“Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves.” 2 Corinthians 13:5a

The Word of God calls upon all who call themselves “Christian” to examine and test themselves to see if they are truly in the faith. And this is indeed important, for many deceive themselves and think that they are Christians and all is well with their souls when, in fact, they are living in sin and unbelief and on the road to eternal damnation!

To test yourself, consider these questions:

1. Are you genuinely sorry for your sins against God and His commandments, or are you securely or intentionally continuing on in your own sinful ways?

2. Do you trust in Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice on the cross for forgiveness and eternal salvation, or do you rely on your own works or life to merit God’s acceptance and a place in His heavenly kingdom?

3. And, as a test of your honesty in answering the first two questions, do you sincerely desire, with God’s help, to amend your life and live for Christ in accord with His Word, or are you unwilling to change your lifestyle and give up every sin or evil in your life and follow Christ?

If you are not sorry for all your sins, are not trusting in Christ Jesus and His sacrifice on the cross for salvation, or are not sincerely desiring and seeking to amend your life, you fail the test and ought to consider the consequence of continuing in sin and unbelief and repent before it is too late. Cf. Psalm 32; Psalm 51; 1 John 1:5 – 2:6.

The Bible tells us: “Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon” (Isaiah 55:6-7).

The Bible also says: “The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23). In other words, if we continue on in our sinful ways, we will suffer spiritual and eternal death and damnation. If we repent and look to Christ Jesus and His cross for pardon and forgiveness, God will forgive our sins and grant us the gift of eternal life!

In Psalm 139, David prayed: “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (v.23-24).

O dearest Jesus, for the sake of Your holy life and innocent sufferings and death upon the cross, forgive me for all my sins and iniquities, cleanse my heart and grant me the sincere desire to amend my sinful ways and live for You. Amen.

[Scripture is quoted from the King James Version of the Bible.]

How is it that this world and the universe came to be? How did life begin and why does it go on? Is it all the result of chance over extreme lengths of time? Or is it the result of an intelligent creator who wisely designed and created all things?

While many have speculated and theorized, there is one eye-witness account of how all came to be and who is behind it.

And this account is foundational for the Christian Faith. If God did not create the heavens and the earth and all things, we are not accountable to Him. But, if the creation account is true and God did create this world and give us life, each of us must answer to Him for how we have lived the life He gave us.

Many scoff and criticize this account and offer alternative theories with no foundation in truth in an attempt to escape the accountability which goes along with the creation account, but wisdom calls upon us to seek the truth and accept it, along with any accountability which accompanies that truth.

That one eye-witness account is recorded for all to know in the first two chapters of Genesis. It is the account of the Creator Himself, recorded by Moses for all to read and know the truth.

That account begins: “In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).

Please take the time now to read Genesis 1:1 — 2:3.

1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. 3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. 7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. 8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. 10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. 11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. 12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.
14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: 15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. 16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. 17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, 18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. 19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. 21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. 23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. 25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. 30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. 31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

[Scripture is quoted from the King James Version of the Bible.]

And again, departing from the borders of Tyre and Sidon, he came to the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the borders of Decapolis. And they bring to him someone who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech, and they implore him to put his hand upon him. And he took him aside from the multitude and put his fingers into his ears, and having spit he touched his tongue. And looking up to heaven, he sighed and says to him, “Effatha,” (that is, “Be opened”). And immediately his ears were opened, the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke plainly. And he charged them that they should tell no man. But the more he charged them, so much the more a great deal they published it, and were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He makes both the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.” Mark 7:31-37

In Mark, chapter 7, we have the account of Jesus healing a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment. But notice how Jesus healed this man. He didn’t just put his hand on him and heal him; Jesus took this man aside from the crowds of people where He could have his full attention. He put His fingers in the man’s ears so he would understand that Jesus was going to open his ears that he might hear. Having spit with His mouth, Jesus touched his tongue, indicating that He was about to take away the impediment in his speech. And Jesus looked up to heaven so that this man would know that Jesus was calling upon God to do this miracle and God would receive the glory.

Jesus then sighed and said to the man: “Effatha,” (that is, “Be opened”). And the Scriptures tell us that “immediately his ears were opened, the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke plainly.”

The people who saw this mighty work of Jesus were astonished. Even though Jesus told them to tell no one, they couldn’t help themselves and told everyone what Jesus had done.

It was truly an amazing thing when Jesus opened the ears of one who was deaf or opened the eyes of one who was blind. But even more amazing is when Jesus opens the eyes and ears of those spiritually blind and deaf to see and hear with understanding His life-giving word!

It happens when Jesus takes us aside from the noise and distractions of this world and speaks and applies to us His life-giving Word, words of forgiveness and life through faith in Him and His blood shed upon the cross for the sins of all. And in the Sacraments, He does so in a very personal and descriptive way, washing away our sins in the waters of Baptism and giving us, in the Lord’s Supper, to partake of His sacrifice on the cross for the sins of the world.

Consider Jesus’ words in John 5:25-27: “Truly, truly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and is now, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God. And those who hear shall live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has given to the Son to have life in himself, and has given him authority to execute judgment because he is the Son of man.”

Though people close their eyes and ears to the Word of God and are often hardened in their foolish unbelief and without understanding (cf. Isa. 29:9-12), God, through the preaching of His Word, opens the eyes of those who are spiritually blind and the ears of those who are spiritually deaf. It is as St. Paul writes: “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17).

Isaiah, in chapter 35, verse 5, prophesied of Jesus and His work, saying, “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.” And, in Isaiah 29:18, we read, “And in that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness.”

Through the preaching of the Word of God, our Lord Jesus opens the eyes of the spiritually blind and the ears of the spiritually deaf. He raises the spiritually dead to life. He creates faith in men’s hearts and unlooses tongues to sing His praise.

It is as the Bible says of Jesus in John 1:4: “In him was life, and the life was the light of men.”

And, Jesus said in John 6:63: “It is the Spirit that revives. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you, they are spirit and they are life.”

So today, Jesus, through the preaching of His Word, calls people to repent of their sins and place their faith in Him as the Messiah and Savior of the world for pardon and forgiveness. He calls people to come to Him in faith and receive life everlasting; and the Holy Spirit, working through the Word opens blind eyes and deaf ears to see and hear.

Jesus calls, “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28).

Think of Luther’s explanation of the Third Article of the Apostles’ Creed: “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Ghost has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith; even as He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith: in which Christian Church He daily and richly forgives all sins to me and all believers, and will at the last day raise up me and all the dead, and give unto me and all believers in Christ eternal life.”

To most, the Bible remains a closed book — they may have read from it and studied it but do not understand its message. But, by the gracious working of the Holy Spirit through the preaching of God’s Word, Jesus still opens eyes, unstops ears and gives understanding that people might see their utter sinfulness and repent, looking to Christ Jesus and His atoning sacrifice for pardon, forgiveness and life eternal.

God grant you eyes that see, ears that hear, hearts that understand and believe the message of His Word that you might obtain pardon and eternal peace through faith in Jesus’ name. “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” (Matt. 11:15). Amen.

[Scripture is quoted from the Revised Common Version.]

“According to the grace of God which is given to me, I have laid the foundation like a wise master-builder, and another builds upon it. But let every man take heed how he builds upon it. For no man can lay any other foundation than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 3:10-11

Upon what is your faith built? What is the central focus and teaching of your church? Is it on Christ and His innocent sufferings and death for the sins of the world? Or is it out of focus, off-kilter, and built upon some other teaching or foundation?

The well-known hymn verse by Samuel Stone reads: “The Church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ, her Lord; She is His new creation by water and the Word. From heav’n He came and sought her to be His holy bride; With His own blood He bought her, and for her life He died” (The Lutheran Hymnal, #473).

The Church of Jesus Christ is built upon no other foundation than Jesus Christ and His cross. He created His Church by dying on the cross and making atonement for the sins of all and then sending out His disciples with the good news of forgiveness of sins and life eternal through faith in His name.

As believers in Christ and members of His Church, we “are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone” (Eph. 2:20). The “foundation of the apostles and prophets” is none other than their teaching, which is recorded for us in the Holy Bible, the Word of God.

And what is their teaching? It is Christ and His cross! It is the teaching that we are sinners who have come short of God’s holy demands but that we have been redeemed by the shed blood of Christ Jesus, the only begotten Son of God made man. It is the teaching that through faith in the crucified and risen Christ, we sinners have forgiveness for all our sins and everlasting life in heaven.

In John 3:14-16, Jesus said: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, so that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For this is how God loved the world: he gave his only-begotten Son, so that whoever believes in him, should not perish, but have eternal life.”

Are other foundations ever laid? Most certainly! But, when other foundations are laid, and Christ and His cross are no longer the foundation and chief cornerstone, those who are built upon those other foundations are not Christian and their assemblies are not the Church of Jesus Christ in that place. Rather, their assemblies are cults — man-made organizations which lead only to destruction!

Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). And, the Bible also says, “There is not salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

Apart from Christ and His blood, shed upon the cross for the sins of the world, there is no salvation for sinners like you and me! No works which we can do, no religious acts or ceremonies of man, nothing but the holy life and innocent sufferings and death of Jesus Christ in our stead can atone for our sins and save us from the wrath of God we so deserve on account of our sins. That is why it is so foolish for man to build upon any other foundation than Christ and His Word.

This is why St. Paul wrote to the church in Corinth: “According to the grace of God which is given to me, I have laid the foundation like a wise master-builder, and another builds upon it. But let every man take heed how he builds upon it. For no man can lay any other foundation than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 3:10-11).

St. Paul preached “Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2; cf. 1:23-24). He taught that all of us “have sinned and come short of the glory of God” but that all who believe are “justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood” (Rom. 3:23-25; Cf. v. 19-28).

St. Paul also taught that we receive this salvation in Christ through faith and not by any merit or work of our own.

He wrote to the believers in Galatia in Galatians 2:16: “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ so that we may be justified by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the law, for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.”

When we simply believe that, in Christ Jesus and for the sake of His cross, we sinners obtain pardon and have forgiveness of God, God’s forgiveness becomes our own and we have eternal life in heaven (cf. Rom. 3:28; 5:1-2).

This is the foundation he, by the gracious working of God, has laid. And, this is the only foundation upon which the Church of Jesus Christ can be built and upon which we can rest securely and be saved!

Dear Lord Jesus Christ, grant us Your Holy Spirit that we may trust in You alone for our salvation and build upon You and Your cross as the chief cornerstone of all our teaching. Amen.

[Scripture is quoted from the Revised Common Version of the Bible.]

9 And he spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray: one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not as other men are: extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. 12 I fast twice in the week. I give tithes of all that I possess.’ 13 And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes to heaven, but smote upon his chest, saying, ‘God be merciful to me a sinner.’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself shall be abased, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted.” Luke 18:9-14

Are you justified in God’s eyes? Does God count you just and righteous and holy in His sight? Or, are you guilty and condemned, headed for eternal damnation because of your sins? The Bible tells us in Romans 3:19-20: “Now we know that whatever things the law says, it says to those who are under the law so that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the law, no flesh shall be justified in his sight, for by the law comes the knowledge of sin.” And, in verse 23, it says, “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”

So, how can we be justified before God and acceptable in His sight? Look at the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. Who went to his house justified?

Was it the Pharisee who counted himself righteous before God because of his outward obedience to the commandments of God? Did God count him righteous because he gave alms to the poor? Was he really justified because he fasted twice a week and gave tithes of all he possessed? No, but he shall be abased, brought low, condemned, because even his best works do not measure up to God’s standards (cf. Isa. 64:6).

How about the tax collector? He collected taxes for the Roman government. And, to make a living, he had to charge even more than what the Romans demanded. He was viewed as both a traitor and a thief. Certainly, he did not deserve to be justified by God and counted righteous.

But, how did he pray? In verse 13, we read, “And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes to heaven, but smote upon his chest, saying, ‘God be merciful to me a sinner.’”

And what does Jesus say? “I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself shall be abased, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted” (v. 14).

Note that the Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican was told by Jesus “to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others” (v. 14). And, from this parable, we can learn much.

When we feel that God will accept us, hear and answer our prayers, regard our worship, or receive us into His everlasting kingdom because of who we are and what we have done — because we have been faithful Christians and are not unfaithful sinners as so many others are, we are praying in a similar fashion as the Pharisee in Jesus’ parable. The pharisee may have counted himself as just, but he was not counted just and righteous in the sight of God!

Rather, we should come to God as did the humble tax collector who knew of his own sinfulness and unworthiness before God. When we come before God, we should come humbly, acknowledging our sin and looking to Him for mercy and forgiveness. With the tax collector, we join in praying, “God be merciful to me a sinner.”

Again, Jesus said, “I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself shall be abased, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted” (v. 14).

We are all unworthy sinners according to God’s holy commandments. We have no grounds to view ourselves as just or righteous in God’s eyes. Thus, if we exalt ourselves and count ourselves righteous and worthy before God based on our own works or merits, we will be abased and find ourselves cast into the eternal fires of hell.

But if, on the other hand, we humble ourselves and acknowledge our utter sinfulness and look not to our own righteousness but to the perfect righteousness of Christ and to His innocent sufferings and death on the cross for the sins of the world, we shall be justified before God and given the eternal joys of heaven! Cf. Romans 3:21ff.

In Psalm 34:18, we read: “The LORD is near to those who are of a broken heart and saves those who are of a contrite spirit.”

And, we have it spelled out for us in 1 John 1 and 2 (1:8-9; 2:1-2): “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. … My little children, these things I write to you so that you do not sin. And if any man sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And he is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”

Since Christ died for our sins and rose again (cf. 1 Cor. 15:3ff.), we can come before God in faith and with the assurance that He will forgive our sins and hear and answer all our proper prayers (cf. 1 John 5:11-15). One might even say that we come to the LORD God in humble boldness — humble because we are unworthy sinners, but in boldness because Christ died for us and redeemed us (cf. Heb. 10:19ff.).

And, when our last hour comes, we can have the assurance that we are counted just and righteous and have eternal salvation entirely of God’s grace and mercy in Jesus Christ.

It is as we read in Ephesians 2 (1,4-10). We “were dead in trespasses and sins. … But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, has made us alive together with Christ (by grace you are saved), and has raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. It is not by works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them.”

Before Thee, God, who knowest all, with grief and shame I prostrate fall. I see my sins against Thee, Lord, the sins of thought, of deed, and word. They press me sore; I cry to Thee: O God, be merciful to me! O Jesus, let Thy precious blood be to my soul a cleansing flood. Turn not, O Lord, Thy guest away, but grant that justified I may go to my house at peace with Thee. O God, be merciful to me! Amen. (“Before Thee, God, Who Knowest All,” The Lutheran Hymnal, Hymn # 318, Verses 1,3. By Magnus B. Landstad, 1861; Tr. Carl Doving, 1909.)

[Scripture is quoted from the Revised Common Version.]