Sunday Sermon

"Immanuel"
[Mark 16:19-20]
December 31, 2006 Second Reformed Church

On Christmas Eve, we looked at the passage just preceding this one, and we saw that we who are Christians -- we who believe that Jesus Alone is our salvation -- we have work to do. Our God, Jesus, sent His apostles and the disciples, and He sends every Christian, to go into the world and make the Gospel of Jesus Christ known to every single human being that will ever be. And we saw that God will provide whatever is necessary for us to accomplish the work of proclaiming the Gospel to the whole creation.

God will not allow language, demons, sickness, or any other impediment to thwart His getting the Good News out through us. God has chosen to use us vessels of clay to hold and deliver the glorious message of salvation to the entire creation. What an honor; what a mystery -- rather than delivering His Gospel through kings and princes and politicians, God has chosen to send it out through fisherman, corrupt tax collectors, foreign doctors, murders, and other people just like you and me. And no matter who we are or what we have done or what our limitations or gifts are, God will not allow them to impede His Gospel going forth.

Why? Because this is all for His Glory The Creation, you, me, the Incarnation, the whole history of salvation, God's dealing with humanity -- everything -- is ultimately for the Glory of God. And when we glorify God, we are satisfied and fulfilled and find our joy God will accomplish His Will and as we accomplish His Will, we have joy -- and God will not allow us to fail, in the end -- so we are sure of the joy that awaits us.

The Gospel, the Bible, all of history -- even your life and my life -- are working to glorify God. We may not always see it, but we can be sure of it by His Word, and we can be sure that our joy is made complete in Him Alone. So, we have no excuse, no obstacle, no hindrance, no encumbrance that God will not remove that we will be able to accomplish His Call on us to proclaim His Gospel.

Let us remember and take comfort and have hope in the fact that one of the prophetic names of Jesus is "Immanuel," which means, "God with us." And for Christians, that's not just that God is somewhere around, but God is with us, always, immediately present with us. Let us look at this morning's Scripture:

Mark tells us that after Jesus spoke with the Apostles and disciples, He was taken up into the heaven and he sat down at the Right Hand of God. The Heidelberg Catechism asks why this is important -- what importance it holds for us. And in question forty-nine, we're given three reasons Jesus' Ascension is important:

First, since Jesus ascended after His Resurrection, He now advocates for us before the Father. As Paul wrote, "Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died -- more than that, who was raised -- who is at the right hand of God, who indeed in interceding for us" (Romans 8:34). Jesus is our Mediator, our Lawyer, before God the Father. Jesus testifies on our behalf and presents the evidence that He died for you and me and everyone else who will believe, so the debt to the Father is paid for us, and He also testifies that we have been credited with the Merit of Jesus' Holy Life, so, in Him and in Him Alone, we are worthy to enter into the Kingdom of God.

Second, we shall enter the Kingdom, and we shall enter in the same way that Jesus did. Jesus promised, "In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?" (John 14:2). And we are promised that we have been "raised ... up with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:6-7). On that last day we will be received fully into the Kingdom, into the place that Jesus is preparing for us, and even now, in these ages between the Resurrection and His Coming Again, we are receiving the immeasurable riches of His Grace, through the Word and the Sacraments. The late Keith Green comment on this, saying that if the Creation took six days, and Jesus has been preparing a place for us for over two thousand years, then this is like living in a garbage can compared with what is coming for us!

Third, Jesus' Ascension grants us the benefit of having God the Holy Spirit live within us. The Third Person of the Godhead indwells each one of us who believes. Jesus said, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him because he dwells with you and will be in you. ... These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you" (John 14:15-17, 25-26). God the Father and God the Son send God the Holy Spirit to indwell every believer -- for this purpose: that God the Holy Spirit would cause us to remember everything we know from the Scripture and help us to understand what all Scripture means -- how it is all about Jesus, God the Son, just as He explained on the road to Emmaus. Immanuel. God is with us, to cause us to remember and understand the Scripture.

Mark tells us, "they went preaching everywhere, while the Lord helped them." And so we are also to go everywhere and tell everyone the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Lord will help us. How? God will help us by removing impediments and by giving us God the Holy Spirit to indwell us. The author of Hebrews writes, "Therefore, we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how can we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will" (Hebrews 2:1-5).

In other words: since we have understood and believed the Gospel -- we have received salvation through Jesus Christ Alone -- we ought to pay close attention to the Scripture -- read it, listen to it, study it -- because the devil is angry at you and me, and he will do all that he can to get us to neglect the Word and not be prepared to fight temptation, and to fall into sin. He wants us to be weak and unknowing so we will not tell others -- but how can we not tell others if we have understood how great this salvation is? So God sends each of us, in many different ways, in many different places, and He provides for us so whatever we need to accomplish the proclaiming of the Gospel, we will have.

Now, understand, God does not call all Christians to be ministers, but God does call all Christians to be Christians. And a Christian will be known by the way he or she lives and speaks, and all that he or she says. If you are a Christian, others should recognize that about you.

Mickie recently moved into Winchester Gardens, and I can't tell Mickie why at this point in her life this has happened. I can't tell her what her future will be there. But I know this without a doubt: Mickie, you have been called by God to be a Christian at Winchester Gardens and to make His Salvation known through your being a Christian. What form will that take for Mickie, I don't know. But God the Holy Spirit lives in her and will direct her in all that she says and does. Let us each be prepared and ask God the Holy Spirit to help us to remember and understand that others would hear the Gospel clearly from us.

And that is not just through our words, remember. Mark wrote that the proclamation of the Gospel is confirmed through accompanying signs. Luke wrote, "Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles" (Acts 5:12). Does that mean that you and I will do miraculous acts -- signs and wonders -- not necessarily in the flashy kinds of ways that we might think of. But God will confirm the Word that we speak through our actions. What we do confirms what we truly believe. What we do -- in all of our life -- is a witness to God being with us, and to how well we have lived out God's indwelling us.

We end our look at the Gospel of Mark this morning being reminded of Immanuel. (And it is interesting to note that this well-known and often used prophetic name of Jesus is only used three times in the entire Bible -- twice in Isaiah and once in Matthew.) Isaiah said, "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel" (Isaiah 7:14). And when the angel visited Joseph, he said, "'Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.' All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 'Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel' (which means, God with us)" (Matthew 1:20b-23).

God is with us, indwelling every Christian. God is with us, preparing the Kingdom. God is with us, that we would speak the Gospel of Salvation in Jesus Alone. God is with us, that our actions would reflect the Gospel of Salvation in Jesus Alone. Be of Good Hope: God will not fail, and we will not fail, for God is with us. Immanuel.

Let us pray:
Almighty God and Providence, You Who Created the world and guides its steps, we thank You for providing a Savior for us. We thank You for choosing us to be Your people and for remaining with us for all of eternity. We thank You for making us able to do Your Work and proclaim Your Gospel -- each one of us -- through Jesus Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Be pleased to use us this day. Make us confident and bold, and may it all be to Your Glory. In Jesus' Name, Amen.