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Series A – Twelfth Sunday After Pentecost – Sunday, August 20, 2023 | Pr. Chris Rosebrough

Welcome to the Teaching Ministry of Kongsvinger Lutheran Church. Kongsvinger is a beacon for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of Northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone, and now, here’s a message from Pastor Chris Rosebrough:

Time Stamp	Transcript
0:22	The holy Gospel
0:29	According to Saint Matthew the 15th chapter
0:35	thank you Jesus went away from there and withdrew
0:41	to the district of tire and sidon and behold a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying have
0:47	mercy on me O Lord son of David my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon but he did not answer her a word
0:54	and his disciples came and begged him saying send her away for she is crying out after us he answered I was sent only
1:01	to the lost sheep of the House of Israel but she came and not before him saying
1:06	Lord help me and he answered it’s not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs she said yes Lord
1:13	even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table then Jesus answered her o woman great is your faith
1:20	be it done for you as you desire and her daughter was healed instantly this is the gospel of the Lord in the name of
1:27	Jesus So In Our Gospel text you have Jesus legitimately ignoring not answering the
1:35	cries of a gentile woman whose daughter is oppressed by a demon and this this
1:42	account just digs up all kinds of pain and Agony if you think about it and a lot of anxiety because we Gentiles we
1:50	folks who have like zero Jewish blood in us we oftentimes are made to feel by bad
1:56	theology that somehow as Gentiles we are lesser citizens of the kingdom of Christ
2:02	that we’re not as loved as the people of Israel were loved and this really kind
2:09	of digs that whole thing up but in the midst of all of this this woman legitimately wrestles Jesus to the
2:16	ground with his own words and defeats him so we’re going to take a look at this question you know is is
2:22	Christianity really only for Jews we all know the answer but it’s good for us to actually biblically hash this out so
2:29	that we don’t end up with some kind of a weird concept where we got this two-tiered Christianity but one tear the
2:36	top tier are those who are genetically related to Abraham and then there’s the
2:41	second tier the unwashed well maybe the washed masses like us who we can never
2:47	aspire to be in that top tier that’s not how the kingdom of God works and when
2:53	Jesus says I was sent only to the lost sheep of the House of Israel that’s a true statement by the way and note where
2:59	he made that statement he made that in the district of Tire inside and he said that in Gentile territory and we’ll talk
3:06	a lot about that but let’s open up with our epistle text shall we Paul asked
3:12	this question in Romans 11. I ask then has God rejected his people by no means I myself am an Israelite a
3:20	descendant of Abraham a member of The Tribe of Benjamin Paul writes God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew
3:28	that’s an important qualifier whom he foreknew talking about God’s election to
3:34	Salvation do you not know what the scripture says of Elijah how Elijah appeals to God against Israel that’s the
3:43	next part of this text and note that’s an important bit Paul is basically
3:48	pointing these Gentiles who have been grafted into Israel these Gentiles
3:54	who’ve been grafted into the cultivated Olive Tree and they are branches that have been brought in although they are
4:00	wild branches brought into a cultivated Olive Tree and he reminds them let’s think through this biblically shall we
4:07	you guys remember the whole Elijah and Mount Carmel incident who was Elijah
4:14	going mono Amano with who is he going to go with was it a bunch of Assyrians a
4:20	bunch of Persians a bunch of Canaanites Hittites amorites Hittites amorites and
4:26	jebusites uptights and ballet tights no he didn’t go through he wasn’t going up against any of them he was going up
4:33	against people who genetically were descendants of Abraham and they were
4:38	worshiping by all and uh to give you a preview of what’s coming up in our study
4:45	of the Book of Ezekiel I I would note that throughout the Old Testament the
4:50	examples are multitudinous of people who are genetic descendants of Abraham who
4:56	engage in all kinds of gross and egregious and worthless sins and commit
5:02	all kinds of Abominations against God and if you would like to follow along I’d like to walk you through a great
5:09	example of this found in the Book of Ezekiel chapter 8 Ezekiel chapter 8. and
5:15	here let me give you the context Ezekiel was a fellow who was a priest he’s a
5:21	levite who was taken into the Babylonian captivity in the first round when we
5:28	read through the book of Jeremiah we recognized that there were three rounds of Exiles taken into Exile in Persia in
5:37	Babylon and Ezekiel went in pound number one and because of that the the temple
5:45	was still up the temple had not been destroyed by the armies of Nebuchadnezzar yet and God was
5:52	prophesying its imminent destruction and in chapter eight we see something
5:58	fascinating happen and that is is that God God will say Christ and the Holy
6:04	Spirit take Ezekiel in the spirit in a vision back to Jerusalem
6:11	and the way he ends up there is kind of a little uh it’s it’s it’s a little abrupt it’s a little bit uh violent if
6:18	you think about it but he ends up back in Jerusalem and God is deciding that he’s going to reveal to him four
6:24	Abominations that are taking place in the temple in Jerusalem and again all of
6:30	the primary players here they are Jews these are not only Jews these are people
6:36	of the tribe of Judah genetic descendants of Abraham of the tribe of
6:41	Judah if anybody should have some kind of a genetic inside track with God it’s
6:47	these folks right but that’s not how this plays out let’s take a look at Ezekiel chapter 8. it
6:53	says in the sixth year in the sixth month on the fifth day of the month and I would note something here and that is
6:59	is that this is the sixth year of the Babylonian captivity he’s been in captivity for six years and uh still the
7:07	temple is up but it’s about to be destroyed and Scholars can have actually pinned this specific vision from Ezekiel
7:15	chapter eight to the middle of September of that particular year they actually
7:20	can kind of figured out where it took place some Scholars think they can actually pinpoint the day I’m always a
7:27	little weary of that but middle of September of the sixth year of the Babylonian exile Ezekiel says as I sat
7:35	in my house with the Elders of Judah sitting before me that’s an important point because when you read the earlier
7:41	chapters of Ezekiel Ezekiel is tasked by God to do some really strange things most notably he has to prophesy in in a
7:49	way that involves his body not his words it’s a prophetic act and so he
7:55	legitimately lays on his left side for more than a year and then lays on his right side for about the uh you know 60
8:03	days two months all in front of what I call Lego Jerusalem you know he’d created a little a little model of
8:10	Jerusalem depicting its eminent destruction and things like this and he’d had to do this WOW every day eating
8:17	a recipe of bread that God gave him that was cooked over dung lovely stuff when you think about it
8:24	what kind of Bible are we reading here it’s a scandalous stuff okay despite all of
8:31	that really weird stuff that Ezekiel is doing he’s got the attention of the
8:36	Elders of Judah and they’re sitting before him listening to see if God is going to speak to him and it says the
8:42	hand of Yahweh sorry at the hand of the Lord Yahweh fell upon me there and then
8:48	I looked and behold a form that had the appearance of a man below what appeared to be his waist was fire and above his
8:55	waist was something like the appearance of brightness like gleaming metal this
9:00	is an appearance of the pre-incarnate Christ if you would this is God the second person of the Holy Trinity appearing to him similarly that he the
9:08	way he appeared to John in the in the Book of Revelation so he put out the form of a hand took me by a lock of my
9:16	head grabbed him by his hair and the spirit then lifted me up between Earth and Heaven and brought me in visions of
9:21	God to Jerusalem can you imagine being yanked by God by your hair I think of
9:27	poor Jeff Kenny I don’t think it’s possible for God to do that right
9:32	right sorry I just had to bring that up okay so you’re spared from this
9:38	particular prophetic thing okay but he’s now in Jerusalem and it’s in a trance
9:43	really it’s in a vision and and so he Lifted Me Up Between Heaven Earth brought me in visions of
9:48	God to Jerusalem to the entrance of the Gate of the inner court that faces North where where was the seat of the image of
9:56	jealousy now a little bit of a note here when you read this in the Hebrew image of jealousy it’s an interesting phrase
10:02	because the word image is the word samel which is not Hebrew
10:08	it’s a word it’s a lone word from well the people who originally thunk up
10:15	ashirah okay it’s from their language that’s plugged in here so the hint is actually
10:21	quite quite strong as to what’s going on when you see it in the Hebrew if you remember it was Manasseh who made it so
10:28	that Yahweh had a girlfriend and put that image of Ashira inside the holy of holies and then his grandson Josiah upon
10:36	hearing the Torah for the first time in his life realized that they were sinning greatly against God and he brought
10:42	reforms about and he got rid of that image and got rid of all the terrible
10:47	things that were going on in the temple in Jerusalem by way of idolatry but after his death it’s clear here from
10:55	what this text is saying that as a dog returns to its vomit so these people have returned to their idolatry and that
11:02	image of ashirah is now back in the temple complex and God calls it a smell
11:09	of jealousy and it provokes to jealousy and behold the glory of the god of
11:15	Israel was there like the vision that I saw in the valley so then he said to me this again this is
11:21	Jesus talking son of man lift up your eyes now toward the north so I lifted up
11:26	my eyes towards the North and behold north of the altar gate and the entrance was this image of jealousy and he said
11:32	to me son of man do you see what they are doing the great Abominations that
11:37	the house of Israel are committing here to drive me Far From My Sanctuary but
11:43	you will so you will see still greater Abominations you’ll note here that God isn’t sitting
11:50	there going well you know they’re Jews it’s no big deal they have an inside track with me they’re that everything’s fine I mean I I just need to learn how
11:56	to be not so sensitive right that’s not how this works so you’ll note that God here is being is talking in terms of him
12:04	being driven Away by their Abominations by their idolatry and here’s the other
12:12	part I’ve been debating with myself whether or not to bring this into my sermon I’ve decided to bring it into my sermon okay and you’ll note when we get
12:20	to the Book of Ezekiel in our Bible study there are several admonitions in the Book of Ezekiel where God is
12:26	appealing to the children of Israel saying I married myself to you
12:33	and he says I’m done with you I’m issuing you a certificate of divorce and you’ll note that God had grounds for
12:40	divorce based upon adultery where the idolatry always in
12:45	the Old Testament is reckoned as the spiritual version of adultery cheating
12:51	on him but here’s where it gets really weird if you you kind of have to think
12:57	this through since the the worship that they were engaging in the idol that they
13:03	wanted to worship rather than Yahweh was ashirah Israel like the church is always likened
13:12	to being the Bride of God or the bride of Christ but if the bride is decided to
13:18	get rid of the husband and instead worship a female deity the bride is
13:24	engaging in a lesbian relationship and it’s gross to its core and it’s so
13:32	abominable that God is just legitimately so angry he has to show Ezekiel what’s
13:39	going on reveal to him the truth of how awful all of this is and then by the
13:44	time we get to chapter 10 we’re not we won’t get to it in the sermon but by the time you get to chapter 10 God’s glory
13:51	Has Lifted from the temple and he’s out of there he’s gone and what comes what
13:56	comes as a result of all of this is God’s judgment so you’re going to see greater
14:01	Abominations so he brought me to the entrance of the court and when I look behold there was a hole in the wall then
14:09	he said to me son of man dig in the wall so I dug in the wall and behold there
14:15	was an entrance and he said to me go in and see the vile Abominations that they are committing here so I went in and saw
14:22	and there engraved on the wall all around was every form of creeping things
14:28	and loaths and beasts and I know the ESV says and all the idols of the House of
14:34	Israel but the Hebrews a little stronger let me give you a more literal translation so engraved on the wall
14:41	every form of creeping thing loathsome beasts and all the fecal deities of the
14:47	House of Israel yeah there is only one joke and God
14:53	likes to use that one too okay wow God calls him fecal deities it’s an
14:59	interesting phrase in the Hebrew so all of that being said you’ll note that sin
15:05	makes us ridiculously stupid it turns
15:10	the created order on its head so much so that you know you look at what’s happening now where people are
15:16	legitimately rejecting the sex that God has made them you know you’re born a man well you can become a woman you know and
15:23	uh and that that way you can play on the women’s soccer team and beat everybody else right it’s crazy stuff but on top
15:29	of that think about the order of creation when you go back to the Book of Genesis God created the heavens and the
15:34	Earth and man is the Pinnacle of God’s creation created in His image and God
15:41	endowed man with the task of basically being the stewards of the Earth in his
15:48	stead and that they the man is the lord of the animal kingdom in charge of it
15:55	but in this idolatry everything now is flipped human beings are now this are
16:02	subjected to the whims of these false gods that take on the forms of every
16:07	kind of animal Under the Sun that you can think of have you ever seen you know the the hieroglyphic
16:13	depiction of the deities of Egypt and the ancient world are always depicted as some kind of animals and things like
16:19	this and what a completely silly stupid thing is I don’t serve cows they serve
16:26	me right and you can see this playing out like in places like India right you
16:31	were if you were to visit Calcutta or you know or Delhi or head over to a different portion of of India one of the
16:38	things that you’re going to see in common with all the cities of India is that cows roam freely and you’re not
16:45	allowed to touch them harm them or do anything to them because it could potentially be your great aunt Gertrude
16:51	reincarnated right and as a result of it there’s people starving in India while
16:57	meat cows are wandering the streets and they could easily you know have barbecue
17:02	for months at a time but no you cannot you cannot kill these things again it
17:07	shows you that idolatry legitimately flips everything on its head to the
17:13	point where Huma wins just behave delusionally
17:18	best way to put it so here’s what’s happening now
17:23	Ezekiel has climbed in through a wall into an inner chamber inside the temple
17:29	complex and in this inner chamber he sees all these vile Abominations and depictions written or drawn on the wall
17:37	in paint of some kind of all of these false animal deities and so he says I
17:43	went in and I saw and there engraved on the wall around in every form of the creeping things the fecal deities of the
17:49	House of Israel and before them stood listen to this 70 men of the Elders of the House of
17:56	Israel with zanaya the son of shafan standing among
18:02	them now let me explain the details here 70
18:07	elders these are the Chiefs of the clans of Israel this is the same number of
18:14	Chieftains who ascended Mount Sinai and ate in the presence of God with Moses
18:20	and if you remember there was a time when Jesus sent out 70 of his disciples this is not an insignificant number and
18:28	these are the top Mucky mucks of the government and they’re all engaging in this
18:36	idolatry and they’re doing this in the dark and in secret kind of secret
18:41	society gnosticism stuff going on right and so in our day you’ll note that there’s all kinds of interesting
18:49	um conspiracy theories related to the leaders of planet Earth and our own government and stuff like that that they
18:56	may be engaging in all kinds of weird Pagan Gnostic beliefs and practices and
19:01	religious stuff like this I don’t know there’s nothing new Under the Sun that’s what was happening with the government
19:06	and the top leaders of Judah of ezekiel’s day and God lays bare before
19:12	his eyes their very practices in their secret inner Chambers right and one has
19:18	to not wonder what was the knock necessary to get in the door right so
19:24	there they were and jazzaniah the son of shafan let me help you out with that
19:30	Shea fan if you remember back at the time of Josiah chaifan was the high
19:35	priest or the priest who who have found the scroll of the Torah in the temple
19:40	and gave it to Josiah to read all right so he’s a notable fellow and a great
19:46	participant in the uh in the reforms of Josiah in bringing the people of Israel
19:52	back to a true worship of God and getting rid of all of these idols and then three of shafan’s sons are
19:59	mentioned in the book of Jeremiah and they are all notable helpers and
20:04	Defenders of Jeremiah but here you’ve got the odd sheep azaniah whose name in
20:11	Hebrew means the Lord hears or Yahweh hears it’s an interesting name he’s the
20:16	one Leading the People these Elders in this worship of these false gods and
20:21	have I mentioned a single Pagan among them they’re all Jews
20:27	and they don’t have any kind of an inside track so jazzaniah the son of shafen was standing among them each had
20:34	his sensor in his hand the smoke of the cloud of incense went up and then he said to me son of man have you seen what
20:40	the Elders of the House of Israel are doing in the dark each in his room of
20:46	pictures for they say Yahweh does not see us Yahweh has forsaken the land
20:53	it’s an interesting kind of Catch-22 if you think about it because at this point
20:59	Jeremiah is still alive Jeremiah is still prophesying and rather
21:04	than listening to the voice of God through the Prophet Jeremiah so that they would understand why they are
21:11	experiencing the difficulties that they are experiencing they have just basically said well Yahweh doesn’t hear us anymore he’s not listening he’s not
21:17	aware to be found it’s because you drove him away with your idolatry and Jeremiah
21:22	has made that clear and God had said if you repent he will save you
21:28	but here they are basing well worshiping Yahweh has gotten us nowhere so let’s we might as well worship all these false
21:34	gods of these other nations so he said God said to Ezekiel
21:41	you will see greater Abominations that they commit so then he brought me to the
21:47	entrance of the north gate of the House of Yahweh and behold they’re sat women weeping for tammuz
21:53	now this is the only place in all of scripture where tammuz is mentioned and
21:59	tammuz is one of these deities that actually has different names depending on which region of the ancient world you
22:05	lived in but for for our sake we’ll just note that tammuz the way the the the myth goes regarding tammuz it’s that
22:12	when he weeps when he cries his tears are what is what becomes rain and so
22:19	he’s the one who feeds the crops who then that causes them to grow and so if
22:24	if your farm is a little dry in need of rain then what you do you have your
22:30	women weep it for tammuz which will then make him sad and make him cry so that
22:36	the rain will come and water your crops he’s a fertility deity and this is
22:42	taking place in the temple complex so then he said to me have you seen this
22:47	or son of man you’re going to see even greater Abominations than these you know it sounds like the ELCA as I’m reading
22:53	this chapter it just it just it just really does so then he brought me into the inner Court of the House of Yahweh
23:00	and behold at the entrance of the Temple of Yahweh between the ports and the altar were about 25 men and listen to
23:06	the details with their backs to the Temple of Yahweh and their faces toward
23:12	the East worshiping the sun toward the east in their worship of the son they have
23:18	turned their back on the one and only deity that exists and the one who can
23:23	help them and again I note there isn’t a pagan among them these are all genetic descendants of Abraham
23:31	and all of them are engaging in this and we’ll see what God’s judgment is it goes on so then he said to me have
23:38	you seen this o son of man is is it too light a thing for the house of Judah to commit the Abominations that they commit
23:45	here that they should fill the land with violence and provoke me still further to
23:50	anger behold they put the branch to their nose therefore I will act in Wrath
23:56	my I will not spare nor will I have pity and though they cry in my ears with a
24:04	loud voice I will not hear them you’ll note that God has chosen because
24:11	of the name of jazzaniah Yahweh hears that he’s basically playing he’s riffing
24:17	off of that saying even though they cry out to me I’m not going to hear them at all but these are Jews these are special
24:23	people these are people who glow in the dark just by their genetics and they have an inside track with God no they
24:31	don’t and chapter 9 helps clear this up even better so then he cried God cried
24:38	Jesus cried in ezekiel’s ears with a loud voice saying bring near the
24:43	executioners of the city each with his destroying weapon in his hand and behold
24:48	six men came from the direction of the upper gate which faces North each with his weapon for Slaughter in his hand and
24:55	with them was a man clothed in linen with a writing case at his wrist and
25:00	they went in and Stood Beside the bronze altar if this sounds like something from The Book of Revelation it should
25:07	all right because the same imagery of judgment is going on these seven folks
25:13	are actually Angels sent to carry out God’s Wrath and you’ll note that this is
25:20	all done in a spiritual vision which eventually takes place in actual history with the with the armies of
25:26	Nebuchadnezzar coming in for a second round right now the glory of the god of Israel had
25:32	gone up from the Cherub on which it rested to the threshold of the house God’s glory is lifting up and going away
25:39	and he called to the man clothed in linen who had the writing case at his
25:44	waist and here’s what Yahweh says Yahweh said to him pass through the city through Jerusalem and put a towel on the
25:51	foreheads of The Men Who sigh and groan over the Abominations that are committed in it and I note that in the ESV it says
25:59	put a mark but the Hebrew says put a towel let me help you out here ancient Hebrew
26:06	the Tau was made by the sign of the cross kid you not Google it if you don’t
26:14	believe me right so you’ll note those who are groaning and sighing and
26:23	lamenting over all the Abominations that are being committed in the house of
26:28	Yahweh they get a cross put on their head think Ash Wednesday
26:36	and they are the ones who live everyone else
26:41	dies and that’s the point you see being a
26:47	genetic descendant of Abraham gets you nowhere because according to the New Testament that clearly teaches it is
26:54	those who have the same Faith as Abraham who are the ones who are considered to
26:59	be the children of Abraham full stop and here we see this playing out God now is going to act in judgment
27:07	and only those who moan groan sigh and
27:13	lament all the apostasy going on inside of yahweh’s house they are the ones who
27:18	get the cross put on their head and they get to live everyone else is treated like refuse
27:25	and God acts in Wrath it’s the same in Salvation is it not you persist in sin
27:31	and unbelief do you think for a second that you can claim play the genetic card on the day of judgment
27:38	no it doesn’t work that way and that’s what this text is pointing to so
27:43	all the others he said in my hearing I want you to pass through the city after him strike and strike your eye shall not
27:52	spare you shall show no pity kill old men outright young men and maidens
27:59	little children and women but touch no one on whom is the Tau on whom is the
28:05	cross and begin at My Sanctuary so they began with the elders who were before the house and then he said to him defile the
28:12	house and fill the courts with the slain go out so they went and struck in the city and while they were striking I was
28:18	left alone I fell upon my face and I cried ah Lord Yahweh will you destroy
28:24	all the remnant of Israel in the outpouring of your wrath on Jerusalem of course not
28:30	God left a remnant by faith right now all of that is to say that this
28:37	makes it clear salvation is universally offered to Jew and Gentile
28:43	to those of the House of Abraham and every other clan on the face of the Earth that was
28:49	dispersed among the face of the Earth at the time of the Tower of Babel
28:54	it doesn’t matter who your genetic line comes from the gospel goes out to all of
29:01	us and so now we are left in Our Gospel text knowing full well that Christ has
29:07	truly come for the lost sheep of the House of Israel what he said to this
29:12	woman was true but Romans 9 10 and 11 make it clear
29:19	that not all who are descendant from Israel are of Israel and so that plays into this so that we
29:26	do not Despair and think that we don’t somehow have a proper status before God because we are all Gentiles now let me
29:33	read the story Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of tire and sidon Jesus is on Pagan Turf
29:42	this is like the Dodgers traveling to San Francisco and playing at their
29:48	Stadium okay he’s not he doesn’t have home field advantage this is their territory this is their Turf right okay
29:55	and we all know that it’s an Abomination whenever anyone has to play in San Francisco especially the Dodgers but that’s a whole other story right
30:02	so and behold I love how it says this in the Greek it just says you do Behold a
30:08	Canaanite woman from that region well are there any other kind of women from that region right a woman from that
30:14	religion came out crying and hears her prayer have mercy on me O Lord son of
30:21	David my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon every time I read this text I just sit
30:27	there and go who catechized this woman because she’s got really good theology
30:33	if in fact better than a lot of the people who were living in Judea at the time she knows that Jesus is the Lord
30:41	she knows that Jesus is Yahweh she knows that he’s also the son of David which means she has some inkling as to how the
30:48	Incarnation works and she recognizes by calling him the son of David that he’s the rightful king of Israel and that he
30:54	is also the Messiah how did she put all of this together was there somebody on Tick Tock who kind of
31:01	put put this all together for her I don’t know it doesn’t say but we also
31:06	know that her daughter is severely oppressed by a demon and if if she were
31:12	appealing to a pastor at it at an independent fundamentalist Baptist Church you know they would say well
31:18	that’s what she gets for playing with the Ouija board during the time when she had her friends over for a slumber party
31:25	right they would just blame her and chastise her and say this is what happens
31:30	but Jesus doesn’t do that he does something actually worse he didn’t answer her a word
31:39	awkward that is just really awkward he didn’t say anything to her and last time
31:47	I preached on this text I made the connection between her and Jacob right
31:54	Jacob who wrestled with God right because you’ll note that this
32:00	wrestling match that she’s having with Jesus although it’s not physical it’s a bona fide wrestling match this is a
32:06	challenge this is basically her trying to defeat Jesus to get him to bend to
32:13	her need and her will right Jacob when he wrestled Christ out at the Fort of
32:19	the jabic river he beat Jesus it doesn’t make any sense but it does but in this
32:27	context we see a similar thing going on and you’re going to note we all should know what this is like
32:33	because how many of us in the middle of our deepest need referencing our sermon
32:39	him have felt that God hasn’t answered our prayers have you noticed that as soon as
32:45	you pray like it’s not like five minutes later it’s like all of a sudden there’s a ring on the doorbell and somebody
32:50	comes delivering your answer to your prayer on a silver platter I think of David in Psalm 13. and listen to the
32:59	words of the opening of Psalm 13 how long O Lord will you forget me forever how long will you hide your face from me
33:06	and add a little bit of context here think about it David is the anointed but
33:12	not yet coronated king of Israel and the anointed and coronated king of Israel is
33:18	trying to kill him and so he’s chasing David throughout the Judean Wilderness
33:24	and trying to hunt him down like he’s a dog and with the intent that when he catches him he’s going to put him to the
33:31	sword and kill him so what I like to when I read Psalm 13 read it like this
33:36	David’s on the Run going how long O Lord will you forget me forever right he’s on
33:42	the Run he’s moving how long must I take counsel in my soul have sorrow in my
33:48	heart all the day how long will my enemy be exalted over me
33:57	how long O Lord will I have to endure my body falling apart how much longer do I
34:04	have to endure my own sin how much longer are you going to allow people to
34:10	persecute me for my confession of Christ how long oh Lord right we all have these
34:15	things right because you’re going to note many of us find ourselves in circumstances that are quite painful and
34:21	they just continue to drag on out
34:27	how long O Lord and you’ll note the resolve here he says
34:34	consider and answer me o Yahweh my God light up my eyes lest I sleep the sleep of death lest my enemies say I’ve
34:41	prevailed over him lest my foes Rejoice because I’m shaken but verse 5 he says but I’ve trusted in
34:47	your steadfast love my heart shall rejoice in your salvation that’s David’s way of saying yeah I’ve
34:52	defeated you Jesus I’ve wrestled you to the ground but remember that name when
34:57	when Jacob wrestled Jesus all night long and then beat him
35:03	again work this out with me here it doesn’t make sense but it makes sense at the end of this Jacob said bless me I
35:10	want you to bless me he knew that he could receive a blessing from him so what did Christ do he changed his name
35:17	to what Israel the one who struggles with God and prevails
35:25	so here in our text we have an example of one of the lost sheep of Israel
35:30	struggling wrestling with Christ will she Prevail right so Jesus doesn’t
35:37	answer her word just like he doesn’t often time answer us a word when we cry out to him in the middle of our needs
35:42	and so his disciples came and begged him saying send her away she’s crying out after us maybe she knew the names of
35:49	some of the disciples because word had gotten out Peter Peter I know that that’s your name right Jesus has changed
35:55	your name to Peter right and yet you tell Jesus he needs to help me woman
36:01	he doesn’t know what to do because Jesus is Lord and Jesus isn’t responding to her so so Peter respond to her how about
36:08	John or Thaddeus right or you know you get the idea of Bartholomew or Simon you
36:15	know the the zelich should they be responding to her well nobody’s responding to her there’s this come to Jesus send her away would you
36:25	so he says I was sent only to the lost sheep of the House of Israel true statement
36:32	but we know from Romans 9 10 and 11. that because this woman has faith
36:39	she’s already grafted in she’s part of Israel
36:44	just like you and I are but she doesn’t have that much of an understanding so she came and she knelt
36:51	before Jesus saying and I I’d like to think that she’s probably trying to like be humble and at the same time at the
36:58	same time trying to look him in the eye because when one prays one doesn’t look
37:04	you’re God in the eye but she’s saying Lord help me and I cannot help but think
37:09	that she looks at him and goes you I know you can help me she is wrestling with Christ here
37:17	help me and then he rebuffs her it’s not right to take the children’s bread and throw
37:22	it to the dogs and with that move Jesus created a huge blunder okay he left his King open for
37:31	attack and now comes the Checkmate because with that move Jesus has given
37:37	this woman the ammunition to not only win but to completely defeat
37:44	Jesus and she sees the move like a master Chessman and she says ah yes Lord but
37:51	even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table I’m a dog okay
37:57	so give me my crumbs check
38:03	mate so he says a woman
38:09	great is your faith but the thing is is her faith wasn’t produced in the middle of this wrestling match with Jesus it
38:17	already existed before she even came to him he was pointing out what others couldn’t
38:24	see but he did see and in this difficulty that she went through he wasn’t mistreating her
38:31	he was testing her faith and she Rose to the challenge and she pinned Jesus to
38:38	the ground checkmated him with his own words
38:44	and be it done for you as you desire Christ says and her daughter was healed instantly
38:49	what does this have to do with this what what’s the stuff about defeating Jesus and wrestling with God and all of us
38:55	being in Israel remember we have all been grafted into Israel the scripture is clear we are the ones who have that
39:02	name as a family name we are all Israelites we are those who wrestle with
39:09	God and prevail and let me tell you that in doing so
39:14	that is how we are saved not because we Prevail against him in
39:19	our prayers but because when God himself second person of the Trinity was born of
39:25	the Virgin Mary we wrestled with Christ we put him on trial
39:32	we found him guilty we had him scourged
39:39	and we defeated him by pinning him to a cross
39:47	The God Who desires to be defeated
39:53	I mean think about it what is more preposterous
39:59	that Jacob defeated Christ at the jabek river in a wrestling match
40:06	or that this woman defeated Christ caught him in his own words and defeated him or that we all of us defeated Christ
40:15	wrestled him to the ground put him on a cross raised him up and
40:22	forced him to suffer bleed and die
40:28	what kind of God chooses to do that to be defeated by his own creation
40:37	The God Who Loves Us It Is by our contending with God and defeating
40:44	him that Christ has worked our salvation in the same way that this woman
40:50	contended with Christ wrestled him to the ground and defeated with his own words and by us doing so she won
40:57	salvation for her child we also have wrestled with God and
41:03	defeated him on the cross and it’s through his cross that he bore your sins and mine Christ chose to lose to lay
41:11	down his life so that he could give us life and it’s because of his satisfaction for
41:19	our sins because we have defeated him that we now are victorious
41:25	victorious in Salvation all one by Christ as a gift
41:32	it’s a great theme when you think about it it’s one that takes some working to
41:37	kind of get at but when you see it in its beauty you can see then that each
41:43	and every one of us we still wrestle with God we wrestle with them in the difficulties
41:49	in our strugglings and still he cares for us and we cry out to him in our time of need he hears us and he doesn’t
41:55	always answer us immediately but you’ll note that ultimately he has already been defeated so that we can
42:02	trust him and even though as the psalmist says where are you God how long
42:07	are you going to not hear my prayers David says but I’ve trusted in your steadfast love I’ve already defeated you
42:13	God my heart shall rejoice in your salvation and I’m going to sing to the Lord because he’s dealt bountifully with
42:18	me so no matter what you’re going through brothers and sisters note this you have
42:24	been grafted into Israel and you have that great family heritage of those who have wrestled with God and have
42:30	prevailed and in prevailing Christ has worked salvation for us because it was
42:36	his will to lay down his life and humble himself and be obedient to the point of
42:41	death even death on the cross for you and for me the God who chooses to be defeated and
42:48	through his defeat wins for us everything that’s a pretty good thing to talk about
42:56	doesn’t mean it’s a satisfactory place to end the sermon but I’m going to end it here anyway in the name of Jesus Amen

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