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Sermon for June 1st, 2014
Pastor James Krueger
2 Corinthians 4:13-15
13It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also
believe and therefore speak, 14because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead
will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself. 15All this is for your benefit, so that
the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of
God.
“I Believe Therefore I Speak…or do I?
1. Make sure what you believe is the truth.
2. Make sure what you speak is what you believe.
Dear fellow redeemed, grace, mercy and peace are yours this day from God our Father and from our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
I was visiting one of our members in the hospital recently and after our devotion and prayer we sat and
chatted for a while. He talked a little about the good ole days and we reminisced a bit. And then he told
me about some of the conversations he had had with the doctors and nurses at the hospital. He mentioned
the nurse who came into his room that morning. He told her what he believed……not about the weather;
not about the good ole days; but about Jesus. He said to me, “Pastor, I told her that I believe Jesus is
my Savior.” I told him, “Good for you.”
On my way home, I thought a lot about what he said to that nurse and I wondered, “How often do I tell
people what I believe about Jesus? When was the last time we told the waitress at the diner or the teller
at the bank or the UPS man who delivers packages to our door, “Hey, I just want you to know, I believe
Jesus is my Savior.”?
Dear ones, believing and speaking go together; they go together like pork and beans; macaroni &
cheese; pretzels and beer; like Cheech and Chong; Batman and Robin; Thelma and Louise. They go
together and when you have one without the other something is missing from our lives. It is written: “I
believed; therefore I have spoken.” Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and
therefore speak. The word translated “therefore” in this lesson is such an important word. “I believed;
therefore I have spoken.” That little Greek word translated as “therefore” is so important because it lets
us know that because one thing is true another thing is also true. It would be like saying something like,
“I got sprayed by a skunk therefore I stink!” “I believed; therefore I have spoken.”
Believing and speaking go together. To believe and not speak is to be selfish. To believe and not speak
is to keep to yourself what every sinner in this world needs to hear from me and you. To believe and not
speak is to be a coward; afraid about what others might think or say about us. On the other hand to speak
and not believe is to be a hypocrite. How many confess to believe in Jesus Christ but don’t.
The theme for the message then is this:
“I Believe Therefore I Speak…or do I?
The first truth we need to take to heart about believing and speaking is this:
3. Make sure what you believe is the truth.
The apostle Paul was the one who wrote the words of our text under inspiration of the Holy Spirit. St.
Paul was actually quoting Psalm 116:10 from the Greek translation of the Old Testament – a translation
called the Septuagint. If we go back to Psalm 116 we meet a Psalmist who was in great need. We are not
told his exact circumstances but we know he was in danger. He writes, “The cords of death entangled
me, the anguish of the grace came upon me; I was overcome by trouble and sorrow.”
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But then we are told that he called on the name of the Lord. Then I called on the name of the LORD: “O
LORD, save me!” And the majority of the rest of the Psalm is about the Psalmist thanking the Lord for
his deliverance. “The LORD is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion…For you, O
LORD, have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling…”
The point I would like to make about this is that the person the apostle Paul is quoting is someone who
had no doubt that what he believed was the truth – the truth about his condition; the truth about his
salvation the truth about his Lord and Savior. It was only after knowing the absolute truth that he went on
to confess, “I believed; therefore I have spoken.”
And then, inspired by the Holy Spirit, Paul picks up on that and says, Since we have that same spirit of
faith, we also believe and therefore speak… and he immediately speaks of something he knows to be
true… we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus
from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself.
I believe therefore I speak. Make sure what you believe is the truth.
My friends, what this world needs to hear is not our opinion. Opinions these day are a dime a dozen.
What this world needs to hear is the truth. What Medford needs to hear is the truth. It’s not anybody’s
opinion or any church’s opinion that will set people free from sin, death and the devil, it is the truth. Jesus
said, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth
will set you free.”(John 8:31) I believe therefore I speak. Make sure what you believe is the truth.
And where do we find that truth? Peter wrote in his epistle: We also have the prophetic message as
something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark
place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. (2 Peter 1:219) The prophetic
message – it is this Book my friends, this Book we call the Holy Bible. Your word is a lamp for my feet,
a light on my path. (Psalm 119:105) Why were the words in this Book written down and preserved by
the Holy Spirit for us? But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of
God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:31)
We need to speak but before we speak; before we open our mouths we need to make sure what we believe
is the truth.
The truth about what? The truth about who God is. That He is a He. That He is three in one Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
The truth about what? The truth about creation. More and more Christians these days think that
what you believe about creation really doesn’t matter. It does matter. For in six days the LORD made
the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them…(Exodus 20:11) In six 24 hour days the Lord
created the heaven’s and the earth out of nothing by his almighty Word. That is the truth.
The truth about what? The truth about when life begins. I read in the news this week about a man
who claims to be a Christian doctor who also performs abortions up to 24 weeks. He never used to but
said, “I came to a deeper understanding of my spirituality.” What a joke! What a horrible, horrible joke!
Make sure what you believe is the truth. What is the truth? For you created my inmost being; you knit
me together in my mother’s womb. (Psalm 139:13)
The truth about what? The truth about sin. Nobody’s born good. We’re all born bad. Surely I was
sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. (Ps. 51:5)
The truth about what? The truth about salvation. For God so loved the world that he gave his one
and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)
The truth about what? The truth about baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
The truth about what? The truth about prayer.
The truth about what? The truth about love and sex and marriage.
The truth about what? The truth about the God-ordained roles of men and women in the church
and in our society – a truth that has for the most part been thrown tossed aside as rubbish.
The truth about what? The truth about life and death.
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The truth about what? The truth about heaven and hell and the places in between that don’t exist
and the second chances you will never get after you die.
I believe therefore I speak. Make sure what you believe is the truth. And how do we make sure that
what we believe is the truth? This week I had the privilege of taking care of a baby – my niece. I learned
all over again what babies do when they are hungry. They let you know it not in words but by crying out
for food. And what does the Bible say we are to do? Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual
milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— (1 Peter 2:2) That’s the ESV translation of that verse.
I also like the NLT translation. Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will
grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment. (1 Peter 2:2)
This is how we make sure what we believe is the truth. May the Lord work in us all a baby-like craving
for his Word that we may believe it and therefore speak it which brings us to the next truth. Not only are
we to make sure what we believe is the truth, we are to…
2. Make sure what we speak is what we believe.
How often we know the truth; we believe the truth but what we speak is not the truth. And why is that?
It’s called fear. It’s called being afraid. Where does this world want you keep what you believe? The
answer is to yourself. Keep it to yourself. Right? Or if we are a church body, where does the world want
us to keep what we believe? In here. Keep what you believe within your church walls. Keep it in your
pulpit. Keep in your lectern. Keep it in your pews. Don’t be taken it out there.
And yet, think of what Jesus said in our Gospel lesson. What does Jesus tell us to do? What I tell you in
the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. And what does
Jesus tell us not to be? Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be
afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?
Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your
head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
Make sure what you believe is the truth. Make sure what you speak is what you believe. Don’t be
changing your doctrine mid-sentence just because the person you are speaking to might be offended at the
truth. Believe the truth and then speak the truth in love and let come what may and trust in the Lord.
My friends, the Bible is full of people who couldn’t shut up about what they believed. This past Thursday
we celebrated the Ascension of Lord Jesus into heaven. What couldn’t the disciples of Jesus do after his
ascension into heaven. They just couldn’t keep their mouths shut and when they did open their mouths
they spoke what they believed. I think of Peter and John before the Sanhedrin. We hear about in Acts 4.
Peter gave that great sermon, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under
heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” It caused quite a stir and what happened? Then
they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But
Peter and John replied, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges!
As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”(Acts 40
What is a great example for us about believing and speaking? Make sure what you believe is the truth.
Make sure what you speak is what you believe.
I believe therefore I speak…or do I? The truth is we often times don’t. Out of fear we either don’t speak
what we believe and for that we deserve to be disowned. What was it Jesus said? “Whoever
acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever
disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven. How many times we have
disowned our Savior and therefore deserve to be disowned by Him.
Let us then come to our Savior with a sincere confession of sin and repent with the intention to change
our sinful lives by the grace of God.
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And as we come to the cross of Christ my dear ones and remember what He did for us before ascending
into heaven, we don’t find a Savior who disowns us but a Savior who owns us. A Savior who has
bought us with his holy precious blood. May that holy, precious blood of Jesus never be far from you
heart and mind. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were
redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious
blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.(1 Peter 1:18,19)
I remember how back on the farm my father would sometimes cut himself and he would leave spots of
blood on something he touched. I remember picking up certain wrenches my dad had used or a fork or
shovel. Sometimes there were be blood smears on them and that blood would remain for quite some time.
As I looked at this blood; as I touched this dry blood of my father I was reminded who I was and of how
much he loved me.
The cross is much the same for us. With our faith we see the blood of Jesus; no longer is it wet. It is dry
for Jesus has died and rose again from the dead. But as we see this dry blood of Jesus we have proof of
how much God loves us; proof that God has forgiven us all our sins; proof that God will never leave us
alone in this mixed-up, messed-up; crazy world for there on that cross God left His Son alone hanging
there bleeding and dying all alone. Jesus was disowned on that cross with our sins and guilt upon him
so that we here today could be owned by the heavenly Father.
Let us rejoice in this truth and know that the living Jesus is still interceding for us at God’s right hand.
Let us rejoice and speak the truth. Let us rejoice and may we love to tell the story of Jesus and his love. It
is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe
and therefore speak…
Keep believing the truth dears and keep speaking that truth. And may God bless our speaking so that the
grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.
God grant us this to do. Amen.