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Series B – Second Sunday of Advent – Sunday, December 10, 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 Mark chapter 1 verses 1 through 8.
0:34	the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ the son of God as it is written
0:39	in Isaiah the prophet behold I send my messenger before your face who will prepare your way the voice of one crying
0:46	in the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord make his path straight John appeared baptizing in the wilderness and
0:53	proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the Forgiveness of sins and all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were
1:00	going out to him and were being baptized by him in the River Jordan confessing their sins now John was clothed with
1:07	camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and
1:13	wild honey he preached saying after me comes he who is mightier than I the strap of who sandals I am not worthy to
1:20	stoop down and untie I have baptized you with water but he will baptize you with
1:26	the Holy Spirit this is the gospel of the Lord in the name of Jesus
1:31	oh man all right I don’t really watch a lot of Television but I am aware of the fact that well one of the more popular
1:38	programs on TV has to do with zombies yeah I’m not sure what it’s called maybe
1:45	the walking dead or something like that and if you think I’ve got the idea The Walking Dead what a weird
1:51	Paradox that is now I’m going to note something our texts today our text today
1:58	create all kinds of conflict in our minds if we really Ponder what they are
2:03	saying because there’s all kinds of paradox going on for instance
2:10	John the Baptist is he the last of the Old Testament prophets or is he the first evangelist
2:16	answer yes right is he pointing to in our text today
2:24	Christ’s first Advent or his second Advent
2:30	well yes the answer you you know it’s the conflict going on here and you know this
2:37	is kind of the issue with our texts today and then here’s the other question our text today are they pointing to John
2:44	the Baptist baptism or are they pointing you to your baptism today
2:50	the answer again is yes and so you’re going to know we’re going to have to work through some things here and in
2:57	order to get that you’re going to know the the John the Baptist with him showing up which is he does this every
3:03	Advent John the Baptist shows up and he points his bony fingers at us and he
3:08	spits a grasshopper leg in our face and tells us to repent repent is his message
3:14	and with that I would like to explore this concept of repentance and the
3:21	prophecy regarding John the Baptist by returning to our Old Testament text and in doing so we’re going to have to apply
3:28	our three rules for sound biblical exegesis which are context context and context because you’re going to know
3:34	Isaiah 40 began with these words Comfort Comfort my people I’m gonna put the
3:41	emphasis on the people there says your God speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry
3:46	to her that her Warfare has ended that her iniquity is pardoned and that she is received from the Lord’s hand double for
3:52	all of her sins and you’re going to note here it’s not double judgment it’s double Grace double forgiveness it’s as
3:59	if Isaiah is saying that Jesus could have finished his work on the cross at the three-hour Mark but he decided to go
4:06	six so that he can give us double Grace that’s kind of the idea and then this wonderful prophecy regarding John the
4:12	Baptist a voice cries in the wilderness prepare the way the Lord makes straight in the desert a highway for our God now
4:20	a little bit of a preview next Sunday John the Baptist himself is going to key in on this prophecy as far as
4:27	identifying himself as a voice but you’re going to note Isaiah begins with these comforting words about
4:34	comforting my people and here we’re hearing all this gospel stuff in the
4:39	midst of a pericope that really is telling us to repent it seems a little
4:44	weird a little off so with that we’re going to do some work today you remember context is important but rather than
4:52	just merely backing up into Isaiah 39 which is important you’re going to note
4:57	in the beginning portion of Isaiah 39 it mentions the fact that King Hezekiah had
5:03	been sick so in order to get the bigger context we’re going to have to go into second
5:08	Kings first we’ll spend a little bit time in second chronicles as well second Kings chapter 20 if you want to flip
5:15	over there we’re going to take a look starting at verse one and we’re going to pay attention to some of the details of
5:21	the story and let scripture interpret scripture second Kings chapter 20 verse one in
5:27	those days Hezekiah became sick he was the king of Judah by the way he was a direct descendant of King David and you
5:34	can say that the Messianic line had come to this point so he became sick and was
5:40	at the point of death Isaiah the prophet the son of Amos came to him and said to
5:45	him thus says Yahweh set your house in order for you shall die you shall not
5:53	recover now this has got to be way worse than if the doctor says you have cancer and you
5:59	have like six months to live because sometimes people are told that they have six months to live and they continue to
6:05	live for a long time you know something happens the medicine kicks in the treatment actually does its work and
6:11	they linger for much longer than the specified six months but when God says you’re going to die
6:18	generally that means you’re going to die I’m just saying you kind of get the idea
6:23	and you’re going to note we’re going to pay close attention to hezekiah’s reaction to this it says this then
6:30	Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to Yahweh saying now o Yahweh
6:37	please remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole
6:42	heart and have done what is good in your sight and Hezekiah wept bitterly now a little
6:48	bit of a note this is not a good prayer and you’re thinking well it I mean why
6:53	not well the other portions of scripture are going to help us out here because if you’re going to die the last thing you
7:00	want to do is hold up your good works to God is if somehow they have you earn
7:06	something by them as far as salvation or life or things like that that’s what Hezekiah is doing and you’re sitting
7:12	there going well how do you know because other texts tell me this and I’ll show you this in a minute so Hezekiah is this
7:20	is a very prideful prayer on his part it’s not a good prayer it is not a
7:27	prayer of faith but it is a prayer of works with an expectation that God owes him something so
7:34	he prays this and he weeps bitterly and then listen to this before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court the word of
7:41	Yahweh came to him turn back and say to Hezekiah the leader of my people thus says Yahweh the god of David
7:48	your father I’ve heard your prayer I’ve seen your tears notice he doesn’t say
7:55	you’re right your Works have earned you longer life that’s not what God says he says I’ve heard your prayer I’ve seen
8:00	your teeth your tears behold I will heal you on the third day pay attention that
8:06	Third Day stuff in scripture on the third day you shall go up to the house of Yahweh and I will add 15 years to
8:13	your life I will deliver you in this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria I will defend the city for my
8:19	own sake and for my servant David’s sake notice that God is doing these things
8:24	for his own sake and also for the sake of his servant David by the way David’s been dead for quite a while so this is
8:31	for the sake of the Messiah coming and so Isaiah said bring a cake of figs and
8:36	let them take and lay it on the boil that he may recover
8:42	and Hezekiah said to Isaiah what shall be the sign that Yahweh will heal me and
8:47	that I shall go up to the house of Yahweh on the third day and Isaiah said
8:52	this shall be the sign to you from Yahweh that the Lord will do the thing that he has promised shall the shadow go
8:59	forward ten steps or go back 10 steps Hezekiah answered it is an easy thing
9:06	for the shadow to lengthen 10 steps rather let the shadow go back 10 steps and Isaiah the prophet called to Yahweh
9:13	and he brought the shadow back 10 steps by which it had gone down on the steps
9:18	of ahaz think of it this way in Joshua chapter 10 we have the story of the sun standing still
9:25	in this particular case the sun went backwards this was a longer day now if
9:32	you really want to be technical the sun didn’t go backwards the Earth decided to spin a different direction so that was
9:39	the miracle here so God demonstrating his power his sovereignty over his very
9:44	creation that if he wants to make the sun go backwards he can and so this is the the shadow go backwards sign if you
9:53	would now all of this we have to now interpret what are we to make of this
9:59	why is God making it so that Hezekiah is going to
10:05	live 15 years longer now I told you that his prayer wasn’t a good one my
10:12	cross-reference for this then is second Chronicles chapter 32. Second Chronicles
10:17	chapter 32 verses 23-26 shed more light
10:22	on this particular event it says this in those days Hezekiah became sick and was
10:30	at the point of death he prayed to Yahweh and he answered him and gave him a sign
10:37	but yeah but but Hezekiah did not make
10:44	return according to the benefit done to him for his heart was
10:50	proud therefore wrath Came Upon him and Judah and Jerusalem but here’s the
10:58	second but Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart both he and the
11:03	inhabitants of Jerusalem so that the Wrath of the Lord did not come upon them in the days of Hezekiah
11:09	so second chronicles tells us that Hezekiah was a prideful dude
11:16	he had arrogance in his heart and by the way pride is the very sin that led to
11:22	the devil’s demise you are most like the devil when you are saying how wonderful
11:28	I am and taking stock stock of yourself I like to think of those people who have
11:35	a bunch of selfies on their social media you know it doesn’t matter where they are but they’re always trying to kind of
11:42	get that good angle that the selfie is like the satanic photo to take if pride
11:49	is the thing behind it and so here we’ve got a conundrum why did God allow Hezekiah to live for
11:59	15 more years when second chronicles tells us that this guy’s ego was bigger
12:07	than the Titanic what do we do with this answer our epistle text helps us out
12:15	here take a look with me back at second Peter chapter 3 8-14
12:21	I forgot to warn you we’re going to be all over the Bible today all right second Peter chapter 3
12:29	starting at verse 8 hear again the words of the Apostle Peter from our epistle
12:34	text do not overlook this one fact beloved that with the Lord one day is as
12:41	a thousand years and a thousand years is one day the Lord is not slow to fulfill his
12:47	promises some counts slowness but is patient towards you not wishing that any
12:55	should perish but that all should reach repentance
13:01	why did God give Hezekiah 15 more years so that he would repent
13:07	God’s will was that that he would perish but that he would repent and be forgiven
13:14	and that bears out with what we just read in second chronicles but the day of the Lord by the way will come like a
13:20	thief and then the heavens will pass away with a roar the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved and the
13:27	Earth and all the works that are done and it will be exposed this is that wonderful theme to let you
13:33	know don’t grow attached to anything you see here right now all of this is going
13:39	bye-bye every last bit of it anything that you can smell taste touch see with
13:46	your ex with your senses it’s all going to be destroyed every last bit of it by
13:53	the way you included and when we get to that part of Isaiah I will note again that we are all getting older we are
14:00	like grass we are withering the very creation itself all of us included we all will be renewed through death
14:08	and Resurrection it’s as if because of our Collective sin
14:14	we’ve mucked up the universe so badly that God at the very end says okay we’re
14:19	going to have to get rid of that thing and we’re going to start all over that’s kind of what’s going on
14:26	so why did God give him 15 more years so that he would repent so let’s go back
14:33	then and again note what it says in the text that after God showed him a sign and
14:40	healed him second chronicles 32 Hezekiah did not make return to the benefit done
14:46	to him for his heart was proud therefore wrath Came Upon him and Judah but
14:51	Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem that humbling takes place
14:57	after his healing now that’s our back story a little bit of backstory let’s
15:04	take a look now at Isaiah 39 we have a fuller picture of what’s going on here and see if you can spot the pride of
15:11	Hezekiah because it’s on display for us in Spades in Isaiah 39.
15:17	at that time meridoc balladin the son of baladin King of Babylon
15:23	ah all right so the Babylonians are on the rise on the world stage they sent
15:29	envoys with letters and a present to Hezekiah for he heard that he had been
15:34	sick and had recovered apparently hezekiah’s sickness made the news Al
15:39	Jazeera clearly covered it so did CNN and Fox News everybody knew about it so
15:44	the king of Babylon sense and sends an Envoy and a gift and so Hezekiah
15:49	welcomed them gladly and watch this he showed them his
15:56	Treasure House the silver the gold the spices the precious are every oil his
16:02	whole Army and all that was found in his storehouses really wow this would be like if if Bill
16:10	Gates invited you to his home and he decided to show you everything on his
16:15	property and then to kind of like top it off he said come over here check this out he brings you over to his laptop
16:22	computer opens up his bank account statements on the computer and says have you ever seen a bank account with that
16:29	many zeros that’s me that’s me right
16:37	that’s Pride that’s what Hezekiah is doing
16:43	there was nothing in his house there was nothing in his house or all
16:48	the realm that Hezekiah did not show them and of course Isaiah the prophet not
16:54	thrilled here Isaiah the prophet came to Hezekiah and said to him
16:59	what did these men say and from where do they come to you Hezekiah said
17:04	um they’ve come to me from a far country they came from Babylon he said what have they seen in your house
17:11	Hezekiah answered well they’ve seen all that’s in my house there’s nothing in my storehouses I didn’t show them
17:18	yeah he still doesn’t see it it’s like okay
17:24	Isaiah said to Hezekiah all right hear the word of the Lord yah hear the word
17:29	of Yahweh Saba oh the Lord of armies behold the days are coming when all that
17:35	is in your house and that which your fathers have stored up till this day shall be carried to Babylon nothing
17:42	shall be left says Yahweh and some of your own sons who will come from you
17:47	these are your unborn children whom you O Father they shall be taken away and
17:54	they shall be eunuchs in the place of the king of Babylon yeah some of your
17:59	own sons are going to be taken to Babylon itself all of the stuff that you showed them the Babylonians are going to get it thanks to your pride oh and some
18:06	of your own Sons they’re going to have to Lop it off of me procedure done to them so they can’t even have kids
18:12	and they’re going to be serving the king of Babylon all because of hezekiah’s
18:17	Pride now watch his response so Hezekiah said to Isaiah the word of
18:22	Yahweh that you’ve spoken is good for he thought at least there’s going to be peace and Security in my days
18:31	wow that is some blinding Pride right there
18:37	it’s just about me myself and I right and so you’ll note we in the
18:44	corporate world and corporate trainers oftentimes will deal with fellows or even women who are
18:51	quite ambitious everything they do is about them and climbing the corporate
18:56	ladder and getting that next raise or promotion or whatever and they point out these words they kind of point this
19:02	Behavior out by saying there is no I in team there is no I in team and that
19:11	really then forms the basis of the next verse in Isaiah 40. again hear the words of
19:20	these of the Prophet Comfort Comfort my people
19:25	says your God Hezekiah is thinking about me
19:32	Isaiah says no Comfort my people now a little bit more before we
19:37	get into this God made good on his judgment against hezekiah’s Pride take a look at Second
19:45	Chronicles 33. I want you to hear about one of his sons the son who would be
19:51	born to him during his 15 years of extra life who would become the king his name
19:57	is Manasseh second chronicles 33 tells us about this fellow and to say that he
20:04	was one Wicked dude is to well kind of it’s an
20:10	understatement there’s no way to describe just how evil this fellow was second chronicles 33 verse 1. Manasseh
20:18	he was 12 years old when he began to reign so he was born during the 15 years three
20:24	years after hezekiah’s sickness Manasseh is born he’s 12 years old when he began
20:30	to Reign and he reigned for 55 years in Jerusalem and he did what was evil in
20:35	the sight of Yahweh according to the Abominations of the Nations whom the Lord Yahweh had driven out before the
20:42	people of Israel for he rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had
20:47	broken down he erect excuse me he erected altars to the balls made
20:53	ashteroth and worship all the hosts of of Heaven those are the stars and served
20:59	them and he built altars in the house of Yahweh altars so think of it this way
21:06	there’s the Temple of Solomon beautiful Center of of Jerusalem
21:12	the worship life of of the Jews the place where the sacrifices are the place where God said that his name would dwell
21:18	forever Manassas so wicked he set up altars to false gods in the very Temple itself
21:27	that’s how Wicked this fellow is and so he built altars in the house of Yahweh
21:32	of which Yahweh had said in Jerusalem shall my name be forever he built altars for all the hosts of Heaven in the two
21:39	courts of the House of Yahweh he burned his sons as an offering in the Valley of
21:45	the son of hinnam burned his sons plural this it means he sacrificed
21:52	several of his sons at least two to the false god Molech Molech was this
22:00	terrible terrible false deity and Molech what they would do with an ALT with a statue of Molech they would heat his
22:07	hands his hands were out like this they would heat his hands with fire until they were glowing red and then they
22:14	would take small infants and put them into the hands of Molech and that’s how they perished this is what Manasseh the
22:21	king of Israel did he used fortune telling
22:26	Omens sorcery dealt with mediums and with necromancers he did much evil in
22:33	the sight of Yahweh provoking him to anger and the carved image of the idol
22:39	that he had made he sat in the house of God of which God said to David and
22:45	Solomon his son in this house and in Jerusalem which I have chosen out of all of the tribes of Israel I will put my
22:51	name forever and I will no more remove the foot of Israel from the land that I appointed for your fathers If Only They
22:57	will be careful to do all the things I have commanded them in the law and the statutes and the rules given through
23:03	Moses Manasseh LED Judah in the inhabitants of Jerusalem astray to do
23:09	more evil than the Nations whom the Lord had destroyed before the people of
23:14	Israel so think of it this way one of the things that God says to the children of Israel when in the wilderness is that
23:20	he’s going to drive out from before them the high vites the jebusites the Hittites the Canaanites the uptights and
23:27	the ballet tights because of their wickedness and their evil and here
23:34	describing Manasseh his sins exceeded all of the people of that were living in
23:40	the promised land prior to the children of Israel showing up and he did this all within his lifetime
23:47	now we would expect that somebody is wicked and evil as Manasseh that
23:55	upon his death that there would be a very special place
24:00	in hell for somebody like this you think of Dante’s nine levels of The Inferno that manasseh’s place has to be in the
24:08	ninth ring right next to Lucifer himself that’s what he deserved
24:14	is it not but that’s not what happened to Manasseh
24:21	listen to this Yahweh spoke to Manasseh and to his people
24:26	but they paid no attention therefore Yahweh brought upon them the
24:32	commanders of the army of the king of Assyria they captured Manasseh with hooks bound him with chains of bronze
24:39	brought him to Babylon the one who exalts himself will be
24:45	humbled scripture says and when he was in distress
24:51	he entreated the favor of Yahweh his God and he humbled himself greatly before
24:57	the god of his fathers he prayed to him and God was moved by his entreaty heard
25:04	his plea and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom and then Manasseh knew that Yahweh was God
25:12	afterward he built an outer wall for the city of David West of gihon in the valley for the entrance
25:18	into the fish gate and carried it around ophel and raised it to a very great height he put commanders of the army and
25:26	all the Fortified cities in Judah and he took away the foreign gods and the idol from the house of Yahweh and all the
25:33	altars that he had built on the mountain of the House of Yahweh and in Jerusalem he threw them outside of the city he
25:40	also restored the altar of Yahweh and offered on its sacrifices of Peace
25:45	offerings and of Thanksgiving he commanded Judah to serve Yahweh and the
25:50	god of Israel nevertheless the people still sacrificed at the high places but they only sacrificed to Yahweh their God
26:00	that brothers and sisters is repentance that is being confronted with your sins
26:08	the very Judgment of God knowing that you are guilty
26:14	and saying Lord I confess that I have done wrong have mercy on me
26:21	and did God have mercy on Manasseh yes he did it’s not his will that any should
26:27	perish but that all should reach repentance and so with that
26:34	all kind of boiling around in our head let’s go back to our old testament text
26:40	we’ll pick up a little context from Isaiah 39 verse 5. so Isaiah said to
26:45	Hezekiah hear the word of Yahweh Sava oath the days are coming when all that is in your house and all that your
26:51	fathers have stored up until this day shall be carried to Babylon nothing shall be left says the Lord and some of
26:57	your own sons who come from you whom you will father shall be taken away and they shall be eunuchs in the Palace of the
27:03	king of Babylon and then Hezekiah said to Isaiah the word of the Lord that you’ve spoken it’s good for he thought
27:09	there will be peace and Security in my days so at this point he still prideful and wicked but you know second
27:17	chronicles also tells us the Hezekiah eventually repents as does his son Manasseh and so since
27:24	there is no I in team and this isn’t about Hezekiah Isaiah then writes these
27:30	words Comfort Comfort my people says your God speak tenderly to
27:37	Jerusalem and cry to her that her Warfare has ended that her iniquity is
27:43	pardoned and that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all of her sins remember last week we talked about
27:50	repentance consisting of two primary things first sorrow and Contrition or
27:55	even Terror on account of our sins and at the same time confidence and comfort
28:00	in the Forgiveness of sins proclaimed to us in the good news the two have to go together and here Isaiah rather than
28:08	preaching judgment and God’s law instead is preaching the Good News to Israel to
28:15	assure them that the Lord has pardoned their iniquity speaking about Christ’s death on the cross all the way back then
28:21	as if it had already happened because scripture does tell us that Christ was slain before the foundations of the
28:27	Earth how that works I don’t know it’s Quantum stuff so let her know that her iniquity is
28:34	pardoned and that she has received double forgiveness for all of her sins so a voice cries in the wilderness
28:41	prepare the way of Yahweh make straight in the desert a highway for our God
28:46	every Valley shall be lifted up every mountain and Hill made low ah think of
28:53	it this way have you ever noticed the Epic flatness out here
28:58	yeah you’re thinking there’s no mountains there’s no valleys all there is is flat
29:05	and you think that there’s nothing to look at but this text is telling us that’s
29:11	exactly what it looks like to stand righteous before God there are no valleys or Peaks because those are
29:18	caused by sin God has smoothed it all out the new Earth is going to look just like Oslo you betcha
29:30	so every Valley shall be lifted up every mountain and Hill made low and the uneven ground shall become level the
29:37	rough place is a plane and the glory of Yahweh shall be revealed and All Flesh
29:43	will see it together for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken notice the comfort and
29:48	the good news here so the voice says cry and I said what shall I Cry
29:53	and here’s the law All Flesh is grass all its beauty is like the flower of the field the grass withers the flower Fades
30:01	when the breath of Yahweh blows on it surely the people are grass the glass grass withers the flower Fades but the
30:08	word of the Lord will stand forever I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again I’ve been here for three and a
30:15	half years you guys look worse than ever so do I so do I and the reason for that is quite
30:22	simple we are all like grass and we are withering now those of you who are young and haven’t hit your Peak yet give it a
30:28	couple of days all right and you’ll be on the downhill slope with the rest of us but see the fact that we are withering
30:36	and getting old is God’s law and action the wages of sin is death and
30:41	unfortunately it’s on some kind of a weird payment plan every month you have to Dole that out
30:47	and it’s getting worse but the word of the Lord endures forever this is not saying that God’s word is
30:54	going to be here when you’re gone that’s not the point because remember it’s the word of the Lord that regenerates this
30:59	remember we’re The Walking Dead we are we’re alive and yet still heading
31:05	through the grave we’re born heading to the Grave doesn’t matter how young you are it’s kind of tragic when a new baby
31:11	is born you can sit there and go they’re so fragile and you have to try to keep them from dying it’s like and that’s a
31:18	lot of work have you guys noticed that like when they’re really small all you’re trying to do is keep them from
31:23	killing themselves by accident right
31:29	but all of that is the wages of sin but see we are in Christ and his word has given us life even though we are heading
31:35	to the Grave we will soon no longer be The Walking Dead we will be the walking living and I cannot wait for that day
31:41	and that’s what this text is telling us so go up on the high mountain o Zion Herald of good news lift up your voice
31:48	with strength o Jerusalem Herald of good news the gospel shows up here in Isaiah
31:55	Because by the way the word gospel you know what it means right good news
32:00	and see this is good news for us lift it up fear not say to the cities of Judah
32:06	behold your God and this isn’t behold your God and terrifying sense this is
32:12	behold your God in the gracious merciful and kind sense behold the Lord God comes
32:18	with might his arm rules with and behold his reward is with them and his recompenses before him and he will tend
32:25	his flock Like a Shepherd he will gather the Lambs in his arms and He will carry
32:31	them in his bosom and gently lead those that are with young and that’s you Jesus is our Good
32:38	Shepherd you are his sheep and his little lambs and that then is the context all of this
32:46	ringing in our ears we know the full story here of the repentance of Hezekiah the repentance of Manasseh at the good
32:54	news being proclaimed in Isaiah 40 we now turn to Our Gospel text
33:00	which reads the beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ the son of God as
33:06	it is written in Isaiah the prophet behold I send my messenger before your face who will prepare your way the voice
33:13	of one crying in the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord make his path straight John appeared baptizing in the
33:20	wilderness notice Israel leaves Jerusalem to go back out to the
33:26	wilderness yeah now you begin to see it they’re out
33:31	in the wilderness once again confessing their sins because he was proclaiming a baptism of repentance
33:40	for the Forgiveness of sins and all that the country of Judea and
33:46	all Jerusalem were going out to him and they were being baptized by him in the River Jordan confessing their sins
33:53	and his message was repent and our message to us from John the Baptist also
33:59	is to repent but he’s not having us return to his baptism he’s calling each
34:04	and every one of you to return to yours because our baptisms are a baptism of
34:12	repentance for the Forgiveness of sins and the receiving of the Holy Spirit
34:18	and that again requires us like Manasseh like Hezekiah
34:26	like all the saints before us to recognize that we have grievously
34:32	sinned against God that we are guilty of making mountains
34:38	and valleys and crooked paths you may hide it better than Manasseh did
34:44	but each and every one of us are just as guilty as he are he are he was
34:50	got to work on my verbs there right to be or not to be all right so
34:56	John the Baptist is calling us again to repent John was clothed with camel’s
35:02	hair wore a belt around his waist ate locusts and hot wild honey
35:08	you think of it this way I mean this is a guy who put he basically forsook all
35:13	of the Creature Comforts of this Earth including good meals because I’m pretty sure Honey’s still not going to make
35:20	locusts taste good to me and he didn’t wear fine clothes kind of
35:27	just kind of wore whatever and he in his very wardrobe in menu
35:36	challenges us who are so caught up in our homes and our Creature Comforts
35:42	and our decorations and that warm snuggly bed in our furnace and all the
35:47	things that make life more comfortable he gave all of that up to preach repentance and it calls us to put no
35:53	stock even in those good gifts that God has given us John was clothed in these things and he
35:59	preached saying after me comes he who is mightier than I the strap of whose
36:04	sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie isn’t it interesting that John the Baptist demonstrates that Not only
36:10	was he a preacher of repentance but that he himself recognized his own sinfulness and his unworthiness
36:17	before the Lord he was repentant just like Hezekiah in Manasseh
36:25	and he’s right he did not deserve none of us deserves to even stoop down and untie Jesus’s
36:32	shoelaces and yet the good news is that God himself this
36:38	very one who we are unworthy to be in the presence of came to Earth was born of the Virgin Mary and suffered and died
36:46	for your sins and for mine he did not come expecting us to fall on
36:52	our faces and kiss his ring he came to serve us so that we can be forgiven this
36:59	is why it talks about how our sins are already pardoned he says I have baptized
37:05	you with water but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and brothers and sisters you have already been baptized
37:12	into Christ’s baptism you’ve been baptized into Jesus’s death
37:17	and his resurrection you have had your sins forgiven and washed away and so returning to our
37:24	baptisms again requires us like the Baptist to recognize our own
37:29	unworthiness and at the same time have confidence in his mercy and his forgiveness and Grace one for us on the
37:37	cross so Kong’s finger prepare the way of the Lord
37:43	repent return back to your baptismal Waters confessing your sins embracing your
37:50	death taking up your cross and following your savior now to the Valley of the
37:56	shadow of death into life itself he is coming soon he is coming quickly
38:03	watch for it wait for it long for it Jesus your salvation is near
38:11	in the name of Jesus amen

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