We are thoroughly into the season of Pentecost now. Tomorrow’s Gospel from Mark 3:20-35 teaches us about the necessary ministry of the Holy Spirit to bring the saving Gospel to us. Without Him, there is no saving faith. When the Gospel comes the Holy Spirit makes the words of Christ, “all sins will be forgiven the children of men” (v 28) become words that give us life, that sooth the soul, that bring peace to our consciences attacked by accusation from sin and the evil one. We need this Gospel. We need it so much that this is why Jesus extends one of the most alarming warnings in all of Scripture. Tomorrow you will learn about this warning and learn about how God protects you.

Also, come and receive the body and blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Come and receive His true body and blood for the forgiveness of sins. Remember the words of our Lord Christians: “Do this in remembrance of me.” He commands us to “do this” and then extends a gracious promise to you who receive the gift: the forgiveness of sins.

The skeptic says, “why do we need constant forgiveness?” A 16-year old confirmand in our congregation answered this question this past week when I asked her. The answer: “Because we always sin!” This is the answer. We are forgiven by virtue of the complete work of Christ and we remain in forgiveness through the ongoing work of Christ. God knows what He is doing. We should trust Him and we should come as He has commanded. We should come for His great promise.

Pastor Mueller and I rejoice to serve you dear Christians.

Here is an excerpt from tomorrow’s sermon:

All Sins Forgiven: This Is the Gospel

Mark 3:20-35

Pastor Espinosa

 

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. When the power of the Gospel shines brightly, people standing on the outside looking in, think something must be wrong. There our Lord was: proclaiming the Gospel, teaching the crowds. His family figured that something was amiss. Our Gospel text at Mark 3:21 says that Jesus’ family “went out to seize him, for they were saying, ‘He is out of his mind.’” John 7:5 says curtly, “For not even his brothers believed in him.” But if you listened to His message, it sounded scandalous. The Gospel preached in its truth and purity doesn’t fit human reason:

 

1. How can we be forgiven without some sort of contribution?
2. How can we be forgiven when our sin is so horrendously terrible?

 

The first objection to the Gospel insists that the Gospel

must succumb to the rule of life that we learn from a very young age: “nothing is free.” We swear on this principle of every-day experience. If we are to receive a promotion at work, we must work harder; if we are to receive better grades at school, we must work harder; if we are to nurture our intimacy in marriage, we must work harder; if we are to impress that boy or girl at school, we must work harder; if we are to improve athletically or artistically (as we pursue our various passions), we must work harder; if we would develop our prayer lives, we must pray more often; if we are going to trim down and lose some weight, we must work harder. The axiomatic principle has to qualify the Gospel right?! This is our deep-seated suspicion and even though we hear it preached to the contrary — though there are many so-called “Christian churches” that do not — we often sub-consciously qualify the Gospel:

 

1. I suspect that the forgiveness of sins means the Gospel + my efforts to be better father, mother, or child.
2. I suspect that the forgiveness of sins means the Gospel + my ability to love and forgive.
3. I suspect that the forgiveness of sins means the Gospel + improved attitude toward the Word of God, worship and a life of prayer.
4. I suspect that the forgiveness of sins means the Gospel + my ability to overcome my addiction.
5. I suspect that the forgiveness of sins means the Gospel + the overcoming of my fears and doubts.

 

Some way, somehow – we insist that though we say Christ’s forgiveness to us is a free gift – we live as though this just can’t be right. It is as one gentleman once said to me after I shared the Gospel with him: “It sounds too good to be true.”

 

How does this situation strike you? Are you tempted to think that this is “just the way it is”? Did you know Christian that this way of thinking is not an arbitrary thing? This is not just the way “it happens to be.” You know what propaganda is about; you’ve heard of the concept of “brain-washing,” and you have certainly heard about the power of subliminal messages. The realm of psychology and the way in which the media employs strategies for selling represent compelling reasons as to why people spend their money. I had jobs as a salesman when I was 18 years old. I sold Kirby Vacuum Cleaners and then I sold various electronics at Radio Shack. We had training in sales (and I am not implying that all companies or all sales personnel do what we did or what I did). We were trained to lead people to imagine their lives enhanced by what we were selling. Get the customer to envision themselves benefiting from the product. The approach was manipulative. Because of the way I trained, if I see a sales representative make his or her way to me today, I am tempted to cast up a cross to block them…I know it’s a terrible attitude, but all of this conjures up memories of my training back in the day.

 

Just for the record, I have reminded myself that if I am given time with a sales representative that it is in fact an opportunity to share the love of Jesus Christ. I suppose I’ve had time to reconsider my position about lifting up a cross and getting out the garlic.

 

But the idea that the Gospel is too good to be true is not happenstance…it is a strategic propaganda. It is the work of sin, the world, and the devil.

 

People were seeing and hearing the ministry of our Savior and “from Matthew 12:23 we learn that the people began to ask whether, after all, this was not ‘the Son of David,’ namely the Messiah. Their unbelief was breaking before his exhibition of Jesus’ power.” (Lenski, Gospel of Mark, 147)

 

The scribes who were against the Lord tried to capitalize on their doubt. They put forth their negative propaganda by suggesting that Jesus was so far from being the Messiah that he was in league with the devil himself. (Lenski, 147)

 

This is an extraordinary accusation and a very serious one to say the least. It captivates the attention of our Lord and leads our Savior to state one of the most serious warnings in the entire Word of God. It is a terrifying warning in and of itself, but it is one which we can live with – and in peace – if we know the Gospel!

 

But before I get to that, we must value how God’s Word pulls no punches about the reality of the devil and the existence of his demons. The Word of God teaches that the devil is “the ruler of this world” (Jn 12:31), so needless to say he is a real threat. As our Gospel text is teaching us, he detracts from Christ — by trying to cloud how people know WHO our Lord is and by trying to confuse people on knowing WHAT our Lord did to save us – He is the liar and denier of the things of salvation. He wants you to go to hell. He fights so that you would lose your faith. He is real and his threats are real. However – and at the same time – his authority is only what the Lord permits (cf Jb 1:12; Jn 16:11; 1 Pt 3:18-19). Yes, the devil is trying to manipulate, put forth his propaganda, and his subliminal and not so subliminal messages to crush your faith, but in our Gospel from Mark 3 this morning we learn about our protection. Thank God!

 

Satan goes on and on in conjunction with your sinful nature and the skepticism of the world: “your forgiveness could not possibly be for free…there must be many ‘plus signs’ that you must add to your salvation…the Gospel “plus” you’re doing this; the Gospel “plus” your ability to stop doing that, etc. He lies! He deceives! He is full of falsity, so that we finally learn the truth: “the best things in life really are free,” and none of them better than the Gospel. There are no + signs in the Gospel formula. All of your sins are forgiven through Christ alone! Period! Done! Finished! Complete! There is nothing to add! You’re forgiven!

 

So Jesus confronted those scribes! Satan cannot cast out Satan. To call Jesus Satan who is healing people from Satan is the height of bad thinking. It is totally illogical. It doesn’t work. It can’t be true. Anyone – and you don’t have to be a Bible scholar – can see that such a claim is ludicrous; ridiculous! Much to the contrary, Jesus has come to first to bind the strong man Satan and then having bound him, plunder his house. What does this mean? It means that when Jesus was confronted by the devil in the wilderness, he beat him. He bound him by superior power and might so that what Jesus does now is plunder the devil. That is, he delivers people from the devil’s realm (from darkness) into the realm of God, light, forgiveness and salvation.

 

So the Word of God teaches:

 

Colossians 1:13-14: “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

 

Jesus has fulfilled the prophets prediction that the tyrant was going down. The Lord is the “I” in this verse from Isaiah:

 

Isaiah 49:25: “For thus says the Lord: ‘Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken, and the prey of the tyrant be rescued, for I will contend with those who contend with you, and I will save your children.’”

Come to receive the rest of this sermon tomorrow morning!

I hope to see you in God’s house tomorrow morning.

In Jesus’ Love,

Pastor Espinosa