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Series A – Fifth Sunday in Lent – Sunday, March 26, 2023 | 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
0:22	The holy Gospel
0:29	According to Saint John at the 11th chapter foreign
0:37	man was Ill Lazarus of Bethany the village of Mary and her sister Martha it
0:43	was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair whose brother Lazarus was ill so
0:51	the sisters sent to him saying Lord he whom you love is ill but when Jesus
0:56	heard it he said this illness does not lead to death it is for the glory of God so that the Son of God may be glorified
1:02	through it now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus so when he heard
1:07	that Lazarus was Ill he stayed two days longer in the place where he was and after this he said to his said to the
1:14	disciples let us go to Judea again the disciple said to him Rabbi the Jews were
1:19	just now seeking to Stone you and you are going there again Jesus answered are
1:24	there not 12 hours in the day if anyone walks in the day he does not stumble because he sees the light of this world
1:30	but if anyone walks in the night he stumbles because the light is not in him after saying these things he said to
1:36	them our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep but I go to awaken him the disciple said to him Lord if he’s fallen
1:43	asleep he will recover now Jesus had spoken of his death but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep that
1:50	then Jesus told them plainly Lazarus has died and for your sake I am glad that I
1:55	was not there so that you may believe but let us go to him so Thomas called
2:00	the twin said to his fellow disciples let us also go that we may die with him now when Jesus came he found that
2:07	Lazarus already been in the Tomb four days Bethany was near Jerusalem about two miles off and many of the Jews had
2:14	come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother so when Martha heard that Jesus was coming she went and
2:20	met him but Mary remained seated in the house Martha said to Jesus Lord if you had been here my brother would not have
2:27	died but even now I know that whatever you ask from God God will give you Jesus
2:32	said to her your brother will rise again and Martha said I know that he will rise again in the Resurrection on the last
2:38	day and Jesus said to her I am the resurrection and the life whoever believes in me though he die yet shall
2:45	he live and everyone who lives and Believes In Me shall never die do you believe this she said to him yes Lord I
2:52	believe that you are the Christ the son of God who is coming into the world and when she had said this she went and
2:58	called her sister Mary saying in private the teacher is here and he’s calling for you and when she heard it she Rose
3:04	quickly and went to him now Jesus had not yet come into the village but was still in the place where Martha had met
3:09	him and when the Jews who were with her in the house consoling her saw Mary rise quickly to go out they followed her
3:15	supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there now when Mary had come to where Jesus was and saw him she fell at
3:22	his feet saying to him Lord if you had been here my brother would not have died and when Jesus saw her weeping and the
3:28	Jews who had come with her also weeping he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled and he said where have
3:34	you laid him they said to him Lord come and see Jesus wept so the Jews said see how he
3:41	loved him but some of them said could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying
3:47	then Jesus deeply moved again came to the tomb it was a cave and a stone lay against it Jesus said take away the
3:54	stone Martha the sister of the dead man said to him Lord by this time there will be an odor for he’s been dead for four
4:01	days Jesus said to her did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God so they took away the
4:08	stone and Jesus lifted up his eyes and he said father I thank you that you have heard me I knew that you always hear me
4:15	but I said this on account of the people standing around that they may believe that you sent me when he had said these
4:20	things he cried out with a loud voice Lazarus come out and the man who had died came out his
4:27	hands and his feet bound with linen strips his face wrapped in a cloth and Jesus said to them unbind him and let
4:34	him go many of the Jews therefore who had come with Mary and had seen what he did believed in him this is the gospel
4:42	of the Lord in the name of Jesus all right when I was a kid I had a kid
4:47	brother so I had a younger brother and you’ll note thing of things about brothers Brothers have a tendency to
4:52	Rough House have you ever heard of that um yeah it happens a rough house now my mom she was a nurse my stepdad it was an
5:01	emergency room doctor so blood was never anything that would like upset them you know they would just handle it
5:06	professionally it was very keen kind of cool my wife on the other hand if there was blood in the house by the way we
5:13	were on a first name basis with the nurses and the doctors at the Lake Elsinore urgent care when we were raising our kids but if there was blood
5:20	on the scene my wife would like okay my mother was cool as a cucumber
5:25	but my mom would she would always kind of warn us if we were roughhousing and things were escalating if things were
5:32	escalating my mom would chime in and she would say these words if you keep this up somebody’s going to get hurt
5:39	keep this up and someone’s gonna get hurt now that was our one and only warning and here’s how it would
5:45	generally go down one of us would end up hurting the other and I may have been punished a few times but when the one
5:51	who wasn’t injured would then get punished this is how Justice was meted out in our house now all of that being
5:58	said in Our Gospel text today you’ll note that there is an undercurrent to
6:03	this thing especially at the end of it in the parts I haven’t read which we’ll get to and the undercurrent is this is that
6:10	Jesus is legitimately by his miracles at this point escalating things
6:17	escalating things to the point where if something doesn’t change somebody’s
6:23	gonna get hurt and the person who’s going to get hurt is Jesus and so you’ll note as our gospel unfolds today Jesus
6:30	gets word that one of one whom he loves has taken ill and then Jesus Does this
6:36	thing that I’m very familiar with he procrastinates uh you know maybe I shouldn’t call it procrastination but
6:41	hearing that his his friend is ill Jesus stays put he does nothing okay makes me
6:48	wonder if he does what I’d like to do I like to read a book and then I get lost in the footnotes have you ever gotten lost in the footnotes it’s a glorious
6:55	thing and what’s the weirdest thing is that when you know I’ll be reading a book and then I’ll see a great quote then they go oh I haven’t read that book
7:01	look at the footnotes and next thing I know I’m online and next thing you know I might have bought a Kindle book or two
7:08	and then next thing you know I’m reading three books at the same time and it’s just a mess right so Jesus you’ll note
7:14	the expectation somebody’s dying you’re supposed to drop everything you’re doing put the red siren on your car and head
7:22	down the road as fast as possible without getting a ticket Jesus doesn’t do this and as a result of it well
7:29	Lazarus dies that’s what happened and so when Jesus gets into Bethany he’s met by
7:37	Martha if you remember the story of Mary and Martha in the Gospel of Luke Martha was the lady who was banging the dishes
7:42	in the uh in the kitchen because her sister Mr Mary was sitting at the feet of Jesus doing nothing she was in there
7:49	cutting carrots and stuff like that putting out the queso and the tortilla chips you know trying to impress Jesus
7:56	with her hors d’oeuvres and her sister Mary is just sitting there listening to Jesus teach and she gets all mad at
8:03	Jesus you know tell my sister to get in here help me right all right and you’ll
8:08	note that Jesus legitimately politely though firmly rebukes her and says Nope this she’s chosen the better thing
8:15	and so Martha’s the first one to meet Jesus and she meets him with these words Lord if you have been here my brother
8:23	will would not have died but even now even now you’ll note she has Faith even
8:29	now I know that whatever God you ask God he’ll get he’ll give to you right and so Jesus I think engages in a little bit of
8:36	catechism work with her to see if she still remembers what she learned because this kind of hints at the fact that
8:42	Martha after clanging the dishes and then being rebuked by Jesus said fine I’ll let the queso cool we’ll just have
8:48	to have cold cuts later and she sat down and she listened to Jesus so Jesus said
8:53	your brother will rise again and she says well I know that he will rise again
8:58	on the last day in the on the Resurrection on the last day and then Jesus said to her I am the resurrection
9:04	of Life whoever believes in me though he die yet shall he live and everyone who lives and Believes In Me shall never die
9:10	do you believe this and she says yes yes Lord I believe that
9:16	you are the Christ the son of the god a Son of God who’s coming into the world ah she finally sat down and listened to
9:22	a few things from Jesus now Mary on the other hand she’s taken this really hard and when she shows up she says
9:30	practically the same words but she doesn’t have that same but I know that even now whatever you ask God will give
9:36	you kind of thing to her she just is in despair deep in her mourning Lord if you had been here my brother would not have
9:42	died and Jesus saw her weeping and Jesus then himself weeps again showing his
9:48	great compassion for Humanity and as I’ve pointed out in previous sermons on this exact text when it says that Jesus
9:56	was greatly troubled the Greek word is Amber ma’am I greatly troubled could actually probably be better translated
10:02	he was indignant in his spirit and thinking indignant what is he indignant about well go all the way back to the
10:09	Garden of Eden when God made the heavens and the Earth in six days days and yes it was six days you know there was
10:17	evening and there was morning the first day that’s a day yeah if you’re familiar with this there was evening and there was morning the second day this wasn’t a
10:24	thousand years okay this was you know someone says well one day with the Lord’s like a thousand years Noah’s
10:29	evening and there was morning there was evening and this this is not hard to work out and Jesus believes in this but
10:36	when Jesus created humanity and after he created everything he said it was Tov
10:41	maod great Hebrew phrase which means very good but you’ll know what is sin done to this
10:49	very good creation well you’ll note each and every one of us we know firsthand exactly what sin
10:55	has done because we all firsthand experience both good and evil in this
11:01	life and the consequences of our sin have you noticed that sometimes when you wake up in the winter your knees are
11:08	creaking and they’re kind of aching and things like this have you noticed that your hair is disappearing or or that
11:15	it’s turning gray and things like this and have you noticed that despite how much you exercise once you get past 50
11:22	losing weight is like well trying to find a fight a land war in Asia good
11:28	luck with that right what is all of that these are the precursors to the big
11:34	thing that’s coming the consequences of our sin which is death and you’ll note
11:40	the death don’t let anyone try to convince you death is a friend it’s not death is not a friend we all know that
11:47	death is unnatural it was it was never God’s intent it was not his design that
11:53	your parents would die and you be without your parents that your grandparents would die it was never God’s intent that you would never face
12:01	to face in this in this life meet your great great great great great great grandparents right that was not how this
12:09	was supposed to go down and so when death comes you’ll note that we who are
12:15	left often times are thrown into deep mourning and anguish and real pain and
12:20	suffering because of our loss and I want to say something here this might not be
12:26	polite but I’m going to say it anyway is that one of the things that humans do and you’ll note this is kind of almost a
12:32	universal practice at least here in the states and that is is that when somebody dies it doesn’t matter who that person
12:40	is whether they believe in Jesus or not everyone consoles themselves and they’ll say well he’s in a better place
12:47	right let’s be blunt here if the person who’d perished does not
12:53	trust in Christ for the Forgiveness of their sins they are not in a better place they are far from resting
13:03	they are experiencing firsthand the Wrath and torment of God because of
13:08	their sin and their Rebellion and this is what awaits all of us if we do not repent and trust in Jesus so
13:15	Jesus knows full well what sin has done and the consequences of sin the wages of
13:20	sin is death Jesus weeps he’s indignant in his spirit because this isn’t how he
13:25	made things to be and you can hear with very firm Stern resolve Jesus asked the
13:31	question where have you laid him it’s as if Jesus again is rolling up his sleeves to basically go and snatch a sheep out
13:38	of the mouth of the lion known as death that’s what he’s about to do and so he heads off there they tell him he tells
13:45	them take away the stone they kind of protest a little bit they take away the stone and then Jesus prays and cries out
13:51	Lazarus come out and he comes out and Jesus says these words and I can’t
13:58	hear it in any other way than with firm command and resolve unbind him let him
14:05	go who’s he talking to right this is It’s he’s just rescued Lazarus from the
14:12	jaws of death he’s been dead for four days but the story continues
14:17	and this is where it takes a very dark turn many of the Jews therefore who had
14:22	come with Mary and had seen what he did they believed in Jesus yeah it’s well holy smokes he just raised somebody from
14:29	the dead makes sense to believe in Jesus doesn’t it right but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what had
14:35	Jesus had done and so I kind of like picture it like this there were some
14:40	legitimate scoffers people who were like looking for something on Jesus some dirt on him and after seeing him raise
14:48	Lazarus from the dead Jerusalem’s only two miles off and so even in Old World
14:54	sandals you can jog that or hike there you’ll run that pretty quick so they they get skedaddling
15:01	they get to Jerusalem and they’re oh man splint in my side I gotta I gotta
15:06	exercise more I’m getting out of shape right and so they’re they’re huffing and puffing trying to get their words out
15:12	you’re not gonna believe what we just saw Jesus do what what did he do all right we were we’re in Bethany yeah
15:18	Bethany yeah Lazarus he had died just four days ago yeah we heard about that yeah well you’re not going to believe
15:24	this Jesus went to the tomb and he told the people to take the stone away from the tomb he did what oh we knew he was a
15:31	crackpot what what holy smokes who does something stupid like that right and you
15:37	can just see him see them like interrupting the story as it’s unfolding going you know there it is that’s it
15:43	Jesus has just endangered these people becoming ceremonially unclean because of
15:49	his carelessness his recklessness I’m sure it stunk to high heaven right you can just see it but no no wait there’s
15:55	more there’s more what do you mean what do you mean there’s more well he uh he prayed yeah and then he told Lazarus to
16:03	come out of the grave and and he came out he what
16:09	okay you can just hear the story unfolding right I’m sure it went down almost exactly like that
16:18	but here’s the thing this is where we have to come back to a
16:25	big category in the midweek service I mentioned the fact that Jesus’s
16:30	half-brother kind of gives us three art types for false teachers the first one
16:35	is the way of Cain this is religious activity with zero Faith you just go in
16:42	through the motions second is Balaam profit for profit third is Korah the guy
16:47	who Rebels against the institutions the the offices that God has established in his church and you’re going to note here
16:53	these Pharisees these Chief priests these leaders of the religion of Israel
16:59	they are of the religion of Cain they are going through all the Motions
17:06	making sure they got their their eyes dotted their T’s crossed and everything they’re just doing the the thing right
17:13	there’s doing the sacrifices they’re praying the prayer they’re lighting the candles they’re lighting the incense
17:19	zero Faith at all because you’ll note that what should have happened at this
17:25	point was that they should have fallen to their knees in Praise of God that
17:31	they have been visited by God and that the Messiah is on the scene that’s what
17:37	should have happened but here’s where it goes so the chief priests and the
17:43	Pharisees they gathered the council all right can we we got a call an emergency
17:48	meeting Church Council needs to meet right now uh meet me in the foyer we gotta have a chat right and so they
17:55	report well why are we here Jesus just raised Lazarus from the dead he what okay well we got to put a stop to this
18:04	so the question comes up what are we to do this man performs many signs if we let
18:11	him go on like this everyone will believe in him and the
18:16	Romans will come and take away our place and our nation everyone will believe in him
18:23	how is this a bad thing he just raised Lazarus from the dead
18:30	now this speaks then at the hard-heartedness of sin you’ll note that
18:36	scripture describes everyone who is conceived according to the natural way we are all descendants of Adam and Eve
18:43	we are born dead in trespasses and sin and scripture says that we have a Heart of Stone
18:50	this is as hard-hearted as a heart as you can get even the Grinch had
18:55	something better than this right there they are they want to put an end
19:00	to this we’ve got to stop if we let him go on like this everyone’s going to believe in him and then that last bit
19:06	kind of tells you where their motivations Romans are going to come take away both our place and our nation we’re going to be we’re going to be
19:12	without a job I’m not able to work hard out in the
19:18	field what am I supposed to do right who are they caring about themselves
19:24	so then one of them Caiaphas whose high priest that year said to them you know nothing at all nor do you understand it
19:31	is better for you that one man should die for the people not that the whole nation should perish
19:38	wait what are you inferring that we should murder Jesus
19:45	well I mean the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few isn’t that what Spock said right
19:52	that’s how this is going down so he did not say this of his own accord but being high priest that year he actually
19:57	prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation and not only for the nation but also to gather into one the children of
20:03	God who are scattered or prod so from that day on they made plans to put Jesus to death
20:11	wow in other words you raised from somebody from the dead
20:17	I kill you you die how dare you we gave no author you did not get a resurrection permit
20:24	from us you forgot to apply you did not fill out the paperwork we didn’t approve of this
20:30	you die okay that’s their does any of this make any sense to you
20:36	remember the scripture says the fool says in his heart there is no God you want to be as stupid as stupid gets
20:44	just keep following your sinful desires just keep listening to that old sinful
20:50	Adam inside of you and go that route and you’ll be this dumb
20:55	and dumb it is and the text goes on so Jesus therefore no longer walked openly among the Jews
21:03	but went from there to the region where near the Wilderness to a town called
21:08	Ephraim and there he stayed with the disciples now the Passover the Jews was at hand and many went up from the
21:15	country to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves they were looking for Jesus and for Jesus and saying to
21:22	one another as they stood in the temple what do you think that he will not come to the Feast at all now the chief
21:28	priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew that where he was he should let them they he should
21:35	let them know so that they might arrest him in the talmuds we actually have the
21:41	arrest warrant for Jesus he they literally issued an arrest warrant basically and here were the
21:47	charges he’s guilty of deceiving the people and practicing sorcery
21:53	and I want you to keep this in mind because next week is Palm Sunday slash passion Sunday when Jesus comes Waltzing
22:01	into Jerusalem on a donkey and everyone’s laying down palm branches
22:06	and and they’re cloaks and crying out Hosanna to the son of David Jesus is
22:12	doing this with full knowledge that there is an arrest warrant and they are just waiting for the right time to
22:19	execute it he knew full well what he was getting
22:24	into and now to talk about just how stupid this gets six days before the
22:31	Passover Jesus came to Bethany where Lazarus was whom Jesus had raised from the dead so they gave a dinner for him
22:37	there and Martha served and Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table and there were a lot of people who basically
22:43	came in order to see what was going on to see Lazarus and it says this in verse
22:49	9 when the large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there they came not only on account of him but also to
22:55	see Lazarus whom he had raised from the dead the whole city was buzzing with the
23:00	with his account so as a result of this the chief plea priest made plans to put
23:05	Lazarus to death as well because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus
23:13	how dare you rise from the dead when Jesus tells you to come out of the Grave
23:18	you should have stayed dead
23:23	this is unhinged this is legitimately unhinged and the point of all of this
23:31	then when we kind of put it all together is that we can see the consequences of
23:37	sin running its course have you ever stopped to think that it is absolutely terrifying and I mean that in the truest
23:43	sense terrifying that the demons know exactly who Jesus is and when their God
23:49	is standing right before them the Jews the Pharisees the scribes the chief priests they are utterly Clueless
23:57	and rather than recognize that that’s the god that they claim that they worship
24:02	they instead think that he’s a threat that he’s a danger he’s a problem to be
24:08	solved how do you solve a problem like Jesus right okay
24:14	sorry that was a little odd now here’s where it applies to us
24:21	scripture is very clear none of us is righteous and if it were not for the
24:28	grace of God and the work of the Holy Spirit and the washing of regeneration each and every one of us would be this
24:35	foolish and here’s the thing I’ve said it before the reason why pagans do pagans things
24:41	is because they’re pagans pagans are going to Peg man that’s what they do and so Romans chapter 3 which gives us
24:49	the greater context for our epistle text gives this gives this verdict for each
24:54	and every one of us Paul writes in Romans 3 9 what then are we Jews any
24:59	better awful not not at all we’ve all already charged that all everybody both Jews and Greeks they’re under sin as it
25:06	is written none is righteous no not one no one understands no one seeks for God
25:15	now if you sit there and go well that sounds a little extreme Pastor don’t you think that you might want to cool that a little bit and back it back back it up
25:21	just a little bit I didn’t give you my opinion I’m quoting the scriptures to you and if
25:28	you’re not sure about this note that these words do not appear once in scripture they don’t appear twice in
25:33	scripture these exact words appear three times in scripture twice in the Psalms once here in Romans none is righteous no
25:41	not one no one understands no one seeks for God all have turned aside and together they have become worthless
25:49	well that hurts my self-esteem Pastor good your self-esteem is the problem you
25:54	got that from the Devil no one does good not even one their
26:00	throat is an open grave they use their tongues to deceive the Venom of asps is under their lips their mouth is full of
26:06	curse curses and bitterness their feet are Swift to shed blood in their paths are ruin and misery now hold on for a
26:15	second it’s not all that bad no just take a look behind you you see that yeah that’s a wake of Ruin and misery and
26:21	that’s the thing following you and following me not because of somebody sinning against you but because of your
26:28	sin how you have hurt others and let’s not even talk about God at this point
26:33	and what you’ve done to transgress the first table of the law in their paths
26:38	are ruined and misery the way of peace they have not known there is no fear of God Before Their Eyes now we know that
26:44	whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law so that every mouth may be stopped the whole world may
26:50	be held accountable to God for by works of the law not one human being will be justified in God’s sight since through
26:57	the law comes the knowledge of sin
27:02	so if you think that you are better than the scribes the Pharisees and the chief
27:08	priests and the people who want to put Jesus to death you don’t seem to quite get it yet you’re in that group
27:13	so am I that’s what we were born into and you’ll note then the consequences of
27:21	our sin are indeed severe not only in this life in pain ruin a misery and the falling
27:27	apart of our bodies as we get closer and closer to death but each and every one of us have hell in our future if we do
27:34	not repent and Trust in Christ but this is where we’ll note then fast forwarding
27:39	a little bit Jesus next week you’re going to hear the passion Narrative of Christ from the gospel of Matthew and
27:47	this is where an important Doctrine comes into place and that Doctrine is the doctrine known as substitution
27:53	you’ll note that we deserve hell but God in his mercy and his grace has seen fit
28:00	to not give us what we deserve instead Christ is the one who suffers in our
28:06	place there’s a couple of names for the doctrine penal substitutionary atonement
28:11	and you can also call it vicarious satisfaction the vicarious satisfaction
28:16	sounds a little less specific but I like the penal substitutionary atonement and here’s the thing that Doctrine which is
28:24	taught very clearly in scripture like offends liberals which is all the more reason why we need to be screaming it
28:30	from the steeple of this church just to keep offending them more and more with this great news of substitution and
28:38	you’ll note we are truly guilty and so what is our hope we need a substitute and if you think then regarding our
28:45	reading from next for next week There’s Jesus on trial for what
28:51	he’s done not a single thing wrong does he defend himself not even close doesn’t even speak a word in his own defense and
28:59	so things get so bad that now pilate has basically called a crowd together to
29:04	make a decision because he has this tradition that he does he releases a prisoner on the Passover right and so
29:11	they’ve decided that it’s going to be either Jesus or Barabbas one of the two are going to get to walk free by the way
29:18	don’t let that name that let that name go by bar rabbis
29:24	son of the father that’s what his name means and these details are not
29:30	coincidences so there’s pilate who do you want released to you Jesus who’s
29:35	called the Christ or do you want Barabbas of course the Pharisees and the chief
29:41	priests had whipped up the crowd give us Barabbas give us Barabbas well what am I to do with Jesus crucify him right
29:49	and Jesus again doesn’t lift up a voice at all doesn’t protest even in the
29:55	slightest because he knows that this is what it’s going to take in order for you and I to
30:00	be saved he has become the sinner at this point God has laid on him the
30:07	iniquity of us all he is now in his full substitutionary work and Jesus goes to
30:13	the Cross but whose cross is he nailed to barabbases
30:19	let me think let me kind of put it in a different way the cross that Jesus was nailed to was yours
30:26	it was mine that’s how substitution Works focus in
30:31	on that name baraba son of the father that being the case Christ has all of
30:37	your sin and iniquity was put onto him your guilt your shame your punishment
30:43	was placed on him and he drank to the dregs the full cup of the wrath of God
30:48	so that you and I can be pardoned and forgiven and so here’s where our epistle text comes in and just Comforts us like
30:55	you wouldn’t believe Romans 8 there is therefore now no
31:00	condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus but I’m guilty I know
31:07	but Christ has stood in your place you are not condemned instead of receiving
31:13	condemnation and wrath and eternal punishment from God there is no condemnation for the law of the spirit
31:20	of life has set you free in Christ Jesus note the law of the spirit of life has done what to you it sets you free just
31:27	like Barabbas was set free could you imagine brav is sitting there going I can’t believe I’m set free they open the
31:33	prison doors they let me walk out no one’s chasing me this is crazy that’s you you have been set free in Christ but
31:41	from the law of sin and death God has done for you what the law we can by the flesh could not do by sending his own
31:48	son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin he condemns sin in the flesh in
31:53	order that the righteous requirement of the law might be filled fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh but
31:59	according to the spirit those who live according to the flesh they set their minds on the things of the flesh isn’t
32:06	that what we saw the scribes and the chief priests and the Pharisees doing we’re going to lose our jobs we can’t
32:12	let people believe in Jesus right they set their minds on the things of the Flesh and to set the and and the mind
32:19	that is set in the flesh it’s hostile to God it doesn’t submit to God’s law indeed it cannot those who are in the
32:25	flesh cannot please God you however y’all in the Greek right we
32:32	need we need that second person plural backing y’all however are not in the flesh but in the spirit if in fact the
32:39	spirit of God dwells in you well does the spirit of God dwell in you or not
32:44	yeah I think so because there the Waters of baptism you were buried with Christ
32:50	and raised with Christ and as Peter says repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus for the Forgiveness
32:55	of your sins and you’ll receive the gift of the holy spirit so note here this is invoking realities that are present for
33:02	all of us baptismally you however you’re not in the flesh but you’re in the spirit of in fact the spirit of God dwells in you and he does and anyone who
33:10	does not have the spirit of Christ doesn’t belong to him but you do but if Christ is in you and he is although the
33:17	body is dead because of sin and yet my body is pretty much worn out and dead anyway yep uh the spirit of Life the
33:24	spirit is life because of righteousness if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you and he does
33:30	he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal
33:35	bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you and here’s where we’re going to note
33:41	something here we have a tendency to complain God if you really care about me why are you letting my body fall apart
33:47	why why do I have to die why why do why does my elbow hurt and why why is that I
33:53	can’t get out of bed and what happened to my hair right you’ll note that Christ isn’t really all that interested in
34:01	fixing the little things yeah you’re gonna fall apart but didn’t you hear this he’s going to give life to
34:09	your mortal bodies he’s going to raise you from the dead that’s the whole point of the Ezekiel passage when I bring you
34:16	out of your Graves then you will know that I am Yahweh right
34:22	so you’re falling apart now yes but trust me something way better is about
34:27	to happen so then Brothers we are debtors but we’re not debtors to the Flesh in order
34:33	to live according to the flesh if you live according to the flesh you’re going to die but if by the Spirit by the Holy
34:38	Spirit you put to death the Deeds of the body you will live all who are led by the spirit of God are wait a second
34:45	listen to these words you’re sons of God now I understand the patriarchy crowd is
34:51	just going to scream here they just need to get over it it’s Mankind and When God says you are all sons of God that
34:56	includes daughters yes it can work that way just let the patriarchy crowd Screech all they want we’ll just Embrace
35:03	what the text says right so all who are led by the spirit and that’s you you are
35:09	all now Barabbas sons of the father
35:15	you see how the exchange Works play takes place for you did not receive the
35:20	spirit of Slavery to fall back into fear but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons and by whom we cry out
35:28	Abba Father so brothers and sisters things are taking a dark turn Jesus
35:36	you’ll note that he’s escalating things at this point and if things keep going this way somebody’s gonna get hurt
35:44	and indeed Jesus was and you’ll note the details of his
35:50	passion are horrific he was beaten he was punched in the face spit on
35:56	he was scourged had a crown of thorns pushed deep into his skull
36:03	he was bleeding and had to carry his own cross and then he was nailed to the
36:09	cross and suspended Between Heaven and Earth that’s the whole point in order
36:14	that God may be glorified in him and ultimately in you
36:19	through the Forgiveness of our sins without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins in Christ indeed
36:25	shed his blood for us so let us praise God that it’s true that things went on like
36:32	this and somebody got hurt but he got hurt so that we can be healed in the name of Jesus Amen

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