Series A – Second Sunday in Lent – Sunday, March 12, 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 |
| 0:26 | The holy Gospel According to Saint John chapter 3 verses 1 to 17. |
| 0:35 | now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus a ruler of the Jews this man came to Jesus by night and said to |
| 0:42 | him Rabbi we know that you are a teacher come from God for No One Can Do the |
| 0:47 | signs that you do unless God is with him Jesus answered him truly truly I say to |
| 0:53 | you unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God Nicodemus said to him |
| 0:59 | how can a man be born when he is old can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born Jesus answered truly |
| 1:06 | truly I say to you unless one is born of water and the spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God that which is born of the |
| 1:12 | flesh is flesh that which is born of the spirit is Spirit do you Marvel that I said to you you must be born again the |
| 1:19 | wind blows where it wishes you hear it sound but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes so it is with |
| 1:26 | everyone who is born of the spirit Nicodemus said to him how can these |
| 1:32 | things be Jesus answered him are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things truly truly I |
| 1:39 | say to you we speak of what we know and bear witness of what we have seen but you do not receive our testimony if I |
| 1:46 | had told you Earthly things and you do not believe how can you believe if I tell you Heavenly things no one has |
| 1:52 | ascended into heaven except he who descended from Heaven the son of man and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the |
| 1:57 | wilderness so must the son of man be lifted up that whoever believes in him may have eternal life for God so loved |
| 2:05 | the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life for God did |
| 2:12 | not send his son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him in the |
| 2:18 | name of Jesus brothers and sisters today’s lectionary |
| 2:23 | texts actually contain two texts that are very well Twisted in much of |
| 2:30 | preaching that we hear nowadays and I feel it very important today to walk |
| 2:36 | through these texts so that we rightly understand them let me give you an example |
| 2:42 | Genesis 12 begins with these wonderful words the Lord said to Abraham go from your |
| 2:49 | country your Kindred in your father’s house to the land that I will show you and I will make of you a great nation and I will bless you and make your name |
| 2:56 | great this is a promise to Abraham but oftentimes nowadays this text is |
| 3:03 | preached in this way so here we have Abraham receiving his |
| 3:08 | purpose from God God Appears to him and speaks directly to him and reveals to him his Destiny and so he must leave |
| 3:16 | where he is and go to the place where God has told him therefore you too must pray to God that he appears to you and |
| 3:24 | reveals your purpose to you and your destiny and so the question is what do |
| 3:29 | you need to leave in order to arrive at your Promised Land I wish I was making this up in fact by |
| 3:36 | your look on your faces I know some of you’ve heard this sermon the problem is is this is a sermon that’s not preached |
| 3:42 | by any one particular person it’s kind of the weirdness that’s floating in the water of Christianity Today I assure you |
| 3:50 | this text is not about finding your purpose or some steps that you need to take or |
| 3:57 | some place that you need to leave and oftentimes when this text is preached in this way what you will hear is that the |
| 4:04 | promised land is something like well a better marriage the promised land is |
| 4:09 | better behaved kids and believe me I would love to have those trust me I’m looking for any kind of tips in that |
| 4:16 | category and they’re even adults but it’s not about that and so what ends up happening is as the |
| 4:23 | promised land gets allegorized into you achieving some well positive outcome in |
| 4:30 | your life better marriage a good job you know name it well there is a way in |
| 4:36 | which we do sojourn with Abraham but it’s not in that way and believe me |
| 4:42 | when I tell you the promised land is not a better job or a better marriage or anything of that Source or even a better |
| 4:48 | bank account wouldn’t we all love one of those that’s not what this is about but our |
| 4:53 | gospel text also gets twisted today and let me give you two ways in which it gets twisted and you’ll kind of see this |
| 4:59 | I wish I was making this up and I’m not we all know John 3 16 for God so loved |
| 5:04 | the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life I have |
| 5:10 | lost track of how many sermons I have heard over the past few years which teach this text in this way for God so |
| 5:17 | loved the world that he gave full stop therefore you must tithe |
| 5:23 | therefore dig into your pocket and write a check make it payable to Pastor Chris |
| 5:29 | rosebro care of Kong’s finger Lutheran Church make sure that it’s off the gross and not the net because you wouldn’t |
| 5:34 | want to be robbing from God now would you because here it says that God gave and he gave as an example how you need |
| 5:40 | to give also this is a twisting of this text which is a Full Gospel text |
| 5:48 | telling us of God’s mercy and Grace for us and it’s being turned into a tithing |
| 5:54 | text and again I wish I was making this up but the reality is is that these texts |
| 6:01 | are about Christ about the promises of God for our salvation and about |
| 6:08 | salvation by grace through faith alone apart from works and I find it |
| 6:14 | fascinating that over and again when I talk about salvation by grace through faith alone apart from works if I talk |
| 6:21 | about that like me on social media or something like that somebody always has to chime in in the comments section and |
| 6:27 | say yeah but and the yeah but usually has to do with something to do with our |
| 6:32 | good works well of course Christians do good works but when we talk about the |
| 6:37 | doctrine of justification we talk about what scripture reveals regarding our Salvation being accomplished by God |
| 6:44 | Alone we’re not talking about sanctification we’re talking about justification there’s plenty of time to |
| 6:51 | discuss our good works which are unnecessary result of our being regenerated and washed and cleaned and |
| 6:58 | made new in Christ but when we look at texts that have to do with what God has done for us we don’t need any yeah but |
| 7:06 | see what I’m saying now you’ll notice I’m sounding a little Stern today but we’re doing some corrective work and I |
| 7:12 | actually don’t enjoy having to do this but I feel it necessary to do this so we’ll do a little bit of work in Genesis |
| 7:20 | we’ll go into Romans and then we’ll take a look at our gospel text see if we can |
| 7:25 | clean up and take a look at the really amazing good news that’s in these texts |
| 7:31 | so Genesis 12 1 like I said begins with these wonderful words Yahweh said to |
| 7:36 | Abram go from your country your Kindred your father’s house to the land that I will show you I will make of you a great |
| 7:43 | nation I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing I will bless those who bless |
| 7:50 | you and him who dishonors you I will curse and in you here’s the best part in |
| 7:55 | you all of the families of the Earth shall be blessed |
| 8:01 | wow that’s quite the promise and you’ll notice the promise is not made to you |
| 8:07 | that in you all the families of the earth will be blessed so the question is what is God referring to what is he |
| 8:14 | promising here to whom is he promising and what exactly is meant by the word blessed I can think of a thousand |
| 8:21 | different ways I would love to be blessed I would love to be blessed with six-pack abs I would love to be blessed |
| 8:27 | with hair that wasn’t graying anymore and didn’t require me to use some kind of product to make me look younger when I’m not I would love to have a fatter |
| 8:34 | bank account I would love to have a lot of things as far as blessings go is that what God |
| 8:40 | is promising here this kind of blessing the answer is no |
| 8:46 | but the answer is also yes and let me explain if by |
| 8:52 | well blessed I’m looking forward to those things here and now in this |
| 8:57 | creation where everything is still under the curse the answer is no |
| 9:02 | what am I promised in this lifetime hardship difficulty suffering persecution |
| 9:09 | but there’s a new world coming and in that new world I know for a fact I will |
| 9:14 | have six pack abs and I will live forever there will be no gray hair and I don’t have to worry ever |
| 9:21 | again about not having enough money in my bank account to pay for my bills |
| 9:27 | you see what I’m saying so there is a sense in which we do sojourn and these promises apply to us |
| 9:33 | but we need to make sure we’re very careful not to promise something that God has not promised |
| 9:39 | so the one in whom well all of the families of the earth will be blessed points straight to Jesus |
| 9:48 | Christ the direct descendant of Abraham the one who was the promised seed that was |
| 9:55 | promised all the way back in the Garden of Eden he is the one and it’s through Christ that all of the families of the |
| 10:00 | Earth shall be blessed now Romans chapter 4 let’s Now flip over there and |
| 10:06 | we’ll work our way through verses 1 through 17. in Romans chapter 4 we see |
| 10:12 | exactly what blessing is being referred to there and here’s what it says Romans 4 1 what |
| 10:19 | shall we say then was gained by Abraham our forefather according to the flesh If |
| 10:25 | Abraham was justified by works Justified means to be declared righteous and God’s |
| 10:31 | doing the declaring If Abraham was justified by works well then he had something to boast about but not before |
| 10:38 | God for what does the scripture say and now he quotes Genesis 15. Abraham |
| 10:45 | believed God and it was this is an accounting term it was counted or |
| 10:53 | credited to him as righteousness hmm that sounds a lot like how |
| 11:00 | Christians are saved does it not you believe the promises of God for the |
| 11:07 | Forgiveness of your sins and God credits that to you as |
| 11:13 | righteousness period full stop |
| 11:19 | hmm it this makes it sound like Abraham was a Christian |
| 11:24 | because he was you see there wasn’t salvation one way |
| 11:29 | in the Old Testament and then a Salvation new way in the New Testament |
| 11:34 | everybody from all of human history from Adam until the last person born on the |
| 11:41 | last day anyone who is saved in that bracketed group is saved the same way |
| 11:48 | by God’s grace through faith in the promises of God and |
| 11:53 | God credits that Faith as righteousness and the righteousness that we’re given |
| 11:59 | is none other than the righteousness of Christ himself so Abraham believed God |
| 12:04 | and it was counted to him as righteousness so to the one who works |
| 12:10 | his wages are not counted as a gift but as his do and we all know about that on |
| 12:15 | payday and to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the |
| 12:21 | ungodly his faith is counted as righteousness just as David also speaks |
| 12:27 | of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteous apart from works |
| 12:33 | and now you’re thinking well ungodly maybe that doesn’t apply to me I mean |
| 12:39 | I’m a pretty good person I pay my taxes I’ve never been to prison |
| 12:44 | I gave up stealing long ago you know something silly like that no Christ only |
| 12:50 | died for the ungodly and that’s each and every one of us and you’ll notice the good news here the one who does not work |
| 12:57 | in other words the person who says there’s nothing I can do to earn God’s salvation the one who says I can’t work |
| 13:04 | and earn this I’ll never be able to afford it the one who does not work but |
| 13:10 | instead just believes believes what the promise of God for our Salvation okay he |
| 13:16 | believes in him who justifies the ungodly that requires you to recognize yourself as being in that group which |
| 13:23 | all of us are myself included his faith and her faith is counted as |
| 13:30 | righteousness just as David speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteous apart from works and |
| 13:36 | now we get the details of exactly what kind of blessing was promised to the |
| 13:42 | families of the earth through Abraham here’s what it says blessed are those |
| 13:48 | whose Lawless Deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered blessed is |
| 13:55 | the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin |
| 14:00 | now we’ve heard the saying before if it sounds too good to be true it probably is |
| 14:07 | and if you think about it just wander back through the history of your life whether it’s a short history |
| 14:13 | or a long history and you will see that your life from beginning until today is |
| 14:20 | marked with all kinds of things that we all know are sins things that you are |
| 14:26 | ashamed of things in which you know you should have done better and you didn’t and you know that you deserve God’s |
| 14:34 | punishment and wrath for not measuring up to what it is that he has so clearly said that you are to do |
| 14:41 | so what are we to do well blessed are those whose Lawless Deeds |
| 14:48 | are forgiven this is the blessing promised to the families of the earth blessed are those whose sins are covered |
| 14:54 | blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin |
| 14:59 | wow that’s quite the blessing The Sinner who doesn’t get what he |
| 15:06 | deserves and that is only possible because the sinless one Jesus Christ got exactly |
| 15:13 | what he didn’t deserve that is God laid on him all of our sins |
| 15:19 | and he suffered bled and died so that we can have our Lawless Deeds |
| 15:25 | forgiven so then Paul then asks is this blessing then only for the circumcised because |
| 15:31 | even in Paul’s day there was a group of people who said no way it can’t possibly |
| 15:37 | be that easy no way all you got to do is believe and |
| 15:44 | you’re saved come on Somebody’s gotta got gotta get some skin in the game |
| 15:50 | a little play on words and so their solution was circumcision you see everybody’s got to be circumcised and |
| 15:55 | unless you’re circumcised you can’t be saved they said and so they added a caveat an asterisk |
| 16:03 | okay so think of it this way salvation is by grace through faith alone asterisk |
| 16:10 | and you what’s the asterisk you look at the bottom of the page and there in four point helvetica font you pull out the |
| 16:16 | microscope and it says if you’re not circumcised you’re not saved |
| 16:22 | that salvation by works not by grace so I can point to the thing I did so |
| 16:29 | that I can be saved but we do this all the time and just takes on different forms all |
| 16:35 | right let me give you an example have you ever heard a preacher sit there and say okay salvation is by grace through |
| 16:41 | faith it’s totally a free gift but you are the one who needs to make the |
| 16:47 | decision so make sure that you make that decision today and cry enough tears and come on |
| 16:54 | down here and you show God how sorry you are yeah we’ve all heard that sermon too |
| 17:02 | but that’s the same thing as saying unless you’re circumcised you’re not saved who’s doing the saving who’s doing |
| 17:10 | the regenerating where are you born from we’ll talk about that in a second |
| 17:15 | so is this blessing only for the circumcised or also for the uncircumcised and Paul Yanks the carpet |
| 17:21 | right out from under all of the circumcision guys and he says this for we say that Faith was counted to Abraham |
| 17:28 | as righteousness so how then was it counted to him was it before or after he |
| 17:35 | was circumcised this is real simple which chapters come first |
| 17:40 | Genesis 15 or the ones that follow Paul’s is doing a little chronology here because it says in Genesis 15 |
| 17:48 | Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness so how then was |
| 17:55 | it credited was it before or after he had been circumcised and he says this it was not after |
| 18:01 | it was before he was circumcised uh-huh the purpose the reason why he received |
| 18:06 | circumcision was the sign is a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith |
| 18:12 | while he was still circumcised oh and you can see the judaizers just their |
| 18:17 | eyes turning flame red at this point but what can they say against it because |
| 18:23 | Paul is arguing exactly what the scriptures reveal the purpose was to make him the father |
| 18:28 | of all who what believe without being circumcised so that righteousness would |
| 18:34 | be counted to them as well to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk |
| 18:40 | in the footsteps of the Faith of Our Father Abraham that he had before he was circumcised |
| 18:46 | for the promise note the word promise the promise to Abraham in his offspring |
| 18:52 | that he would be the heir of the world we’ve talked about that notice it doesn’t say the heir of a small postage |
| 18:58 | stamped piece of property in the Middle East the air of the world it did not come through the law that’s |
| 19:05 | right Abraham didn’t earn it by being a good boy nope it came through the righteousness |
| 19:11 | of faith for if the adherence of the law are to be heirs |
| 19:16 | faith is no the promise is void you better get busy you better get cracking you got a lot of ground to catch up on |
| 19:23 | if you have any hope of being saved at all but it’s not by works it’s not by keeping the law it’s by believing the |
| 19:30 | promise of the forgiveness of sin for the for the law it brings wrath but where there is no law there is no |
| 19:36 | transgression that is why it depends on faith in order that the promise May rest |
| 19:41 | on Grace and be guaranteed to all of his offspring not only the inherit and the law but also the one who shares the |
| 19:47 | faith of Abraham who is the father of us all as it is written I have made you the father of many nations in the presence |
| 19:53 | of the god in whom he believed who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist |
| 20:02 | wow does anyone here doubt that salvation is |
| 20:09 | by grace through faith alone apart from works |
| 20:15 | this text just hammers that point home |
| 20:20 | last text Our Gospel text I noted the beginning of our sermon today that this is also a text that is |
| 20:28 | Twisted I noted one way in which it is Twisted when a person stops at God so loved the |
| 20:34 | world that he gave and then turns this into a tithing text this has nothing to do with tithing but there is another |
| 20:40 | common way in which it is test Twisted let me explain when Jesus talks about being born of |
| 20:46 | water in the spirit what is he referring to the answer is baptism |
| 20:53 | that’s what he’s referring to there’s a whole group of people who don’t like that and so they deny that this has |
| 20:59 | anything whatsoever to do with baptism and so their explanation goes something along the lines of this the water there |
| 21:06 | is referring to amniotic fluid so you have to be born physically and then you have to be born of the spirit |
| 21:12 | that’s not what Jesus is saying at all he’s referring to baptism in our Sunday |
| 21:20 | school lesson today I’ll show you some of the quotes from the earliest Christians and how they understood this text it’s a baptismal text and it’s |
| 21:27 | important so coming back to John chapter 3 then the famous Nick at night passage there |
| 21:33 | was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus a ruler of the Jews this man came to Jesus by night and said to him |
| 21:38 | notice he’s slinking in to have a discussion with Jesus apparently it’s not safe for him to do this in the open |
| 21:45 | during the day he says Rabbi we know that you are a teacher come from God for no one can do these signs that you do |
| 21:51 | unless God is with him Jesus answered him truly truly I say to you unless one is Anno thin he cannot see the kingdom |
| 21:59 | of God now I left the Greek word untranslated on purpose |
| 22:05 | anothen has only two possible definitions only two it either means born again or born from above |
| 22:12 | those are the two possible meanings which one is Jesus talking about which |
| 22:17 | one is he referring to well Nicodemus hazards a guess and thinks that Jesus is |
| 22:23 | talking about being born again but that’s not what Jesus is up to so let me |
| 22:28 | read again amen amen I say to you unless one is Anno thin he cannot see the kingdom of God |
| 22:35 | Nicodemus said to him how can a man be born when he’s old can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born |
| 22:41 | and we all said ew that’s not what Jesus is referring to |
| 22:46 | now is he so Jesus clarifies Jesus answered amen amen I say to you |
| 22:55 | unless one is born of water and the spirit he cannot |
| 23:01 | enter the kingdom of God does that sound like born again or does |
| 23:07 | it sound like born from above Jesus answered truly I say to you unless one is born of water in the spirit he |
| 23:12 | cannot enter the kingdom of God that which is born of the flesh is flesh that which is born of the spirit is Spirit do |
| 23:19 | not Marvel that I said to you you must be Anno thin the wind blows where it |
| 23:24 | wishes you hear it sound you don’t know where it comes from or where it goes so it is with everyone born of the spirit |
| 23:32 | Nicodemus said he could just see his mind right how can these things be Jesus |
| 23:38 | answered him are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things amen amen I say to you we speak of what we know and bear witness |
| 23:45 | to what we have seen but you do not receive our testimony if I told you of Earthly things and you do not believe |
| 23:51 | how can you believe if I tell you of heavenly things no one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from |
| 23:58 | Heaven the son of man and as Moses lifted up the serpent of the Wilderness so the son of man must be lifted up that |
| 24:04 | whoever believes in him may have eternal life |
| 24:11 | for God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in |
| 24:16 | him should not perish but have eternal life for God did not send his son into the |
| 24:22 | world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him and you’ll note then |
| 24:28 | that from the Old Testament into the new salvation over and again is a gift given |
| 24:36 | by God and we see that the reason why it is a gift given by God is because God |
| 24:42 | not only gave us salvation that’s talking in the abstract but he gave us |
| 24:47 | salvation through his only son that he died for our sins rose again from the |
| 24:53 | grave for our justification and God sent him into the world not to judge us but |
| 25:00 | so that we might be saved through him the judgment is still coming |
| 25:05 | but for all of us who are in Christ those of us who are born from above |
| 25:10 | this judgment has already come down from God and the judgment is this |
| 25:15 | you are righteous by grace through faith |
| 25:21 | the gavel has fallen and you have been found innocent all because of the great |
| 25:26 | gift and mercy of God and so the idea here is actually quite |
| 25:32 | simple you see remember our epistle text said that God calls the things into existence |
| 25:40 | that do not exist and we know from scripture in our sermon last week in our text last week that we |
| 25:46 | were all born dead in trespasses and sins each and every one of us under the |
| 25:51 | Dominion of the devil and Powerless to save ourselves and dead people the one thing I’ve noted about them is they are |
| 25:58 | incapable of raising themselves haven’t seen that trick done yet even Houdini |
| 26:03 | hasn’t pulled it off and he said he was going to try think about that |
| 26:08 | instead God calls us out of Darkness into light through the preaching of the |
| 26:16 | gospel and in the waters of baptism that we in our Waters of baptism have |
| 26:21 | been United with Christ and his death and his resurrection and the spirit has quickened us and made us alive and |
| 26:28 | spoken us into existence and now calls the ungodly righteous because we are |
| 26:34 | clothed with the righteousness of Christ and all of this is by God’s grace his |
| 26:39 | Mercy because of his great love for you |
| 26:46 | and this is truly good news this is a better understanding of what these texts |
| 26:52 | say than the way they’re being Twisted by so many today and the reason why they’re being Twisted by so many today |
| 26:58 | in all kinds of bizarre ways is because they do not understand the great gift |
| 27:04 | that God has given us they do not cherish this gift and they tacitly by |
| 27:10 | their twisting of God’s word deny that we are saved by grace through faith apart from works |
| 27:16 | and as a result of that when they come across texts like this they must twist them because they do not believe what it |
| 27:23 | says and they refuse to Proclaim it that’s a hard saying |
| 27:31 | but that’s the truth so don’t allow yourself to be robbed |
| 27:37 | of the great treasure that is in these texts this is the very word of God given |
| 27:42 | to comfort you and show you his great love and mercy for you and these are promises that you can take to the bank |
| 27:49 | and these are the very promises that by believing in them bring you to eternal life and salvation |
| 27:56 | as a gift to not Heed These words to not believe the gospel and here’s a weird way of |
| 28:03 | talking about it to not obey the gospel by believing it you wouldn’t you |
| 28:08 | literally jeopardize your soul because if you don’t want to be saved by |
| 28:13 | grace then you’re saying I want to be saved by works and all I have to say to that is good |
| 28:21 | luck because scripture says by works of the law no one is declared righteous |
| 28:28 | before God so the person who takes Genesis 12 and |
| 28:33 | turns it into a purpose or destiny passage or the person who takes John 3 16 and turns it into a tithing passage |
| 28:40 | or the person who denies that God works and makes us alive and quick enough quickens us and the Waters of baptism |
| 28:48 | that person is tacitly saying I don’t believe in salvation by grace through |
| 28:54 | faith so you better get busy and make sure you’ve done your thing so that you |
| 28:59 | can be saved but scripture says no we’re born from above we are born of God not |
| 29:06 | by the will of man or the will of the flesh but totally born from God as a |
| 29:12 | gift and God has done this for us to us for our salvation |
| 29:19 | do you believe then God counts that belief as |
| 29:25 | righteousness in the name of Jesus Amen [Music] |
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