The Presence of God

Lord Jesus again as we open up your word We ask that you would send your spirit open up our hearts our minds help us to rightly understand what you've revealed there

So that we may correctly confess and believe what you have revealed for us as well as to do what you've given us to do

We ask in Jesus name. Amen a little bit of a review. We've been wandering with the children of Israel We're back into that story

They have been set free from slavery to a false god -king in Egypt God has baptized them in the

Red Sea By the way, if you want to know the cross reference how we know that the Red Sea was a baptism

The cross reference on that is 1st Corinthians chapter 10 the opening verses make that connection we're at Exodus 20 children of Israel have arrived at Mount Sinai and After arriving at Mount Sinai keep in mind before they got there

God began to feed them with the manna from heaven and Arriving at Mount Sinai God now speaks to the children of Israel and gives them the

Ten Commandments and you're going to note that their reaction to Receiving the

Ten Commandments is along the same lines as what we read in our Old Testament text for the sermon today

Where God's presence shows up in the mountains quake and the earth trembles and God causes his name to be known among his adversaries and they

Also tremble are in in great fear. This is what God's law does but let's review what the text says

God spoke these words I am Yahweh your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt out of the house of slavery

You shall have no other gods before me You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or in the earth beneath that is in the water underneath and you shall not bow down to Them or serve them for I the

Lord your God I'm a jealous God visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me

But showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments You shall not take the name of the

Lord your God in vain For Yahweh will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain

Remember the Sabbath day to keep it. Holy six days You shall labor and do all your work on the seventh day as a

Sabbath to Yahweh your God on it You shall not do any work You or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant or your livestock or the sojourner?

Who's within your gates for in six days? Yahweh made heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them and rested on the seventh day

Therefore Yahweh blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy Honor your father and your mother that your days may be long in the land that the

Lord your God has given you You shall not murder. This is the commandment. We're really drilling in today.

You shall not murder You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor

You shall not covet your neighbor's house You shall not covet your neighbor's wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything?

that is your neighbors and now when the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the

Mountain smoking the people were afraid and they trebled and stood far off and said to Moses you speak to us and We will listen, but do not let

God speak to us lest we die So you'll note that being in the presence of God While there's peals of lightning and thunder crashes and he's saying thou shalt not and thou shalt not

That is such a terrifying experience that you're going to note that nobody really wants to have

God speak to them anymore Please don't let God talk to us. You talk to us

Moses, but not him and this is God When he's preaching the law to us, what does it do?

It scares us. It terrifies us. It convicts us. It makes us realize

Just how far short we come Notice that the

Ten Commandments upon hearing them didn't make everyone sit there and go. Yeah. Hey, you know, I'm doing all right

I actually do it kind of better than I thought. Yeah, that's what God's law does just Convicts you of your sin

Totally convicts you of your sin now, we've been doing a drill down into the fifth commandment and We noted last week how the fifth commandment you shall not murder

Requires us to not only not put a knife into the chest of our neighbor

Mark is very happy that I didn't put a knife in his chest today Good, but it's it's far more than not

Murdering your neighbor this text this commandment requires us to answer the question that Cain asked

Am I my brother's keeper and answer that question in the affirmative? and then if you ask the question who is my neighbor the answer that this text and all of the other passages of scriptures that are cross -referenced reveal is that every human being friend or foe

Somebody you like or somebody who hates your guts and wants you dead. We are to even look after their own needs so if they're if they are breathing and They have a pulse and they're made in the image of God Regardless of what they feel about you or whether or not they want to kill you

They are your neighbor and we are to look after them cross -reference on this that helps us out tremendously is

Romans chapter 12 verses 19 and 20 Beloved never avenge yourselves.

Leave it to the wrath of God for it is written vengeance is mine. I Will repay says the

Lord to the contrary if your enemy is hungry notice bodily need feed him

He's thirsty. Give him something to drink. Those that doesn't say fellow believers It says enemy for by doing so you'll be heaping burning coals on his head

Do not over be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good

So you can see the extent to which this fifth commandment really applies Which kind of let me give you another text then that I think is also very helpful here

So in looking at this, here's Proverbs 31 8 and 9

Open your mouth for the mute for the rights of all who are destitute Open your mouth judge righteously defend the rights of the poor and The needy this all falls under the thou shalt not murder.

So those who are mute You look out for them and their rights those who are poor and needy you defend them you help them

That's the idea. This is what God desires for us to do This is how our good works are done in this way and this falls under the category of fifth commandment

You're sitting there going I had no idea that not murdering my neighbor also then required me to consider the needs of the poor and The rights of the poor and the destitute and the mute but that's exactly what this text is saying real quick We're gonna we started a little bit of this last week

But we have to consider how this Commandment the fifth commandment then plays out in society as a whole

We need to remember that God has created and preserves and protects all life The God is caring.

He's compassionate towards all that he has made and Because of that he calls us also to be so we are to reflect as Christians God's mercy and his compassion towards other human beings

And so it's important for us to realize that God has given special dignity you can think kind of a special worth and protection then for every human life from Conception over and again.

I hear people who are pagans or somebody who's you know Some doing weird things with the biblical text that they believe that somehow

An unborn human being is just a blobby mass of non human tissue or something

This is not the case Scripture is so clear on this from conception onward

We are to protect every human life God has created humanity in his own image. God's Son became a man and shared our human nature

God has redeemed every human life by the Holy Precious Blood of Christ.

Therefore every human life is precious to God and Should be precious to Christians as well now a little bit of more law

Let's take a look at Genesis 9 in Genesis 9 This is after the flood and after the flood

God begins to lay down if you would the basis for governmental Authority and how the governments are to work and he places this left -hand

Kingdom Commission if you would into the hands of human families

But here's what God says to Noah's family after the flood For your lifeblood.

I will require a reckoning from every beast I'll require it and for man from his fellow man.

I will require a reckoning for the life of man Whoever sheds the blood of man by man shall his blood be shed for God made man in his own image so you'll note that taking another human life is well a big deal in God's sight and so we are not to take life and If we find a gal who's pregnant among us

Then we are to forgive her for her sins if she's penitent and do everything to support her and her soon -to -be -born child and If we know anybody among us who has made this grave

Terrible decision and sinned against God and against their own child by taking their own life we are to remind them of the mercy of God and Remind them that this is not the unpardonable sin each and every one of us has sinned against God in terrible and grievous ways and the reality is is that we

Each of us probably knows more than one person who may have made a decision like this

So we recognize that it is a sin But the law doesn't get the final say for the penitent the gospel does we do not want to cause our neighbors to despair of God's grace and mercy

Especially women who are burdened with the guilt that goes along with a choice like abortion This is where law and gospel come to bear serious topic

But nonetheless it has to be addressed straight up now a text I find helpful and talking about how human life begins at conception

He's one that we are going to hear in a few weeks in the book of Luke chapter 1 in this text we

See something kind of amazing happen The angel Gabriel has appeared to the

Virgin Mary and told her that she will conceive and bear a son Mary has kind of scratched her head and said how is this going to be?

I'm a virgin She ended up heading off to go spend time with Elizabeth who was at that time

Pregnant with John the Baptist something kind of amazing happens in those in this text

Luke chapter 1 starting at verse 39 in Those days Mary arose and went with haste to the hill country to a town in Judah She entered the house of Zechariah and greeted

Elizabeth now Mary's pregnant Elizabeth is pregnant Elizabeth is pregnant via the natural means through a husband

Zechariah and she at the moment is carrying John the Baptist Mary the

Virgin is pregnant with the Son of God Jesus something fascinating happens when

Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary the baby leaped in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the

Holy Spirit and she exclaimed with a loud cry blessed. Are you among women? Blessed is the fruit of your womb.

And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

and you'll note that she goes on to say behold when the sound of your greeting came to my ears the baby in my womb leaped for joy and Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the

Lord now notice Elizabeth thinks that Mary at this point is already the mother of her

Lord Doesn't say potential mother and you'll note that John the

Baptist if you look at the prophecies regarding him That he was going to be the forerunner of Christ When did

John begin his work as the forerunner of Christ pointing to people to Jesus Right here

In fact, the Old Testament says that John the Baptist would be filled with the

Holy Spirit From the time he was in his mother's womb So you'll note that in this text it says

Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit I think the right way to understand it then is that John the

Baptist Just in merely being in the presence of Christ the one he was to be the forerunner for he's filled with the

Spirit leaps for joy and He's so overflowing with the Spirit that Elizabeth can't help it as well

She too is filled and everybody is talking about the unborn Jesus John the

Baptist begins his work of pointing to Christ Before he's even born

Now if that is an argument for life begins at conception. I don't know

What does because here we have John the Baptist beginning his prophetic work in?

Utero, that's a big deal. And by the way, if John the Baptist can begin his work in utero

Can infants be given the gift of faith by God? Absolutely, of course, that's the idea now

Jeremiah chapter 1 verse 5 Also is a fascinating text, which is

Wonderful because you can see this is the calling of the Prophet Jeremiah I'll start in verse 4 now the word of Yahweh came to me

Jeremiah is writing in first person before I formed you in the womb I Knew you who does the forming in the womb?

Don't sit there and say science. God does it before I formed you in the womb? I knew you before you were born.

I consecrated you I appointed you a prophet to the nation's hmm

Psalm 139 also great text. We're going to look at a few verses in here starting verse 13 psalmist writes

For you formed my inward parts you knitted me together in my mother's womb

I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made Wonderful are your works.

My soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was being made in secret intricately woven in the depths of the earth

You saw my unformed substance in your book were written every one of them days that were formed for me

When as yet there was none of them Hmm So you'll note again this affirms

God is the creator and he is the one who's doing the creative work when we were being formed in our mom's wombs and That we were already precious in his sight even before we had taken our first breath

This then note the dignity that God himself gives to the unborn

He knows them he's forming them they are precious in his sight

That's the idea that dignity Because they are made in the image of God like every one of us.

We are to protect them like every other human being Yeah, this is a it's a it's a lame argument

Yeah, I how many countless numbers of couples are infertile?

and they would Rejoice to have the gift of any child

To raise them as their own There's no such thing as an unwanted child

There may be a woman who is experiencing a pregnancy that she didn't want by the way

I hope you guys have figured this out Sex creates human beings.

It's just real simple if you don't want to be pregnant Don't have sex

The two go together Yeah, one of these things, you know, that's like this is peanut butter and jelly

This is how this happens, by the way abstinence works 100 % of the time

Yes Yeah, so here's the issue then is this that the worth of a human being is based upon in this argument based upon how?

What somebody gives to that child you're worth less? I'm going to kill you you are a child.

I want when I want you so you have value Note that what

God's law Tells us is that the worth of a human being is not dependent upon anybody's feelings

Toward that human being the worth of a human being is based upon the value that God has placed on that human being

That's outside of us outside of our feelings So the idea then is is that this is one of the wonderful things about God's law

It gives us an objective standard by which we can rightly judge and it comes from outside of us

Now for instance, if you don't understand how God's law works Then how do you determine what is good as opposed to what is evil is?

Good and evil based upon whether or not you can get 51 % of the population to agree with what you believe is good versus evil and you'll note that Good versus evil if you look at it in that sense takes on different Hues and different emphases in different countries

For instance in the Netherlands where we have some of our elythians in the Netherlands The euthanasia is

Being practiced and I'm not talking about young children in China. That's not euthanasia

Euthanasia is is the active killing of somebody it's called mercy killing

But I mean that's like putting your dog down and the fifth commandment Fifth commandment does not allow for this.

So we sit there and say well in this community They've decided this is right in our community

We've decided this is right And when you get on to that slippery slope the immediate question that should come to people's mind is well the

German people decided that Jews had no value and Exterminated six million of them.

Who are we to say that what they did was wrong? How do we say that what they did was wrong? Is it just because we won the war?

That's how the Nazi war criminals argued at Nuremberg The only reason why we are on trial and you're the ones judging us is because you won the war

They argued one of the u .s. Huh? might doesn't make right might does not make determined right or wrong and So one of the u .s.

Attorneys, you know at Nuremberg basically said no, sir No, sir, you are on trial because you have committed crimes against humanity and you've objectively broken

The eternal law of God and that it without God's law coming from outside of us

Telling us what is right or wrong? Because of our sinful nature and our fallenness

What ends up happening is is that right and wrong starts to become something that's movable

I mean you think of the savages in Papua New Guinea, they practice cannibalism for years Are we to say that that's wrong?

In a way, yes, let me explain You'll note that despite some of the differences in society for the most part every nation

Punishes those who murder punishes those who steal Punishes, you know just name, you know

Just go through the Ten Commandments and you sit there and go I know countries that have laws against this including our own

This has to do with the fact that scripture in Romans chapters 1 and 2 reveals that God's law is written on our hearts

So the category that falls into in kind of the broader theological discussion we call that natural law natural law where we see in even pagans them having an

Understanding of God's law, even though it's never been taught to them They just know murder is bad and stuff like that.

So it's kind of it's intuitive God has written his law on the hearts of all of us. So Humanity has

God's law written on their hearts. So that's God's law and we that particular category is called natural law and There are there are really good

Lutheran theologians and guys who specialize in natural law who make the argument that?

when it comes to like a representative Republic like ours that Christians would do better to make arguments using natural law rather than biblical arguments using the

Bible Yes, it's still it's still it's it's still God's law and in here

I made this point a couple weeks ago And I'll kind of make it again If you didn't have God's law written on your heart, would any of us watch the news on at night?

You don't watch this. I personally I gave it up a while ago and I am so much happier Okay, but there are those who you know, they they have one of the you know

One of the news channels on all the time the news It assumes every news broadcast assumes

The law of God written on our hearts does they don't know it But I mean you so you'll you'll hear a story in Crookston today a two -year -old was has gone missing and they found her body

You know down by the river and we all go. Oh, that's terrible. That's awful That's just ah, and why do we feel that way because we all know that an innocent child

Has been murdered and that's bad and we're scandalized by it and we feel terrible for the family that goes through it or you know

Or a politician. I mean right now it's like raining Hollywood stars and politicians He's just like wake up.

Who's whose turn is it tomorrow? You know, this is kind of a reckoning the so you'll note then that would would we care about Harvey Weinstein?

Or or the senator from Minnesota or whatever if we didn't have God's law written on our heart

For instance do cows care that Harvey Weinstein behaved like he did they care less

They aren't scandalized by this Yes, but see that takes that actually takes you have to kind of burn your conscience.

You have to sear it Yeah, you have to sear your conscience and and here's this coming back to our sermon today that you if you remember from the

Isaiah text That melting in our iniquities that sin itself ever increasing appetite for sin is a form of God's punishment and so you'll note that when somebody commits a sin for the first time and They've really crossed a line like this is the first time a fellow has hit his wife or the first time a wife has cheated

On her husband or whatever. There's huge guilt that goes along with that. But once you've crossed that threshold

The second time is a lot easier and then it just gets easier and easier and easier after that and this is this is the ever increasing nature of how sin

Dominates us and then you see it, you know, you see it in you know, like behavior Alcoholics and drug users and things like this to where at some point they are so consumed by their sin

That it literally dominates their entire life the person who hardens themselves against God's law

That hardening results in an increasing hardening and an increasing magnitude of sin

Let me show it to you from Scripture so you can kind of see how it works Romans chapter 1 is our

Chapter and you can kind of see this ever increasing thing on sin We're gonna start at verse 18 and watch what happens

Romans 1 18 for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven

Against all ungodliness and Unrighteousness of men who by their righteousness listen to what they do suppress

The truth who by their unrighteousness they suppress the truth the picture there

You know, I like to use this illustration the picture there's of a person who's just smoked a cigarette down to the butt

Thrown it on the ground and then smashes it with their foot. That's the suppression that's going on You take

God's law and you just kind of do this with it suppressing. The truth is a dangerous thing to do

Very dangerous for what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them

For his invisible attributes namely his eternal power his divine nature They have all been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world and the things that have been made

So that men are without excuse For although they knew God so, you know, everybody knows that God exists

There's no such thing as an atheist. God does not believe in atheists. Well, here's the thing atheists

I mean, have you ever noticed they spend an extremely bizarre obsessive amount of time studying about how

God doesn't exist I mean, do you know anybody that spends who's obsessing about proving that Buddha is

False and doesn't exist or that do you see anybody? I mean, do you see all these

Santa Claus atheists every Christmas a Santa doesn't exist Don't believe in Santa stop believe it.

Nobody does this, right? Why do they obsess about God and more specifically? Why do they obsess about Jesus?

That's the God that really upsets them Hmm. Uh -huh

You can you note this they can care less about Allah they can care less about Buddha They can care less about Shiva or Vishnu, but man you start talking to them about Jesus.

They come on glued They really do Huh? As Shakespeare said thou protested too much

For his invisible attributes his eternal power been clearly perceived Ever since the creation of the world and the things that have been made so they are without excuse

For although they knew God they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him But they became futile in their thinking and foolish and their foolish hearts were darkened

Claiming to be wise they became fools They exchanged the glory of the immortal

God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things therefore

God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity to the

Dishonoring of their bodies amongst themselves Because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and Worshipped and served the creature rather than the creator who was forever blessed.

Amen for this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions There are women exchange natural relations for those that are contrary to nature

That is lesbianism and men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another

That's homosexuality Men committing shameless acts with men receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done

They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice

They're full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness, they're gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil

Disobedient to their parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die

They not only do them but give approval to those who practice them. So you can see in there the ever -increasing

Consuming nature of sin. I'm gonna keep reading though because this is an important text.

Therefore you have no excuse Oh man, every one of you who judges For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself because you the judge practice the very same things

So, you know the nature of the law just because you have the law doesn't mean you're righteous You sit there and go you're a sinner

And it's just remember when you point that one finger at the sinner. There's how many more pointing back at you That's kind of the point.

We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things So do you suppose oh man you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself

That somehow you will escape the judgment of God or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience?

Not knowing that it is God's kindness that is meant to lead you to repentance Notice that what is the definition of repentance?

contrition and sorrow even terror for sin and the belief

That God forgives forgives even you So you'll note then the law itself cannot work repentance.

It has to be both law and Gospel so the law of God comes to us

Convicts us terrorizes us makes us sorrowful for our sins and then the gospel comes around and you know it's

God's kindness that leads you to repentance because repentance requires both

Terror and Comfort you get it, but because of your hard and impenitent heart

You are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's judgment will be revealed He will render to each one according to his works to those who by patience and well -doing seek for glory and honor and immortality

He will give eternal life which by the way is the fruit of faith and repentance for those who are self -seeking

Do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness there will be wrath More than wrath fury

I Do not want to know what the fury of God looks like Yet alone experience it firsthand being thrown at me if you would

There will be tribulation distress for every human being who does evil first to the Jew and also the

Greek But glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good the Jew first and also the Greek for God shows no partiality

For all who sinned Without the law will also perish without the law all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law

For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God But the doers of the law who will be justified for when the

Gentiles who do not have the law by nature Do what the law requires?

They are a law to themselves even though they do not have the law They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts while their consciences also bears witness their conflicting thoughts excuse or Even accuse them on that day when according to my gospel

God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus so you'll note then that this is the text

Janet that answers your question So even unbelievers have the law of God written on their hearts that law of God is still the same law that we all have

Are we talking about the Roman Catholic concept? I can't think of a text off the top box.

I can let me give you one. I adjust There is but if we're gonna talk about biblical penance

Then if you're gonna if you're gonna define biblical penance correctly the law convicts you of your sin the gospel comforts you of the forgiveness of sins and Then only then is there amendment of life amendment of life is the fruit of repentance

And you can see it in one particular fellow. Let me find him real quick. Luke 19 is our text

Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through and behold. There was a man named

Zacchaeus Zacchaeus was a wee little man a wee little man was he he climbed up a what?

Sycamore tree, that's how the song goes. He was a chief tax collector. Now. He isn't a tax collector

He was like the chief of the tax collectors. He's like the chieftain of the whole tribe of tax collectors, which means he's a rotten stealing dirty thief scumbag who's oppressed all of the people of Jericho and has made himself very wealthy in doing so and he's a complete traitor as well because he's a

Jew who has Decided to go to work and be employed by the evil

Roman Empire So he was seeking He to see who Jesus was because he'd heard about him but on account of the crowd

He could not because he was small in stature Zacchaeus was a wee little man

So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him for as he was about to pass that way

And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him Zacchaeus hurry and come down for I must stay at your house today

Now it doesn't seem like that big of a deal But I want you to consider this in an honor culture and in the ancient world to have a meal with somebody

That's like you saying I love you you and I this it's it's a big statement that Jesus is doing here and This is the last person

Jesus should be eating with Huh? Oh Yeah, and despised and rightly so So Jesus honors him by saying he's going to eat at his house, which is a way of pardoning him and so he hurried and came down and received him joyfully and when they saw it

They all grumbled he's gone to be the guest of a man and Who is a sinner?

Of course, I always like to point out Jesus had no choice, but to eat with sinners every single night unless he wanted to eat by himself

I had invited Jesus to my home He would have been eating with a sinner So they grumbled said he's eating with a sinner and watch this behold

Lord the half of my goods I give to the poor and if I have defrauded anyone of anything

I restore it to fourfold and Jesus said to him today salvation has come to this house

So note Christ is saying he's forgiven since he also was a son of Abraham for the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost

So salvation is a gift given Repentance is sorrow for sin

Trust in the mercy of God and then true repentance leads to amendment of life and so you can see all of these here

Christ has forgiven him and So in the truest sense of the word he recognizes that as a sinner

He has done things that he ought not to do and as the fruit of his repentance.

He's going to restore Those whom he's defrauded with interest

He's going to make right what he's done wrong That's the penance now. Here's the thing is if you sit there and say to you know, you're not forgiven until you fix this

That's not a true absolution and penance becomes the work that you get you do in order to earn merit forgiveness if You being forgiven

Desire to do right and to do good to your neighbor and to restore what you've taken from them

That's the fruit of repentance and that's because you are forgiven. Yeah restitution

So if so, I mean if one of you came to me and said, you know pastor, you know years ago

I went on to one of these websites and they were telling me that that I didn't have to really true truly pay my taxes and The Constitution didn't require me to do so and so I haven't paid my taxes for 10 years

This is this is the conversation that we're going to have it again. This is a hypothetical This is the conversation.

We're gonna have the conversation is going to begin with we're gonna go up there we're gonna take two chairs and you're gonna confess this then before God and the confession is gonna go along the lines of Lord God, I have

Not done what your word commands me to do. I have not paid my taxes.

I am sorry. Please forgive me That's the first part of the conversation and that's that person talking to God now as the pastor

I'm listening in on the conversation. It's kind of like a party line and once once the confession is made

My requirement is to speak on behalf of Christ and what's my word? I Forgive you all of your sins.

They hear the absolution full stop now that you are forgiven for tax evasion

What's your next move better start getting those tax returns in and paying uncle

Sam what I owe him If you don't do that, are you truly penitent?

No, you're not You see it. You're not forgiven because you make restitution

You make restitution because you are forgiven law and Gospels dictates that This is what

Zacchaeus did what happens is in the penance system the man -made version of penance

What ends up happening is is that those churches that still have a private, you know confession and absolution, but they've brought penance in Absolution will is is withheld until the pastor or the priest is satisfied that the penitent is

Sorry enough and things like this That's not it's not an absolution and I'm sorry

They did not when I graduated seminary and they made me a pastor and all this kind of stuff They did not give me those cosmic peepers where I can look into your heart

You know so I can tell whether or not you're sorry enough. I They didn't give it to me.

So I don't have it. So there's no way for me to look your heart to figure this out It's a hurt

I So that's how you practice it in your family got it, okay

Okay, so this is where this is where it's important to make distinctions and Where we will make the distinction when it comes to somebody who is

Terminally ill and they have passed that point that threshold

Where medicine no longer will be able to offer any kind of a cure all

Medical procedures at this point will not result in you getting better you being able to sustain your life

At all and the only thing that those medical procedures or invasive technologies are doing is

Keeping you alive. Whereas if they were not being employed nature would run its course and You'd be with Christ.

So in a so you make a distinction between Euthanasia is active euthanasia is the active killing of a human being to quote end their suffering

Which is Bubba get the shotgun that's active whereas as Christians we can say all of these measures are

Only keeping me alive and if we just take the plug out

Then nature is going to run its course That's not euthanasia Yeah, just make sure you have

Obamacare, right You sound skeptical, all right

Yeah, no, I understand so as Christians we have to understand that our days are in God's hands and We must understand that even at the end of life if the end of our life is months and months of pain and suffering physical pain and suffering

Then we pray for good medical care to ease that but that's the cross that we bear as we get to the end of our life

I Can tell you this it's gonna be tough to do it number one

Even if they have a DNR, I mean the medical professionals are really slow on that because they don't want to be sued

So so again, we have to make the distinction between active versus passive Passive is stop these

Procedures because they're keeping a Me from being a corpse and without them

I would become one quickly as opposed to active is an active is a lethal injection that see the difference

We understand that Real euthanasia is not passive. It's active say goodbye to everybody and then they put something into the

IV solution And you're gone. It's at the active killing of a human being and that and that's a different thing there's some states in the u .s.

That that have this now and I Wouldn't surprise me if in our lifetime

That just like with abortion and homosexual marriage that euthanasia will be forced on us

Every state in this nation eventually No, pull the plug is one thing

Yeah, mom never liked the way you told me to clean my room. Goodbye Yeah, a

DNR should keep them from plugging it in but sometimes they're gonna plug you in. Anyway, it's really a legal mess and I'm a pastor not a medical guy or an attorney

Yeah, I can already think of a situation where I've been asked to give my two cents to medical professionals regarding the care of a human being

And that's where you got to understand this is that the medical community oftentimes looks to pastors and religious leaders for ethical guidance because the one thing you learn really quickly about medical technology is that The power to have something or to do something doesn't give you the ethical guidance on how to properly use it

Those are those are real difficult decisions Yeah Yeah now real quick in talking about then thou shall not murder will kind of end with this thought for today is

That suicide is self -murder and it is forbidden by the Fifth Commandment You shall not murder includes do not murder yourself

Now that being said it is important for us to recognize that Suicide is not the unpardonable sin and I will say this in my lifetime

I have seen Christians and even pastors be tempted to do some pretty stupid awful selfish sins

Including taking their own life. It is It turns your whole world upside down when a pastor, you know has taken their own life and I'll say this when that happens

We always go back to their baptism and their confession of faith The unpardonable sin is the blasphemy against the

Holy Spirit that being the case we should expect to see those who have succumbed to the temptations of the devil and Boneheadedly done the most selfish thing you could possibly do and that's take your own life

Christ is even bled and died for those sins I have a very close friend of mine who took his own life my son when he was in the

Navy The pastor that was his pastor took his own life and this is the kind of stuff

It's a wrecking ball in people's lives when that happens and yet when that happens

We are not to talk about the baptized or those who have had faith and we know that they've had faith

We are not to talk about them as if they have gone to hell So we we bury them as Christians.

We do not bury them off in some potter's field You know and treat them as if they're they're lost, but this is no justification then for taking your own life

Important to note. Did you raise your hand there Mike? We had a neighbor here, a 16 year old boy who took his life over there and The funeral was held in the

Elgring school building And I, this pastor, as he basically said

That this young man and this auditorium

No Was filled with his classmates With the neighbors

With younger kids With older kids The gymnasium was full

And that pastor made that statement And the hush And then the anguish

That came out of these high school kids Who never Forgive them

It was horrible That's when it's okay to interrupt the service Yeah And then we had to walk

From the school To the community center And the kids Were having such a hard time

To understand What happened No that's a disservice I mean seriously

I mean I would have been tempted if I had been there And I don't intend things like that Not out of uniform I'm sorry but pastor here

Doesn't know what he's saying But I'll be taking over the sermon from here Yeah Yeah I can still

Karen Nelson, Margaret's daughter Was having such a horrible time She kept saying

Is he really in hell And then other kids were coming And they were walking

I'll never forget that funeral It was horrible Yeah Terrible Yeah that's dereliction of duty

The pastors are not the judges of who goes to heaven or hell It's Christ And the job of a pastor

At a funeral Is to preach Christ So the job of a pastor

At a funeral is to preach Christ And if the person who is Being buried is an unbeliever

Then the pastor Is to preach Christ Period Because the sermon is

For the benefit of those who are listening Not for the benefit of the person Who's gone Very tragic

Sorry to hear that I can definitively say that Scripture is clear Suicide is not the unpardonable sin

It's not It's terrible One of the most selfish things That somebody could possibly do

I'm pretty convinced that If it weren't for the fact That I will not have a sinful nature When I get to heaven

That if it were not for that When I get to heaven When I see my friend I would punch him in the face

I mean as hard as I could Do you know what you put us through Because of this

The pain That I have had to go through Because of his suicide It's not measurable

Yeah So from time to time During my prayers I'll say to Jesus And say hi to so and so For me

And let him know

That if it wasn't for the fact That I didn't have a sinful nature When I get to see him I'd punch him in the face The situation

Yeah He has By no means

Able to repent And be forgiven Of his sins

Is your forgiveness

Is your absolution based upon Your ability to remember And to ask God to forgive you

For each and every one of your sins Or has Christ bled and died for all of them Yeah Christ has bled and died for all of your sins

And I'll be blunt Scripture is very clear That we don't even know the full magnitude

Of our own sinfulness We don't So it's not a requirement of forgiveness

That you remember and confess all of your sins Okay Yep Yep Yep Yeah that's right

Yep Yep Yeah Well No Right Yeah If by heart you're talking about our faith in Christ for forgiveness

Right that's correct So the idea is that we continue to trust in Christ And this is not

You know You two are Decided you're going to go into town for lunch

Don says something that just gets under your skin It happens with married couples I don't know if you've noticed this

From time to time And so Don says something gets under your skin And you're kind of aggravated And you give him a sharp word

And maybe in your anger you went too far And you realize I shouldn't have done that And then

BAM You get hit by one of the beat hauler trucks And you're now before Christ And Jesus says well yeah you're baptized

You were absolved today and all that kind of stuff But you went too far in your anger against Don So yeah you're gone

That's not how that works Not at all Yeah exactly Christ has died for all of our sins

So Including that one you commit right before you die Peace to you brothers and sisters