Series C – Sunday, October 23, 2016 – Twenty-Third Sunday After Pentecost | 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 |
| 0:24 | The holy Gospel According to Saint Luke |
| 0:31 | chapter 18 verses 9 through 17. Jesus also told this Parable to some who |
| 0:38 | trusted in themselves that they were righteous and they treated others with contempt two men went up into the temple |
| 0:45 | to pray when a Pharisee the other attacks collector the Pharisee standing by himself prayed thus God I thank you |
| 0:52 | that I am not like other men extortioners unjust adulterers or even like this tax collector I’ve fast twice |
| 1:00 | a week I give tithes of all that I get but the tax collector standing far off would not even lift up his eyes to |
| 1:07 | heaven but beat his breath saying God be merciful to me a sinner |
| 1:13 | I tell you this man went down to his house Justified rather than the other for everyone who exalts himself will be |
| 1:19 | humbled but the one who humbles himself will be exalted now they were bringing even infants to Jesus that he might |
| 1:25 | touch them and when the disciples saw it they rebuked them but Jesus called them to him saying let the little children |
| 1:31 | come to me and do not hinder them for such belongs the kingdom of God truly I say to you whoever does not receive the |
| 1:38 | kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it in the name of Jesus |
| 1:45 | remember the last question that Jesus asked in last week’s gospel text Luke chapter 18 verse 8. that’s the one |
| 1:52 | immediately before nine I don’t know a lot of math but I know that eight comes before nine |
| 1:58 | here’s what he says nevertheless when the son of man comes will he find faith on the Earth |
| 2:05 | that’s the question that immediately precedes our next portion of the Gospel of Luke so remember there is currently a |
| 2:14 | struggle between two religions in the world and you’re thinking Pastor are you sure |
| 2:19 | there’s only two two religions in the world are struggling with each other I mean just kind of do the math here we |
| 2:25 | got Islam Buddhism Jainism Christianity that’s more than two |
| 2:31 | no actually it still boils down to two you see there’s a conflict between two |
| 2:36 | religions one is the religion of striving or works and the other is the religion of |
| 2:41 | receiving or Grace the religion of striving the religion of Works takes on |
| 2:47 | many many forms But ultimately it’s all the same kind of |
| 2:53 | schema follow this program do these things you earn your salvation when you show up |
| 3:01 | to stand before God God says well done you did it |
| 3:07 | that’s not Christianity that’s a religion of striving and I want you to mark my words on this that the religion |
| 3:13 | of striving and those who are adherents of it hate those in the religion of Grace |
| 3:19 | and the religion of receiving this hate is so deep and visceral that the religion of striving seeks to murder and |
| 3:26 | destroy all vestiges of the receiving of the religion of receiving and Grace think of it this way |
| 3:32 | we all see the horrible stories coming out of the Middle East regarding Isis what are they up to next who have they |
| 3:38 | killed now how did they kill them well see Isis is Not an Accident Isis is |
| 3:44 | nothing more than the religion of works on a military Crusade with nothing to keep it in check including the Geneva |
| 3:52 | Convention that’s the true nature of the religion of works the religion of striving and |
| 3:58 | left to ourselves into our own religious devices we all because of our sinful and |
| 4:03 | Fallen Natures were born into the religion of striving the religion of works and this religion is so evil that |
| 4:10 | it demonically teaches that all of its adherence that they are good and that the problem of sin is outside of them |
| 4:18 | it’s out there somewhere furthermore it teaches that salvation either in whole |
| 4:24 | or in part is up to you so if you don’t get busy praying giving alms |
| 4:30 | volunteering at church making your pilgrimage to the holy cities as |
| 4:35 | Norwegian I’m not sure where the holy maybe it’s Oslo you make your pilgrimages oh and also it’s very |
| 4:42 | important that you wage Jihad against the infidels and if you don’t do this if you’re not |
| 4:49 | busy doing this now well then there’s no her hope of eternal life for you so when one then asks well how many of |
| 4:56 | these good works prayers pilgrimages how many infidels must I kill and stack up |
| 5:01 | like cords of wood in order to be saved well the answer always comes back in the |
| 5:08 | religion of Works in well in vague and ambiguous terms |
| 5:13 | you see you never know when you’re saved and the religion of works you never can say you’ve done enough which does |
| 5:20 | nothing more than create that nagging uncertainty in its inherence and that nagging uncertainty is well am |
| 5:27 | I saved or not I’m not sure have I done enough so the solution to this nagging |
| 5:32 | uncertainty which just keeps going on inside of them is to end up destroying all those in murdering all of those who |
| 5:40 | have peace and certainty and rest with God they’re the threat really if you think about it so not knowing what it’ll |
| 5:47 | take to save themselves they end up Waging War with any who would claim that salvation is a gift given by God by |
| 5:55 | grace through faith on account of Christ as a gift the Lamb of God who takes away |
| 6:00 | the sin of the world and so this kind of frames our two texts today we’ll even look at our Old |
| 6:06 | Testament text and so our gospel says this Jesus also told this Parable to |
| 6:12 | some who watch these words trusted in themselves that they were righteous |
| 6:19 | there’s a saying out there in the legal world that the person who has himself as his own attorney has a fool for an |
| 6:26 | attorney that’s how the saying goes the one who trusts in himself that he is righteous |
| 6:31 | in himself is well trusting in a fool this is |
| 6:36 | foolishness but here’s the nature of the religion of Works they trust in themselves that they’re righteous and |
| 6:43 | they treat others with contempt that’s how it goes isn’t it that’s always the Telltale sign of the religion |
| 6:49 | of striving see the problem is never in here the problem’s never right here the |
| 6:55 | problem is always out there in fact here’s how they talk well the reason our society is going down the toilet and it |
| 7:01 | for sure is going down the toilet well it’s because of Hollywood it’s because of the gay Lobby it’s because of |
| 7:08 | corruption in Washington D.C no it’s the fault of the liberal media you know CNN |
| 7:14 | and MSNBC no it’s actually the fault of the conservative media it’s Fox news’s |
| 7:19 | fault it’s Trump’s fault it’s Hillary Clinton’s fault |
| 7:25 | you see the problem here and here’s the issue anyone who would actually tell them kind of tap them on |
| 7:32 | the shoulder and say Hey listen the problem isn’t Hollywood the problem isn’t the liberal media the problem is |
| 7:38 | you yeah anybody who is well bold enough to |
| 7:45 | say that they will be duly punished in fact they will see their churches destroyed their pastors reputations |
| 7:52 | tarnished they will see their pastors run out of office maybe even murdered or martyred |
| 7:57 | for their stubborn refusal to stop preaching Christ and him crucified for |
| 8:02 | our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone see the religion of Works always Waters |
| 8:10 | down the law the law is doable now if once we dilute |
| 8:15 | it rather than convicting and killing us and showing us our sin and need for a savior the law becomes the thing that we |
| 8:22 | construct into a ladder that we then climb into heaven and see this is what’s at the heart of |
| 8:28 | our Old Testament text let’s turn back to Genesis chapter 4 and note what’s going on here |
| 8:34 | here’s what it says Adam knew Eve his wife and she conceived and bore Cain saying I |
| 8:42 | have gotten a man with the help of the Lord now I need to note something here |
| 8:47 | the Hebrew sentence actually if you were to just translate it straight says I |
| 8:53 | have gotten a man the Lord there is an interpretive tradition |
| 8:58 | within Christianity that looks at the sentence from the Hebrew and believes that that while Eve may have thought |
| 9:05 | that she had given birth to the Messiah and that’s part of what’s going wrong here I’ve gotten a man with the help of |
| 9:12 | the Lord the ESV says and again she bore his brother Abel have you all ever read |
| 9:18 | the story uh the children’s book Ricky Ticky Tembo it’s a fascinating story of |
| 9:24 | of of how names were given in ancient China the first born son receives all of |
| 9:30 | the glory and then other son after that not so much and so the story of Ricky Tikki Tembo tells us the story of a |
| 9:38 | firstborn son whose name was get this Ricky Tikki Tembo No saw Rembo Cherry Berry Ruchi pit Perry Pembo put that on |
| 9:46 | a bubble test and his brother’s name was Chang which means practically nothing so kind |
| 9:52 | of think of it this way is that Cain is oh I’ve gotten a man the |
| 9:59 | Lord Abel yeah who cares what Abel means he’s the second born that’s really what’s |
| 10:06 | going on here so the story says she bore Abel Abel was a keeper of sheep |
| 10:13 | Cain a worker of the ground in the course of time Cain brought to the Lord |
| 10:18 | an offering of the fruit of the ground and Abel also brought the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions |
| 10:25 | now watch what the words say the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering |
| 10:31 | but for Cain not so much not Lord did not have regard for Cain nor his |
| 10:37 | offering now when I was a kid I couldn’t figure out what was going on here is it |
| 10:42 | that God doesn’t like salad what’s the deal the Mosaic Covenant nowhere forbids |
| 10:48 | grain offerings or offerings from the fruits of the earth to be brought to him |
| 10:53 | in fact they’re encouraged so what’s going on here why is God having regard |
| 11:00 | for Abel end his offering but no regard for Cain |
| 11:05 | and his offering well thankfully the book of Hebrews chapter 11 verse 4 |
| 11:12 | helps us out here and here’s what it says by faith |
| 11:17 | Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain through which he was commended as righteous notice that |
| 11:24 | Hebrews 11 4 actually says that Abel is saved by |
| 11:29 | faith see Abel is of the religion of Grace the religion |
| 11:36 | of receiving Cain does not have faith |
| 11:41 | so the text says so by faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice and Cain through which he was |
| 11:47 | commended as righteous God commending him by accepting his gifts and through his faith though he died he still speaks |
| 11:54 | and then if you just look ahead a couple of verses without faith it’s impossible to please |
| 12:00 | God Hebrews 11 6 says without faith it’s impossible not difficult not challenging |
| 12:08 | impossible it can’t be done so we now know what’s going on here Abel |
| 12:13 | has faith and in faith he offers to God a |
| 12:20 | sacrifice of a lamb Cain doesn’t have |
| 12:25 | faith and the fact that the Lord would have regard for somebody is worthless and |
| 12:31 | miserable as able I mean Abel the name doesn’t mean practically anything it |
| 12:36 | angers him so Cain was very angry his face fell so the Lord said to Cain why are you angry why is your face falling |
| 12:43 | if you do well will you not be accepted is the Lord here saying well strive |
| 12:49 | harder try harder and then you will be accepted what does it mean to do well |
| 12:55 | the Gospel of John people came to Jesus and said Lord what must we be doing to |
| 13:01 | do the works of God Jesus answered this the work of God is |
| 13:07 | to believe in the one whom the father has sent now you’re thinking well this is all the |
| 13:12 | way back in Genesis how can they believe in the one whom the father has sent well they already have the promise from the |
| 13:18 | Garden of Eden the promise of the seed of the woman who would crush the head of the serpent |
| 13:24 | and it ain’t Cain he ain’t it that’s for sure so to do well means to believe if you do |
| 13:30 | well will you not be accepted and if you do not do well will sin is crouching at the door its desire is for you but you |
| 13:37 | must rule over it and notice this Cain spoke to Abel his brother and when they were in the field |
| 13:43 | Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him and the Lord said to Cain where is Abel |
| 13:50 | your brother he said I don’t know am I My Brother’s Keeper |
| 13:56 | the religion of striving the religion of Works hates God doesn’t have faith in |
| 14:02 | him and murders those who are saved by grace so now we come to our gospel text |
| 14:09 | then Jesus tells this Parable and this Parable has everything to do with what we just heard in our Old Testament here |
| 14:15 | it is two men went into the temple to pray now I’m going to ask a little bit of a |
| 14:20 | mathematical word question for you I was terrible at these things when I was in grade school I always remembered him |
| 14:27 | kind of like this okay if a train leaves Cincinnati heading east at 11 45 a.m and |
| 14:34 | a train leaves San Francisco heading south at 1 pm what time is it in Poughkeepsie |
| 14:43 | and I would always read the question and go oh so that’s how you spell Poughkeepsie now I’m going to ask you a question |
| 14:49 | that’s kind of like that but we can actually solve it but I want to put it on the table first to have you cogitate |
| 14:55 | on it as I read through the text two men went into the temple to pray here’s my question what time is it |
| 15:05 | why are these men both going to the temple to pray at the same time what |
| 15:11 | time is it you all look puzzled I get it okay it’s time to pray very good yes it is |
| 15:20 | time to pray but what time is it to pray if you are a Jew living in the first |
| 15:25 | century at this time hold the thought we’ll explain it as we get there but |
| 15:30 | that is what time it is is very important so two men went into the temple to pray |
| 15:35 | one is a Pharisee the other is a tax collector we know this about the Pharisees they believe that they are saved by their keeping not just of the |
| 15:42 | Mosaic law they’ve come up with a schema by which you can actually be saved by works and here’s a here’s real simple |
| 15:48 | this is like 600 and something laws given in the Old Testament they added |
| 15:53 | several thousand to them and if you kept their laws you’d never actually break God’s law Ergo you’re saved right |
| 16:02 | keep that in mind so the Pharisee standing by himself he prayed thus to God this is a wonderful prayer God |
| 16:09 | I thank you that I am not like other men you can see him going into the hospital |
| 16:15 | with tennis elbow from patting himself on the back so hard I thank you but I’m not like other men I’m not like |
| 16:20 | extortioners I’m not like the unjust or adulterers or even like that tax collector over there I fast |
| 16:28 | week |
| 16:35 | love me God is that not how he’s praying now I want you to think about this for a |
| 16:40 | second to kind of explain just how ridiculous this is do you all remember the movie not the movie the television |
| 16:47 | show Bewitched Mrs Kravitz you got to kind of picture it as like Mrs Kravitz |
| 16:52 | so Mrs Kravitz is driving down the highway and she’s in a terrible car |
| 16:58 | accident we’re talking about multiple broken bones blood everywhere they had |
| 17:03 | to bring in a Life Flight helicopter so they fly her to the hospital I mean it’s |
| 17:10 | so serious that the guy flying the helicopters called ahead we’re going to need like medical attention for Mrs |
| 17:16 | Kravitz as soon as we hit the ground so like the mass units from you know in the Korean War the doctors come out they’re |
| 17:23 | there at the helicopter when it lands and they’re administering medical attention to Mrs Kravitz and Mrs |
| 17:30 | Kravitz’s first words are I’m fine I’m fine I’m okay there’s nothing wrong with me and as they’re rolling her into the |
| 17:38 | you know into the hospital they go past the the waiting room in the ER and she says did you see that guy right there he |
| 17:43 | had broken arm oh I bet that had to hurt and oh that kid over there looks like he |
| 17:48 | has a cold I’m fine I’m fine I’m fine that’s how absurd this is who does this |
| 17:54 | in fact Saint Augustine in his sermon on this text picks up on that same theme here’s what Augustine |
| 18:01 | said he said how useful and necessary a medicine is repentance |
| 18:07 | think about this people who remember that they are only human will readily understand this it is written God |
| 18:15 | resists the proud but he gives grace to the humble the Pharisee was not rejoicing so much |
| 18:22 | in his own clean bill of health as in comparing it with the diseases of others |
| 18:27 | he came to the doctor it would have been more worthwhile to inform the doctor by |
| 18:33 | confession of the things that were wrong with himself instead of keeping his wounds secret and having the nerve to |
| 18:40 | Crow other over others scars and that’s what’s going on something |
| 18:47 | seriously wrong here somebody who is absolutely racked with sin is thinking he is so wonderful and |
| 18:55 | saying I’m thank you that I’m not like that guy and that guy and yet well you are you all suffer from the same disease |
| 19:01 | as I do but here we hear about the tax collector the tax collector standing far off would |
| 19:08 | not even lift up his eyes to heaven why is this because God’s law has done its work |
| 19:15 | it has shown him how wicked and evil he is so he beats his breast which is a |
| 19:21 | self-deprecating move on his part and he says God |
| 19:27 | be merciful to me a sinner |
| 19:32 | God be merciful to me a sinner now the Greek helps us understand what |
| 19:38 | time of the day it is it’s hard to see in the English because we see the word merciful and that is an okay translation |
| 19:45 | of a particular word and the Greek word is Alaska my |
| 19:51 | Alaska my that’s the one that gets translated as merciful but it means so |
| 19:56 | much more than that it’s really saying God please be propitious towards me or Lord atone for |
| 20:05 | my sins and wipe them away and that’s only done through sacrifice |
| 20:12 | this word Alaska my actually tells us exactly what time of the day it is you want to know what time it is it’s three |
| 20:18 | in the afternoon it’s three in the afternoon the time of the evening sacrifice Psalm |
| 20:26 | 141 verse 2 says may my prayers rise before you as incense the lifting up of |
| 20:33 | my hands as the evening sacrifice now in the Old Testament in Exodus |
| 20:40 | chapter 29 and if you have your Bible I would really like you to flip there and follow along Exodus chapter 29 starting |
| 20:46 | at verse 38 are the Commandments given regarding the daily sacrifices there are |
| 20:55 | two there’s a morning sacrifice and there is an evening sacrifice |
| 21:01 | and the one we’re looking at today is the evening sacrifice but note this here’s what it says starting at verse |
| 21:06 | 38. now this is what you shall offer on the altar two Lambs |
| 21:12 | a year old day by day regularly one lamb you shall offer in the morning and the |
| 21:18 | other you shall offer at Twilight when is twilight three in the afternoon that’s when Twilight is and |
| 21:26 | with the first lamb a tenth measure of fine flower mingled with a fourth of a hint of beaten oil and a fourth of a |
| 21:32 | hint of wine for a drink offering notice here we have grain and wine as part of |
| 21:39 | the daily sacrifice of a lamb hmm that sounds a lot like |
| 21:47 | right it sounds a lot like the Lord’s Supper that’s on purpose the other lamb |
| 21:53 | you shall offer at Twilight and shall offer with it a grain offering and its |
| 21:58 | drink offering and here’s by the way we know it’s three in the afternoon we’ll keep working with this so you offer with a grain offering and a drink offering as |
| 22:05 | in the morning for a pleasing Aroma a food offering to the Lord it shall be a |
| 22:11 | regular burnt offering throughout your Generations at the entrance of the tent of meeting which becomes the temple |
| 22:16 | before the Lord where I will watch meet with you meet with the people of Israel |
| 22:24 | and it shall be Sanctified by my glory why is the Twilight afternoon sacrifice |
| 22:31 | the time of prayer because right here it says I will meet with you the people of |
| 22:38 | Israel every day during the Twilight sacrifice |
| 22:44 | so the children of Israel would gather at the temple if you’re in Jerusalem |
| 22:49 | you’d go to the evening sacrifice the Twilight sacrifice and there you see the lamb being sacrificed as a sin offering |
| 22:57 | a grain offering and a drink offering pointing to the Lord’s supper and God has promised to be there |
| 23:05 | if you knew that God was going to be somewhere at a particular time and you really needed something from him and you |
| 23:12 | you had a sure and certain promise that he was going to be present you’d show up right |
| 23:17 | and so here’s the idea two men went into the temple to pray and the Greek word Alaska my tells us |
| 23:23 | that exactly when this is taking place three in the afternoon with the sacrifice of the lamb for the |
| 23:29 | Forgiveness of sins with the grain offering the drink offering and at this time God has promised to be there |
| 23:35 | now with that rattling around in your head put the pieces together |
| 23:41 | they know God’s going to be there who’s the Pharisee praying about |
| 23:46 | himself what’s the Pharisees sacrifice |
| 23:51 | all of his good works so God’s showed up |
| 23:57 | he’s promised to be there to hear them and what does the Pharisee prattle on about himself how amazing he is |
| 24:05 | the tax collector he’s there and he knows God’s there |
| 24:10 | he knows God can hear him because he knows that God has promised to be there to hear |
| 24:16 | and he can’t even look up because he knows that God is present and his sin is so in front of his eyes and he knows |
| 24:22 | he’s fallen so short God |
| 24:29 | have mercy on me and he’s pointing to the sacrifice the lamb |
| 24:34 | have mercy on me I’m a sinner |
| 24:42 | and God hears both he hears them both |
| 24:48 | and Jesus says I tell you the tax collector went down to his house |
| 24:56 | Justified declared righteous by God rather than |
| 25:01 | the other for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled the one who |
| 25:07 | humbles himself will be exalted and see this is scandalous |
| 25:12 | this is scandalous that lousy tax collector that wretched and sinful man |
| 25:18 | total traitor to the people of Israel working for the Romans taking the people |
| 25:23 | of Israel and squeezing every drop of money out of them like a lemon while he |
| 25:29 | lives high on the hog and they are in poverty he gets off scot-free |
| 25:34 | while the Pharisee a religious man he goes to the synagogue every Saturday |
| 25:40 | he tithes everything he gets he prays constantly |
| 25:47 | but see the Pharisee is well he’s just like Cain |
| 25:52 | in his offering he and his offering are both rejected by God |
| 26:01 | what was his offering again all of his good works his religious actions his prayers his tithings this the Pharisee |
| 26:09 | was striving while the tax collector knew that no amount is striving was going to be able to undo the sin |
| 26:16 | that he’d committed and notice by way of kind of a little backhanded notice that the tax collector |
| 26:23 | doesn’t point to the Pharisee and say I thank you God that I am not a self-righteous pompous hypocrite like |
| 26:29 | that Pharisee over there he doesn’t say that his assessment by the way had he said that would have been |
| 26:35 | correct but the tax collector knew that the Pharisee wasn’t his problem |
| 26:41 | he was his own problem in fact the tax collector’s prayer is |
| 26:47 | very much like David’s prayer in Psalm 51 after the whole Bathsheba affair |
| 26:53 | Lord have mercy on me according to your steadfast love according to your abundant Mercy please |
| 27:00 | blot out my transgressions Wash Me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin for I know my |
| 27:07 | transgressions and my sin is ever before me against you and you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your |
| 27:13 | sight so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment behold I was brought forth in |
| 27:20 | iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me |
| 27:25 | so there at the time of the evening sacrifice on the altar was the lamb |
| 27:31 | being offered as a sacrifice for the Forgiveness of sins the time was three in the afternoon the Pharisee was |
| 27:37 | striving for his salvation and pointed to his strivings the tax collector knowledge he was empty-handed |
| 27:43 | he had nothing to offer the psalmist continues in Psalm 51 Deliver Me Lord from blood guiltiness o |
| 27:50 | God of my salvation and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness O Lord open my lips and my mouth will declare |
| 27:57 | your praise for you will not delight and sacrifice or I would give it |
| 28:03 | you will not be pleased with the burnt offering the sacrifices of God are a broken |
| 28:08 | spirit a broken and contrite heart oh God you will not despise |
| 28:15 | and that was his sacrifice broken Spirit contrite heart that spoke |
| 28:23 | the truth about himself not that he was good but that he was evil |
| 28:31 | and all of this hearkens then to thee sacrifice |
| 28:36 | times matter in scripture listen to Matthew chapter 27 regarding Jesus’s |
| 28:42 | crucifixion starting at verse verse 45. now from the sixth hour which is noon |
| 28:50 | and there was Darkness over all of the land until the ninth hour which is three |
| 28:56 | in the afternoon about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying |
| 29:03 | that is my God my God why have you forsaken me some of the bystanders |
| 29:09 | hearing it said this man is calling Elijah and one of them at once ran and took a sponge and filled it with sour |
| 29:15 | wine and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink oh there’s the drink offering that goes with the |
| 29:23 | right others said wait let’s see whether Elijah will come to save him and Jesus |
| 29:29 | cried out again with a loud voice it is finished yielded up his spirit |
| 29:36 | and behold the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom the Earth shook the Rocks were split you see that |
| 29:43 | Dreadful Friday afternoon at the time of the Twilight sacrifice |
| 29:50 | Jesus the Lamb of God who takes this takes away the sin of the world |
| 29:57 | he was slain and see God promises to be there |
| 30:02 | and he is |
| 30:07 | he’s there for you he’s here for you now we’re two or more gathered Christ is truly present |
| 30:15 | he heard you today say that I am by Nature sinful and unclean |
| 30:21 | and because of what he has done on that Friday afternoon during the Twilight sacrifice |
| 30:26 | you can leave here today knowing that you are Justified that you have peace with God |
| 30:32 | and see all of this is not by striving all of it is by gift by grace through faith it is received |
| 30:39 | and then Our Gospel text to help us get this even more remember the question is when I return Jesus says will I find |
| 30:47 | faith on the Earth faith is not by your strivings and your |
| 30:52 | earnings in your self-righteousness faith is given by God as Grace as gift |
| 30:58 | he goes on and Jesus says now that we’re bringing even infants to him that he might touch them by the way you know |
| 31:04 | what the Greek word for infants means here infants like our little girls |
| 31:10 | this morning that’s what we’re talking about and when the disciples saw it they rebuked them but Jesus called them to |
| 31:16 | him and saying let the children come to me do not hinder them for such belongs |
| 31:23 | the kingdom of God truly I say to you whoever does not receive the kingdom of |
| 31:29 | God like a child like an infant shall not enter it now keep this in mind |
| 31:36 | infants can only be given to they cannot strive infants cannot earn they are |
| 31:43 | utterly dependent and incapable of caring even for one of the least of their needs |
| 31:49 | left to themselves they die and this is what’s those scandals about the religion of Grace the religious |
| 31:55 | religion of receiving tell someone that Christ is working in the waters of baptism and that this church doesn’t |
| 32:02 | forbid infants from coming to Christ but brings them to be baptized and they’ll |
| 32:08 | challenge you and say but infants can’t infants can’t what well they can’t |
| 32:15 | understand they can’t work they can’t strive they can’t make a decision they |
| 32:21 | can’t offer a sacrifice of praise and that’s Jesus’s point |
| 32:28 | they can only be given to and they are not held up by Christ as those who are |
| 32:35 | incapable of being Christians infants are held up by Christ as model |
| 32:41 | Christians only those who can be given to who |
| 32:48 | receive and that’s the whole point is it not Acts chapter 2 the great day of |
| 32:54 | Pentecost Peter preaches his great sermon accuses everybody listening to him of being the ones who killed Christ |
| 33:00 | whether they were there or not it says this in verse 37 when they heard |
| 33:05 | this they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the Apostles Brothers what shall we do |
| 33:11 | and Peter said to them repent be baptized passive voice it’s being done |
| 33:17 | to you be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the Forgiveness of your sins and you will |
| 33:23 | receive the gift of the Holy Spirit for the promise is for you and for your |
| 33:31 | children and for all who are far far off and everyone whom the Lord God calls to |
| 33:38 | himself you see it’s all received so put away |
| 33:44 | your striving put it away repent of your |
| 33:50 | self-righteousness your me-centered religion that offers up yourself your |
| 33:56 | piety your Works instead of pointing to the sacrifice that God has provided for |
| 34:03 | you Jesus the Lamb of God slain at the time of the Twilight |
| 34:08 | sacrifice to take away the sins of the world |
| 34:13 | and if you don’t think that’s right remember what Paul’s words are in Galatians 5 you are severed from |
| 34:21 | Christ you who would be justified by the law you have fallen from Grace |
| 34:28 | so empty your hands of your good works in regards to your salvation throw them |
| 34:33 | in the ash sheep they can never save you and the Lord will not lift your head |
| 34:38 | because of them instead if you insist on bringing your good works to God in exchange for your salvation you will |
| 34:46 | perish like Cain and all of his pharisaical children in the fires of hell |
| 34:51 | Christ is your sacrifice and his salvation is not earned by you it was |
| 34:56 | earned by him and is given to all who recognize that they are sinners and in need of his mercy and forgiveness as a |
| 35:03 | gift not a wage and that’s what John says in his epistle if we say we have no sin we deceive |
| 35:11 | ourselves and the truth is not in us see the religion of work says the problem’s out there it’s those people |
| 35:18 | Jesus says no you’re the problem I died for you so the one who says he |
| 35:25 | has no sin deceives himself the truth is not in him but if we confess our sins like David |
| 35:32 | like the tax collector God is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness |
| 35:38 | he does the cleansing if we say we have not sinned we make God out to be a liar |
| 35:44 | and his word is not in US the psalmist says in Psalm 32 blessed is |
| 35:50 | the one whose transgression Is Forgiven whose sin is covered blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity |
| 35:57 | and in whose Spirit there is no deceit I acknowledge my sin to you the psalmist |
| 36:03 | says I did not cover my iniquity I said I will confess my transgressions |
| 36:09 | to the Lord and you know what the Lord said well to hell with you you’re a |
| 36:16 | transgressor be gone it’s not what the psalmist says |
| 36:22 | I will confess my transgressions to the Lord and you forgave the iniquity of my |
| 36:27 | sin see the scandalousness of God’s mercy in Grace |
| 36:32 | is that not only does God justify declare righteous tax collectors |
| 36:38 | sinners and infants the scandal of it all is that he can justify even you |
| 36:44 | even me so repent of your self-righteousness you’re striving |
| 36:50 | trust in Christ’s mercy and grace alone and leave here today and return to your |
| 36:56 | home like the tax collector Justified declared righteous by God |
| 37:01 | so when the son of man comes will he find faith on the Earth only |
| 37:07 | those who receive what he’s done have faith |
| 37:15 | repent belief receive and you have |
| 37:22 | in the name of Jesus Amen [Music] |
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