LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1975, Sheet 65

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66 CONVENTION SERMON

ment for the penalty of sin is yours and mine. God looks
upon it and declares us just because of what Christ has
done for us. And being justified we have peace, peace
after the way we have lived and acted and rebelled and
fallen short. Yes, because right here and now we are at
the place again where nothing can restore our integrity
but the free pardon of God. Here is God taking the
initiative, going into action first, and doing it for the
undeserving — and that’s grace. It is God giving us a new
life now and the certainty of an eternity even more
abundant. It’s good news for everyone.

You know what it meant to Paul. It made him cry out,
“Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do? I must declare this
thing or die. Necessity is laid upon me. Woe is me if I
preach not the Gospel.” And ring the bell he did. The
great mountain ranges of Asia and the hazards of the sea
were no barrier for Paul, for behind them were men
living without the Lord of Life and dying without Christ,
the only Way, Truth, and Life. Paul was always talking
about the Lord Jesus, the only Sovereign, the King of
kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortality and
who dwells in a light no man can approach unto. The
Lordship of Christ certified in the resurrection is the fact
which launched Christianity upon the world and con-
quered the thrones of Caesar. Here is the Rock on which
the church is built and has stood for 2,000 years. Here is
the good news which millions of times has dried the tears
of the desolate, and we know it’s true.

Oh, if only we could recapture this faith here and
now. How it would make it possible for us to stand up in
a world of jet diplomacy, intercontinental missiles, cyber-
netics, the occult, and shout, “Jesus Christ is Lord. He’s
alive and living with us. He is here with us right now.”
To really know that He is Lord — what that would do for
us! How vitalized would be our worship, how reinforced
our mission. Then things would begin to happen. And to
gird the church for its task of mission and evangelism,
what do we need? More modern techniques? No doubt.
More up-to-date methods? No doubt. More and better use
of mass media? No doubt. More contemporary struc-
tures of church life? Perhaps. But basically the need is
this: the conviction that the risen Christ is with us now.
That He is Lord — the Lord who has given us such great
riches.

Today at this Synod this conquering, living Lord says
to us, “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as
white as snow.” He bids us come: “Come unto Me. Let
everyone come, let anyone come, and I will give him rest”
And He says to all who have received Him as God’s
greatest Gift, to all who call Him Lord, “Go. You have
come; now go. You are cleansed; now go. Go and do for
others what I have done for you.”

One day when Robert Browning was sitting at his
desk, his wife softly slipped behind him and placed a
manuscript in his jacket pocket. Elizabeth Barrett
Browning then went upstairs while her husband read
some of the most beautiful words ever written by a
woman to her husband: “The face of all the world has
changed, I think, since first I heard the footsteps of thy
soul.” This is the kind of bell that rings in the hearts of
those who follow Jesus. We know what it means to have

that joy deep in our hearts. We know what it means to
bring our broken lives to God and say, “Please, God, fix
it.” We know what it means to whisper to Him who is
nearer than breathing, “Take over. Lord,” and have Him
do it. We know what it means to have Him do it. We
know what it means to have Him say when we’re wor-
ried, “Look at the flowers of the field, or listen to the
birds. They don’t worry or stew; why should you?” And
we know that what He does for us He can do for others if
they will but let Him. That power is available for all.

Picture a hand holding a ‘bottle up to the faucet,
water flowing from the top enveloping the whole bottle,
but not a drop gets inside. Why? The cork shuts off the
water. Even so, it’s literally true of hundreds of people
around us. No matter how much joy and power is around
from God, God cannot come into their lives so long as
they resist or do not know. And it’s for us as God’s
instruments to ring the bell.

Yet not the least of the sins which we Christians
confess is an amazing lack of concern for the souls of
people. When a missionary who had been sent home as
an invalid was asked why he was so intent on returning
to the mission field, he replied, “Because I can’t sleep
thinking of them.” So often we must confess, “I cannot
think of them, because I’m so inclined to sleep.” Oh, it’s
true, some obey His command, but many do not. We
pray, we give for missions, we often witness, but so often
there is so little urgency, compulsion, or sacrifice in our
efforts. No urgency because there’s really so little listen-
ing to the voice of God, who speaks the just and unmis-
takable decrees of the King of all the earth. “He that
believeth not shall be damned.” Totally separated from
God, to be without a glint of hope or cheer forever and
ever—the very thought makes one shudder. And more-
over, this is not something that is happening in the
distant future. It is happening right now; men and
women and children are dying when they could have
been walking, all of them, the glory road through Christ.

And we know for whom we should ring the bell. What
a challenge! The history of the world tells us that there
are special times when the fields are white. Many men
agree that these years in which we are now living are the
most decisive in the history of the world since Christ
walked the sands of Galilee. We know the fantastic
population growth. It is estimated that 25 years from
now nearly 7 billion people will be on the earth, more
than double the present number. And we know what that
means, even here and: now. Unless the love of God is
going to control the hearts of men, we may be on the
verge of worldwide revolt and worldwide racial wars far
too horrible to contemplate. The world has become a
neighborhood without becoming a brotherhood. The
world’s population is growing at the rate of 62% million
a year. Just to keep pace, we need 185,000 souls won to
Christ every day, 7,708 every hour, 127 every minute.

What a field today! Of the 3 billion people in the
world only 750 million have heard the good news. Some-
one has estimated that, if all the non-Christians in the
world were placed in one line, it would be 300,000 miles
in length and would circle the circumference of the
earth twelve times. If this afternoon they were to march