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Series A – Third Sunday After Epiphany – Sunday, January 21, 2018 | 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
0:29	Gospel According to Saint Mark chapter 1 verses 21-28
0:34	they went into Capernaum immediately on the Sabbath Jesus entered the synagogue and he was teaching
0:41	they were astonished at his teaching for he taught them as one who had Authority and not as the scribes
0:47	and immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit and he cried out what have you to do
0:54	with us Jesus of Nazareth have you come to destroy us I know who you are the Holy One of God
1:01	but Jesus rebuked him saying be silent come out of him and the unclean Spirit convulsing him
1:08	and crying out with a loud voice came out of him and they were all amazed so that they
1:14	questioned among themselves saying what is this a new teaching with authority He
1:19	commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him and at once his frame his
1:25	Fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee this is the gospel of the Lord in the name of
1:32	Jesus well if Christ’s strength is made perfect in weakness this will be a
1:38	perfect sermon did you notice in Our Gospel text today that a demon showed up in the middle of
1:45	a church service that’s actually what happened um back in the ancient days synagogues
1:52	were the place where the people of Israel would go on Saturday not Sunday during the Sabbath their day of rest
1:58	they would go to the synagogue and God had established in the Mosaic Covenant that the priests who were not serving in
2:06	the temple were given the job of instructing the people of Israel in the Torah and the prophets if you want to
2:13	impress your friends the Old Testament is called the Tanakh by Jews even to
2:18	this day but that was their job to go and hear the word of God and there Jesus
2:24	is and he’s preaching in a synagogue he’s teaching in a synagogue on a
2:29	Saturday and a demon manifests we are going to be paying close attention to
2:35	the details as we step through this and then consider what scripture reveals regarding this idea that there are such
2:42	things as doctrines of demons that’s a politically incorrect concept yet it’s
2:48	important for us as Christians to understand what God God in his word reveals regarding this idea so that we
2:54	can protect ourselves and our loved ones and not listen to the voice of the devil and his demons but listen truly to the
3:01	voice of Christ so returning back to our gospel text here’s what it says
3:07	they went into Capernaum and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and Jesus was teaching I pointed this
3:14	out before I’ll point it out again as you read through the gospel of Mark it moves it moves because the operative
3:20	word is immediately immediately immediately it’s like Jesus’s Ministry on Red Bull you know if you read the
3:27	gospel of Mark you come come away thinking that Jesus somehow accomplished everything in like a two-week period
3:33	That’s how quick this thing moves and so immediately he was teaching in the Sabbath he and they were astonished at
3:39	his teaching for he taught them as one who had Authority not as the scribes now
3:45	let me help you understand what that means the scribes and the Pharisees were Heretics these were men who actually
3:52	didn’t rightly handle God’s word and when they would teach they would not teach with authority and we know this
3:58	because we have a body of their work that exists even to this day and you can read it and find it online there’s
4:04	there’s public domain versions of it it’s called and when you read the mishnah the one thing that you become
4:10	very aware of is that they always seem to answer questions with questions they
4:16	never really quite get around to making assertions unless the assertions have to do with the keeping of the Sabbath and
4:22	certain things that you were not permitted to do and so back in the day you asked a scriber a Pharisee who’s
4:28	teaching in the synagogue by the way they didn’t have authority to do so they actually jumped the fence they were
4:34	not permitted to be doing this and yet they were that you asked them a direct question from the Bible what they would
4:40	do end up doing is they would say well you know some would say this some would say that
4:45	and another would say another thing why do you ask and you’d sit there wondering
4:51	am I going to get an answer to my question but Jesus the son of God he
4:56	comes in and he teaches as one who has Authority now funny enough the Levites
5:01	had authority to teach God’s word and you can see an example of this have you ever read the book of Nehemiah the book
5:09	of Nehemiah fascinating book and it’s about the story of The Return of the Israelites from captivity in Babylon
5:16	back to Jerusalem and the rebuilding of the wall and when the kind of the rebuilding of the temple per se but it
5:23	didn’t quite have the glory that it had when Solomon established it and then you when you read Nehemiah and Ezra together
5:29	you get this picture where the children of Israel once the wall is built they come together and they hear no joke they
5:37	hear God’s word preached it’s an all day long Affair beginning in Genesis and
5:42	continuing on to the end of you know before the Book of Judges you know they hear God’s word preach and it says that
5:49	the job of the priests was to help the people of Israel understand the correct
5:55	sense of the text that’s the idea and the Levites had that Authority scribes
6:00	and Pharisees didn’t they did not have that Authority and so you get the idea
6:06	then is is that levite doing his job in the synagogue sitting on the Moses seat his job is to actually speak as one who
6:13	has authority to help people understand the proper sense of what the scriptures say scribes and Pharisees come along and
6:20	they’re blurring everything and the reason why they’re blurring everything is because they’re doing the
6:26	work of the devil they’re not there to create faith and certainty in the promises of God doing the work of the
6:32	devil they’re there to create well fuzzy lines where there were clear ones
6:38	they’re they’re creating doubt where there once was certainty and so they immediately noticed the difference of
6:44	what’s going on with the way Jesus is teaching and if you think for a second that Jesus was some kind of an innovator
6:50	like Jesus comes along and everything he’s preaching seems totally disconnected from what God had said in
6:58	the Old Testament you would be wrong Jesus made it very clear that he taught from the scriptures he taught their
7:04	right sense and he helped people to understand how they pointed to him and that he was talking he would always
7:11	talk about what the Messiah would do and then when you read the apostles and what
7:16	they wrote in the gospels they were also very clear about what Jesus did and how
7:22	he fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies and so they these were fellows who also spoke with authority
7:27	because they had Authority from Christ so Jesus comes in to the synagogue where the scribes and
7:33	Pharisees had taken over and these people are now being blinded they’re being blinded by false Doctrine and so
7:40	Jesus is teaching as one who has Authority they recognize this and it’s as if the devil says I can’t stand this
7:48	anymore we’ve got to put an end to this because if this is allowed to go on like this people are going to be believing
7:54	the truth so now out comes the visible
8:00	manifestation of what was always going on in the synagogue behind the scenes the one the part that you couldn’t see
8:06	and a man manifests an unclean Spirit a demon and he cried out what have you to
8:13	do with us Jesus of Nazareth notice the plural this isn’t some lone demon working by
8:19	himself he’s the spokesman for the other demons working in the synagogue what
8:24	have you to do with us I know you know have you come to destroy us I know who you are you’re the Holy One of God
8:32	well yeah they get that right that’s the funny thing is is that false teachers and even the demons have no problem
8:38	acknowledging verbally who Jesus is but you think for a second they want people believing in him and trusting in Him no
8:46	way so have you come to destroy us as if somehow Jesus is this evil terrible
8:51	person yeah the problem here is the evil Wicked Jesus no not at all
8:58	but Jesus rebuked him and he said be silent come out of him and the unclean
9:03	Spirit convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice came out of him and they were all amazed so that they
9:10	question among themselves saying what is this a new teaching with authority
9:16	but Jesus didn’t teach new doctrine he embellished and added on to the
9:23	doctrine that was already revealed in Genesis already back in Genesis 3 the
9:29	promise of the seed of the woman who had crushed the head of the serpent Jesus wasn’t teaching anything new
9:35	he’s not an innovator so what’s going on here is we see that their eyes are
9:41	opened in their hearing a new message which means that they were going to synagogue Saturday after Saturday after
9:47	Saturday and they weren’t hearing the truth now consider this as a cross reference
9:53	to what we’re what we’re seeing here in this text in first Timothy chapter 4
9:59	verses one and two first Timothy Chapter 4 verses 1 and 2. the Apostle Paul gives
10:05	a very explicit prophecy regarding the days that we find ourselves in and
10:11	listen to this carefully the spirit that’s the Holy Spirit expressly says that in latter times
10:19	some will depart from the Faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits
10:25	and the teachings of demons if you have an NIV it actually says doctrines of demons which is the right way of
10:31	understanding this through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are are steered
10:38	now this might step on some people’s toes but if you really want to get an idea of what this looks like doctrines of demons
10:45	through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared turn on your television and flip over to
10:52	God TV or the Trinity Broadcasting Network and all these people who are
10:57	telling you that God wants you to be wealthy God wants you to be healthy and the only thing you have to do is to
11:04	prove to God that you have faith that he’s going to heal you and make you healthy and Wealthy by sending them a
11:09	thousand dollar seed offering that’s a doctrine of demons
11:15	it’s a doctrine of demons and unfortunately few within the Christian church have the courage to stand up
11:21	against it and say that’s false and if you speak out against it there’s a good chance you’re going to be shouted
11:27	down or at least get people mad at you if you’re not convinced about this come talk to me I’ll show you some of the
11:33	emails I get but that’s the idea and keep this in mind then we should not
11:38	somehow think of a strange thing that the devil wants to operate in the church that he wants to hijack the message and
11:46	to get people to listen to the devil’s voice rather than to God’s voice it makes perfect sense and this goes all
11:52	the way back to the Garden of Eden if you think about it the setup in the Garden of Eden was quite interesting as
11:57	far as there was a Sacrament there was a commandment the Commandment was you shall not eat of
12:04	the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil because on the day you eat of it you will surely die
12:09	one of the Minor Prophets I think it’s Hosea tells us that Adam and Eve actually broke a covenant that they have
12:15	with God that their Disobedience was a Breaking of a covenant so you had a covenant relationship you had a
12:22	commandment and there was also a Sacrament the sacrament was the Tree of Life
12:27	and so you can kind of think of it this way that the Garden of Eden was the very first Cathedral the very first church
12:34	ever built it was a Congregation of two but where two are more are gathered in his name Christ is present
12:40	and the Devil comes into church I think that’s a good way of putting it and he
12:46	speaks doctrines of demons because he is a demon the prince of them and he says
12:52	to the woman did God really say casting doubt on God
12:58	and then the woman wrongly quotes back what God Said and added to it and then
13:04	looks inside of her heart when the devil says yeah listen listen you want to eat this because God
13:11	knows that on the day you eat of this fruit you will be like God knowing Good
13:17	and Evil so she listens to that voice the first doctrine of demons you will be like God
13:25	she listens to that voice rather than to God’s voice she believes the devil rather than God
13:32	and this plunges us into the misery that we find ourselves in a misery that we
13:37	well sometimes requires your pastor to lose his voice even but you get the idea that’s church that’s the doctrine of
13:43	demons so the devil operates in that exact same way today think of it this
13:50	way idolatry the first commandment says you will have no other gods before me
13:56	idolatry is the having of another God then the one true God and if we look
14:02	ahead in First Corinthians if you would turn with me to First Corinthians 10. I want to show you how Paul
14:09	develops what he was saying in our epistle reading today where he talked
14:14	about the fact that a demon or an idol has no real existence he recognizes that
14:20	they have no real existence but there’s a very firm warning as he develops his thought and the firm warning comes in
14:26	first Corinthians 10. listen to the conclusion of where he’s going with this verse 1 I don’t want you to be unaware
14:33	brothers that our fathers they were all under the cloud all passed to the Sea all were baptized into Moses in the
14:40	cloud and in the sea all ate the same spiritual food all drank the same spiritual drink for they drank from the
14:47	spiritual rock that followed them and The Rock was Christ nevertheless with most of them God was not pleased for
14:54	they were overthrown in the wilderness now these things took place as examples for us so that we might not desire evil
15:02	as they did do not be idolaters as some of them were
15:08	as it is written the people sat down to eat and to drink and Rose up to play we
15:14	all know what that’s referring to the incident that Paul is actually referencing is the story of the golden
15:19	calf at the foot of Mount Sinai and if you go back in your Bible in fact this would be a good homework assignment for
15:25	you as you consider what was said in the sermon go back in your Bible look in the book of Exodus and read the account of
15:32	the children of Israel on the base of Mount Sinai Moses is up receiving the Ten Commandments he’s at the top
15:38	they basically say well we don’t know what happened to this fellow so they call for a feast
15:45	a day of worship and if you read the text it’s a day of worship to Yahweh to the Lord no joke
15:53	they then create this golden calf and claim that they are worshiping Yahweh
15:59	and what are they saying about the calves hero Israel are the gods who brought you out of Egypt they were
16:05	idolaters in the name of the Lord isn’t that interesting man I bet you didn’t
16:11	realize that that was taking place there go but don’t believe me go and see if I’m telling you the truth but that’s the
16:17	idea so Paul here is saying don’t be idolaters don’t do this because the
16:23	children of Israel did this and they were overthrown in the wilderness and we must not indulge in sexual immorality
16:28	it’s some of some of them did and 23 000 fell in a single day we must not put
16:35	Christ to the test as some of them did and they were destroyed by serpents nor grumble
16:40	pay attention to that one everybody just no grumbling I’m joking you get it and as some of
16:46	them did and they were destroyed by the Destroyer now these things happen to them as an example but they were written
16:52	down for our instruction on whom the end of the ages has come so therefore let anyone who thinks that he
16:58	stands take heed lest he fall no temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man and that’s the best part
17:05	about it is that there is no original sins nowadays everyone’s just doing the same things all of The Temptations where
17:12	we are tempted to sin there’s nothing original about them humans are kind of predictable in that way but he says this
17:18	God is faithful and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability but with
17:24	the Temptation he will also provide the way of Escape that you may be able to endure it so therefore my beloved flea
17:30	idolatry you’re going to note two classes of sins we are instructed to
17:36	flee from sexual immorality flee idolatry
17:41	flee and that’s what false teaching is its idolatry so flee from it I speak as
17:48	to sensible people judge for yourselves what I say the cup of blessing that we bless is it not a participation in the
17:55	blood of Christ of course it is yes it is the bread that we break is it not a participation in the body of Christ well
18:00	indeed it is so because there is one bread we who are many are one body for we all partake of the one bread so
18:07	consider the people of Israel are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar what do I
18:13	imply them the food offered to an idol is anything or that an idol is anything and now it comes listen so is an idol
18:21	anything no I imply that what Pagan sacrifice they offer to Demons not to
18:29	God let that one sink in for a second consider the implications
18:35	if you were to travel to the Orient and I know some of you haven’t actually traveled far from Oslo and I get that
18:41	but if you travel to the Orient if you were to visit Thailand or China or even Japan
18:47	what would you see there lots of shrines and statues of
18:53	Buddha if you were to travel to India you would also see lots of idolatry there all right you would see statues of
19:01	Shiva and Vishnu and that elephant deity or that lady with the eight arms have you ever seen her that one creeps me out
19:07	all of those are idols and what people do is they offer sacrifices to these
19:13	items food offerings drink offerings in Thailand they even have a deity that the
19:18	offering that you’re supposed to bring him is booze and cigarettes no joke sounds like quite the fun God
19:27	but the idea then is this what they are offering to these Idols they’re not offering to the idols the Idols are a
19:33	pass-through they’re actually offering it to demons demons are the source of our idolatry
19:40	you cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of
19:45	demons shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy are we stronger than he
19:51	now note here that I implied it so let me explicitly say it
19:57	all the other religions of the world their source is not the one true God
20:03	this text makes it clear their source are demons we don’t have a problem as
20:09	Christians saying yeah that’s probably true regarding Buddhism and some of the deities that are worshiping India and if
20:16	you’re really feeling brave you might even say I think the same thing about Islam too
20:22	but that’s the truth about Islam I mean Islam is a religion that is based upon an angelic
20:27	encounter that Muhammad was supposed to have and how this Angel Gabriel revealed
20:33	these things to him and took him on these marvelous Journeys and did these amazing miraculous things
20:38	but the reality is is that Allah of Islam is not God the Father God the
20:45	son God the Holy Spirit Allah is a false god and he’s a demon
20:51	is it any wonder that his followers behave like them keep that in mind you know the truth
20:57	scripture says this but that also applies then to the wolves and sheep’s
21:02	clothing who come into our Christian congregations to take our eyes off of Jesus and his word and what he is
21:09	authoritatively authoritatively taught and once spoken in his church and teach
21:14	us things that nowhere in scripture are we authorized to teach consider just a couple of verses from our Old Testament
21:21	text in Deuteronomy 18. the Lord your God will raise up for you
21:26	a prophet like me from among you the text says from your brothers it is to him you shall listen note God makes it
21:34	very clear all the way back in the Old Testament from Moses the first guy to pen any texts of scripture that God
21:40	prophesied that the prophet would come and that Prophet is Jesus that the prophet would come and we are to listen
21:46	to him and that those who will not listen to him God will hold them accountable for it
21:53	and he says this later in the text I will put my words in his mouth he shall
21:58	speak to them all that I command him
22:04	listen to Jesus listen to the words that God the father has commanded him to speak and those who
22:11	say different words you must not listen to them that’s idolatry so what is
22:17	exactly that Jesus has said what does Jesus say to you what does he say to me
22:25	even to this day are you ready is it try harder do gooder give more so
22:34	that you can commend yourself to God and maybe save yourself by cleaning up your own act no he doesn’t say anything like
22:41	that but how many messages have you heard that sound exactly like that does God does Jesus say give a seed
22:49	offering so that I’ll make you wealthy and healthy doesn’t say that either does he say learn how to hear the voice of
22:55	God this Whispers up in the atmosphere and he’s going to reveal to you his unique purpose for which he made you and
23:03	then you must basically ex everybody out of your life that isn’t supporting you and fulfilling your purpose does he say
23:10	that no listen to what he does today John 3 verse 14.
23:17	as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness so the son of man
23:23	must be lifted up so that whoever believes in him may have eternal life
23:31	for God so loved the world that he gave his only son
23:37	so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life
23:43	you see God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved
23:49	through him whoever believes in him is not condemned
23:55	whoever does not believe is condemned already because he has not
24:01	believed in the name of the only son of God you see
24:07	this Prophet prophesied by Moses in Deuteronomy 18 has spoken
24:12	and he says he’s come to forgive you he says he’s come to reconcile you to
24:19	the father he says that God loves you so much that he even gave his own son to
24:27	bleed and to die for every one of your dark thin stained pus-filled sins
24:36	that he loves you and has redeemed you and he’s calling you to believe
24:45	that belief will lead to action it always does where this true Faith good
24:51	works will always follow but see the words that Jesus has spoken is believe
24:56	trust me I forgive I love I redeem and
25:02	he goes to the cross and bleeds and dies for you and we learn from other passages of scriptures and those who whom he gave
25:08	authority to speak on his behalf that the reason why he was doing that was to
25:14	reconcile you to the father you see the demons want to keep you busy
25:19	always say I want to keep you busy chasing your own tail you ever seen the poor dog you know who’s chasing his tail
25:26	the videos on YouTube are just absolutely hilarious to watch or the cat that does it it’s always fun when you
25:32	say the cat trying to chase the little laser ball thing yeah they never catch it because there’s nothing to catch
25:37	you see the devil wants you to do that oh you want salvation let me turn my laser on there it is go get it and you
25:43	go and try to get it and it’s gone because it moves it up to the wall what’s over there now go get it
25:48	Devil’s always keeping you busy but Jesus says come to me you who are heavy
25:53	laden and I will give you rest the devil says salvation is something
25:58	you have to earn Jesus says no way you couldn’t even begin to pay the price
26:03	I’ll pay it for you believe I love you see the difference so it’s to
26:10	him you must listen he desires your salvation he desires your forgiveness he
26:15	desires your reconciliation he desires your repentance and he knows you’re filthy dirty and he promises to clean
26:22	you up he promises to clean you up in the waters of your baptism he promises to
26:27	come to you in his body and blood broken and shed for you for the Forgiveness of sins when we take the Lord’s Supper he
26:34	came to you this morning not me he came to you this morning when we began in the
26:39	name of the father Son and Holy Spirit two or more are gathered he’s there among us and what was his first word to
26:45	you I forgive you
26:52	it is to him you must listen be forgiven God loves you
26:58	stop chasing your tail Jesus accomplished it all for you listen to
27:03	him stop listening to the demonic voices in your head or even the demonic voices that invade the church
27:10	Jesus Wills for them to be silenced but remember this
27:18	text in Deuteronomy says whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name the one
27:25	who doesn’t want to be forgiven the one who wants to climb the ladder and say I earned my salvation listening to the
27:32	doctrines of the demons that God himself will require it of him
27:37	but the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak
27:42	no Pastor or Prophet was ever commanded by God to preach or to speak words that
27:49	said you had to earn your salvation not one of them in fact all of the prophets pointed to
27:55	Jesus false prophets always point to themselves or to you to the one who speaks in the name of
28:01	other gods the gods that promise Prosperity they’re like the fertility
28:06	gods of old or promise all kinds of health and wealth and nonsense like that
28:13	that same Prophet shall die Moses wrote it’s important for us to understand
28:18	something we have to have a complete view of death death is not merely
28:25	the separating of a human spirit and a human body that truly is what scripture calls the
28:33	first death the prophet who presumes to speak a word in God’s name is not threatened with merely the tearing apart
28:39	of his body and his soul that comes to all of us he’s promised the second death
28:46	the real death the one that Christ came to rescue us from and the second death is an eternity in
28:53	the Lake of Fire and it is reserved for those who speak lies
28:58	it is reserved for those who are cowards and will not stand up for the truth it
29:03	is reserved for those who preach teach and listen to the doctrines of demons
29:08	they will surely die so let us take idolatry for the serious thing that it
29:15	is it leads to the Eternal death of the person preaching it
29:21	and the Eternal death of those who hear it and believe it
29:27	and understand this we as Christians are instructed by God’s
29:32	word in Christ himself to learn the savior’s voice and to hear his voice and not the demons
29:39	and in order for that to happen you must understand his word because Jesus speaks
29:46	to you this morning through his word he speaks to you tomorrow morning
29:51	through his word hear his voice in his word learn his ways they are not hard
29:59	they are not Beyond you and The Temptations that have overcome you he’s promised a way out even the temptation
30:06	to idolatry so repent of your idolatry your false gods your false doctrines
30:11	repent of listening to the soothing lies of the devil and trust in Jesus believe
30:17	him because he was sent to save us because of God’s great love for us
30:23	in the name of Jesus amen [Music]

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