LutheranLectionary.org

Series B – Fourth Sunday after Epiphany – Sunday, January 31, 2021 | 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
0:23	The holy gospel according to saint mark
0:30	the first chapter [Music]
0:40	they went into capernaum and immediately on the sabbath Jesus entered the synagogue and was teaching
0:46	and they were astonished at his teaching for he taught them as one who had authority and not as the scribes
0:51	and immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit and he cried out what have you to do with us Jesus of
0:57	nazareth have you come to destroy us i know who you are you are the holy one of god but Jesus rebuked him saying be
1:04	silent and come out of him and the unclean spirit convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice came
1:09	out of him and all were amazed so that they question among themselves saying what is this
1:14	a new teaching with authority he commands even unclean spirits and they obey him and at once his fame spread everywhere
1:21	throughout all the surrounding region of galilee this is the gospel of the lord in the
1:27	name of Jesus amen demons in church i always find this to be a fascinating topic
1:33	i think a good way to look at this synagogue appearance by Jesus is that the synagogue was the old
1:40	testament’s version of a church gathering together to hear god’s word and Jesus shows up
1:48	and one of the fellows manifests a demon in church now
1:55	i i know a thing or two about the ancient city of uh capernaum small town small small town
2:02	you know when we think of small towns it’s easy to think of like oslo minnesota don’t you know it’s easy to
2:07	think of a small town like that in in here’s what we know about small towns in small towns
2:13	everybody knows what everybody else is doing it’s just this weird thing that goes on everybody knows everybody and so in this
2:21	small town of capernaum we have this fellow manifesting a demon and i have to wonder if the synagogue
2:27	leader after words after that particular synagogue service was scratching his head going
2:33	you know i didn’t even know he had a demon that kind of explains a lot
2:39	that’s the reason why that guy was always contradicting me when i would rightly handle god’s word you know stuff
2:46	like that and so we’ll note here that as we consider this particular topic especially in light of
2:53	our old testament text that’s where we’re going to really focus our attention today as far as teasing out the themes of this text
2:59	we must recognize that scripture explicitly teaches that demons
3:06	the demonic the satanic is real and it is vehemently opposed
3:12	to the preaching of Christ it is vehemently opposed to the right handling of god’s word
3:18	as martin luther once said where god establishes a church the devil
3:26	builds a chapel right next door and the whole point is to undermine
3:32	the word of god and to get people to believe falsely to do falsely to cast god’s
3:38	words behind them and for them to replace them with their own words in fact there are
3:45	so many biblical texts that warn us about these things one of the things i would like you to consider is this that of
3:52	all of the books of the new testament there is only one there is only one book in the new
3:58	testament that doesn’t provide us with a warning about false teachers and false prophets
4:05	and that is philemon every other book of the new testament in one way or
4:10	another warns us about false teachers and false prophets in fact
4:16	paul prophesying rightly he will note the apostle paul really had the ability to be a prophet and to speak on
4:23	behalf of god as a spokesman and the words that god gave him never fell to the ground
4:29	in fact i would note that paul in 1st timothy chapter 4 says this he says now the holy spirit
4:36	the spirit expressly says that in later times some will devote uh depart
4:42	from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and the teaching of demons through the
4:49	insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared
4:59	that sounds a lot like today there are a lot of people who are
5:05	insincere liars whose consciences are seared who are out there teaching all kinds of bizarre doctrines
5:12	that Christ never taught the apostles never taught the prophets of the old testament never
5:18	taught and scripture is clear here that when we’re dealing with these types of deceivers these are not
5:25	misguided brothers or those who are just errant brothers
5:31	and sisters in Christ the scripture says that they will depart
5:36	from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and the teachings
5:42	or the doctrines of demons departing the faith means that they are no longer Christians as john writes
5:50	in his epistle second john that if those who do not abide in the teachings of
5:56	Christ and go on beyond it that they are no longer our brothers in Christ and it’s in this
6:04	context we must take into consideration the sheer quantity of false
6:11	prophets that have arisen in our days and we must recognize that the devil is
6:17	a deceiver and that none of us are immune from the deceptions of the devil as it relates
6:24	to false belief or enticing us away from the true faith and devote ourselves
6:31	to doctrines that do not have their origin in the mind of god that have their origin instead
6:38	in the schemes of the devil each and every one of us we are susceptible to these things
6:43	and i must confess that i am a repentant sinner in this
6:50	regard i have followed teachings and teachers and false prophets and
6:56	believed that what they were saying was true and you’ll note that in the year 2020 here in uh
7:02	in oslo minnesota we have a lot of farmers you know in fact if you ever ever to visit kongswinger at lutheran church
7:08	you would note that we’re kind of in the middle of well farm fields you know there’s sugar beets
7:14	planted over there and over there i i don’t even know the beans i think over there and wheat was over there last but this
7:21	last season and so you’ll know we’re even though we’re kind of in the middle of nowhere it bunker bumper crop in in that regard but i
7:29	would say that the year 2020 was if we were using an agricultural
7:34	term the year 2020 it was a bumper crop in 2020 of false
7:39	profits and the thing is is that you do not have to travel anymore to hear these false
7:45	prophets to listen to them to come under this way to be enticed by their false
7:50	teachings all you have to do is turn your computer on and tune into their channel on youtube
7:56	or steer into their website or stream one of the well television channels
8:04	that they broadcast on you don’t even have to have a tv antenna anymore you
8:09	can stream it on your devices you get the idea so note that we live in a day
8:14	where it’s very easy and very easy for us to be tempted along these lines to listen to these yahoos
8:21	but the reality is this is that all of them to a person prophesied that trump would become the
8:27	president of the united states in a second term they said that he was going to win the election in november of
8:34	2020 that didn’t really work out and when they didn’t prophesy correctly that he would
8:41	win then they claimed that don’t worry god’s timing is different than man’s timing
8:47	and he will be installed in office rather than biden on the 20th of january
8:53	and when that didn’t happen now they’re making illusions and missing the point of scripture and saying well
8:59	just like elijah was on mount carmel and he said that go ahead and drench his
9:04	sacrifice with water the fact that biden is in power is the equivalent of that but don’t worry the
9:10	fire is still going to fall and trump is going to be the president of the united states again
9:17	and it’s very easy for us to spot this now and say you know i think they
9:24	actually might be false prophets and this is where i have to engage in some behavior
9:29	that we don’t like it’s not polite in our society but i would note this the
9:34	apostle paul did the same thing so i’ll stand in his shadow and say well i’m just following his example
9:41	and the impolite thing to say is this i told you so
9:48	i know it’s kind of weird you know if you guys want to impeach me next week you know go ahead and lodge the charges
9:54	but the reality is this for more than a decade
10:00	in fact almost 13 years now i have been warning the body of Christ through my podcast and then now on my
10:07	youtube channel and pointing out that these people who we can obviously see now are false
10:12	prophets that they are all of them incapable of rightly handling god’s word
10:18	i to say that they are unskilled exegetes would be deceiving because none
10:24	of them actually put on any pretense of being an exegete and i have been warning the church for
10:30	more than a decade that these people are false teachers and that they are deceivers
10:36	and now people are finally paying attention and saying you know what i think they may be a false prophet because they got it wrong regarding
10:42	trump but let’s just put it this way the house has been burning for a long
10:48	long time and it’s in that regard consider then the words of the apostle peter in relations to the days that we
10:55	are living in and you’re going to note that peter prophesied correctly regarding the days
11:00	that we find ourselves in peter writes in second peter chapter 2 talking about the children of israel
11:06	that false prophets arose among the people and indeed they did and he’s referring to the prophets who rose
11:12	among the people in the times of isaiah and jeremiah folks like that and then he says this just as there will
11:20	be false teachers among you who will secretly bring in destructive heresies
11:26	even denying the master who bought them bringing upon themselves swift destruction many
11:34	will follow their sensuality and because of them the way of truth
11:41	will be blaspheme peter writing under the inspiration of the holy spirit speaking the true words
11:47	of god telling us what the future would be and i would say that the present currently is warned us that a day would
11:55	come when many false teachers many false prophets would arise this dovetails with what paul prophesied
12:01	in 1st timothy 4 people who will depart the faith follow
12:06	the doctrines of demons that these people will follow sensuality and many many
12:13	many people would believe them and follow them in their deceptions and
12:19	because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed one of the things that i’ve really been loath to do the
12:27	past few weeks is to steer into some of the atheist channels to see how they
12:33	are covering the false prophecies of men like ken copeland kunamin
12:39	zadai kat kerr lance walnow the list goes on and on and on and on and
12:45	jeremiah johnson and others and let’s just say that the atheists have had a complete heyday with this
12:52	saying here’s proof here’s proof definitive proof Christianity is completely bunk
12:59	Jesus doesn’t exist god doesn’t exist these wacker doodles are out there
13:06	saying that god is speaking to them and they couldn’t even get a 50 50 bet right when it came to who was going to
13:12	be president and then don’t even get me started with how the middle east is using this
13:18	muslim countries are playing it on their television stations
13:23	all their news channels are covering the fact that these false prophets prophesied falsely
13:28	and they’re saying this is proof that Christianity is corrupt that it is untrue and the persecution of
13:34	Christians has intensified in some middle eastern countries because of this
13:43	so because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed and then listen to this in their greed they will exploit you
13:50	in their greed they will exploit you with false words you know false words like god told me to
13:56	tell you to sow a thousand dollar seed offering into my ministry make your check payable to xyz and that
14:02	when you the check arrives and god sees that you have faith and that you’ve sown the seed of faith
14:08	in in true faith then god will bless you a hundred fold
14:13	it’s it’s an investment you send me a thousand dollars and you’re going to receive a hundred thousand or a million
14:19	dollars in return but you’re gonna note this isn’t something new
14:25	that’s been on the scene just recently this has been the standard message that has gone forth as the face
14:33	of Christianity on trinity broadcasting network for decades going all the way back to
14:40	when i was a teenager but scripture here you’re going to note this
14:46	scripture again peter again the holy spirit again does not consider these people to be
14:54	erring brothers who just need a little correction maybe a dose of
15:00	humility no peter says this their condemnation from long ago
15:05	is not idle and their destruction is not
15:10	asleep in scripture are Christians condemned in this way only unbelievers false teachers and
15:18	false prophets and then he goes on this next portion of second peter is quite extensive because peter’s going
15:25	to pile on the imagery and he notes this if god did not spare angels when they sinned
15:31	and he didn’t and note this god is not a respecter of persons nor is he a respecter of creatures and
15:38	angels we human beings are a little below them and so it says if god did not spare
15:43	angels when they sinned but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy
15:49	darkness to be kept until the judgment if he did not spare the ancient world but preserve noah a herald of
15:56	righteousness notice the ancient world was judged with the destruction of our planet
16:01	and only eight survived and with seven others when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly if by turning the cities
16:08	of sodom and gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction making them an example of what is going to
16:16	happen to the ungodly and if he rescued righteous lot greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the
16:22	wicked for as that righteous man lived among them day after day he was tormenting his
16:27	righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard and you’ll note here
16:32	peter dog piles with angels who went to hell in chains to the world that was
16:38	destroyed by the flood to the destruction of sodom and gomorrah all of these are invoking the future
16:45	judgment and condemnation of god against these false teachers who are bringing to us
16:51	doctrines of demons it says this then then the lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and
16:57	to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment especially of those who indulge in the lust of
17:04	defiling passion and those who despise authority
17:14	that is interesting and so you’ll note scripture does not con consider them to
17:20	be erring brothers but those who will invoke the great judgment
17:28	of god and we should be sober minded because here’s the thing the reason why all of this has be
17:34	happened is because so much of the church has been so lacks in listening to the actual
17:39	word of god and they have emboldened and they have underwritten
17:45	the ministries of these false teachers and these false prophets who have just filled their ears with
17:51	nothing but greed and sensuality now in our day it’s really easy to then
17:58	ask the question how then are we to know how then are we to know
18:06	what is true and what is false because it really seems that there are a lot a ton if you would of false
18:14	teachers running around the landscape i don’t know if you’ve noticed it’s become harder and harder and harder to find
18:21	churches where the pastors have the mindset they will bring nothing except for god’s word
18:27	rightly divided and proclaimed Christ and him crucified for our sins and properly divide the word between law
18:33	and gospel it’s becoming more and more difficult well that being the case note this that even pastor rosebro has
18:41	to be tested by scripture don’t ever take my word for it or give me the benefit of the doubt
18:47	always listen with an open bible rather than an open mind but let me give you an interesting test
18:53	as it relates to people who claim to be prophets it’s found in the book of revelation chapter 19 and in revelation chapter 19
19:00	you’ll remember that john the apostle has been taken up to heaven and he’s seen very many marvelous as well as
19:08	disturbing things while he is in heaven and in chapter 19 there is an angel who
19:14	is showing him certain things in heaven and the angel says to him in verse 9
19:20	write this and listen to these words blessed are those who are invited to the
19:26	marriage supper of the lamb and he said to me these are the true
19:32	words of god blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the lamb
19:39	hmm and these are the true words of god keep this in mind we’re going to put a pin on that we’ll come back to it here in a
19:45	second and upon hearing these words the apostle john fell down at his feet the angel’s feet in order to worship him
19:52	but the angel said to him you must not do that i am a fellow servant with
19:58	you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus worship god and then these important
20:04	words for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy the testimony of
20:11	Jesus is the spirit of prophecy now i am not a prophet nor am i the son of a
20:17	prophet and apparently my prophetic activation didn’t work either so that being the case i have to rely on
20:24	bringing a prophetic word to you week after week after week but that prophetic word that i bring to
20:29	you you can follow along it’s an open book prophecy if you would i proclaim to you the words of Christ
20:36	and i would remind you that Jesus himself said to the unbelieving jews in john chapter 5 you
20:43	diligently search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life yet there are very
20:49	scriptures that testify about me and you refuse to come to me that you may have life
20:55	so let me ask the question who did the prophets write about according to Jesus
21:03	Jesus right and it’s true the spirit the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of
21:09	prophecy now who did the apostles write about yeah they wrote about Jesus you’ll note
21:16	that both the old testament and the new testament seem to be obsessed
21:21	with Jesus the old testament foreshadowing and prophesying of his coming
21:29	the new testament prophesying of the fact that he had come and consider then that this then is
21:36	exactly what the point of our old testament text is deuteronomy chapter 18 verse 15
21:42	moses writing and proclaiming to the children of israel in the wilderness
21:47	yahweh your god will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you from your brothers it is
21:54	to him you shall listen just as you desired of yahweh your god at horeb on the day of
22:00	the assembly when you said let me not hear again the voice of yahweh my god or see this great fire any more lest i
22:06	die and yahweh said to me they are right in what they have spoken i will raise up for them
22:12	a prophet like you from among their brothers and i will put my words in his mouth and
22:17	he shall speak to them all that i command him and so you’ll note that moses seems to be well prophesying about
22:26	Jesus because he is prophesying about Jesus and the one thing i can tell you with
22:32	almost like zero exceptions is that all of today’s modern prophets who are running around
22:38	the internet landscape claiming that god has given them words that the people that they preach about
22:44	are themselves that’s really what it comes down to i over and again think about one
22:52	particular example of a woman who claims to have a prophetic ministry and
22:57	is somebody who can train people in the prophetic and at the end of her training offers them a prophetic activation that
23:04	when she talks prophetically the only person she’s talking about is
23:10	herself in fact on one occasion she made the point she claimed that she was in australia
23:16	preaching at a women’s conference when all of a sudden she was teleported in the spirit to nova scotia canada
23:24	whereby she found a fellow who was had driven his car up to a cliff and was considering
23:30	suicide and wouldn’t you know it she hopped in the car shared the gospel with him he repented of his sins
23:36	she saved his life and then whoosh she was taken back to australia it’s an interesting story
23:43	but that’s not the testimony of Jesus is it
23:49	that’s the testimony of her and then of course don’t even get me started with men like
23:54	benny hinn and others who every time they talk about the manifestations of the spirit
24:00	and they condemn people who say you know the apostolic sign gifts and the revelatory gifts have
24:06	ceased they they always like to say no no i know that it hasn’t ceased because and
24:12	then they go on and talk about their particular exploits as if they’re the little saviors of the
24:17	world always and again they preach about themselves but here moses is given a prophecy by god talking
24:25	about a prophet who would arise and Jesus is our prophet he is our priest he is
24:30	our king and note i will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers
24:35	i will put my words in his mouth and he shall speak to him all that i command him and whoever will
24:42	not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name i myself will require it of him
24:52	now we’ll note this is also the same text deuteronomy 18 talking about presumptuous prophets
24:58	those who claim to be spokespeople for god because that’s what a prophet is they are speaking on behalf of god they
25:05	are god’s spokesmen that those who presume to speak a word that god has not given them
25:10	and they prophesy that something is going to take place if it doesn’t take place deuteronomy 18 makes it clear that’s a
25:17	word that god has not spoken they have spoken it presumptuously in other words
25:23	they are false prophets they are not what they claim to be they are not bringing to you the words of god so the prophet
25:30	who presumes to speak a word in my name that i have not commanded him to speak or who speaks in the name of
25:38	other gods that same prophet shall die
25:44	now in the new covenant we do not stone false prophets
25:50	but i would note this you are sinning against a holy god when you send them money
25:58	when you endorse them when you make excuses for their false doctrines and
26:04	their false prophecies you are going against the expressed warnings of god
26:09	that he’s given us in all of scripture especially the new testament
26:14	but it’s in that context then i want you to consider the other aspect of our gospel text
26:20	in our gospel text today Christ is preaching in the synagogue of
26:26	capernaum and here upon hearing the words of
26:31	Christ the prophet whom moses said god would send upon hearing them the people
26:39	there recognized that Jesus was teaching in a way that they had never heard
26:45	before he was fulfilling the prophecy that moses had given in deuteronomy 18 and it says that they were astonished at
26:52	his teaching for he taught them as one who had authority and not as the scribes
26:57	if you want an example of what how Jesus speaks with authority Jesus speaks as if he’s god himself
27:04	think back to the sermon on the mount where Jesus says you have heard it said but i say
27:10	you have heard it said but i say Jesus is speaking as if he has authority
27:16	but remember the prophecy of moses if you will not listen to the words of this prophet
27:22	god himself will hold you accountable for that let me ask the question
27:29	what are the words that we need to hear from this Jesus the one whom god
27:36	sent the one whom we need to listen to the one whom god the father had put the
27:42	very words that he preached into his mouth answer listen
27:49	Christ says i have not come into the world to condemn the world
27:54	but that the world might be saved Jesus says repent and believe
28:01	the gospel Jesus says that all who believe in him will never
28:07	perish but have eternal life Jesus says that the work of god
28:14	is to believe in the one whom the father has sent and Jesus is also the one who while
28:20	bleeding for your sins and mine on the cross said it is finished
28:25	father forgive them and so note that Jesus has not come to condemn us is it any wonder then
28:33	the devil is doing everything he can through his false teachers and false prophets to paper over the words
28:39	of Christ to cover them up to brush them aside because the devil knows full well
28:47	if you hear these words of Jesus you might dare to believe that somebody as sinful as you can be forgiven by god
28:54	and have eternal life all is a gift because
28:59	what Jesus said is true and so i would note that Christ wills
29:06	for you to repent he wills for you to be forgiven he wills for you to have a hope of
29:12	eternal life he wills for you to believe in him and to receive from him grace upon grace
29:20	and mercy forgiveness and life and all of this because he has bled and
29:26	died even for all of your false belief all of the heresies you’ve endorsed and even promoted and
29:33	spoken with your mouth Jesus is the savior of the ungodly
29:40	including the penitent false teachers false believers and heretics and so Jesus wills
29:48	for you to be saved and note then that the apostle paul in titus chapter 1
29:54	and 2 makes it clear that god wills that those who are teaching doctrines of demons be silent
30:00	and so you’ll note Jesus’s words to the devil in church were be silent
30:07	come out of him Jesus is not going to allow the devil to proclaim who he is in his church
30:16	and so Jesus wills that the doctrines of demons be silenced
30:21	and that’s going to require us to call out for strength and mercy to speak the
30:26	truth in love and call those who are deceived to repent and this is an important thing that we need to do right now
30:32	we need to preach the words of Christ to give the real prophetic words the ones that proclaim the testimony of Christ
30:39	to those whose faith has been destroyed by these false teachers to reach out to
30:45	them in love and let them know that it’s not that Christ had failed them
30:52	it’s that these deceivers deceive them but they actively participated in their
30:58	own deception and that there is forgiveness and mercy even for them so brothers and sisters Christ has not
31:06	only commanded that the demons be silent Christ has also commanded that you be forgiven
31:13	so let us take confidence in this one who had authority all authority all authority in heaven
31:20	and earth the one who had authority to silence the demons to heal the sick to give sight to the
31:26	blind to raise the dead this same Jesus has also promised to raise you to eternal
31:33	life his words are true trust him believe him pay attention to his words
31:41	he wills that you be saved and in that context again here again the words of the angel of the
31:48	book of revelation chapter 19 blessed are those who are invited to the
31:53	marriage supper of the lamb these are the true words of god and so
32:01	they are so then take rest brothers and sisters
32:06	Christ has forgiven you of your sins and you are invited to the marriage supper of
32:11	the lamb so hear the words of Christ this morning you who believe you are blessed
32:17	in Jesus these are the true words of God in the name of Jesus amen

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