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Series B – Third Sunday of Advent – Sunday, December 17, 2017 | Pr. Chris Rosebrough

Welcome to the Teaching Ministry of Kongsvinger Lutheran Church. Kongsvinger is a beacon for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of Northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone, and now, here’s a message from Pastor Chris Rosebrough:

Time Stamp	Transcript
0:29	the holy Gospel According to Saint John chapter 1 verses 6 through 8 and 19 through 28. there was a man sent from
0:37	God whose name was John he came as a witness to Bear witness about the light
0:42	that all might believe through him he was not the light but he came to bear witness about the light and this is the
0:49	testimony of John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him who are you he
0:57	confessed and did not deny but confessed I am not the Christ and they asked him well what then are you
1:04	Elijah he said I am not are you the prophet he answered no so they said to him who are you we need
1:11	to give an answer to those who sent us what do you say about yourself he said I
1:16	am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness make straight the way of the Lord as the prophet Isaiah said
1:23	now they have been sent from the Pharisees so they asked him then why are you baptizing if you are neither the
1:29	Christ nor Elijah nor the prophet John answered them I baptize with water but
1:35	among you stands one you do not know even he who comes after me the strap of
1:40	whose sandal I am not worthy to untie these things took place in Bethany across the Jordan where John was
1:46	baptizing this is the gospel of the Lord you may be seated in the name of Jesus
1:52	amen Darkness Darkness Darkness is a powerful metaphor
1:58	for evil in our world it is one that we all understand even going back to our
2:04	childhood in fact a theologian who passed away this week actually once is
2:09	quoted saying that the reason why we are afraid of the dark is because we were
2:15	always intended and created to be Children of the light kind of fascinating that we don’t have to teach our children to be afraid of the dark
2:21	comes quite naturally in fact over and again kids around the planet when the
2:27	lights go off fear the monsters under the bed it’s kind of cute but at the same time you know we don’t have to
2:34	teach them this they know this the new Star Wars movie that was released this week and one of the permanent features
2:40	in the Star Wars movies is a universe where there’s a conflict between Darkness and Light the evil characters
2:46	are under the sway of the dark side of the force at least that’s how the story goes and you know these are just
2:52	examples from our imaginations regarding this theme of Darkness and Light but the fact that our imaginations even have
2:59	this category of light and darkness is quite telling we all know this and
3:04	nobody has to tell us the world is not a safe place at all our history as the human race is one of
3:10	constant struggling between light and darkness and I must say
3:16	unless you’ve been sticking your head under a rock then you were fully aware that in our day darkness is growing
3:22	this is a fact now I’ll give you some of the less important highlights first
3:29	read the news we find that North Korea now is openly demonstrating that it is on a quest to perfect a nuclear weapon
3:35	in the hopes of also developing a delivery system that will enable it to
3:40	attack the United States that sounds like loads of fun to me this past week
3:46	Isis although in disarray has vowed that quote Berlin will burn
3:52	and this is a chilling threat that they’ve given against Germany in the Christmas markets that they have in
3:58	Germany Australia week and a half ago joined the growing list of Nations that has legalized
4:05	same-sex marriage mass shootings in the United States this year
4:10	in Las Vegas and in churches and other places has resulted in literally the deaths of hundreds of people it doesn’t
4:17	seem like anybody has any solution to these problems in fact the bigger point is that hundreds of millions of
4:24	Americans this year have persisted in sin and unbelief despite the growing Darkness they do not recognize the
4:32	unraveling of our society as a judgment from God and by the way if we’re going to talk about Darkness we must
4:38	understand that we shouldn’t talk about it in terms that only limit it to us discussing it out there
4:45	don’t even get me started about the darkness here in Oslo don’t even get me
4:50	started Romans chapter 1 verses 28-31 gives a very interesting list that if
4:58	you are paying attention you’ll find that each and every one of us can sit there and say yeah there’s darkness in
5:03	me Romans 1 28 says since they did not see fit to acknowledge God God gave them up
5:09	to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done they were filled with all manner of unrighteousness evil
5:16	covetousness malice they’re full of Envy murder Strife deceit maliciousness their
5:24	gossips slanderers haters of God insolent haughty boastful inventors of evil disobedient to parents you know I
5:31	always like to highlight that one been there done that been on the receiving end too foolish
5:37	faithless heartless ruthless hmm it’s as if
5:43	when Adam and Eve took of that fruit that they were commanded not to eat it
5:49	was as if the great light of the good creation that God had created had somehow gone out
5:55	think of it in terms of the Great Depression The Roaring Twenties people
6:01	were making money hand over fist and then the stock market crashed and all
6:06	these people who had all of this wealth found in a matter of minutes they were
6:12	totally bankrupt some of them when the realization of just how dire their situation had become
6:19	chose to throw themselves off the skyscrapers of New York and their broken bodies
6:25	crashed onto the streets of Wall Street darkness in the midst of Darkness there
6:31	is no peace in the darkness of this kind of darkness is only fear
6:36	hatred hostility backbiting while sitting in this
6:42	Darkness there is no rest this isn’t the kind of Darkness that you can get a good night’s sleep in
6:48	this is kind of Darkness where your bones are chilled and you can never quite get comfortable
6:53	and in the midst of all of this it turns into something like a horror movie where
6:58	we are all just waiting in the darkness for the next one of us to be taken by the Grim Reaper
7:04	whose schedule we don’t even know what it is we just know that we could be the next person and this isn’t some pretend
7:12	haunted house attraction designed to scare with cheap costumes and pretend zombies who shout Boo at you in the dark
7:20	this is the real thing and we know it we see it we feel it we
7:25	dread it and we all know that it is our sin yours and mine together that is
7:31	responsible for the dark mess that we find ourselves in and in the midst of that Darkness we cry
7:37	out we cry out in the misery of our stinking sinful condition God where are
7:45	you and then we listen for a reply and we hear nothing
7:51	it’s getting colder God please have mercy on us please come and save us Lord we are perishing
7:59	still only darkness and silence but then Our Gospel text does something amazing
8:05	off in the distance out in the wilderness today in Our Gospel text we
8:11	hear a voice we hear a voice and Our Gospel text begins with these words
8:17	there was a man sent from God whose name was John you think about Moses Moses out
8:26	there wandering in the wilderness tending sheep and God sends him and one
8:31	of the things that God tells Moses is I have heard the prayers of my people I
8:37	have seen their suffering and so our text begins with these words there was a man who was actually sent from God sent
8:45	into our Darkness the darkness of our sin and he came as a witness to Bear witness
8:53	about the light a light that we’ve never seen
8:58	so that all might believe through him he was not the light
9:03	but he came to bear witness about the light verse 9 says the True Light which gives
9:10	light to everyone was about to come into the world he was in the world the world
9:15	was made through him yet the world did not know him what a tragic situation
9:22	I mean the darkness is so dark that when our creator walks into it we
9:28	don’t even recognize him for who he is such as our sinful condition
9:33	yet the world did not know him he came to his own his own people they did not receive him
9:39	and then we hear these wonderful gospel words but to all who did receive him who
9:44	believed in his name he gave the right to become children of God children who
9:53	were born not of blood nor the will of the flesh nor of the will of man the children who are born of God
10:01	this is quite the salvation verse 19 then goes on to say this is the
10:08	testimony of John and so we’re listening to this voice in the wilderness in the darkness and all of Jerusalem is going
10:16	out and the repenting of their sins they’re confessing their wickedness and being
10:21	baptized in the Jordan River for the Forgiveness of their sins and word gets back to religious headquarters in
10:28	Jerusalem and so they send a contingent out but you’re going to note here these priests did not come out to listen to
10:35	John’s message they did not come out to be baptized by him and Jesus later on
10:40	will literally rebuke these fellows for not being baptized by John so understand
10:47	this these fellows who’ve come out in the darkness to hear this voice and get some answers about this voice they’re
10:54	not there to repent they’re there for their own reasons selfish so they ask
11:00	him who are you and then the text says something a little bit confusing but we’ll un we’ll
11:06	unpack this properly John confessed he did not deny but he confessed I am not
11:13	the Christ the reason it says that is because these fellows were quite willing
11:19	if John had said I’m the Messiah they would have pitched their wagon to him because he was quite popular and they
11:26	would have been all too happy to have some of his glory on themselves and so John says I am not
11:34	the Christ so they asked him what then are you Elijah
11:39	hmm notice what he says I am not if you know your Bible you know that the
11:45	very last chapter of the Old Testament the prophet that I like to consider the Italian Prophet Malachi
11:52	it works the very last portion of this Italian Prophets
11:58	prophecy says this behold I will send Elijah the prophet before the great and
12:04	awesome day of Yahweh comes he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children the hearts of the children to the
12:11	fathers lest I come and strike the land with the decree of utter destruction and the Jews of this time literally
12:18	thought that God was going to literally reincarnate Elijah
12:24	hence the question are you Elijah and notice he says no how are we to
12:30	understand this prophecy because it says I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord well thankfully we have a kind of a
12:38	an exegete that is unexpected that helps us understand the true sense of this
12:43	prophecy and if you would turn with me to Luke chapter one and to start at verse 5 and the exegete in question is
12:51	none other than the angel Gabriel he gives us the true sense of this Prophecy from Malachi here’s what it says verse
12:57	5. in the days of Herod the King of Judea there was a priest named Zachariah of the division of abijah he had a wife
13:06	from the daughters of Aaron and her name was Elizabeth they were both righteous before God
13:13	walking blamelessly in all the Commandments and statutes of the Lord I have to comment on this over and again
13:19	in the Hebrew mind and you’ll see this repeated in the Old Testament then talking about people who have faith they
13:26	are righteous before God and they walk blameless before others righteous is vertical blameless is horizontal
13:33	righteousness before God Is by grace through faith even for people in the Old Testament blameless before others means
13:41	that they obey God in his Commandments and do good works for the sake of other people and here we see that Elizabeth
13:49	and Zechariah were righteous and blameless but they had no child which in
13:57	those days is a black mark against a woman it’s considered something like a
14:02	Scourge is is culturally means that maybe the reason why you’re not having
14:08	children is because God is punishing you that’s at least how the town gossip and Whispers go
14:14	but scripture rules that out for them but they had no child because Elizabeth was Barren and both were advanced in
14:21	years now while he was serving as priests before God when his division was on duty according to the custom of the
14:27	priesthood he was chosen by a lot to enter the Temple of the Lord and to burn incense the Proverbs tell us that all of
14:34	the decisions of the dice of lies are decided by God himself and so God by lot
14:39	shows Zechariah to serve him that day and the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of
14:45	incense and there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense Zechariah
14:53	was troubled when he saw him fear fell upon him which is the standard response to when
14:58	an angel arrives and shows up fear fell upon him but the angel said to him do not be afraid Zechariah your prayer has
15:07	been heard and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son and you shall call his name John do you think for a second that
15:15	Zechariah and Elizabeth in their Advanced age were still praying for a child
15:20	at some point when the hot flashes stop and things change in a female’s body you
15:29	say well that’s not going to happen and so you’re going to note then that God
15:35	heard their prayers from when they were young and don’t think for a second that God
15:41	does not hear your prayers he does prayer is a very powerful and mighty thing and we must always believe that
15:49	when we pray to our Heavenly Father that we as children of God who are blood bought that our father hears us because
15:58	he does now if he says no or he says wait
16:04	don’t despise or lose heart he still hears and sometimes he protects Us by
16:10	not giving us what we want when we want it but the text goes on the angel Gabriel
16:17	then saying you will have joy and gladness many Will Rejoice at his birth for he will be great before the Lord he
16:24	must not drink wine or strong drink and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb which will
16:30	happen just later in this exact chapter and then it goes on he will turn many of
16:36	the children of Israel to the Lord their God and he will go before him in the
16:42	listen spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the
16:47	children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just to make ready for the Lord a people who are prepared
16:55	and so here the angel Gabriel gives us the proper sense of the prophecy from the Italian Prophet Malachi we are to
17:02	understand not that Elijah is going to raise from the grave but that the one who precedes the Messiah would come in
17:10	the spirit and the power of Elijah which is not a foreign Concept in scripture because remember the fellow who came
17:17	after Elijah was Elisha and Elisha asked
17:23	for a double portion of a life just spirit and it was granted to him that is
17:29	what is going on in this text now the next question put before John the
17:34	Baptist by this contingent from headquarters was are you the prophet
17:40	notices and say are you a prophet are you the prophet now that’s referring to
17:45	a very specific prophet and that prophecy regarding who this Prophet is is found in Deuteronomy 18. I will begin
17:52	at verse 15. here’s what it says Moses prophesying in his time said Yahweh your
17:59	God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you from your brothers it
18:07	is to him that you shall listen just as you desired of Yahweh your God at Horeb
18:13	on the day of the assembly when you said let me not hear again the voice of Yahweh my God or see his great fire any
18:21	more lest I die and Yahweh said to me they are right in what they have spoken
18:26	I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers I will put
18:34	my words in his mouth he shall speak to them all that I command him and whoever
18:39	will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name I myself will
18:46	require it of him you’ll note the Deuteronomy 18 is a prophecy about Jesus
18:52	Christ the Messiah himself and so one of of his titles was the prophet and so
18:59	there’s John the Baptist kind of being grilled at this point are you the Christ no I’m not the Christ are you Elijah no
19:05	are you the prophet no I’m not well headquarters isn’t satisfied so they
19:11	said to them then who are you we need to give an answer to those who sent us what do you say about yourself he said I am
19:19	the voice of one crying out in the wilderness make straight the way of the Lord as the
19:25	prophet Isaiah said and here then he he’s referring to our Old Testament text from last week from
19:32	Isaiah 40 that says a voice cries in the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord
19:37	make straight in the desert a highway for our God and see in the darkness John the Baptist
19:46	preaches to each and every one of us calling us to repent of our wickedness
19:51	our sinful Darkness you see because the darkness is inside of all of us
19:58	each and every one of us is guilty before God of idolatry of blasphemy of
20:03	not keeping the Sabbath day holy and Desiring to hear God’s word each and
20:09	every one of us are guilty of breaking the fourth Commandment by dishonoring our own parents and the people whom we
20:15	have worked for and each and every one of us is guilty of murder and adultery of lying and bearing false witness
20:22	against our neighbors and coveting and stealing and all the things that the
20:28	Commandments tell us not to do and so the voice of the one crying in the wilderness in
20:34	the darkness calls to us to make straight our crooked paths and to
20:40	recognize it’s not about the darkness out there it’s about the darkness in
20:45	here then we learn in verse 24 that this contingent that had been sent
20:51	to John they were from the Pharisees and you can hear the soundtrack getting more ominous now dun dun dun these guys
20:59	there’s nothing good about them at all they according to Christ are men who
21:06	like to be welcomed in the marketplace who wear long flowing robes they make
21:12	their Flack teres big they love the best seats at all of the most important parties and they’re all about money and
21:18	fame and Glory these are people who need to heed the
21:24	preaching of the voice in the wilderness and repent but they don’t so now they get a little bit nasty
21:30	see they’re kind of kind of going like this so he’s not the Christ he’s not Elijah he’s not the prophet
21:38	good we don’t have to recognize that now so they get they turn on him so then
21:43	they said well why are you baptizing if you’re neither the Christ nor Elijah the prophet why are you baptizing you didn’t
21:50	get a license from us to do what you’re doing we didn’t sanction this ministry
21:55	who Do You Think You Are so John his answer is kind of like this so what
22:02	of it I baptize with water but among you stands one you do not know he stands
22:09	before you right now now help you understand this have any of you ever heard like a TV preacher make the claim
22:17	that I believe that the Antichrist is living on the Earth right now and he’s
22:23	probably somewhere on the planet maybe Africa learning his ABCs in his one two
22:29	threes it’s like the movie The Omen you know the date with the Damian figure right that he’s somehow wandering the
22:36	Earth and I always wonder why are you doing that because the fellow making that claim
22:42	is taking on the role of Being John the Baptist for the Antichrist doesn’t make
22:47	any sense but in the this sense though John is saying he’s here right now he’s walking
22:57	among you right now the Hope person you have had your hopes on in the darkness
23:04	he’s here right now and he says I am not
23:09	worthy to even untro untie the straps of his sandals
23:15	and so here we see this voice in the wilderness
23:21	assuring us that God has heard our pleas for mercy God has heard our misery seen
23:29	our suffering seeing the condition that we are in because of our sin and he has
23:35	had mercy on us and before he arrives he sends one to say repent
23:41	repent make straight the paths of the Lord believe in him
23:47	and if you think about it for a second fast forward to the Resurrection Day
23:52	When Jesus rises from the grave go to the end of the Gospel of Luke and you will see that Jesus commissions the
23:58	church to do something to Proclaim repentance and the Forgiveness of sins
24:04	in his name to All Nations you see the church now pastors and
24:10	Christians take on the role of John the Baptist having been forgiven of our sins
24:17	washed in the blood of Christ in our baptisms United with him in his death and his resurrection given the good news
24:24	of God’s mercy and Grace we now pick up our voices and create a choir
24:32	acquire where our voice is joined to John the Baptist and in the darkness we
24:38	cry out repent make straight the paths of the Lord he’s coming he’s almost here
24:46	be forgiven and live in fact the text goes on to say in verse
24:55	28 the next day after this John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward
25:01	him and he said behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin
25:08	of the world this is he of whom I said after me comes a man who ranks before me because he was
25:14	before me I myself did not know him but for this purpose I came baptizing with
25:19	water that he might be revealed to Israel and Behold the Lamb of God who takes
25:25	away the sin of the world in John chapter 8 12 Jesus himself says
25:31	I am the light of the world whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but
25:37	will have the light of light hmm our Psalm talks then about the great
25:44	reversal of Fortunes for those who are languishing in darkness under the
25:50	penalty of sin those who were under the Judgment of God those who waited in
25:56	feared death that all of a sudden when the light appears Everything Changes
26:02	Psalm 126 says when the Lord Yahweh restored our fortunes of Zion we were
26:07	like those who dream then our mouth was filled with laughter our tongue with shouts of Joy then they
26:14	said among the Nations that the Lord has done great things for them the Lord has
26:19	done great things for us and we are glad restore our fortunes O Lord like streams
26:26	in the nagab those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of Joy he who goes out weeping
26:34	bearing the seed for sowing shall come home with shouts of Joy bringing his
26:40	sheaves with him our Old Testament text says this the spirit of Yahweh Elohim is
26:46	upon me because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor he has sent me to bind up the Brokenhearted to
26:53	Proclaim Liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound
26:59	if you’ve ever seen an old world ancient prison they were not known for their
27:05	well good conditions they were generally holes in the ground they were dark they
27:10	were dank they were wet they were stinky they were smelly they were awful
27:16	and so the Lord has told us to Proclaim good news that those who have been bound
27:21	in Satan’s prison under the Dominion of Darkness he has thrown the doors wide open come out of
27:28	the stinky Darkness Into the Light of Life proclaim the year of the Lord’s
27:34	favor the day of Vengeance of our God it’s Scrooge on Christmas morning
27:39	buying the Christmas goose that’s the picture here I then shall greatly rejoice in the Lord
27:48	my soul shall exult in my God because he has taken my thinking
27:54	sinful carcass and has clothed me with garments of Salvation the very
28:00	righteousness of Christ he’s covered me with a robe of righteousness and as a
28:05	bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress and as a bride adorns herself with jewels we all
28:12	know what a bride looks like and it’s so wonderfully dazzling to look at a bride
28:19	coming down the aisle the white dress the pearls of the diamonds and the
28:25	jewels sparkling like the snow and that’s light so therefore my soul
28:33	shall exalt for as the Earth brings forth its Sprouts as a garden causes
28:38	what a stone in it to sprout up so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spout up before all the
28:45	nations you see this turn of Fortune is likened to a spring morning and we all
28:51	know what that’s like here spring doesn’t arrive until what may man I think it starts in January in
28:58	Southern California but here it arrives in May and everything from
29:03	November until May is dead it is cold it
29:09	is dark it is dead it is ugly it is miserable
29:15	but then one day it’s like God flips the switch and there’s leaves and there’s
29:21	flowers and there’s color everywhere this is what it’s like to bask in the
29:28	light of life and this is our fortunes brothers and sisters we who are in
29:33	Christ this day is coming when the light Darkness gives way to the spring day of
29:39	a new Earth so repent make straight a path for God
29:46	confess that you have fallen short do not be afraid to confess
29:51	confess it freely if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves
29:57	the truth is not in US but if we confess our sins God is
30:02	faithful and just and he will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness
30:09	because Christ himself the one we have been waiting for the light of Life the light of the world has
30:17	taken our Darkness into himself on the cross and bled for it and died for it
30:22	and I don’t know if you’ve noticed this about light but when the lights are turned on the darkness just seems to
30:28	disappear and so let the light of light shine on you and let him be gracious unto you
30:34	because he desires to flip your fortunes and to give you this great turn
30:41	to take you out of the darkness and walk you into and introduce you to the true
30:46	light a light that will never end in the name of Jesus
30:52	amen

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