Today’s Scripture

Psalm 46         Jeremiah 31:31-34                  Romans 3:19-28          John 8:31-38

 

John 8:31-32  To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.  Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

 

            We live in the United States, a land of freedom.  How many of us here today are free?  (raise hands)  We certainly are free from many things.  How many of us are free to vote for whichever candidate we wish?  How many of us are free to decide whether or not to vote at all?  How many of us are free to pray our faith and to gather in services as we do here?  How many of us are free from taxes?  As a youngster I remember purchasing my first plastic model airplane at Schnell’s Royal Blue grocery store.  It said 99 cents on the box but Mrs. Schnell kept my whole dollar.  There was a penny sales tax she said.  Not even an eight-year-old during Eisenhower’s presidency was free from taxes.

 

            We certainly do have freedoms, but no one is entirely free in this world.  How many of us are held in slavery in this nation?  But how many are held captive by your physical abilities or disabilities?  You cannot escape your physical limitations no matter what your age is.  Is anyone here held captive by expectations of your job?  We certainly are if we expect to receive compensation.  In fact, all here are held captive to some extent by our incomes, by the homes and neighborhoods we live. 

 

            One thing we are all held in slavery to is sin. Is there anyone here who is not controlled in one way, shape or form in your minute-by-minute living by sin?  In your human weakness how many times do you catch yourself in a moment of anger, envy, lust, gossip, before you even realize you are there?  How many times does a sin or sinful situation of the past just sneak up in your mind and grab your attention, putting you in a state of guilt?  You just cannot get rid of that guilt, and this guilt, and the other guilt, and the guilt you thought you had resolved, and the guilt you thought you had buried, and where does all of this guilt come from?

 

            In our sinful selves, we are free to sin, but we do not experience freedom at all.  That is not good news.

 

            In the history of the Christian church, there has been the practice of the church to keep people bound up in this guilt over sin and it has been the practice of the church to demand things of people to confuse them that each person has to do something to get rid of this sin.  Even worse, the church has even placed the guilt of loved ones on your conscience and to do things or to pay prices for their eventual freedom from their sins, even thought they are long departed from this earth.

 

            This became so prevalent in the church during what we call the “Dark Ages.”  People were denied hearing the verses we read today that declare God’s new covenant with his people, forgiving sins and remembering them no more, that Jesus’ teachings are the truth, not the teachings of men, and how God places his righteousness on us through faith, not by works. 

 

            John Wycliff in England, 2 centuries before Luther discovered these truths in Scripture.  He began preaching these truths to the people.  He translated the Bible into English so everyone could read God’s word as it is.  The church went after him.  And even though he died before the church courts could convict and sentence him, the church dug up his remains, burned them to ashes and scattered these ashes into the river that flowed into the ocean believing that this would stop the spread of Jesus’ truth that the church called heresy.

 

            In the 1400’s a priest, John Huss in Czechoslovakia, discovered these same truths and began preaching and teaching as Wycliffe did.  He was burned at the stake for trying to set people free according to God’s truth in his word.

 

            In the early 1500’s, a monk and priest, Martin Luther, wrestled incessantly with himself and his conscience, trying to make himself just before God.  His frustration mounted and consumed him.  Then, in his studies of the Psalms, the Gospels, and in Paul’s letter to the Romans, Luther discovered this truth Jesus spoke as we read from John’s Gospel.  He discovered that God gives us his righteousness through faith in what Jesus has already done.  He discovered that salvation, that is the forgiveness of all sins and eternal life is a gift given freely by God.  Luther now was free.  He wanted all others now to be free.

 

            At the beginning of this service we called on the one true God, Father, † Son and Holy Spirit.  In baptism you received all of God including the forgiveness he gives, the faith in this forgiveness, and the new you made holy again to be in his presence eternally.

 

            At the beginning of this service you cried out to God to have mercy on you, a poor, miserable sinner who deserves nothing but eternal death in hell.  But in that cry you laid your sins at the foot of the cross where Jesus suffered and died for those very sins, trusting that forgiveness that God had already given you through his son, Jesus.  Then you heard the greatest words you could here, the words Jesus has given us to pronounce to those who repent, YOUR SINS ARE FORGIVEN!  When you hear those words, you are free from all of those sins, all of that guilt, all of that depression, all of that wondering what is going to happen to you, all of that “stuff” and “baggage” that Satan loves to heap on you.  In my anguish I cried to the LORD, and he answered by setting me free, [Psalm 118:5].

 

 As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us,”[Psalm 103:12]. 

 

            The Reformation continues today.  We know the need to preserve the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in this sinful world that contorts that message in many and various ways.  This Gospel message is to be proclaimed to those near to us as well as far away.  As with Martin Luther, one person does not do this alone.  God has made us one body as the church that all of our efforts, prayers, contributions, and acts of love and support together lift each other up and bring this message to many.  Today we thank and praise God for Luther and all who accompanied and followed him   We thank and praise him for this faithfulness as it continues with each one here today and as long as this earth remains.  We learned in this week’s Bible Studies the importance of team.  There was team with Luther.  There is team at Immanuel.  There is team in our Lutheran Church Missouri Synod.  There is team as the Holy Spirit moves men and women everywhere to witness to new souls God’s grace in Jesus Christ so they know the truth that sets them free.                   Amen.