?
Yes, rather, let them run and hide, not us, for our Christ sits "in heaven" and that means that all things that we call "power", "authority", "wisdom", "understanding", etc. are completely under Him the "earth is His footstool" and "all nations are as grasshoppers in His sight" and a "drop in the bucket". And this great, gracious and mighty God has appointed His Church as lord, high mayor, governor and ruler over all universities, media, stock markets, nuclear bombs, computer main frames - all other paraphernalia of which nations and people are so inordinately proud.
So, we say, let them watch out. "his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men." [Psalm 11:4] There isn't too much, yes, absolutely nothing, that gets past God's eyes. For our God is omniscient and whereas many times people have to "run this or that by me again" before we grasp what is going on, no one has to "run anything by" God more than once. In fact, He knows what those rascals are thinking and planning - as well as the outcome of their nefarious reasoning - before they do themselves. He is God. His eyes behold all men. Not only that but "His eyelids try the children of men." He carefully scrutinizes everything that is done and those doing it just as when we want to see something very clearly we narrow our eyes to focus in on that which we want particularly to see and observe.
And our God cuts like a knife into our inward being by His Word for it alone has power to [pierce] "...even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." (Heb. 4:12)
v.5) "The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth."
Because the Lord's eyes are extremely sharp He knows very well how to make a difference between the righteous and the wicked, for He knows what is in man - or not in them, for if they have faith, He put it there. These are the righteous, for "the just shall live by faith". [Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11, Hebrews 10:38]
If faith is not at home within He sees that too and they, the wicked (no matter how powerful, learned and influential they are), will always do what comes naturally, that is to say, continually to sin against God and man and to push their weight around in this world as though they owned it. If they do not get their way they turn to violence whether physical, mental, spiritual or economic.
Whenever the Lord comes along with the pruning shears of affliction, sickness, depression, etc. to purge the branch (John 15:2), the Christian, it seems to the flesh that He fully intends to chop us down altogether and do away with us. These trials of faith are real tests: a bad marriage, divorce, drugs or alcohol, loss of a job, friends, reputation, etc. to say nothing of the really secret and most miserable of all trials, the truly spiritual and inner ones - when we begin to lose heart in our God and we become aware how often our own life-style mocks the faith we confess and the awareness of hyprocrisy almost suffocates us so that we feel numb towards doing any good works. These are the real, fiery trials of faith and are experienced by tried and true Christians. But in this the believer remembers:
"The LORD trieth the righteous:" [Psalm 11:5]
It is just a test and trial from the hand of my loving Father and therefore I shall bear it patiently with His good grace and help. In due season my poor soul shall rejoice in its God. I will, therefore, bear the trial and rejoice as well for the Lord is purifying my faith which is far "...more precious than of gold that perisheth," (I Peter 1:7). Since it is I must remain true: "For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth." (Heb. 12:6); therefore, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him:" (Job 13:15); for even if I have to die in this trial "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." (Phil. 1:21); for then, at last, "... we shall see him as he is." (I John 3:2).
The wicked however, must face the hatred of the just and holy God of heaven and earth. Proud of themselves, despisers of the humble, mockers of Christ, spurning the grace of God and relying on a kind of national religious smorgasbord and potpourri of self-invented "good" works they must inevitably incur the wrath and displeasure of God. For they are without faith in Christ and without such faith "it is impossible to please him: (Heb. 11:6).
v.6) "Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup."
Although the wicked never think so, the judgment of God over them shall certainly come. One would think that after God had delivered Lot together with the king of Sodom and all their people by the hand of Abraham's 318 armed cattlemen from the combined military might of five powerful kings, Sodom and Gomorrah would have learned a lesson. Would they not have inquired concerning the courage and zeal of Abraham their benefactor? Surely the deliverance made some impression on them for the king of Sodom was ready to give Abraham great treasures from the First National Bank of Sodom and Suburbs. But Abraham proved wise, indeed, by refusing the 'proferred largesse' because he knew that once the media got a hold of the story it would come out, in their own twisted way, that the king of Sodom had made Abraham rich. Alas, all such remembrance of the goodness of God and His servant Abraham towards Sodom and Gomorrah on behalf of Lot was soon forgotten and trampled under foot. About 14 years later the God of heaven and earth rained fire and brimstone upon these beautiful cities which were wholly given over to homosexuality incinerating and burying them under tons of salt. The Lord literally rained fire brimstone upon them and even more remarkable are the words of the passage describing this event:
Notice that it says: "THE LORD rained fire FROM THE LORD..." With this the Holy Ghost, who inspired all of Scripture, is taking us right into the Persons of the Trinity. A similar passage is Psalm 110:1.
And again:
These passages are veritable fortresses and citadels against all those who deny the doctrine of the Trinity, that is, the plurality of the divine Persons and unity of the divine Essence. However, in Genesis 19:24 it is diligently to be noted that the Father and the Son, who are so often linked together, especially in John's Gospel, as being in perfect agreement, planning and executing of our eternal salvation, are in equal agreement, planning and executing of the divine wrath and punishment upon the wicked. In Gen. 19:24 the first word "LORD" who rained "brimstone and fire" upon Sodom and Gomorrah refers to the Lord Christ, God's Son, who had been appearing to and dealing directly with Abraham. The second use of the word "LORD":
"FROM THE LORD OUT OF HEAVEN"
refers to the divine Person to Whom our Lord Christ bids us pray and call: "Our FATHER which art in heaven." In other words, the Father and Son are one in their agreement: these wicked homosexuals, who have spurned the divine mercy, utterly impenitent and blatant and public demonstrations insisting on their "civil rights" must be totally destroyed together with all their families, wealth and possessions. This passage proves beyond a doubt that although the Lord Jesus and His Father are "...longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." (II Peter 3:9), yet they do not forget their promise of punishment upon the wicked. God's immense patience with the wickedness of the wicked dare never be construed as forgetfulness or dereliction of duty as Judge. The trouble is, our sinful nature is so blinded and easily deceived that it confuses and confounds God's patience with being forgetful or even as though He were conniving at their wickedness. Is it not true that: "Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil." (Ecclesiastes 8:11) And does not the Lord Himself complain that the wicked who run around pretending they are His followers consider His restraint and silence in not punishing them for their evil at once as though He agreed with their slander?
The Lord God in due time will indeed punish the wicked, therefore the Psalmist will, through faith and trust in God, stand his ground and not flee to the mountains to hide from these deceitful, perfidious and wicked men who (were) as always trying to undermine his authority. Although the cup of trials and tribulations that God is making him drink was as He goes around testing and probing him are sour enough, he knows that is nothing but child's play in comparison with the wrath of the God of heaven and earth when He pours out the strychnine of His divine judgment into their cup.
History itself is replete literally with examples of this "horrible tempest" that God causes to rage over His adversaries. Consider the destruction of the Spanish Armada by a storm in 1588 - as the Pope's puppets set sail to destroy Protestant England. Consider the destruction in the 1700's of the Spanish Flota Plata (Silver Fleet) off of Vero Beach which while conveying back silver and gold to Spain was ordered by the Spanish government to sack and destroy the Protestant French Huguenot settlements in Georgia and South Carolina. They intended to slaughter all of them - but to no avail for the Lord sent forth an immense hurricane that destroyed every galleon involved and spilled their cargo of gold, silver and jewels across the ocean floor in about 3 fathoms of water.
v.7) "For the righteous LORD loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright."
The Psalmist will not easily be forced into abandoning his office or position as king simply because some of his less resolute friends and advisors urge him to flee to the mountains for safety and are ready to cash in their chips, so to speak, because things may be going badly in the country and the wicked seem to have the upper hand. He does not shrug his shoulders or wring his hands and mutter: What can the righteous do?" Why is that? Well, there is one thing he knows for sure:
If the Lord were tainted with just a little sin, would accept bribes, be a respecter of persons or doze off now and then while ruling the heavens and the earth there would be good reason to assume things will never be right. But God is holy, just, good and, above all, righteous, and He loves whoever among His creatures is holy, just, good and righteous. But where are such righteous creatures of His? First of all, of course, there are the holy angels, then "...the spirits of just men made perfect," (Hebrews 12:23), that is, the believers now in heaven such as those great examples of faith mentioned in Hebrews 11. But neither the Psalmist is among them up in heaven at this time - for He is still on the earth - nor are any of the "upright" about whom he is writing. So the question is: Who are these "upright" on the earth who do acts of "righteousness" whom the Lord "loveth"? Does not the Bible insist that "...all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;"? (Romans 3:23), and "there is none that doeth good, no, not one."? [Psalm 14:3] (Ps. 14:1; Rom. 3:10).
How can the sinner, David, even though he is a king, stand there and be so sure that the Lord is on his side? He is, in effect, saying: Look, I am not going to run and hide, for my work, office and position is right and I am carrying it out properly, in a righteous manner and I am certain my Lord and God lifts up His countenance on me and beholds and watches over me for good. Therefore let the wicked try their best and shoot as many arrows at me as they want. My God and Lord is for me and if Christ is for me who can be against me?
See, beloved, this is the faith that conquers. It is bold and courageous and often enough others will mistake such resolution and determination as 'braggadocio' or insufferable pride. After all, look how David's older brothers considered him to be a brash, young upstart when he offered to fight Goliath one on one. They tried to cut him down to size by belittling him and told him to get back home to the back 40 acres and take care of those few poor sheep of their father, Jesse, etc. No one but God could see the tremendous faith and trust the young man had in God. Granted, it looked like self-boasting when he said: "Thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine", [1 Samuel 17:32] but his boasting was IN THE LORD. And that's the big difference down to this day. David was not righteous in and by himself any more than Saints Peter, John, and Paul were righteous in and of themselves. Yet all these men were indeed righteous before God BY FAITH, for they relied on, held steadfastly to and rejoiced mightily in the righteousness of Christ by Whom they stood justified before God. Christ, and Christ alone, is our righteousness before the living God through faith in Him worked in us by the power of the Holy Spirit via Word and Sacrament. We are righteous, not because of self-determination, self-assertion or all the other self-ish things floating around today such as self-help, positive self-image, self-esteem, self-value, self-worth, etc. These are all the pipe dreams of those who like to be called or call themselves "mental health" experts, who, ignoring all human experience and history - to say nothing of the Scriptures - want to help sinners by turning the poor, sin-ridden soul (psyche) inward upon itself when it should be turned outward, away from itself toward God, for the only One that can really help such a sin-sick, self fish is his God and Lord, Jesus Christ, the Righteous.
That human social tinkering which tries to fashion something good out of corrupt material will have as much success as carefully watering, cultivating and fertilizing a thistle plant in the vain hope that the poor thing, by such expert care will somehow correct itself and become a tulip - or as Christ Himself puts it so succinctly:
By nature and birth man is a real thistle plant, a corrupt tree if there ever was one. Nor does he have it in his power to change his sinfulness and become righteous. Unless God Himself awakens him from his spiritual death by the glorious Gospel of Christ the sinner remains separated from God, held fast in the chains of unbelief heading straight for hell where their worm dieth not nor is their fire quenched. [Mark 9:44,46,48]
The righteous Lord Who loveth righteousness knows that about us. He knows very well that we cannot produce this righteousness in, by, and from ourselves though we were to meditate transcendentally to the stars or "channel" in on Alpha Centaurus a million light years away to get in touch with good, old, departed uncle Sylvester. Therefore our God, knowing that our works of the law [are] futile attempts at righteousness provided a different righteousness for us, the righteousness of Another with a capital "A" that is, Christ. Listen to what my friend, Paul, has to say about this:
See, beloved, it is called "the RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD which is BY FAITH OF JESUS CHRIST unto all and upon all them that believe." It is this faith in Christ, our sinless Substitute, that God alone counts to us for righteousness.
HIS FAITH IS COUNTED TO HIM FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
This is the beautiful righteousness which alone avails before God to which Paul, 'Mr. Grace' himself, refers when he tells us that all his works of the law, his glorious achievements, performed as a super-Pharisee, he counted as "dung" in order to be "...found in him, (in Christ) not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:" (Philippians 3:9) [emphasis by r.w.s]
David, in Psalm 11, is also such a man whose righteousness is Christ. It is this unshakeable, perfect, eternally valid righteousness of Christ his Savior that gave David the courage to stand his ground and the assurance that God's countenance was beholding him for good, even though many times things in his life seemed to be going the other way.
Therefore dear reader, lay hold of the righteousness of Christ by faith and stand fast where God has put you. Are you a father, then guide and provide for the family; are you a mother, then look after the children; are you a husband or wife, stand fast as a faithful spouse; a son or daughter, obey your parents in the Lord; a boss or employee, be fair and kind to those under you. Bear with prayer the flack that may come your way when you are in the way of duty. If you must flee, flee to God via prayer. If you are not sure how this or that should go or be done, go to the Word for it is profitable for many things. With the Psalmist say with all joy and conviction:
"IN THE LORD PUT I MY TRUST."
r.w.s.
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"Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil." (Proverbs 3:5-7)
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(taken from: What Luther Says, Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO, 1959 edition)
4770 Absolute Loyalty to the Word
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A short note from the publisher:
GRACE.
I was taught as a youngster that Grace means: "undeserved gift of love".
Though we sinful human beings deserve nothing but God's wrath and eternal punishment, He gave us the perfect gift of love - when He sent His only-begotten Son into the world to redeem us all from sin. Born of the virgin Mary, God became man to do all things perfectly in our stead because we cannot, and then He paid for all of our sins with His Holy Blood and thus reconciled the whole world to Himself.
I pray that you have had a blessed Christmas rejoicing in this Truth.
Join me in thanking God for sustaining the ILC and this publication through the gifts of many. May He bless all those of you who have donated to the work of His kingdom and defense of His inspired and preserved Truth, whether by writing, editing, printing, mailing, funding, etc.
A sincere and heartfelt "Thank you" to you all.
Also, readers: please accept my humble apology for the tardiness of these Journal issues (which I confess was my deficiency alone) and pray with me that God would give us strength and zeal to serve Him better in the New Year :
A Prayer for the New Year
Lord God, Heavenly Father, maker and preserver of all things; let us each look back honestly at our life in this year gone by and admit that, despite our best intentions, we have grievously and continuously sinned against thee in our thoughts, words, and deeds. Let us truly realize how indeed we need thy Son, Jesus, whose perfect birth we have just celebrated, and let us sincerely thank thee for sending Him to us to live, suffer, die, and rise again making the world just before thee. Give us thy grace through faith during this new year. Help us to flee from sin and also from things which give an appearance of evil, that thy name may be hallowed among us and not blasphemed. Be our protector from adversity and dangers, and help us to live lives pleasing to thee. Give us zeal to serve thee well and witness for thy Truth and keep us ever strong in true faith through thy true Word unto life everlasting. This we ask thee in the name of thy Son, our only Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.
In God's service
Dave R.Yeomans - ILC secretary
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