Be Wise - Be Ready

Title: Be Wise - Be Ready  By Pastor Lohn Johnson
Text:  Matthew 25: 1 "At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.  2 Five of them were foolish and five were wise….  13 "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour. INTRODUCTION:   My dear friends in Christ, Now to understand this parable, you have to understand Jewish weddings of Jesus’ day.
I.   A Jewish wedding consisted of 3 parts.
	A. The first was the engagement. Marriages most often were arranged by the fathers' of the bride and the groom. The engagement amounted to a contract of marriage in which the couple had little if any direct involvement.
	B. The second stage was the betrothal. This was an actual marriage ceremony where the bride and the groom exchanged vows before family and friends and the marriage was considered to be official even though the marriage was yet to be physically consummated. Now the betrothal could last for many months, but as far as society and the law was concerned, the couple was legally married.
	C. The third step was the wedding feast. At a certain time the bridegroom accompanied by his attendants would proceed through the streets usually at night to the bride's home to claim his bride.
			1. Since it was usually at night the bride and her attendants had to make sure they had lamps, to light the way back to the bridegroom's house.  This is where the 10 virgins come in.
			2. Then the bride and groom and their attendants would then parade through the streets proclaiming that the wedding feast was about to begin. They would go back to the groom's house for the wedding feast.
II.  Since this is a parable, we must look for Jesus’ meaning here.  Obviously the 10 virgins or bridesmaids are at the center stage.
		A. But as we strive for meaning here we must acknowledge that it doesn’t fit to see the virgins as representing all people. Those outside the church do not wait for the Bridegroom.  They do not gather in His House to meet Him, nor do they look for His coming in the clouds on the Last Day.  So we must conclude that our text does not discuss these people at all.
		B. But It does talk about those who do gather together to meet the Bridegroom.
			1. So the virgins represent the baptized.
						a. The ten virgins are those people whose names are on the church roster; who have some connection with the church.  The ten virgins are those people on earth who call themselves Christians.  b. Why don’t we bring this story home.  We are the ten virgins.  We’re not outside the church—we belong to the visible church on earth.  Our names are written on the church rolls.  We come to God’s House to meet the Bridegroom.  We expect Him to come again in the clouds of judgment.  Our lamps of faith are shining.   We are the ten virgins.
			2. And all ten had good intentions.  They intended to wait for the coming of the Bridegroom.  Even the five foolish virgins had lamps with oil in them at one time.  They had faith.  That’s what the lamp represents.  It’s the lamp of faith.  “Let your light shine before men,” says Jesus.
						a. These five were doing works of faith.  They were coming to worship.  They were singing songs of praise to the Bridegroom.  b. At one point in time, there was no way you could tell a difference between the five wise virgins and the five foolish virgins.  By how they looked, by what they said…there was no difference.
III.  Of those who are the baptized; of those who call themselves Christian, as we consider our parable…there are wise virgins and there are foolish virgins. But we’ve got to ask, why does Jesus call these five, foolish, and the other five, wise?  Well, there is one difference between them.  Just one difference.  Not a great big difference, just one small difference.  But sometimes the small differences are pretty important.  When you’re locked out of your house, that little key is pretty important.  With these ten virgins, the difference was in the little flask of oil.  Lamps need oil to burn.  Lamps are very much like faith.  Both will die out unless more fuel is added.  Lamps need oil…faith needs God’s Word and Sacraments.
		A. The five foolish virgins were just like the five wise virgins except for that one thing—they did not bother to take along any extra oil for their lamps.  So when the Bridegroom came, they were not ready.  Their lamps had gone out.  And they were locked out of the wedding banquet.  That little difference of not having any extra oil cost them everything.
			1. You know what strikes me about those foolish virgins in our text?  They weren’t your typical cheats or swindlers or adulterers or hardened criminals—they were church people; virgins waiting for the Bridegroom.  But they were locked out of heaven’s door for one simple reason—when the Bridegroom came their faith had gone out, because they neglected to refuel their lamps.
					a. The foolish ones had succumbed to the temptation to forsake time spent listening to Jesus.  They’ve turned to other distractions.  Our sinful aversion to spending what we deem to be too much time in the Lord’s house comes out in them.  An indifference to the Word of God grows and leads to low church attendance and small turn outs for Bible studies for them.  b. In the end they never come to God’s House to store up oil for their lamp. It doesn’t matter if we have faith if we’re not fueling our faith with God’s Word and Sacraments.  A lamp is worthless without oil, and our faith is worthless unless the oil of the Word fills the lamp.  c. A few years ago, a pastor was talking with a middle-aged man to whom life had dealt a severe blow in the death of his wife. He was fumbling around trying to find the resources to meet the demands of the hour. "Pastor," he said, "when I went off to college I put my Christian faith in the drawer because I didn't think I'd be needing it. That was 27 years ago and now I need it and can't remember where I put it." Well, even if he had found it, it probably wouldn't have fit. A faith that hasn't grown since childhood isn't likely to fit a 47-year-old man!
			2. And this text warns us that there are certain things which cannot be borrowed.  The foolish virgins found it impossible to borrow oil.
				a. Some people may think they can get into heaven riding the coattails of another's faith. Some think they are right with God because they were born into a Christian family. b. Maybe we can look at it like this: [Video Clip Friday Night Lights]  You have got to have a helmet to play football.  Without it the player misses his chance to play.  Similarly without their own faith fed with adequate oil the foolish miss out too.
		B. Some of our lamps are burning brighter right now than others are.  We’re working harder for the church.  We’re letting our faith shine by our singing, our involvement, our witnessing, our tithing—and that’s commendable.
			1. But let’s not pat ourselves on the back over much. Because all that is God’s oil – his word and sacraments.  Otherwise it’s worthless.
				a. We’re not wise by our own efforts.  It is God who makes us “wise unto salvation” in Christ Jesus.  It is like this story:  A young fellow came forward in a Gospel meeting, earnestly asking, “What can I do to be saved?”  Knowing the man thought he had to accomplish something by his own efforts to gain redemption, the Christian worker responded to the anxious inquirer, “You’re too late!”  “Oh, don’t say that,” exclaimed the distressed seeker,  “I really want salvation; I’d do anything or go anywhere to obtain it.”  “I’m sorry,” replied the other, “you’re too late for that.  Your salvation was completed many hundreds of years ago at Calvary.  It’s finished work!  The blessed gift He offers is yours through faith.  Realizing his great debt was paid, the young man found peace had been given by the Savior and now he was resting upon the grace of God.” b. Our love for the Word of God; our desire for His body and blood; our hunger for His forgiveness is not of our own making—it is the Lord’s doing.  It is God who baptized us; who brought us from death to life; who forgave all our sins and called us His child.  He gave us our lamps of faith through those baptismal waters.  It’s God who teaches us about His love for us in Jesus through the mouths of our Christian parents, teachers, and pastors.  It is God who leads us to His Holy Supper where He gives His meal of grace to us—the body and blood of our Savior. c. So through His oil we are brought to be watchful and vigilant for Christ’s return.  Being watchful and vigilant means having our noses in God’s book, our back sides in a pew, our infants at the font, and our mouths filled with the body and blood of Christ.  d. The wise virgins came prepared.  You are wise for being here.  You live wisely by taking the time regularly to come to the House of the Lord and store up the oil of God’s Word for your lamp.
			2. Now at this point in the sermon you’re probably expecting me to say something like this:  “Some of you are like the five wise virgins and others of you are like the five foolish virgins.”  And after that you’d expect me to encourage you all to be more like the five wise virgins so that you don’t get locked out of heaven when the Bridegroom comes…and then say, “Amen,” and sit down.
				a. And I suppose that I could—but it’s not quite that simple.  Because as I look around this room all I see are wise virgins.  I don’t see any foolish virgins.  All I see are wise virgins.  Perhaps some of us have been foolish virgins in the past.  b. But not today. Today you’re wise virgins.  Because you are here to refuel your lamps.  God’s Word and His Sacraments are the fuel your lamp needs, and you are wise for being here today.  This is not to say that you will all be wise virgins next week, or next month, or next year.  But today you are wise virgins.  Foolish virgins do not continue to stock up on fuel for their lamps.  Wise virgins do.
CONCLUSION:    If you have lived more like a foolish virgin than a wise one, God forgives you.  Jesus died for your spiritual laziness.  And as He forgives you, He works upon your heart to make you wise in Christ Jesus.  And He will never stop doing this.  God will never give up on you.  No matter how spiritually lazy you are, as often as you come here He keeps forgiving you and working within you so that you can look forward with joy to the coming of the Bridegroom.  For you know, dear forgiven child of God, that He comes for you.

The Special Seed

Text:   Colossians 1:6b  All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God's grace in all its truth….    9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you… in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,... INTRODUCTION:   My dear friends in Christ, a few years ago around this time of year a pastor had an idea for a sermon using a giant pumpkin.  He drove down to a farmer he knew, who sold  pumpkins.  He explained that he wanted a huge pumpkin that would be an illustration of how big God wants to grow faith in each of our hearts.  He wanted the biggest pumpkin available.  So the farmer took him around the side of the barn, where he saw the biggest pumpkins he’d ever seen.  He gave him one of those.  It took two muscular men to lift it into his SUV.  The pastor turned to the farmer and said, “I really appreciate the pumpkin but I also need a sermon.  Would you tell me how you grew such a big pumpkin as this?”  “Sure,” he said.  “First, you gotta get the special seed, the giant pumpkin seed.  It is a seed that comes from one of these giant pumpkins, not a seed from a miniature pumpkin.”  “Good,” the pastor said, “I’ll get these giant pumpkin seeds, plant them and a miracle happens. Up comes a giant pumpkin, right?” “No, no, no.  You have to have more than the special seed.”  The farmer chose his language carefully, “You have to lay a good foundation of fertilizer, and you can’t put the seed in the hot manure or you will burn it.  You have got to cultivate and fertilize all that soil in the thirty-foot circle around the pumpkin with really good nutrients, so that the pumpkin has plenty of power to draw from.  You put the seed on the foundation of the fertilizer.”   “Is that all?” The pastor asked.  “No, no, no. There is more.  After you have the special seed and lay it on the foundation of fertilizer, you then cover the whole thing with a mound of dirt.  You put light, airy dirt mounded over that seed, so it can breathe.”  “Oh, I got it.  The seed, the foundation, the airy dirt, and I have the miracle, right?”  “No, no, no.  There is more.”   “Rain and sunshine.  Rain and sunshine will help grow that plant.” The pastor said, “Is that all I have to do in order to grow a gigantic pumpkin?” And he said, “Yep. That’s all. That’s what you have to do to grow a giant pumpkin.” Growing that giant pumpkin is a picture of what God wants for each of us.  It is God’s desire for each of us to have faith the size of a giant pumpkin.  [Confirmation Students] ...that’s what God wants for each of you.
I.  Remember that farmer started with the special seed.  With us we need the Jesus seed.  You must have the Jesus seed.
	A. You need special seed to grow a great pumpkin.
			1. You can’t use beet seeds to get pumpkins.  You can’t get faith from anything or anywhere, but solely from God and His Word. Faith in something other than Jesus and what He did, has no saving power. 2. You see God has packed the special seed with the gift of salvation.  God’s word – the Gospel is this seed.  Jesus has lived, died and risen.  Salvation has been won.  Only this seed can give what Jesus has won.
		B. That seed has been planted in you in your baptism.
			1. You have been given what Jesus has done.  He has lived, died and risen for you.
						a. What He did is given to you—a very special gift.  You are washed clean.  He has made you His.   b. This all came to you when the Jesus seed was planted in you in your baptism.
			2. 1 Peter tells us: 2:2-3   “2 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation,”  Peter tells us having faith in not the end. He gives you the seed, but He wants that seed to grow. Seeds are vulnerable.  They need to grow to be more resilient.
						a.  They need the right conditions to grow – just like the farmer’s great big pumpkins. b. God has placed you into families where this vulnerable faith was nurtured.  In those families the conditions were good for the seed to germinate in you.  You were probably exposed to God’s Word at home and in Sunday School  And that sprouting has taken place in you.  But like that pastor and the farmer we must say that that’s not all.
II. Then came Confirmation time.
		A. That was also a step to grow your faith.
			1.  Here we worked on the foundation of your faith.
					a. You learned the basic doctrines of the Bible.  You learned what the bible contained.  And maybe you could look at it like the fertilizer.
			2. Some would say it stinks to have to go through all this work, but you don’t get a vine without it.  Your faith won’t grow without the fertilizer.   The vine grew because it was fed.  Whether you realize or not your faith grew in confirmation
		B. But confirmation was never intended to be the end, it’s a beginning point.  In accordance to our pastor—farmer and pumpkin illustration, so far we’ve only gotten a vine, no pumpkins yet and that’s not where God wants anyone to stop. But, here is where many people stop.
			1. After confirmation, things change.
					a. You are not in class anymore. The demands of high school, and after that, college and career, attempt to pull you away from the worshiping congregation. We often unconsciously think:  “God, I don’t need your house anymore.”  b. So the things that were unifying us with Christ and His church become less and less a part of their life. I am not a child anymore, and I don’t especially want to be your child either.  So we rebel, not only against our parents, but against God too.
			2. One of the greatest disappointments of my life is to see so many young people let go of Christ.
					a. It is no big deal, so we think.  It is not something we hold tightly onto.  It is not something precious.  How foolish.  b. And so young people and parents drop out of a regular worshipping pattern after confirmation, not realizing how valuable that worship pattern has been.
III. And I’ll agree the life of faith is not easy.
		A.  It is work. It is work to get into the Word.  It is work to forgo other activities to read the word or go to church or be involved in youth activities.  It is hard to turn from popular activities that may not be the best things to be involved in.  It is work to stick with God and His ways.  But it is worth it.
			1. Let’s look at the bottom line for a minute.  God really did make us and God knows better about how we work best.  When we turn from him and his principles we are going to run into problems we don’t need to have.  The Scriptures are on one level God’s instructions on how we work best, on how to grow. the vine and have giant pumpkins.  When we go against our Maker’s instructions, we do have more difficulties in life. 2. On another level you only find forgiveness in Scripture.  That weight of sin that you may not even realize bogs you down as you go through life.  Only in Christ is it removed.  Only through Jesus is forgiveness given. 3. Another thing is that only in Him do we have comfort as we face the trials of life.  Only in him do we have comfort as we face death.
		B. And God provides what is needed to grow our faith (great pumpkin).
			1. God gives The Sun and the rain.  The prophet Isaiah tells us:  10 As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,  11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”  So God’s Word is given to us to grow our faith
					a. Try this experiment when you get home today. Take a trash can lid and lay it on a healthy portion of your lawn. Leave it there for a week. Afterward, lift the lid and look under it. See the pale, sickly grass? See the bugs and worms nesting in the dark decay of the withered grass. That's what sin does to us! Now, finish the experiment. Take the lid away. The bugs flee. The grass begins to receive sunshine and moisture. Its health is revived, restored. It is literally forgiven, let loose from bondage and decay. Forgiveness is just like that. What we can't pay, God pays. God lets us loose from debts of sin and frees us to new life! b. And it is no secret where this forgiving word is seen most clearly.  His Word sits on the altar in His Supper. His Word comes in the baptismal font. His Word is spoken by the mouth of your pastor. Through your continuing in these things, God’s grace will be evident in your life and you will remain one with Him and with His church.
				2. Those great pumpkins had to have a huge root system of over thirty feet.  Likewise God want us to have deep roots in His Word:  Roots give strength. Roots allow faith to grow.
						a. When trials come deep roots find water where plants with shallow roots cannot.  Shallow rooted plants whither but the ones with deep roots stay green.  b. It is the same with us when we have deep roots in Scripture we have hope in any situation.  We are sustained when trials come.
IV. Now with pumpkins, once they start growing on the vine, they can only grow attached to the vine.
		A. Once you sever the pumpkin it is dead.  It starts to rot.  The same is true of us.  If we sever our connection with Jesus our faith begins to deteriorate.  Soon it will die.  Jesus even tells us:    4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.”  B. Fruit like a giant pumpkin is very visible – so is a grown faith
				1. Faith is shown in confident serving Christians.  It is seen as we forgive and we have been forgiven.  It is seen as we reflect our God to the world.  .  2. Jesus even tells us: 5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; …   16 -- fruit that will last.…..”
CONCLUSION:   This is pumpkin season so I guess it’s appropriate to use pumpkins as an illustration.  The confirmation students have been given a great gift—the seed of faith.  It has grown.  Now as you go from here please don’t forget that seed, that vine.  Please remain in His Word – Grow that faith you’ve been given.  I hope to see giant pumpkins of faith in the future.  Amen.

The Truth WIll Set You Free

Title: The Truth Will Set You Free By Pastor Lohn Johnson
Text:  John 8: 34 Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.  35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever.  36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” INTRODUCTION:  My dear friends in Christ, In the movie "Gone With the Wind," Scarlett O'Hara's father, Gerald, offers a most profound observation as he confronts his 16-year old daughter on the evening before John Wilkes' famous barbecue. [Video: After being rebuffed by Scarlett for wanting to bequeath to her Tara's rich landscape, Gerald tells his ungrateful child that the land "is the only thing that lasts.” It's the only thing worth fighting for, worth dying for."] Well, it's certain that the land will be here long after we're gone, but even the land we walk on won't last forever. It will continue to erode and to change as time goes on. But there is something that will outlast the land and the people who live on it. God’s truth will never change!  When we discover this, we will be free for now and forever. This is the Sunday when Lutheran churches celebrate the words and works of Martin Luther, whose search to know what was true and what was not true about the Christian faith hatched the Reformation movement Martin Luther was a diligent seeker after truth. Unfortunately, truth and the freedom it brings eluded him, because, at first, his search took him down the wrong path.
I.  Our text is also about the truth.  Jesus said to those who had believed in him, "You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."  But the Jews before Jesus were mistaken about the truth.
	A. Their words show they were mistaken about the truth of being slaves.
			1. The Jews told Jesus in our text: “We...have never been enslaved to anyone,”  Were they kidding?
						a. Had they forgotten about Tiberius over in Rome who was their master?  Their lives were under his control.  b. Had they forgotten their history books, or perhaps rewritten them in their own minds?  They had been slaves to the cruel Babylonians for seventy years, and before that slaves to the Pharaoh down in Egypt.
			2. But Jesus does not give them a history lesson.  He points to something far worse than physical slavery...spiritual slavery.  “Everyone who commits sin,” He says, “is a slave to sin.”  And this is a truth they would deny too.
		B. And here is where we come in.  Most Americans do not share, with the Jews, their history of slavery.  But we certainly do share with them the spiritual slavery to sin.  And even more, we share their denials as well.  It is common for us to be mistaken about the truth.
			1. We do not think of ourselves as slaves.
						a. We pride ourselves on our independence, and not just as Americans; as Christians, too.  We like to think that we can handle the problems that come into our life; even the spiritual problems. b. Like the Jews, we live in denial.  They claimed Abraham as their father, and so how could they be called slaves?  For us, it’s Martin Luther.  “Me, a slave to sin?  But I’m a Lutheran.  I’m no slave.”  Yet even Martin Luther himself recognized, not just that he was a slave, but that his master was a cruel tyrant.  He echoed the words of the Apostle Paul:  “Wretched man that I am!  Who will set me free from this body of death?” (Rom. 7)
			2. The truth is that we are sinners. Not simply ones who commit sin, that is, do bad things, think bad thoughts, say bad words. It goes much deeper than that. We are slaves to Sin with a capital S.
						a. We are born enslaved, captive to Sin and Death. We cannot free ourselves. We’re stuck. And any attempts at self-liberation only make matters worse. Even things we thought were OK, even those places where we felt self-justified turn out to be riddled with sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. The mere fact that we sin – in our thoughts, in our words, in our actions – reminds us that we are slaves to Sin. b. Rather than live in denial, we need to face up to the harsh reality that we who commit sin are slaves to sin.  Our selfishness enslaves us.  So does our sinful pride.  God’s Word is clear.  To deny the truth that our sins have enslaved us is to live in death.
II. As Jesus proclaimed the truth to those Jews, His word proclaims the truth to us.  It is designed to work like this:
		A. A man sat one morning at a table in a fast-food restaurant, facing a window coated with a film of dirt and grease. An employee appeared outside with a bucket of water and sponged the grime away. It was like the raising of a curtain on a stage. Now he could see clearly the scene outside. In the immediate foreground was an asphalt parking lot; beyond that a stretch of winter-browned grass, relieved of monotony only by a cluster or two of leafless shrubs. Distant signs proclaimed the presence of a cinema, a bank, and a grocery store. Sea gulls from a nearby river floated casually overhead, occasionally gliding to the ground to snatch a morsel of food. A small airplane parted the sky, while traffic flowed steadily on the highway below. What had been concealed was now revealed: the appealing and the unappealing; the inspiring and the uninspiring; the depressing and the uplifting. Everything stood out in sunny outline, bold and clear.  Truth does that for us. It removes from our eyes the film that coats and distorts reality, and enables us to see, with clarity, the totality of life.
		B. Likewise We are to see the Truth about salvation through His words
			1. First, we are brought to see that No slave can free himself. A slave must be set free by his master.
					a. And because sin was our master, Jesus became sin for you.  He allowed sin --your sin, my sin-- to enslave Him.  That which was your master, mastered Jesus on the cross.  He surrendered to sin’s power.  He gave Himself up, and sin claimed Him completely.  It worked Him over.  It was a brutal tyrant.  The punishments Jesus endured from His Father for becoming the sinner in your place were far more brutal than any slave has ever endured. And then sin, as His cruel master, carried Jesus away in death.  b. But on the third day, the bonds of death were shattered.  The stone was rolled from the tomb.  Jesus came forth alive.  And He who lives is the One who draws you to Himself.  In Baptism he claims you.  In the Holy Supper He draws near to you.  Here in His Worship Service He speaks His words into you.  And so He who now has power over sin, death, and hell turns the key in your life and sets you free, free indeed.
			2.  The truth is It is Jesus Christ who snaps the chains of bondage - The alien power that has occupied our hearts since sin was first displayed in Eden has been crushed.
				a. The Truth is it is the Christ who loved us and who gave himself for us, who healed the sick, the blind, the deaf, and raised the dead. b. The Truth is it is the Christ of Calvary who bore in his own body on the tree the lies of all the world. c. The Truth is it is the Christ who stands before his table as our host and shares with us the broken body and his cleansing blood, "This is for you!" d. The Truth is it is the living, risen Lord beneath whose feet the ultimate, eternal bondage has been shattered and the powers of hell obliterated.
		C. The truth will set you free. It is a freedom from condemnation. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” The debt has been paid once and for all. The slate has been washed clean. The verdict has been read. The jury dismissed. No condemnation. God refuses to deal with you as your sins deserve. The entire burden of your sin was nailed to the cross in Jesus. He bore the verdict “guilty” so that you might hear the verdict “not guilty.” You are free.
			1. The story is told of a man who lived in England several hundred years ago. He was accused of crimes he did not commit.  All through his trial, he stayed totally calm, - not at all worried about the outcome. The reason for his peaceful attitude was that before the trial he had previously pleaded his case to the King of England, who gave him a full pardon should he be found guilty by the court. So the man sat calmly in court with the king’s written pardon in his pocket.
				a. Our situation is similar, but with one big difference -- we are actually guilty! The Bible says, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23) But we have pleaded our case before the King of kings, - and because of His great love and sacrifice on our behalf, He has mercifully declared us "not guilty," "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 5:1-2) b. As we live out our days on this earth, we have "a pardon in our pocket," so to speak. Because of what our Lord Jesus Christ did on the cross, we have peace with God, forgiveness of sins, and assurance of eternal life with Him. c. But it is even better than that. The man in England only had a pardon from the king in his pocket. In our case, we have the pardon of the King of kings—a pardon good for all eternity!
			2. We cling to the truth of God, but do not expect this to be easy. The devil, the world and our own sinful flesh hate God's truth and seek to wrest us away from it.
				a. Jesus tells us the truth that He is the Savior—Now in Him we have certain hope for eternal life. The world objects, "Only one Savior? How intolerant! We must do away with that truth! b. Jesus delights to remind us the truth that forgiveness comes in His Word and Sacraments. Your Old Adam says, "Nuts to that. What matters is how you feel. If you feel God is near, He is. If you feel He's far away, then He's not." But the Lord’s truth is not that He is present in feelings! Instead, His truth is that He is as near to you as His Word and Sacraments, no matter how you feel. c. It doesn’t matter if you feel like a slave.  Jesus has set you free.  No sin in your life as the power to master you – that’s the God’s honest truth.
CONCLUSION:   The truth is we are enslaved to sin.  The truth is we cannot free ourselves from this tyrant.  The truth is Jesus became sin for us.  The truth is He was destroyed by sin on that cross.  The truth is He defeated sin and death when He rose.  The truth is what He did is given out to us through Word and Sacrament.  The truth is we have received the pardon of our King of kings.  The truth is now we live eternally in the freedom we have been given. Amen.