LutheranLectionary.org

Series B – Easter Sunday – Sunday, April 4, 2021 | Pr. Chris Rosebrough

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

Time Stamp	Transcript
0:23	The holy gospel according to saint mark
0:31	the 16th chapter glory to you oh lord when the sabbath was passed
0:40	mary magdalene and mary the mother of james and salome bought spices and so so that they might go and anoint
0:47	Jesus and that and very early on the first day of the week when the sun had risen
0:52	they went to the tomb and they were saying to one another who will roll away the stone for us from
0:58	the entrance of the tomb and looking up they saw that the stone had been rolled back
1:04	it was very large and entering the tomb they saw a young man sitting on the right side
1:09	dressed in a white robe and they were alarmed and he said to them do not be alarmed
1:14	you seek Jesus of nazareth who was crucified he is risen he is not here see the place
1:20	where they laid him but go and tell his disciples and peter that he is going before you to galilee
1:26	there you will see him just as he told you and they went out and fled from the tomb
1:31	for trembling and astonishment had seized them and they said nothing to anyone for they were afraid this is the gospel
1:38	of the lord alleluia Christ is risen
1:45	amen all right what do you guys make of this gospel text what a weird place to end off you got women leaving
1:52	fleeing the tomb in fear what an unsatisfactory ending that is right so we’ll have to
2:00	take a look at what’s going on in this gospel text see if we can make any sense of it at all in fact in order
2:06	to make some sense of it let’s do this let’s do a little bit of a review in the season of epiphany we all watched
2:13	and listened as Jesus set his face like flint to go to jerusalem to go to the cross in lent we heard
2:21	Jesus’s plan and i love it when a plan comes together those of you who are here on good friday know what i’m talking
2:27	about Jesus’s plan was this he was going to be arrested handed over to the gentiles beaten
2:33	flogged crucified die and then rise from the dead
2:39	and then we heard peter rebuke Jesus to his face for even daring to say such words
2:48	and then on good friday we watched as Jesus’s plan unfolded exactly as he
2:56	had planned it on friday pilate presented Jesus to the
3:01	cancel culture with a face full of blood clothed in a robe of purple
3:06	wearing a crown of thorns and everything went according to plan he went to the cross
3:14	bearing your sin and mine and he most certainly died today we’re awakened to the news
3:22	that the women who went to finish the work of preparing Jesus’s body for burial and to see his face one last time
3:30	that when they arrived they were met with by a shining grinning face of an angel bringing them
3:37	news that Jesus the crucified and he will forever be known as the crucified the one who was crucified for
3:43	you and for me that he had risen from the dead and then the woman fled the tomb in astonishment and fear
3:53	um is that it shouldn’t shouldn’t there be something
3:58	else i mean you think there would be i mean you know i can just see all going couldn’t you just elaborate just a
4:05	little bit more i mean after all we just heard from an angel nonetheless that Jesus accomplished something that none
4:11	of us have ever been able to accomplish not even houdini he came back from the dead
4:17	and what is more well let me ask the question what more is there to hear i mean it’s all kind of fine and dandy i
4:24	mean what were you expecting the angel to do to preach a sermon you’ll note that the angel delivered the exact words that
4:30	were given to him to deliver and not one word more not one word less
4:35	i would note angels are very faithful in their message delivery so um you may be sitting there going
4:41	okay but i have questions i need to figure out how to wrap my brain
4:48	around this no actually you don’t you don’t need to figure out how to wrap your your brain around this the facts are
4:54	actually quite clear as i like to say this isn’t rocket surgery i mean remember friday afternoon
5:00	Jesus gave up his spirit after suffering for six hours on the cross while bearing in his body your
5:06	sins and mine and shortly after Christ died his corpse was pierced by a roman spear and blood and water
5:13	poured out of the wound in his chest and then his corpse was taken down from the cross
5:20	and hastily buried in a rich man’s tomb a stone was rolled in front of the tomb and sealed and an attachment of soldiers
5:28	stood guard to guarantee that the disciples wouldn’t steal Jesus’s body
5:33	and then fraudulently claimed that he had risen from the dead thus perished Jesus of nazareth
5:41	that’s how the story goes right now a little bit of an aside i’m really excited about the fact that
5:49	Jesus’s enemies figured out what Jesus was saying when he said that he would rise from the dead
5:55	they figured it out the disciples yeah not so much all right they were still i mean up to
6:00	this point they really didn’t know what Jesus was talking about was this a parable was this a metaphor
6:06	what was he talking about and so it was Jesus’s enemies who kind of put it all together and they are the
6:12	ones who made sure the soldiers were there standing guard and by them standing guard it’s
6:17	impossible for anyone to say that the disciples stole the body they would have to get past the guards
6:23	so i thank them for that but now we’ve got a problem well there’s Jesus he’s he’s dead
6:29	right we’re just telling recalling the facts and then if you remember Jesus’s plan
6:36	included one more tiny detail and by tiny i mean huge and his plan then required this that he
6:44	raised from the grave on the third day after his death and just like god
6:51	whose word does not return to him void but it accomplishes that for which he
6:56	sends it because god cannot lie and neither can Jesus because Jesus is god in human flesh
7:03	Jesus on that first easter morning the first day of the week he became the first fruits of what is
7:10	called the new creation he’s now the second adam he’s come to life
7:15	and his body began breathing and this is where i think we can kind of tease a few things out you remember
7:22	in genesis chapter 2 when god formed adam’s body and there it lay lifeless in the garden
7:28	right what do you call a lifeless body you call it a what a corpse right so there was the corpse
7:34	the newly formed corpse of adam but what happened well scripture says
7:41	the god formed the man of dust from the ground and then breathed into his nostrils the breath of life
7:46	and the man became a living creature the first adam began as a corpse the second
7:54	adam and Christ is the second adam here now because of the resurrection he also
7:59	began as a lifeless corpse and paul makes this connection for us in romans chapter 5.
8:06	here’s what he writes therefore just as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin and so death
8:13	spread to all men because all sinned for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given
8:19	but sin is not counted where there is no law yet death reigned from adam to moses even over
8:25	those whose sinning was not like the transgression of adam who was a type of the one who was to
8:32	come got to pay attention to scripture Christ is clear the scriptures are about him
8:37	and so adam is a type and a shadow of none other than Jesus himself so let me
8:45	ask you this do you get it yet all right good
8:50	now you’ll note that the angel didn’t need to say much because almost everything that needed to be said
8:56	had already been said by god in his word so the question is were you paying
9:01	attention so what does this mean it sounds a little puzzling right
9:06	well here’s what it all comes down to if you want to know like put that line at the bottom i don’t do
9:11	math very well but i do remember that you would take a few things you’d put them in order and then you’d
9:17	carry the one and and you know all that kind of stuff and then there was a line and then at the line you would put the total
9:23	right so here’s your accountancy yeah i get it right so here’s the bottom
9:31	line here’s the total are you ready it this means we’re saved
9:37	that’s what this means it means we’re saved and if you’re not sure let me just
9:44	kind of like okay let’s talk about an appropriate response to this you guys remember the isle of misfit toys right when santa claus they could
9:51	hear the jingle bells dinging right what are the what do the toys say we’re saved
9:57	and we they said it with that crazy voice we’re saved let that sink in because Jesus rose from the grave
10:04	we can be confident that we are saved and this means that the new
10:10	creation has already begun Jesus is the first fruits of the new creation and the empty
10:17	tomb proves it have you ever stopped to think for just a second here how long did it take god to create
10:25	everything that you can see smell taste touch six days right
10:30	seems kind of like a slap shot job if you think about it because the new creation god’s been working on
10:37	it for 2 000 years is it any wonder that we cannot even begin to fathom what it is
10:44	that awaits us and all of this we can have confidence because Jesus
10:49	rose from the grave in fact paul puts it this way in first corinthians 15 verse
10:54	20 and you’ll know this is just a few verses after our epistle text but in fact Christ has been raised from
11:01	the dead he is the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep for as by a man came death by a man has
11:08	come also the resurrection of the dead for as in adam all died so also in
11:13	Christ shall all be made alive but each in his own order Christ is the firstfruits
11:19	then at his coming those who belong to Christ then comes the end when he delivers the
11:25	kingdom to god the father after destroying every rule every authority and power
11:30	for he must reign until he’s put all of his enemies under his feet and the last enemy to be destroyed is
11:37	death i am looking forward to that i’m hoping i can get a front row
11:43	seat to watch when god picks up death and just goes flick off into the lake of fire with you
11:50	death will be dead and i’ll be going yes got to do a napoleon dynamite for
11:55	that one yes ah it’s going to be great right and all of this we can have confidence of
12:01	because why because Jesus rose from the dead but you’re going to note here in paul
12:07	talking about the fact that Christ has risen from the dead that he is the first fruits of the new creation you cannot talk about the new
12:14	creation apart from the judgment of god and it seems like an odd theme to preach about
12:19	on resurrection sunday on the day when Jesus rose from the grave but this is exactly
12:25	how the apostles preached the eyewitnesses to the resurrection and you’ll note in our epistle text paul
12:31	confesses he wasn’t even worthy to be called an apostle why because he murdered Christians and yet
12:39	what did god do he had grace on him so i want you to think for a second
12:45	this theme of resurrection and judgment this is the kind of theme that would make us be tempted to flee
12:51	the tomb flee church if you would in fear
12:56	and rightly so i don’t know what you’ve done but i know what i’ve done and i know for a fact that my list of
13:04	offenses is 10 miles maybe 50 or 100 long so are yours and we don’t want to
13:10	stand before god in judgment and him to walk through all those miles of sin recorded
13:17	no we don’t and the reality is this that’s what we deserve but because
13:23	Christ bled and died for our sins we can have confidence of the forgiveness of our sins but even more so
13:30	due to the fact that he has risen from the dead the fact that he has risen from the dead proves to us that his sacrifice
13:37	for our sins was accepted by god the father that everything written about Christ’s sacrifice on the cross
13:43	is true as it’s recorded in scripture that he is the one who took his very own blood not only as our sacrifice but
13:51	as our high priest took the very blood his bone blood and he took it into the holy of holies in
13:56	the tabernacle in heaven itself and he poured out his blood on the mercy seat
14:02	the real one and because of this we know that we
14:07	are forgiven he rose from the dead if Christ hadn’t risen from the dead could we be confident of the forgiveness
14:14	of our sins i don’t think so because i don’t know if you’ve noticed dying is a pretty easy
14:20	thing to do i mean people do it every day some people on accident some people on
14:25	purpose i mean you are just one banana peel and a bus away from a casket this is how this works okay dying’s easy
14:34	coming back from the dead not so much so the fact that he came back from the dead comforts us
14:40	but you’ll note that the apostle paul talking about how he was unworthy to be called an apostle remember the
14:46	words of that angel who also said go and tell Jesus’s disciples and let peter know too why was peter
14:54	singled out in the message of the angel it’s really easy to put that together
15:02	because peter had so grievously betrayed and denied Christ not once not twice but three times
15:10	and you’ll note the mercy of god in sending the angel and saying and make sure that peter knows
15:17	let him know because Christ wasn’t going to come to condemn him not come back from the grave to condemn him
15:23	but to forgive him and pardon him and restore him if Christ can forgive paul and he can
15:30	forgive peter he can forgive me and he can forgive you in fact he does so then
15:38	note then the preaching of the resurrection Christ the firstfruits and judgment they go together and over and again you’ll note
15:45	that when the apostle paul goes into a synagogue for the first time to preach the good news that Christ is
15:51	the promised messiah and that he had bled and died and rose again from the dead he always leaves his sermons not with
15:58	having people bow their heads and close their eyes and ask Jesus into their hearts
16:03	instead he gives kind of a word of warning an ominous note listen to this what paul
16:10	says in his preaching of the gospel to the synagogue in antioch basidia so let it be known to you therefore
16:17	brothers that through Jesus forgiveness of sins is now proclaimed to
16:22	you and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you
16:27	could not be freed by the law of moses but beware therefore lest what is said in the prophets should come about look
16:34	you scoffers be astounded and perish for i am doing a work in your days a work that you will not believe even if
16:40	one tells you note the word of ominousness here you see
16:46	the angel in our gospel text delivered the message the tomb is empty the apostles have seen the risen Jesus
16:53	and they have delivered the good news the stunning staggering good news of the forgiveness of sins to us and so
16:59	you know paul even defines the gospel in these terms for i delivered to you as of first
17:04	importance what i also received the Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scripture
17:10	he was buried and he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scripture but then note also paul also says in
17:17	acts 17 that the time of ignorance god has overlooked and now he commands all
17:23	people everywhere to repent and this is a daily discipline for all
17:29	of us because god has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has
17:37	appointed and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead
17:45	so brothers and sisters pay attention Christ has risen from the dead not only
17:50	has his sacrifice been accepted by god and is and is sufficient for to wipe away all of your sins
17:56	but also it is this Jesus who is going to be our judge and his resurrection proves it but
18:02	i assure you Jesus as the judge has cooked all the books in your favor
18:08	it’s a rigged trial he’s taken all of your sin upon him so that he can declare you and he has
18:14	done this already innocent forgiven pardoned reconciled
18:19	but when we talk about judgment then it’s important for us to take a look at
18:25	our old testament text and note that i’m a guy who makes a big deal about context i don’t know if
18:31	you’ve ever heard me talk about context i always say when you’re studying the scripture you got to look at it in context
18:38	context and context and so isaiah 25 our old testament text gives us this
18:43	beautiful picture but there’s a context to it and in order to understand the context
18:50	of what we read in our old testament text we’ve got to back up one chapter into chapter 24
18:56	and i want you to hear how judgment and forgiveness work together here because
19:03	Christ has called us all to repent and to be forgiven and so here’s the thing that we’re all
19:08	afraid of the day of judgment let’s talk about how this thing is going to go down
19:14	isaiah 24 1 says behold yahweh will empty the earth he will make it desolate he will twist
19:21	its surface and scatter its inhabitants you better let the the carbon footprint counters know that
19:28	all of their efforts are for nothing because preserving this earth ain’t gonna happen it’s
19:33	all gonna be wiped out and what a mess it’ll be and god goes on
19:40	to make make it clear that what is coming is for everybody here’s the words of the prophet isaiah
19:46	it shall be as with the people so the priest as with the slaves so the master as with
19:52	the maid so the her mistress as with the buyer so the seller as with the lender
19:57	so the borrower as with the creditor so with the debt with the debtor in other
20:02	words this is happening for everybody doesn’t matter how great you are in the eyes of humanity or how meager
20:09	you are in the eyes of humanity everybody will experience this the earth shall be utterly emptied and
20:16	utterly plundered for the lord has spoken this word the earth mourns and it withers the world
20:22	languishes and it withers the highest people of the earth languish the earth lies defiled under its
20:28	inhabitants for they have transgressed the laws they have violated the statutes they have broken
20:33	the everlasting covenant therefore a curse devours the earth and its inhabitants
20:38	suffer for their guilt therefore the inhabitants of the earth are scorched and few men are left
20:46	you’ll note that on the day of judgment foolishly there are those who will suffer for
20:52	their own guilt you don’t want to be forgiven you don’t
20:58	want to be reconciled to god by what Christ your sin bearer has done for you
21:03	fine have it your way you get to suffer for your own guilt
21:08	and then he goes on he describes the fact that on that day when god executes his judgment the wine mourns
21:16	the vine languishes the merry-hearted they sigh the mirth of the tambourines is stilled
21:22	the noise of the jubilant has ceased the mirth of the liar is stilled when Jesus returns
21:29	nobody’s going to be doing the macarena keep that in mind few people still do it
21:34	anyway but anyway that’s a different thing right no more will they drink wine with singing
21:40	strong drink is bitter to those who drink it the wasted city is broken down every house is shut up so that none can
21:46	enter there’s an outcry in the streets for lack of wine all joy has grown dark the gladness of
21:53	the earth is banished desolation is left in the city the gates are battered into ruins
21:58	for thus it shall be in the midst of the earth among the nations as when the olive tree is beaten as at
22:03	the gleaning when the grape harvest is done this is a terrifying picture of god’s judgment
22:10	and believe me this is just around the corner even if it’s a
22:16	thousand years from now it’s just around the corner this is exactly how it will go down
22:25	so here’s the question is this what you fear you should and at the same time
22:34	you should understand this that today is the day of salvation Christ is risen from the dead today is
22:40	the day of salvation call upon his name with him there is abundant mercy forgiveness and grace
22:46	in fact i would remind you all of you who are baptized you were baptized into Christ’s death
22:52	and into his resurrection your sins have been washed away your heart circumcised by the hand of god himself
23:00	you belong to Christ did you hear the words of the absolution today i heard you all confess your sins and
23:07	Christ he is the one who forgave you and so note then
23:12	that because god does not lie because grace is given to all who call upon the
23:18	name of the lord there is abundant pardon forgiveness and mercy he doesn’t lie
23:23	continue to trust his promises because not only will god judge the earth god will also
23:31	bring salvation to you when Jesus returns in glory that’s what’s promised and it’s there
23:36	then that we see now the context of what is spoken in isaiah 25. in isaiah 25 we get the picture of the
23:44	great wedding feast of the lamb and i got to tell you god knows how to put on a party all
23:51	right i mean this even sounds better than like when i go to visit the lens i mean you know i whenever you visit the lens
23:57	there’s food and i won’t talk about the other stuff but you get the idea here all right it’s a
24:02	great feast when any time that you go to the lens but Christ knows how to throw a party even better than the lens and so we’re going
24:09	to note here that on the last day of this earth the last day of this creation and the first
24:15	day of the new one we are all invited guests of honor
24:21	the wedding feast of the lamb and here’s what isaiah says on this mountain the lord of hosts he
24:26	will make for all peoples a feast of rich food a feast of well-aged
24:32	wine of rich food of morrow of aged wine well refined
24:39	you t totalers out there you’re gonna have to get used to this it’s just gonna be awesome right i could just see you know julie
24:46	and i sitting there going yeah that’s right this is the best wine ever right and i like going oh yeah you
24:51	betcha okay right
24:56	but note then where this party goes it says that god will swallow up on this
25:02	mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples the veil that has spread over all nations and what is this covering what
25:08	is this veil it’s death itself and the consequences of our sin
25:14	all of the curses that we are under because our first parents disobeyed god’s command this will include
25:20	the curse of toiling the curse of painful childbirth the curse of death itself and the
25:28	conflict that it exists even in our most intimate relationships that will be swallowed up and that veil
25:35	that is spread over the nations god is going to rip it away and throw it away forever and then we
25:41	get these words god will swallow up death forever never again will death bother us anymore
25:48	there will be no funerals in the new creation full stop
25:53	and the lord god he will wipe away tears from all faces and i don’t think this is a throwaway
25:59	line because it’s not hard to imagine stepping into the clean air of the new creation
26:06	seeing the new earth and the sky lit by the glory of god itself and for the first time yet
26:14	letting your eyes and your senses take in the awesomeness the beauty the majesty
26:20	of the new creation in that day we will be joyful
26:26	and i think that some of us will also experience sorrow sorrow for those who are
26:32	needlessly not there it’s not as if they weren’t bled for or died for because they are
26:38	it’s not god’s will that any should perish and so it’s so sad it will be a joyous somber
26:45	amazing terrible day but then god says this and the reproach
26:51	of his people he will take away from all of the earth what is the reproach of god’s people
26:56	have you ever noticed that being a Christian has a tendency to get you in trouble you know that there are certain things
27:01	that if you say them somebody’s going to go when you say it right oh you speak god’s
27:08	truth on social media you will be put in facebook jail all right you might be canceled by
27:14	twitter ah there’s all kinds of things that could happen to you and you’ll know all of this is why
27:19	because the the reproach that we suffer is the same reproach that Christ did we’re not better than our master Jesus
27:26	they hated and despised him what do you think they’re going to think about us right but on that day the reproach
27:34	of being a Christian will be taken away from all of the earth god has spoken and then it will be said on that day and
27:41	here’s this beautiful picture behold this is our god we have waited for him that he might save us
27:47	let me fill in some of the gaps here remember it’s still the wedding feast of the lamb i always like to picture the wedding
27:53	feast of the lamb i don’t know how the seating arrangements work so i’m thinking well maybe there’s like
27:58	a kong’s finger table right all right and in my particular case i’m going to have to like sit at like the kong finger table and be close to the
28:05	emanuel table and also the alethea table so we’re all going to kind of all be a bunch and what a rowdy group we’re going to be i just
28:11	know it on that day where we’re going to be so excited to see each other some of us have been years since we’ve been
28:17	together in each other’s presence there’s going to be hugs and kisses and tears and catching up in all of this kind of
28:23	stuff and there we are being rowdy and there’s julie enjoying the wine again right
28:29	and we’re so loud but then from across the wedding hall all the way on the other side we hear
28:36	this amazing sound and it’s the sound of what silence
28:41	it just comes over us like a wave crashing onto the sea
28:46	and with every silent person standing we look and we stop talking to
28:53	mid-sentence even we all stand in awe at what
29:05	we get to see Jesus we get to see our god
29:11	see his face his glory his splendor his majesty isaiah says
29:18	behold this is our god we’ve waited for him that he might save
29:25	us this is the lord we have waited for him so let us be glad and rejoice
29:32	in his salvation the salvation that he has given so freely
29:38	mercifully kindly in love to each and every one of us
29:43	but that’s then this is today
29:49	today we still have a sinful nature today the reproach of the nations is
29:55	still upon us today death still taunts us
30:00	and takes some of us a little bit at a time so what do we do in the meantime
30:07	Christ’s resurrection helps us there too the apostle paul writing in this regard says this
30:14	i consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to
30:20	us and indeed it’s not in fact the sufferings that we go
30:26	through whether they be bodily ailments persecutions financial struggles whether it’s a
30:32	struggle against your own sin or against the temptations of the world and the devil itself
30:39	note that we are still right now the church that is in war we are not the church
30:46	triumphant so keep your eyes always focused on what is coming
30:52	know the joy that is before you so that you can say with the apostle paul
30:57	the sufferings that we’re experiencing right now they’re not even worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed to us
31:03	you see the creation itself right now it’s waiting with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of
31:09	god for us to spring from our tombs for the creation was subjected to futility not willingly
31:16	but because of him who subjected it in hope so that the creation itself will finally
31:21	be set free from its bondage to corruption and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of god
31:27	even the earth itself longs for the day when Christ returns we know then that the whole creation has
31:33	been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now and not only the creation we ourselves
31:41	we are the ones who have the first fruits of the spirit we groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for the
31:47	adoption of sons and the redemption of our bodies for in this hope we were saved but hope
31:53	that is seen is not hope for who hopes for what he sees and so right now we do not walk by sight
32:00	today we walk by faith and you’ll note that’s enough it’s
32:06	sufficient the good news has reached us the tomb is empty Christ has risen from the dead our
32:12	salvation has already dawned he is the first fruits of the new creation
32:17	and we will soon join him in the world without end so don’t consider the sufferings of your
32:23	present time worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed patiently endure with the Spirit’s help
32:29	that’s all we can do hallelujah Christ is risen

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