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Series A – Eighteenth Sunday After Pentecost – Sunday, October 8, 2017 | 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
0:28	The holy Gospel According to Saint Matthew chapter 21 verses 33-46
0:34	Jesus said here another Parable there was a master of a house who planted a Vineyard and put a fence around it dug a
0:40	wine press in it built a tower leased it to tenants went into another country
0:46	when the season for fruit Drew near he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit
0:52	and the tenants took his servants beat one killed another stoned another again
0:57	he sent other servants more than the first and they did the same to them finally he sent his son to them saying
1:04	they will respect my son but when the tenants saw the sun they said to themselves this is the air come
1:11	let us kill him and have his inheritance and they took him threw him out of the
1:17	vineyard and they killed him when therefore the owner of the Vineyard comes what will he do to those tenants
1:23	well they said to him well he will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants
1:28	who will give him the fruits in their Seasons Jesus said to them have you never read in the scriptures the stone
1:35	the builders rejected has become the Cornerstone and this was the Lord’s
1:40	doing and it is marvelous in our eyes therefore I tell you the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to
1:47	a people producing its fruit and the one who falls on the stone will be broken to
1:52	pieces and when it falls on anyone it will crush him and when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard this
1:59	Parable they perceived that he was speaking about them and although they were seeking to arrest
2:04	him they feared the crowds because they held him to be a prophet this is the
2:09	gospel of the Lord in the name of Jesus all right I hope you guys are sitting
2:16	down wait you’re sitting down okay good the problem in our texts today is going
2:24	to hit home for many of us let’s kind of talk about what the issue is this is
2:30	both our gospel text and our epistle text are dealing with the danger and the threat that is posed to the body of
2:37	Christ and the vineyard that God has planted which is all of Israel saved Israel
2:44	and the threat is from the Pharisees oftentimes when people think of
2:50	Pharisees or they play What’s called the Pharisee card they think that Pharisees are those people who are obsessed with
2:58	sound Doctrine so if you were to say to a friend of yours something to the effect of you know I’m not sure if you
3:06	should be listening to that particular popular teacher on Trinity Broadcasting
3:11	Network they are likely to tell you oh you’re just being a Pharisee
3:18	that’s not what the Pharisees were about Pharisees were not about sound Doctrine ultimately pharah say ism pharisaicalism
3:27	is a heresy that teaches that you are made right with God
3:34	either in full or in part by your good works and your keeping of the law or
3:40	Torah and I’ve noticed that in our days pharisaicalism
3:46	falls into two types two stripes there is a liberal form and there is a
3:52	conservative form and this these forms fall into what would you call liberalism
3:58	and conservatism you have to kind of make these distinctions because there’s
4:04	nothing wrong there’s no Vice in conserving what is true
4:11	there is a vice when you legalistically and self-righteously believe that you
4:16	are saved by your preservation of what is true you see the difference it’s a slight nuance and there is no Vice in
4:24	having kind of quote a liberal outlook on things and I have to be careful how I
4:29	Define that all right where you are putting the best construction and you’re thinking about love for neighbor and
4:36	weighing these things out in light of the law and things like that that’s that’s that’s a good and good exercise
4:42	to go through but when liberalism takes over all bets are off it’s a form of
4:48	pharisaicalism and let me kind of talk about the two different forms in the liberal form
4:54	these those who are self-righteous liberally they basically say that you are truly a
5:02	Christian if you do not and you’ll notice how they Define it kind of
5:07	negatively if you do not show intolerance towards people
5:14	if you do not buy sugar from Nation States where people indigenous people
5:21	are oppressed by colonialism and if you’ve never heard that you know I’ve been reprimanded by the way for eating
5:28	the wrong sugar I shouldn’t be eating sugar anyway but that’s a different story right or you kind of get you kind
5:34	of get the idea here so they’re all about social justice what we are against
5:39	we are against oppression we are against colonialism we are against all
5:45	institutional forms of judgmentalism and bigotry and things like that and this is
5:50	how they Define themselves and you’re in if you also are against these things
5:58	notice they Define themselves by what they’re not we’re not those guys we’re not Trump
6:05	supporters we are something different on the other end of the spectrum the
6:11	flip side of the same self-righteous coin what ends up happening is you have
6:16	conservatism taking a very negative turn where I have a right standing before God
6:22	because I don’t vote Democrat because I don’t use tobacco products because I
6:30	don’t drink alcohol because I don’t dance because I don’t play cards because
6:35	I don’t go to movies that are rated more than PG and you’ll notice that in both of its
6:42	forms they have created a law system keep our man-made laws
6:50	and you are right with God this is self-righteousness
6:56	have you ever found yourself in a situation where you’ve come in contact with somebody who knows somebody who
7:03	just got out of prison and that person went to prison rightfully so because they they committed some kind of
7:09	dastardly crime and they needed to pay their debt back to society and that
7:15	person goes in a rank Pagan criminal and comes out believing in Jesus
7:20	somewhere along the way somebody told them about Jesus and now they’re a firm believer in Jesus and you say something
7:26	to the effect of I wonder if that person’s really saved am I the only one who thinks this way
7:33	you see what I’m saying you see the gospel is really scandalous
7:39	and on both sides the liberal ISM side and the conservatism side those who
7:45	believe that they have a right standing by before God by keeping these man-made laws
7:51	on both sides Jesus has no real place in their theology Jesus is scandalous in
7:58	fact they get really upset when Jesus hangs out with Sinners forgives Sinners
8:06	I mean you think about this you read in the gospels and you come across gospel texts where it says Jesus was at this
8:12	particular Tax Collector’s house and the Pharisees were outside the Pharisees
8:18	were outside and they were grumbling he eats with Sinners and tax collectors he
8:25	absolves prostitutes who is this guy salvation from God cannot be free it
8:33	can’t be that free there’s got to be something that we’ve got to add into the mix that person can’t possibly be saved
8:41	don’t you know what they’ve done their whole life self-righteousness
8:48	refuses to recognize its own sinfulness
8:54	and as a result of it always is standing over people saying I’m really saved but
9:00	you’re probably not you’re probably not you’re probably not it’s kind of this two-tiered Christianity and so this is
9:07	what’s going this is what’s going on in this text and as we look at our gospel
9:13	text and our epistle text watch how self-righteous pharisaicalism has no
9:21	place for Jesus whereas those who are saved by grace
9:27	through faith there’s nothing but Jesus it’s kind of an interesting contrast
9:34	let’s take a look let’s return to Our Gospel text first Jesus tells this Parable here another Parable there was a
9:40	master of a house who planted a Vineyard put a fence around it dug a wine press
9:45	in it built a tower leased it to tenants and went away into another country now
9:51	I’m going to note something here our Old Testament text makes it very clear that in its pristine
9:59	form the original hearers of this Parable would have heard it in relation to Israel
10:05	Israel is the vineyard that God planted but the question that comes up because
10:11	the text itself makes it clear that this is Israel is it spiritual Israel or genetic Israel
10:17	that’s being talked about here and I find it fascinating that what can be so
10:23	easily applied to Israel of Jesus’s day and I’m going to say Church
10:29	can be applied to the church today it almost as if this Parable has an ancient
10:34	application as well as a present day application if you’re paying attention to the motifs and the themes so he dug a
10:41	wine precedent built a tower at least its attendance went to another country when I hear this description I know
10:47	nothing really about Vineyards but man it sounds a lot like a church to me it has a tower
10:53	and a wine press you see what I’m saying here and he goes off to another country
10:59	huh Jesus is returning in glory so there’s an application for the church and here’s what it says when the season
11:04	for fruit Drew near he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit the tenants took his servants beat one
11:11	killed another stoned another Jesus himself speaks about these fellows
11:17	in other parts of the gospels where he makes it clear that these fellows who are being described here are none other
11:23	the prophets of the Old Testament and keep this in mind scripture is very clear that God himself is the one who
11:30	also sends pastors to the church today if you were to think of the church as the vineyard today or this church as you
11:36	know kind of a small Vineyard within the bigger Vineyard of God God sends pastors
11:42	and I will say this I have over the past 10 years of doing my radio Ministry have
11:47	received countless and I mean this countless emails from pastors who have
11:52	been literally driven out of their churches because they preached the truth and they preach the gospel
11:59	in fact at the PCR conference this year there was a fellow from Canada who showed up and I was very excited to see
12:05	him in a clerical caller because I knew his story years ago I met him in Montana and he had just been given the left foot
12:12	a fellowship for preaching too much about Jesus no joke that was literally the complaint and so they drove him out
12:19	on a rail and this is a fellow who has a lot of kids small kids at that and he ended up saying well fine I’m going to
12:26	go to Seminary so he went to Seminary graduated from Seminary he changed denominations became a Lutheran and he
12:32	was ordained this year as a Lutheran pastor and he couldn’t be thrilled more thrilled the fact that he’s now in a
12:37	congregation where the people want to hear about Jesus rather than themselves but this is a thing that goes on even to
12:44	this day so it says this finally he sent his son now watch here the tenants
12:51	despising of the sun if you would he sent his son to them saying they will respect my son do you think these guys
12:57	are going to respect his son yeah not on your life and so when the tenants saw the son they said to the themselves this
13:04	is the heir come let us kill him and have his inheritance they say life is cheap right
13:10	life is cheap if you want to kill somebody do you value their life not at
13:17	all they care nothing about the owner of
13:23	the vineyard they care nothing about his son they despise and loathe him and consider his life as worth nothing
13:30	absolutely nothing and so they took him threw him out of the vineyard and killed him now verse 39
13:38	there let’s pause and consider what’s going on here this is the gospel
13:45	Christ is crucified for our sins
13:50	but the means by which he is taken to the cross and found guilty of a capital
13:56	crime is at the hands of wicked people the ultimate wickedness God works for
14:03	our salvation and so now the question comes in what’s your relationship with this one who was
14:10	killed so when therefore Jesus now asks a question the owner of the Vineyard comes
14:16	what will he do to those tenants to notice Jesus now throws the question out to the crowd listening to the parable what do you think is going to happen to
14:22	those guys who killed this son so the crowd answers he will put those wretches to a
14:28	miserable death let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their Seasons seems like a
14:34	reasonable answer but watch Jesus kind of tweaks the answer a little bit here now he’s going to begin to answer the
14:40	question and it’s going to have everything to do with well people’s relationship to him
14:48	and how they view him so Jesus said to them have you never read in the
14:54	scriptures the stone the builders rejected has become the Cornerstone and
15:00	this was the Lord’s doing and it is marvelous in our eyes
15:07	so notice here you have this Cornerstone the builders say it’s ridiculous we don’t want that thing
15:13	but God says no that’s the Cornerstone and so one group despises this
15:19	Cornerstone another group Marvels that God has made this rejected Cornerstone
15:26	into you know into the Cornerstone itself and it’s marvelous in their eyes so notice two completely different
15:33	tracks and because this Parable was spoken against the Pharisees Jesus is
15:38	speaking against the self-righteous so then he says this therefore I tell
15:46	you the kingdom of God will be taken away from you the self-righteous and it will be given to a people producing its
15:52	fruits who is it that produces the fruits of the vineyard what are the fruit of the spirit love joy peace
16:00	patience kindness gentleness self-control these are the fruits of the spirit
16:08	how are those fruits produced in the life of Christians and lives of people
16:14	through the means of Grace law and gospel rightly
16:19	rightly divided all focusing and centering in on Christ you can’t do this
16:26	apart from Christ Christ is apart from you you can do nothing the one who abides in me Bears good fruit
16:34	these people not only refuse to abide in Christ they want him dead
16:41	and that’s what the self-righteous do because the self-righteous have no need of a crucified savior that’s they say
16:49	basically to Jesus we don’t need your forgiveness we got this no problem
16:54	get out of our face stop upsetting our apple cart we’ve been making progress we’re almost there we’re right at the
17:01	cusp the Breakthrough is the whole is just around the corner and they’re lying to themselves
17:09	so then Jesus says this the one who falls on this Stone will be broken to
17:15	pieces this is a picture of repentance every true
17:22	penitent believer in Jesus Christ who recognizes their utter sinfulness and
17:28	inability to meet the standard of God’s law falls on Christ and is broken to
17:34	pieces and that breaking to Pieces is critical because Christ himself puts us back
17:42	together in his grace and mercy but when it falls on anyone it’ll crush
17:48	him utterly destroy him and so you see the difference then between the
17:54	self-righteous and those who have no righteousness of their own but who trust in the mercy of
18:01	Christ and so the text says when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard this Parable they perceived that Jesus
18:07	was speaking about them to which we say winner winner chicken dinner you finally figured it out right and you’ll note
18:12	that Jesus speaks against self-righteousness but he’s not the only one who speaks
18:19	against self-righteousness all of scripture preaches against it which then takes us to our epistle text and we need
18:25	to pick up just a little bit of context because you’ll note that our epistle texts today begins with the idea of not
18:32	putting confidence in the flesh but there is an actual warning here that we must hear against the self-righteous
18:39	Paul writing in Philippians chapter 3 verse 2 says this look out for the dogs
18:45	look out for the evil doers look out for those who mutilate the flesh now the
18:51	people specifically he’s speaking against are the Pharisees turned Christian who have been then become the
18:58	judaizers these are people who do not plant churches these are people who come in and disrupt churches where there is
19:05	Unity they create Discord where there is Clarity they create confusion where
19:11	there is confidence in Christ’s mercy and forgiveness they create anxiety
19:18	and uncertainty regarding our standing before God why because these are fellows
19:24	who despise Christ reject the free gift of Salvation are incense that Jesus
19:32	would forgive that person and put people on literally the rat
19:38	wheel of good works in the hopes that they will someday attain salvation through their striving and their human
19:45	efforts and in the case of the judaizers they would come in behind Paul after he would
19:52	plant a church and preach the gospel and begin the work of discipling put a pastor in place and the judaizers would
19:58	show up and say that Apostle Paul he lied to you he didn’t tell you the whole truth
20:04	you Gentiles here and what did they call the Gentiles what
20:09	did the Pharisees and the judaizers call the Gentiles dogs
20:14	that’s what they called them one of their favorite terms for the Gentiles
20:19	they’d come in and say you Gentiles under their breath send you dogs you can’t be saved unless you’re
20:26	circumcised and you keep Torah but notice what Paul says they’re the
20:32	ones who are the dogs yes he called them names they are evildoers
20:39	and their circumcision is not a circumcision it is nothing more and
20:44	nothing less than a mutilation of the flesh that’s what it is
20:50	and he says this regarding true Christians we are the circumcision who worship by the spirit of God who
20:57	glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh how much
21:05	confidence do we put in the flesh new confidence zero I think it’s fascinating that you
21:12	know we’ve been paying attention to what happened historically during the time of the reformation and when Martin Luther
21:18	translated the Bible into German for the first time the Roman Church took issue
21:23	with the fact that in the Book of Romans he added this word alone we are saved by
21:30	grace through faith alone and they said you added to scripture and
21:36	he said no that’s actually the gist of the text let me ask you if we are to put no confidence in the flesh
21:43	are we saved by grace through faith alone or are we saved by grace plus
21:49	works we’re not saved by grace plus works it is by grace through faith alone
21:56	and then Paul pulls out his ultimate trump card if you would the judaizers
22:02	basically believe that they were saved by their well keeping of Torah pharisaically so their
22:09	self-righteousness so Paul pulls out his trump card and says I have all of the
22:14	credentials that they have he says all right though I myself have reason
22:21	for confidence in the flesh if anyone else thinks he has confidence reason for confidence in the flesh I have more
22:27	I was circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel yeah that’s right the Apostle Paul
22:33	was not a convert to Judaism in his later life he was born into it
22:40	circumcised on the eighth day of the tribe of Benjamin a Hebrew of the
22:45	Hebrews now keep in mind what was his name before he became a Christian Saul
22:51	so keep in mind this kind of idea the people of the tribe of Benjamin their big claim to fame amongst the other
22:58	tribes is that it was from Benjamin that the first king of Israel came so Saul
23:03	Paul was named after the first king of Israel he’s a Hebrew of the Hebrews as to the law he was a Pharisee as to Zeal
23:11	a persecutor of the church as to righteousness under the law blameless
23:18	now I want you to consider a historical parallel here today we heard about Martin Luther entering the augustinian
23:25	monastery and Luther made it very clear that he was trying to save himself by
23:30	his good works and one historian said this of Martin Luther if there was anybody who was going to be saved by his
23:38	monkey it would have been Martin Luther
23:44	but Martin Luther as rigorous as he was at his monkey
23:50	wearing out five or six confessors a day applying himself to monkery with 100
23:57	zeal denying himself such creaturely Comforts
24:02	as blankets at night in order to to basically punish his body and things of
24:08	this nature all of the works he did as a monk did they give him any confidence or
24:13	certainty of his salvation no not at all so you note that Martin Luther and the
24:20	Apostle Paul have some similarities here in their lives there’s a little bit of a track if anyone’s going to be saved by monkey it would have been Martin Luther
24:27	if anyone was going to be saved by the pharisaical system of self-righteousness it was the Apostle Paul he was
24:33	completely blameless under the law he was as to a Zeal he was a persecutor of
24:38	the church he hated Jesus as to righteousness under the law blameless but then he says this whatever
24:45	gain I had I counted as a loss for the sake of Christ let me translate it this way all of the stock that I had in this
24:54	pharisaical system well it’s like having stock in Enron
25:02	bad investment won’t pay off he says indeed I count everything as a
25:08	loss because of the surpassing worth of watch knowing Christ
25:13	on the one hand he was a persecutor of the church and when Jesus confronts the Apostle Paul on the road to Damascus
25:20	what does Jesus say to him why do you persecute me Jesus says
25:28	the self-righteous hate Christ and that’s what he was he was a
25:35	self-righteous hater of Christ but now watch this I count all of this these the self-righteous confidence in my flesh I
25:42	consider that as a loss for the surpassing worth of what knowing Christ
25:48	Jesus it’s all about him it’s for his sake I have suffered the loss of all
25:54	things and I count them as and your translation probably says rubbish
25:59	I count them as rubbish in order that I might gain Christ the them there is all of his good works under the
26:05	self-righteous system of the Pharisees and the Greek word for rubbish
26:11	is a lot stronger than rubbish yeah I think of rubbish and I think of you know my wife on a daily basis
26:17	putting stuff into the kitchen trash and then at the end of the day I’ve got this nice tidy little white bag with this tie
26:24	on it and I take it out to the trash can and it disappears that’s what we think about when we think about rubbish wrong image rubbish here
26:33	is the Greek word is actually think of it this way have you ever been on a farm
26:39	where they have cows or horses right and when the horses do their
26:44	business and it’s fresh and smelly you have a big stinking hot pile of leh
26:54	that’s what this word is he says I consider all of my self-righteous works
27:01	that I was doing in order to save myself I consider them to be that
27:08	that’s what he’s saying why so that he might gain Christ
27:16	it’s all about him it’s about him
27:23	and that I might be found in Jesus and here are these important words not
27:29	having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law
27:36	and this is the text that teaches this amazing Doctrine it’s called imputation
27:43	and it kind of works two ways remember Jesus is there hanging dead on the cross
27:51	what did God do with our sins God took all of our sins and put them on
27:58	Christ God has laid on him the iniquity of us all Isaiah says that’s imputation number
28:07	one God imputes our sin to Jesus he bleeds and dies for our sins you are washed in
28:15	the waters of baptism you’re brought to penitent faith in Christ you are made new by the working of the Holy Spirit
28:21	through the means of Grace and regenerated what does God then do
28:26	he takes Jesus’s righteousness and he places it on you
28:34	double imputation so that I might be found in Christ not having a righteousness of my own that
28:40	comes from the law but that which comes through faith in Christ I want you to think of it this way even the uniform of
28:47	your pastor visually represents what is true here in this text regarding all of
28:54	us black for my sin White robed in the righteousness of Jesus
29:01	which covers my sin what I’m wearing visually you you see here
29:07	you are having this exact same thing done to you your black dark sin is
29:14	covered by the righteous robe of Christ you don’t have a righteousness of your
29:20	own you have the righteousness of Jesus given to you as a gift and that’s the idea
29:27	so not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law but that which comes through faith in Christ and it is
29:33	a righteousness that is from God and it depends on faith
29:40	so that I might know him notice again the focus that I might know him the
29:45	power of his resurrection may share in his sufferings and this is not the
29:50	sharing of Christ’s sufferings as if somehow our sufferings participate in the Forgiveness of sins but more or less
29:58	because Jesus was despised and hated now we too get to experience that same
30:03	joyful experience and Paul does describe it in joyful terms I have just found my
30:09	lack of joy in ex when I’m in the midst of it I have to work the joy part out
30:15	it’s terrible that I do not receive my sufferings with joy I’m still working on
30:20	that right so that I might know him the power of his resurrection may share in his
30:26	sufferings becoming like him in his death you see remember what Jesus said this Cornerstone that the builders
30:33	rejected God has you know made it the Cornerstone and it’s marvelous in our eyes
30:38	and the one who falls on it is broken to pieces and this is where Paul is he has fallen on this Cornerstone and he has
30:45	been broken to pieces and he considers this Cornerstone marvelous but everyone who is self-righteous this
30:51	Jesus Falls right on them and crushes them that’s the difference that you see in this this this this text
30:59	so that by any means possible I might attain the resurrection of the Dead not that I’ve already obtained it or I’m
31:05	already perfect but I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me
31:11	his own so what does it all mean
31:17	you’re going to note here then that both Christ and the Apostle Paul
31:22	are firmly sternly warning us against self-righteousness
31:28	firmly and sternly warning us that when it comes to our justification and our
31:35	right standing before God do not add your good works into the equation Christ
31:41	has made you his own it’s all about him and what he has done for you in bleeding
31:47	and dying for your sins and recognize that you are a sinner that all of your
31:54	good works if your good works are for the purpose of you having a right standing before God they are that
32:04	and instead let your faith be on Christ who he is
32:09	what he has done and I find it amazing that our text
32:16	the text of our Hymn for the sermon says for us by wickedness he was betrayed for
32:22	us in Crown of Thorns raid for us he bore the shameful cross and
32:28	death for us he gave his dying breath
32:34	ultimately salvation is all about Christ and what
32:42	he has done for us and for you you cannot add to it
32:49	Christ does not share his glory with another including you
32:54	now this does not mean that there is not a place for good works there is but remember we do our good works
33:01	because we are saved not in order to be saved
33:07	and if you’re doing them in order to be saved these texts make it clear
33:12	you despise and you hate Jesus
33:18	but if you do your good works because you are saved then
33:24	the stone the builders has rejected has become the Cornerstone and God has done this and it is truly marvelous in our
33:32	eyes in the name of Jesus amen

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