1 Year Lectionary – Third Sunday in Advent – | Pr. Chris Rosebrough
| Welcome to the Teaching Ministry of Kongsvinger Lutheran Church. Kongsvinger is a beacon for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of Northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone, and now, here’s a message from Pastor Chris Rosebrough: |
| Time Stamp | Transcript |
| 0:23 | The |
| 0:28 | holy Gospel According to St Matthew Matthew the 11th [Music] |
| 0:36 | [Applause] chapter when John heard in prison about the Deeds of the Christ he sent word by |
| 0:43 | his disciples and said to him are you the one who is to come or shall we look for another and Jesus answered them you |
| 0:49 | go and tell John what you hear and see the blind receive their sight the lame walk the lepers are cleansed and the |
| 0:55 | deaf hear and the dead are raised up and the poor have good news preached to them |
| 1:00 | and blessed is the one who is not offended by me as they went away Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning |
| 1:06 | John what did you go out into the Wilderness to see a reed shaken by the |
| 1:12 | wind well what then did you go out to see a man dressed in soft clothing behold those who wear soft clothing are |
| 1:18 | in King’s houses well what then did you go out to see a prophet yes I tell you |
| 1:24 | and more than a Prophet this is he of whom it is written behold I send my messenger before your face who will |
| 1:30 | prepare your way before you this is the gospel of the Lord in |
| 1:35 | the name of Jesus Comfort Comfort my people says the |
| 1:42 | Lord what an interesting text now what are we talking about when we’re talking about Comfort I always have to kind of |
| 1:48 | make this point because there’s an old school way of looking at comfort and then there’s kind of the new school way of looking at Comfort the new school way |
| 1:54 | of looking at Comfort is consoling those who’ve been offended by something spoken by the evil Patriot Archy okay oh did |
| 2:01 | that meany terrible man did he mansplain something to you it’s okay honey it’s |
| 2:07 | okay you know God will get him for thinking that he’s in charge here you know that’s not the kind of comfort |
| 2:14 | we’re talking about instead comfort in the old school way of thinking always has to do with strengthening people |
| 2:20 | strengthening them and you’ll note that when we consider the context of our Old Testament text strength is exactly what |
| 2:28 | we all need we need to be strengthened comforted in this way because our |
| 2:33 | situation Isn’t So Glorious let me explain go back to chapter 39 in Isaiah |
| 2:40 | and we learn the context of this comfort that God is offering to his people and |
| 2:46 | in this time it’s important to note that King Hezekiah who was the king of Judah he had just miraculously been healed of |
| 2:55 | a boil that had gone septic all right we know this from the description given in the history here what happened to him in |
| 3:02 | fact when it went septic this is the days before antibiotics he was told by the prophet Isaiah God says you’re going |
| 3:09 | to die get your Affairs in order you’re you’re you’re going away and so what did Hezekiah do he prayed he cried out to |
| 3:17 | God that God would give him more time and invoked all of the good things that he has done in God’s name and how |
| 3:23 | faithful he has been and God heard his prayer and answered it in the affirmative and gave him 15 more years |
| 3:32 | well when a monarch gets deathly ill and recovers that’s kind of a big deal so it |
| 3:37 | says in chapter 39 at that time merido baladin the son of baladin the king of Babylon sent envoys with letters and a |
| 3:46 | present to Hezekiah for he heard that he had been sick and had recovered now the king of Babylon sounds like an ally at |
| 3:53 | this point somebody that you can trust in a pinch but the problem is is that Babylon is a long way off back in the |
| 4:00 | days a military expedition of that you know of that many miles wasn’t really feasible at least it wasn’t really |
| 4:07 | considered to be feasible and so Hezekiah doesn’t consider these envoys |
| 4:12 | of the king of Babylon to be anything worthy of fearing instead what he ends up doing is is that he welcomes these |
| 4:20 | envoys from Babylon gladly and then he does something really foolish he showed |
| 4:26 | them his Treasure House he showed them the silver he showed them the gold he showed them the spices the precious oil |
| 4:33 | and his whole Armory and all that was found in his storehouses I mean I don’t |
| 4:39 | know what he’s thinking because you know here he’s just basically saying I know you guys don’t have top secret clearance |
| 4:45 | but let me take you over to our military base and show you the weapons that we’re working on let me show you all the |
| 4:50 | things that we have here I’ll take you into the treasury and all this kind of stuff at least with the Chinese I mean our government is corrupt enough to |
| 4:57 | charge them for this information rather than giving get away for free |
| 5:02 | right did I say that out loud yeah I did yeah but you’ll note then this is not a |
| 5:09 | good thing in that in fact the text says there was nothing in his house or in all of his real that Hezekiah did not show |
| 5:15 | them so Isaiah the prophet shows up he comes to Hezekiah and he said to him |
| 5:20 | what did these men say where did they come from and Hezekiah said well well |
| 5:26 | they’ve come from a far country from Babylon you know that place that’s really far away he said what have they |
| 5:32 | seen in your house Hezekiah answered they have seen all that is in my house there’s nothing in my Storehouse that I |
| 5:38 | did not show them and you can hear Isaiah going who does this right this is really |
| 5:46 | a foolish and vain thing on the part of Hezekiah kind of showing off if you would but you’ll note that we know how |
| 5:52 | things go when it comes to Babylon because it’s just not going to be that long after the death of Hezekiah but |
| 5:59 | before Nebuchadnezzar who’s going to be one of the next Kings in Babylon comes knocking on the doors of Jerusalem right |
| 6:06 | with his army in tow so Isaiah said to Hezekiah so hear the word of Yahweh the Lord of armies behold the days are |
| 6:14 | coming when all that is in your house and that which your fathers have stored up until this day shall be carried to |
| 6:20 | Babylon nothing shall be left says Yahweh and some of your own sons who |
| 6:25 | will come from you whom you will father shall be taken away and they shall be Unix in the place of |
| 6:32 | the king of Babylon now this is a devastating prophecy you’re saying |
| 6:37 | Isaiah that God has told you that Babylon is going to come and attack |
| 6:42 | they’re going to take all of the riches and wealth of Israel away with them back to Babylon oh and they’re going to take |
| 6:49 | some of the son Sons of the king and they’re going to give them the lopid off ofy procedure and they’re going to |
| 6:55 | become Unix are you serious you’re going to note that this is a devastating prophecy and it threatens even the Royal |
| 7:02 | bloodline of Judah devastating |
| 7:08 | prophecy so what’s hezekiah’s response H the word of the Lord that |
| 7:14 | you’ve spoken is good for he thought well there will at least be peace and Security in my |
| 7:20 | days wow that’s terrible so note he has |
| 7:25 | comforted himself by basically saying well that’s too bad for yall you know I won’t be here so you know but you know |
| 7:33 | so I’ve only got 15 years left on the planet so I’m comforted because I ain’t going to see any of |
| 7:38 | this okay that’s a little um self-focused shall we say a little |
| 7:44 | myopic because aren’t Kings not only supposed to be responsible for the kingdom while they’re reigning but also |
| 7:52 | set things up so that the kingdom can continue on in perpetuity and strength so he’s a little shortsighted here |
| 7:58 | because he’s only thinking about himself and so while Hezekiah is |
| 8:04 | comforted God then has Isaiah change things up a little bit and offer Comfort |
| 8:11 | to those who have heard this prophecy and see what is coming is going to be |
| 8:17 | devastating and so God commands Isaiah to prophesy these words Comfort Comfort |
| 8:24 | my people says your God speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry to her that her |
| 8:29 | Warfare is ended that her iniquity is pardoned that she has received from the |
| 8:34 | Lord’s hand double for all of her sins and now all of a sudden it’s as if |
| 8:40 | Isaiah has completely changed the subject this this Vision here this Oracle from |
| 8:48 | God seems to be out of place because it begins to invoke things not of Isaiah’s |
| 8:55 | time or even of the times of Nebuchadnezzar instead instead it begins |
| 9:00 | to invoke things that can only be fulfilled in the New Testament in the |
| 9:06 | gospels in the Life Death burial resurrection and Ascension of Jesus |
| 9:12 | Christ and so a good way to think about it is this when we first hear that God |
| 9:18 | is going to take the wealth of Judah send it to to Babylon and that you know |
| 9:24 | King’s sons are going to be taken to Babylon this invokes a major theme in |
| 9:30 | scripture and one that we would be wise to pay attention to because it involves each and every one of us and that theme |
| 9:36 | is the theme of the Babylonian captivity so when we think of the Babylonian |
| 9:41 | captivity well we think well that was back then this is now I mean I know that |
| 9:47 | some of the older people in the congregation just missed Nebuchadnezzar but |
| 9:53 | still it doesn’t it can’t mean that okay sorry sorry David |
| 10:04 | I but all of that being said we have to recognize something in scripture and |
| 10:10 | that is is that when we look at how the New Testament is written I would show you evidence of this in two places in |
| 10:17 | First Peter as well as the Book of Revelation first Peter Peter legitimately starts off his epistle by |
| 10:23 | saying that it’s being written to elect Exiles elect exiles what’s an elect |
| 10:30 | Exile and and how is it that he’s talking about Christians being Exiles |
| 10:36 | and this is where the Book of Revelation helps us tremendously because in the Book of Revelation what is the name of |
| 10:43 | the evil world political system that has it out for Christians and is trying to |
| 10:50 | destroy them off the face of the Earth it’s called mystery Babylon and so we |
| 10:56 | recognize then as Christians that that Babylonian captivity of of the Jews in |
| 11:03 | the time of Nebuchadnezzar that’s a type and Shadow for all of us to embrace and |
| 11:08 | to and consider it in kind of a wider spiritual sense and that spiritual sense is this each and every one of us we were |
| 11:15 | born under and in the Dominion of Darkness this world is run by the Devil |
| 11:23 | by the way you have you noticed how many conspiracy theories are running around out there talking about how evil the |
| 11:29 | political system is and and if whether or not they’re involved in some kind of a satanic cabal of course they are even |
| 11:37 | if they’re not aware of it of course they are because who’s running everything here right the idea here is |
| 11:44 | that Satan is absolutely at work and by the way this is his attacks have nothing |
| 11:49 | to do with getting rid of Freedom it has to do with getting rid of the church we |
| 11:56 | are the Target and and so you’ll note then that and in this life it’s always |
| 12:03 | as if we’re living on the knife’s edge currently we’re enjoying Freedom that’s |
| 12:09 | rare in human history since Christ’s death burial resurrection and Ascension and so we’ll note that that’s all being |
| 12:16 | chipped away at and once that’s all chipped away at they’re going to have clear shots to take it us and when they’ |
| 12:22 | have it they’ll take it and we should be prepared for that and so you’ll note then that just like Esther and morai |
| 12:30 | just like Daniel Shadrach meach and abedo were living |
| 12:35 | completely in prayer crying out to God to deliver them from the machinations of |
| 12:41 | Evil Within Babylon we too must Embrace that same mentality we are in Exile none |
| 12:50 | of us has been home in fact we’ve all been born in Exile and I can’t even begin to tell you the names of the |
| 12:56 | streets in Jerusalem what how long it is how wide it is how tall it is those |
| 13:03 | dimensions are given in scripture but what’s in the middle of it and what my |
| 13:09 | Mansion your Mansions are going to look like I couldn’t begin to tell you because we’ve never been home and so the |
| 13:18 | comfort that is offered to those reading the prophet Isaiah from the time this |
| 13:23 | prophecy was first heard by the people in Judah to us who are hearing it today |
| 13:29 | in the 21st century these words of of comfort that are being offered are |
| 13:34 | designed to strengthen those who are in Exile or going into Exile and the same |
| 13:40 | words of comfort that were given to them Comfort us and it invokes all of the |
| 13:45 | things that we read in the gospels about our great God and Savior Jesus Christ so |
| 13:51 | Comfort word number one Comfort my people says your God speak tenderly to Jerusalem and tell her that her Warfare |
| 13:58 | is ended and that her iniquity is pardoned and that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all of her |
| 14:04 | sins what Warfare is this referring to by the way because you’ll note that as |
| 14:10 | Christians we are told to daily put on the full armor of God and that we are |
| 14:15 | still at War the Warfare here that is claimed to be ended is not the Warfare |
| 14:20 | that we have with Satan and the world and our own sinful flesh the Unholy Trinity the Warfare here that is being |
| 14:28 | spoken of is the Warfare that we’ve had with God because each and every one of us born under the Dominion of Darkness |
| 14:35 | we were born at emnity and at war with God and God has pardoned Us by the blood |
| 14:43 | of Jesus Christ you and I have received full pardon from God each and every one |
| 14:48 | of us full participants in the war against God war criminals every one of us God rather than giving us what we |
| 14:55 | deserve and hanging our carcasses on a Gallows over the fires of hell has instead chosen to Pardon Us by having |
| 15:02 | Christ take that punishment upon himself by nailing him to the Cross him |
| 15:08 | bleeding and dying in your place therefore all of your iniquity is pardoned and your Warfare with God has |
| 15:16 | ended and God has declared peace with you by the shed blood of Christ and we |
| 15:22 | have receive from the Lord’s hand double for all of our sins and here it’s not saying double punishment the better way |
| 15:28 | to think of it is double Grace we’ve received from God more than enough Mercy forgiveness and Grace and pardon than we |
| 15:36 | have sinned and so as a result of it these words Comfort us first and foremost we are reconciled to God our |
| 15:43 | Warfare with him is over and we are pardoned thanks be to Christ second word |
| 15:50 | of comfort gets really weird and I’m sure for the original readers of this when this prophecy first came out they |
| 15:57 | didn’t know how to make heads or Tales of it and so second part of this comfort then says this a voice cries in the |
| 16:04 | wilderness prepare the way of Yahweh Mak straight in the desert a highway for our God every Valley shall be lifted up |
| 16:11 | every mountain and Hill made low the uneven ground shall become level the rough plac is a plain and the glory of |
| 16:17 | Yahweh shall be revealed and All Flesh shall see it together for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken well we know what this |
| 16:23 | is invoking this is invoking John the Baptist who makes an appearance in Our |
| 16:28 | Gospel text today but you’ll note then when we take a look at a text like Mark |
| 16:35 | 1 you’ll note that John the Baptist begins you know you know his his his |
| 16:41 | ministry is prominently featured in Mark chapter 1 at the beginning of the Gospel in fact here’s what it says the |
| 16:47 | beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ the son of God as it is written in Isaiah the prophet behold I will send my |
| 16:52 | messenger before your face who will prepare your way the voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare the way of the |
| 16:58 | Lord make his paths straight and so John the Baptist did appear just as Isaiah |
| 17:07 | prophesied the one who would prepare the way of the Messiah and what was his message his message was a repentance of |
| 17:14 | repentance a call that comes across even the Millennia to us and calls us to be |
| 17:20 | prepared for Christ’s second Advent by repentance to abandon our sin to cry out |
| 17:28 | to God for Mercy to receive from God the Forgiveness of our sins in the waters of |
| 17:34 | baptism his cry still calls to us today and we who have heard his call and by |
| 17:41 | the power of the Holy Spirit have been brought to penit in faith in Christ we are truly prepared for Christ’s Advent |
| 17:49 | second coming and the celebration of his first and it’s here where I think a |
| 17:55 | little excurses would be fun I’ve been known to have a bunch bunny trail every now and then right that’s okay with you |
| 18:00 | guys all right so the question is then this in Our Gospel text it seems it |
| 18:07 | appears that John the Baptist as he was getting ready to finish his course that |
| 18:13 | he was having doubts as to his entire Ministry did he point to the right one |
| 18:20 | or did he make a mistake that’s what it appears like but on a care more careful |
| 18:26 | reading that’s not what’s going on and we remember that John the Baptist was put in prison because he was faithful to |
| 18:32 | his call to prepare the way of the Lord which means that even Herod needed to have the way of the Lord prepared for |
| 18:38 | him and even his adulterous wife herodias who was before the wife of his |
| 18:45 | brother Phillip and then she jumped into his bed and the that things went like that and so what did John the Baptist do |
| 18:51 | what did he say to Herod and herodias oh you need to repent it is not lawful for |
| 18:56 | you to have your brother’s wife and of course herodias was humiliated by having heard such a thing and so she bore a |
| 19:03 | grudge against him and then Herod had him arrested and it’s just a few days from this that John is about to lose his |
| 19:10 | head and it’s going to be placed on a platter for a dirty dancing girl the daughter of herodias but all that being |
| 19:17 | said on the first look it sounds like John the Baptist is having doubts so the |
| 19:23 | text says when John heard in prison about the Deeds of the Christ he sent word by his disciples and he said to him |
| 19:29 | are you the one who is to come or shall we look for another that’s an interesting question shall we look for |
| 19:36 | another how come it doesn’t say shall I look for another and the hint there is in the words and I would remind you okay |
| 19:45 | that John the Baptist nowhere else in scripture has any doubts as to who Christ is in fact there is a passage in |
| 19:52 | the Gospel of John that you may already be familiar with that that records for |
| 19:58 | us the words of John the Baptist but you may not even recognize that these words |
| 20:04 | were spoken originally by John the Baptist in the Gospel of John chapter 3 that famous text where it says that God |
| 20:11 | so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal |
| 20:18 | life yeah that same chapter the nicket KN chapter in verse 22 of chapter 3 it |
| 20:23 | says after this Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean Countryside |
| 20:28 | and Jesus remained there with them and was baptizing John also was baptizing at |
| 20:35 | Anan near Salim because water was plentiful there and people were coming and being baptized for John had not yet |
| 20:42 | been put in prison so a discussion arose between some of John’s disciples and a Jew over |
| 20:49 | purification rights and so they came to John and said to him Rabbi he who was |
| 20:55 | with you across the Jordan to whom you bore WT witness look he’s baptizing and |
| 21:01 | all are going to him oh no your ministry is being |
| 21:07 | threatened right you think John cares about such a thing no John answered a person cannot receive even one thing |
| 21:14 | unless it is given him from Heaven you yourselves bear me witness that I said I |
| 21:19 | am not the Christ but I have been sent before him the one who has the bride is |
| 21:26 | the bridegroom the friends of the bridegroom who stands and hears him rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s |
| 21:32 | voice therefore this Joy of mine is now complete famous words now follow he |
| 21:38 | Jesus must increase but I must decrease |
| 21:44 | that’s a very good motto for all of us by the way not just John the Baptist but |
| 21:49 | he’s got this right he knows full well that now that Christ is on the scene he was the one sent ahead of Christ to |
| 21:56 | prepare the way and now that he’s on the scene it is absolutely good right and |
| 22:01 | salutary that everybody’s going to him and now John’s Ministry is turning into |
| 22:06 | a ghost town indeed that is correct so then he says this he who comes from |
| 22:13 | above is above all he who is of the earth belongs to the Earth and speaks in an Earthly way |
| 22:21 | he who comes from Heaven is above all he Bears witness to what he has seen and heard yet no one receives his testimony |
| 22:28 | whoever receives his testimony sets his seal to this that God is true for he |
| 22:34 | whom God has sent utters the words of God for he gives the spirit without |
| 22:40 | measure the father loves the son and has given all things into his hand and then |
| 22:46 | listen to these words these are words spoken by John the Baptist whoever |
| 22:52 | believes in the son has eternal life whoever does not obey the son shall not |
| 22:58 | see life but the wrath of God remains on him does that does that sound like he |
| 23:04 | was having a crisis like doubts concerns uh that maybe he had somehow missed the |
| 23:10 | point no not at all these are words of confirmation these are words of confidence these are words of Faith |
| 23:16 | spoken by John the Baptist about Jesus so what’s with this gospel text of ours |
| 23:22 | where it seems like John is now having doubts well the key is found in what I |
| 23:27 | just read said Christ must increase he must decrease John the Baptist is about |
| 23:33 | to be decreased by well he’s not going to be as tall as he used to be okay |
| 23:38 | about this much of him is about to be taken off right he’s definitely going to be decreased to the point where he’s |
| 23:44 | going to be put into the grave and he knows it he can see what’s coming but he still has faithful disciples who are |
| 23:51 | attending to him and his needs and they will eventually attend to his burial in much sadness so when he says he sends |
| 24:00 | his disciples and sent word and asked the question are you the one who is to |
| 24:06 | come or shall we look for another the answer to the question was John’s polite |
| 24:13 | way of saying to his disciples Brothers it’s time for you to go I need |
| 24:20 | to kick you out of the nest it’s time for you to go to the one for whom I was sent to prepare the way for I’m finished |
| 24:28 | I am done he is why I am here you need to go to him so Jesus answered them you |
| 24:35 | go and you tell John what you hear and what you see the blind receive their sight the lame walk the lepers are |
| 24:41 | cleansed the deaf hear the dead are raised up the poor have good news |
| 24:47 | preached to them all amazing things and blessed is the one who is not offended |
| 24:52 | by me now let’s pause and think about that for a second blessed is the one who is not offended by me that’s a great |
| 24:59 | statement of Christ why would Jesus need to make a a statement like that because here’s the thing Jesus didn’t come in |
| 25:06 | the way that everybody expected him they expected him to be a conquering King |
| 25:12 | they expected him to come in power and in glory but Jesus doesn’t come to us in |
| 25:17 | his first Advent in power and Glory he comes to us humble humble born of a |
| 25:24 | virgin in a barn in an animal shelter with a smell of manure he’s not in a |
| 25:33 | palace Jesus you’ll note this is kind of the way God works throughout the |
| 25:38 | scriptures he doesn’t come to us in this glorious powerful fashion he comes to Us |
| 25:43 | hidden hidden in the well in the small package of a baby hidden behind the fact |
| 25:52 | that he is a human being taken on human flesh who gets hungry who gets tired who |
| 25:58 | needs to sleep this Jesus is not the powerful God that everyone expects and |
| 26:04 | here’s the thing a lot of people within the Christian church today they still want that power God and they keep |
| 26:10 | missing the fact that God comes to us humble hidden in fact if you didn’t know |
| 26:16 | what was going on and you were to just simply look with your eyes today when we |
| 26:22 | have the Lord’s Supper you would think that all we were consuming was bread |
| 26:28 | and wine grape juice for some of you and that that’s all there is to it but the |
| 26:35 | idea then here is we hear with our ears the truth about what this is we don’t |
| 26:40 | see it with our eyes we hear the truth that there when we have the Lord’s Supper we are receiving not only Bread |
| 26:47 | and Wine but also truly the body and blood of Christ hidden in with under the |
| 26:52 | bread and wine for the Forgiveness of our sins so you’ll note Christ’s words |
| 26:58 | here blessed is the one who is not offended by me that’s a warning to those who are looking to God to come in great |
| 27:04 | power and Glory right now he doesn’t and he doesn’t do that for our sake because |
| 27:11 | if Christ comes again in glory to judge the living and the dead it’s the last day instead God noting our weakness |
| 27:19 | noting our sin continues to come to us humble the words of the Holy Spirit |
| 27:24 | written in a book called The Bible and you’ll note then that if you look at |
| 27:30 | your this with your eyes and try to think it out with your reason you’ll |
| 27:35 | miss God all together and that’s the point that Christ is making so as they |
| 27:40 | went away Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John so what did you go out into the Wilderness to see a reed |
| 27:46 | shaken in by the wind and you can hear the crowd go no so what then did you go out to see how about a man dressed in |
| 27:52 | soft clothing and they went no and behold those who wear soft clothing are in King houses so what then did you go |
| 27:58 | out to see a prophet yes and I tell you more than a |
| 28:05 | Prophet this is he of whom it is written behold I will send my messenger before your face who will prepare the way |
| 28:11 | before you John the Baptist is truly the last of the Old Testament prophets and the first of the New Testament |
| 28:18 | evangelists it’s a fascinating thing he’s got one foot in the Old Testament one foot in the new which is why he he |
| 28:25 | wears the uniform that he wears of camel hair and a large belt but you’ll know Christ affirms then his prophetic |
| 28:32 | Ministry and that this was the one prophesied the one who would prepare the way before him so truly I say to among |
| 28:39 | those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist yet the one who is least in the Kingdom of |
| 28:44 | Heaven is greater than he so we see then in our Old Testament text that God has |
| 28:52 | chosen to provide Comfort by pointing us back to John the Baptist first pointing |
| 28:58 | us to the shed blood of Christ by which our Warfare is ended with God and our iniquity pardoned second pointing us to |
| 29:05 | the voice of John the Baptist calling us to repentance and then we have a third word of comfort and this one takes a |
| 29:11 | little bit of work to unpack but let me walk you through it so then the third word is this a voice says cry and I say |
| 29:18 | well what shall I cry all flesh is grass and all of its beauty like the flower of |
| 29:23 | the field the grass withers the flower Fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it surely the people are grass well |
| 29:31 | this doesn’t sound very comforting at the moment but you’ll note here that um we human beings have this funny thing |
| 29:38 | that we do and that is is that we all start off young we all start off |
| 29:44 | beautiful we all start off handsome and strong right but then well life happens |
| 29:50 | in fact I was just thinking about this the other day I saw a picture of Jeff Kenny and his wife Rachel when they were |
| 29:55 | dating and they looked look like I mean were you even shaving back then |
| 30:01 | you you know and he he looks so sparkly and shiny right but then what happened |
| 30:07 | you know so this thing happens to us and |
| 30:13 | that is is that just like the word says all of us our life is like grass we |
| 30:20 | wither and we fade in fact I keep complaining the image in the mirror gets worse and worse by the day and so we |
| 30:28 | human beings do something weird and that is is that when we start to really begin to feel it oh no I’m really getting old |
| 30:35 | we do all kinds of strange things like you know this is where the guys have their like midlife crisis they trade |
| 30:41 | their wife in on a newer model they buy a you know an Aston Martin weird things like this right but other people aside |
| 30:47 | from going that direction other people they do things like starting reading articles you know in the AARP magazine |
| 30:53 | about longevity and things like this and figuring out which vitamin supplements they can take to begin to kind of like |
| 30:58 | extend their life a little bit because the last thing we want to do is just go headlong into the grave we’re trying to |
| 31:04 | figure out a way to put the breakes on the bad progress that is coming and so we all do |
| 31:11 | this but at the end of the day are you going to keep the grave from you no not |
| 31:19 | at all so note then that in the setup for this word of comfort is a reminder |
| 31:26 | that each and every one of us still pays the wages of sin the wages of sin is death and we have that death coming to |
| 31:33 | all of us that being the case where’s the Comfort well it’s in the last |
| 31:38 | sentence the grass withers the flower Fades but the word of our God will stand |
| 31:45 | forever ah the word of the Lord endures forever H that sounds familiar it should |
| 31:51 | but why is that comforting because it’s in the word in the word only that we hear the great great Promises of eternal |
| 31:58 | life Jesus himself says to us Christians you will never taste death you who have |
| 32:05 | been baptized into Christ’s death and into his resurrection you have already died and as a result of that despite the |
| 32:13 | fact that my body is falling apart slowly daily yours too despite all of |
| 32:19 | that I know that the word of the Lord will stand forever and his word says I’m forgiven his word says you will live |
| 32:27 | forever in A New Earth his word says that when Christ does return in glory he will raise you from the grave in a body |
| 32:36 | that will never die in a world where there is no sin where there is no |
| 32:41 | illness where there is no death where there is no suffering where there is no disease in a World Without End all |
| 32:48 | promised to you because of what Christ has done for us on the cross all as a free gift we can basically say Yep this |
| 32:57 | grass is withering but the word of the Lord endures forever and that word says I will live forever as well and you will |
| 33:03 | live forever as well Comfort Comfort my people these are indeed comforting words |
| 33:10 | I think it’s appropriate to be wearing pink today have you guys considered the psalm for today have you considered the |
| 33:17 | psalm the psalm is Psalm 85 and I cannot think of better words to end this sermon |
| 33:23 | than the words from the assigned psalm for today Psalm 85 Lord you were favorable to your land and |
| 33:31 | you restored the fortunes of Jacob indeed God has he’s restored the fortun |
| 33:39 | fortunes of Jacob in Christ while Christ is preparing A Place For Us in eternity |
| 33:46 | when he returns in glory indeed our fortunes have been restored despite the fact that even though we live in a hard |
| 33:53 | mean world of scarcity and lack and of pain pain and suffering we know that our |
| 33:58 | fortunes have been turned around and restored because of Christ and because of this the text goes on to say you |
| 34:04 | forgave the iniquity of your people you covered all of their sin you withdrew |
| 34:10 | all your wrath you turned from your hot anger so restore us again oh god of our |
| 34:16 | salvation and put away your indignation toward us will you be angry with us forever will you prolong your anger to |
| 34:23 | all generations will you not revive us again that your people may rejoice in you show |
| 34:30 | us your steadfast love O Lord and grant us your salvation let me hear what the |
| 34:36 | Lord will speak for he will speak peace to his people to his Saints but let them |
| 34:41 | not turn back to Folly surely his salvation is near to those who fear Him |
| 34:47 | That Glory May dwell in our land steadfast love and faithfulness meet |
| 34:52 | righteousness and peace kiss each other faithfulness Springs up from the ground |
| 34:57 | and righteousness looks down from the sky yes Yahweh will give what is good |
| 35:03 | and our land will yield its Increase righteousness will go before him and make his footsteps away Comfort Comfort |
| 35:12 | my people says our God and today we are comforted with these great words of |
| 35:18 | Promise in the name of Jesus |
| 35:25 | Amen |
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