Hewn From the Rock

Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church. Kungsvinger 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 Rosebrook. The Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew, the 16th chapter.

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, who do people say that the

Son of Man is? And they said, well some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.

And he said to them, but who do you say that I am? Simon Peter replied, you are the Christ, the Son of the living

God. And Jesus answered him, blessed are you Simon Bar -Jonah for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my

Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

And then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ. This is the gospel of the

Lord. In the name of Jesus. From our Old Testament text, listen to me you who pursue righteousness and you who seek

Yahweh. Look to the rock from which you were hewn and to the quarry from which you were dug.

Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you. Boy, there's a lot going on here, but one of the things

I love about scripture is that contrary to the claims of the skeptics who claim that the Bible doesn't make any sense, it's clearly 66 books written by a thousand different authors with no particular central theme to it whatsoever and full of contradictions is how they talk about it, right?

The reality is that I'm always blown away by how absolutely consistent the

Bible is in so many of its themes. Let me kind of point this out.

This rock theme that we see in our text today, this pans out in scripture.

In fact, we're going to do a little bit of work in some of the cross -references and we'll see if I can rock this sermon out, all right?

Thank you, Mikey. But here's the idea. When we look at our Old Testament text, it says, look to the rock from which you were hewn and the quarry from which you were dug.

But if you know the book of Genesis, then you know that we are not made out of rocks.

Now there may be times that when I was being raised, my mother thought that I had rocks in my head because I seemed to be so stubborn when it came to doing the chores that she asked me to do.

I still am stubborn, by the way. But you're going to note here that saying that I have rocks in my brains is not a good way of talking because remember when

Jesus, on that Palm Sunday, came into Jerusalem and all the children were crying,

Hosanna to the Son of David, and they were saying hallelujah and all this kind of stuff. And the Pharisees were all, make them stop, shut them up.

They shouldn't be saying these things. And Jesus said, if they don't, then the rocks will cry out.

And so you'll note in Scripture, rocks are held up as something that has virtue, something that is strong, something that is lasting, something that is wise.

But we are, well, in the book of Genesis, not made from rocks. We're made from dust, okay?

And man, do I hate, absolutely hate dust, okay? Have you ever had one of them out of control raging dust bunnies in your living room just under the sofa?

Those things are terrible. And the thing I hate, one of the most things I hate altogether is when it comes time to dust my office, all right?

And this happens with regularity. It doesn't matter if I go out and I buy those wonderful little, those wipes and I wipe everything down and I get it all sparkly.

Within a few weeks, it looks like a corpse has been in my office and decomposed. It's just kind of a mess.

And so you'll note, we're not made from rocks. We're made from dust. So what's all this talk about rocks being here from some particular quarry?

And then you got this other thing. Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you. My parents are not named

Abraham and Sarah. They're sitting right here, okay? What's going on here?

And you'll note that when you're reading the texts and you see things like this that are beginning to push the boundaries of reality in your own life.

They're pushing you into a deeper reality, a reality that comes from Christ and that we as Christians must embrace.

In fact, the world cannot see these things because it doesn't read the text. They do not pursue righteousness.

They do not seek Yahweh. And as a result of it, they basically judge the world by what they can see, what they can smell, what they can taste, what they can touch, what they can experience.

But there is a deeper reality that the scriptures reveal to us that we embrace by faith.

And so it is absolutely appropriate to say that we Christians were hewn from a quarry and that we were cut from a rock.

I know it sounds a little odd, but let me kind of bear this out. So in these cross -references that I want to take a look at, this rock theme is really important.

In 1 Corinthians 10, the Apostle Paul writes to the church of Corinth and also to us, because this is in scripture,

I don't want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.

Did you know that the Red Sea Crossing is a baptism? Indeed, it is. And all ate the same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink.

Now, a little bit of a note here, you're going to note, Paul's writing this to a New Testament church and he's pointing out that whether you're

Jew or Gentile, that your fathers are the people of Israel and the

Exodus is all about you. You're going to note, Corinth is not known for its

Judaism, Corinth is known for its kind of pagan Gentile history, and there are a bunch of pagan

Gentiles in the church at Corinth, at least former ones, and yet they are included in this heritage.

And you're going to note, they were all baptized, well wait a second, we're all baptized.

They all ate the same spiritual food, we eat the same spiritual food, they all drank the same spiritual drink, hmm, okay, you're starting to see the themes here, this is pushing to a deeper reality.

And they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and here it is, the rock was

Christ. You say, what? The rock was

Christ. Okay, let's do a little more work. Well, this is referencing two places in Scripture, and because the reason why

I say two places is because the rock followed them. The rock was not just in one place in the

Old Testament. So in Exodus 17, we get the first appearance of the rock that is

Christ, and that is Exodus 17, and here's what it says, all the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of sin.

Man, I wish I could move on from that wilderness, holy smokes. That's not how it works in the

Hebrew, but I've got to tell you, it works really well in the English, you know. Wilderness of sin seemed to live there. I have a, you know,

I get my mail there now, and I don't want to anymore, right? Wilderness of sin by stages, according to the commandment of Yahweh, and they camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink.

Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, give us water to drink. Now it's not, you can't go very long without water, by the way.

You will expire very quickly without water. I can go a long time without food, longer than most of you, but that's a whole other issue, but most of us can actually go for some time without eating, but without drinking, it's certain death.

In fact, you need to be saved if you are not anywhere near water, and so rather than praying to the

God who just delivered them out of slavery, just delivered them from the armies of Pharaoh, caused the

Red Sea to part, they went across the Red Sea as on dry ground, they would, at this point, should be thinking, you know, this

Yahweh God, this deity, seems to be for us, right? He seems to be kind and merciful and strong and doing all these great things, but no, as soon as something comes up, like they ran out of water and they don't have any water to drink, at this point, they're ready to kill

Moses. Give us water to drink, and Moses said to them, why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test

Yahweh? But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, why did you bring us out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?

So they need to be saved yet again. And so at the core here, you're going to note there's a grumbling motif, but this is still a story of salvation, because the wilderness of sin that we live in is an arid place, and we have all been sentenced to death in that particular wilderness.

And so despite all the grumbling and all the just terrible bits of all of this, God does something amazing.

Moses cried to Yahweh, what shall I do with this people? They're almost ready to stone me. And Yahweh said to Moses, you pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the

Nile and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb.

Wow, Christ is going to stand before Moses on the rock at Horeb.

He's there, right there. It's an amazing text. And you shall strike the rock, and the water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.

So Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah because of the quarreling of the people of Israel because they tested the

Lord by saying, is the Lord among us or not? So there they are. They're in need of salvation and deliverance.

They need something to drink. And here, remember what Paul said under the inspiration of the

Holy Spirit, the rock is Christ. And in this salvation story, an unworthy, grumbling people who are not worthy of God's mercy or grace, they receive salvation.

How? Moses took his staff and he struck the rock, and water came flowing out of it.

I can think of another time when Christ was struck and water flowed from his side after his death on the cross so that you and I can be forgiven of all of our sins.

Now it's all beginning to make sense. There's a second time though when this rock that is following the people of Israel is struck and it doesn't turn out very well.

In the book of Numbers chapter 20, it reads, starting at verse 2, there was no water for the congregation.

Ah, a repeat performance of something that happened before. And you're going to know, a lot of time has passed here.

Children of Israel had their opportunity to go into the promised land immediately after they left

Mount Sinai, but they didn't have faith. As you guys remember, the 12 spies they sent into the

Canaan, we all remember the song. 12 spies went to spy on Canaan, 10 were bad and 2 were good.

What did they see when they spied on Canaan? 10 were bad and 2 were good. Some saw giants big and tall, some saw grapes in clusters fall, some saw

God rule over all. 10 were bad, 2 were good. We all know the Sunday School song.

But all that being said, that's ancient history by the time we get to Numbers 20. And now God has executed his judgment on their faithlessness and lack of faith and lack of trust in him that he would do the very things that he promised to do.

And so he's going to cause them to do a 40 year lap around the Saudi Arabian wilderness.

Loads of fun if you think about it. And so now this is the context. They're already in their wilderness wandering for 40 years, and again, they have no water.

And of course, God is the one who is leading them. If you remember, the way the children of Israel work things out is that the presence of the

Lord goes before them as a pillar of smoke by day, pillar of fire by night, and when it stay put, you stay put.

When it moves, you move. It doesn't matter if it's day or night, when it gets going, you got to get going.

That's how it worked. So God is the one leading them, and so he's led them into another situation where they need deliverance, where they need salvation.

There's no water where they're going. So they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and the people quarreled with Moses and said, would that we had perished when our brothers perished before Yahweh.

You know, this gives me hope because, man, oh man, it does take me a long time sometimes to learn my lessons.

Same with my kids. Holy smokes. Man, when raising them was a challenge, right? Because you sit there and go, you did that again, why did you, and of course,

I remember my mom saying, you did that again, and it's like a repeat of history here, right? So here they are, the same kind of thing.

Why have you brought the assembly of the Lord into the wilderness where we should die here? Both we and our cattle.

Why have you made us come out of Egypt to bring us to this evil place? It's no place for grain or figs or vines or pomegranates.

There's no water to drink. And here's the thing. We know from the

New Testament that the wilderness is a type and shadow of the world that we now live in.

These words that they've spoken are true. Have you noticed that we're all passing through this world, and boy, do we pass through quick, right?

We're passing through this world, and this really isn't a place that Scripture describes as a place for, well, vines, pomegranates, and things like that.

But when you read the biblical text, that's how it describes the new earth, as a place of vines and pomegranates and lush gardens and things like this.

The new earth is the place where we get to finally put some roots down, build foundations, and have a place to stay permanently.

I don't think there's going to be a lot of change of address cards on the new earth. Kind of excited about that, right?

So then Moses and Aaron, they went from the presence of the assembly to the entrance of the tent of meeting, and they fell on their faces.

And the glory of Yahweh appeared to them. And Yahweh spoke to Moses saying, take the staff and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron and your brother, and tell the rock, speak to the rock before their eyes to yield its water.

Because can we crucify Christ twice? No, we can't.

And that's kind of the point here. This is why what Moses did is so bad. The first time

Christ was struck for salvation. But in this particular case, now that Christ has been struck, we still need to be delivered from daily troubles and problems and things like this.

And so we pray to Christ to deliver us from the evil one. We pray to him to give us daily bread and even water.

That's included in that prayer. So take the staff, tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water, so you shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle.

So Moses took the staff from before Yahweh as he commanded him. And then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock.

And he said to them, here now, you rebels, shall we bring water for you out of this rock?

Remember what Paul said, the rock is Christ. And then Moses lifted up his hands and struck the rock with his staff.

Not once, twice. You can almost hear the internal dialogue.

First time he strikes it, nothing. Uh -oh. Strikes it again for good measure.

And God decides, okay, we're going to deliver you this time, but there's going to be a cost. And so the water came out abundantly, the congregation drank and their livestock.

And then Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron, because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.

These are the waters of Meribah where the people of Israel quarreled with Yahweh and through them he showed himself to be holy.

Hmm. This rock theme is actually pretty strong. It's intense throughout the scripture.

But consider then how this plays out in our gospel text.

We still haven't resolved this quarry bit, but we'll talk about that in a minute. In our gospel text, it says when

Jesus came to the district of Caesarea Philippi, we've noted Jesus is outside of Judea.

He's in pagan territory. Caesarea Philippi is legitimately a Roman city with Roman deities, false gods.

In fact, the gates of hell are actually in Caesarea Philippi.

The gates of Hades as it's described here. So it's a fascinating place and it's here where Jesus decides he's going to drop the big bomb.

He takes a look at his disciples and he says, all right, what do the Gallup polls say about me?

Who do the people say that I am? Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, others

Jeremiah or one of the prophets. All of these weird answers coming from Jewish boys because Jewish boys don't believe in reincarnation.

That's weird. So Jesus said to them, all right, but who do you say that I am? And it doesn't talk about the length of time that it takes here, but I always wonder if that question kind of sat there over the heads of the disciples for a minute or two, you know, them wondering who's going to speak up, right?

So Peter, always the one to jump in to danger, right? He decides he's going to offer up his answer.

You are the Christ, the son of the living God. Good answer. That's a really good answer.

In Jewish terms, he would say you are the Messiah, the son of the living God. So not only are you

Messiah, but you're the son of God, which makes you God in human flesh. Beautiful answer. And then here we go.

Jesus answered him, blessed are you, Simon Bar -Jonah. All right, let me help you out here.

I always do this because I think back to that one particular sermon I heard on this text from Pastor Ron Hodel.

May God continue to bless his memory. He's now with Jesus. But I remember Ron Hodel preaching on this.

He'd say, listen, Bar -Jonah, it's Hebrew, right? Bar means son, Jonah, it tells us who he is the son of.

If he were Norwegian or Scandinavian, he would be Simon Johnson, okay? John's son.

This is how this works, okay? So work it out. We got Peter's last name, it's Johnson, and it says, blessed are you,

Simon Johnson, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my father who is in heaven, indeed this is true.

And I tell you, you are Petras. Now he changes his name to Rocky, Rocky Johnson, right?

And again, steal this all from Pastor Hodel, it's just a great thing, okay? His name is now Rocky, because that's what

Petras means, rock, okay? But then he says, okay, I tell you, you are

Petras, and on this Petra, I will build my church, Petra.

Now we got a problem. Petras, referring to Peter, that's masculine. Petra, notice the alpha at the end,

Petra is feminine. Did Jesus just misgender Peter? What's going on here, right?

Rome has to contend with this problem, and I love how this hits harder today than it did like 10 years ago, right?

Jesus just misgendered Peter. He just called him Petra. What's going on here, right?

Now, the answer is actually quite simple. When Rome says that Christ intends to build his church on Petras, Peter, the answer is no.

The feminine and masculine nouns totally forbid that interpretation. So what's this

Petra that Jesus says he's going to build his church on? He says, I tell you, you are

Petras, on this Petra, I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. What is this

Petra? It's his confession. Confession that Jesus is the

Christ, the Son of the living God. Now that makes sense. In other words, to confess something is to say the same thing, to say the truth.

What Christ is saying is that by building his church on the confession of Peter, that Christ is building the church on himself.

He is the rock. He is the foundation. He is the cornerstone.

He is the builder, the stone the builders have rejected. He is the one that the church is built on, and because Peter recognizes who

Christ is, he is blessed like Israel was blessed. Remember Jacob? Had his name changed to Israel.

Remember Abram? Had his name changed to Abram. Simon has his name changed to Petras. Rocky Johnson.

It all works, right, here? Now, all of that being said, note then what he says next.

I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

And so we hear this authority for the first time that Christ is giving to not just Peter, but to the entire church, because this is then repeated in Matthew 18 and in John chapter 20.

The thing that we call the office of the keys, that the church has the authority to forgive sins.

To forgive the sins of the penitent and withhold forgiveness from the impenitent. To declare to them forgiveness or damnation, whether they are penitent or impenitent.

You get the idea. That's what the office of the keys is all about. And all of this because Christ is going to the cross.

He is going to lay down his life, and Jesus, our rock, is going to have his body struck after he bleeds and dies for your sins and mine.

And water and blood will indeed come flowing out of him to save us from this arid wilderness of sin.

This place where we can't even get a good drink of water and that we are doomed to perish in.

Christ, by being struck for us, has given us salvation. But note here, it doesn't resolve there.

Because listen again to our Old Testament text. Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, and you who seek

Yahweh. Doesn't the scripture say that no one seeks for God? No one. But here it says you who seek for God, and you're going to note then, each and every one of us baptized into Christ's death and to his resurrection.

We have been regenerated. We have been brought back from death to life, and that we are made of sterner stuff spiritually than we are physically.

It's hard to believe, but kind of work with me here. Your physical body is made from dust.

The new person you are in Christ was hewn from Christ himself, from the rock of Christ.

Your soul will outlast your body. And so to refer to the regenerate person that you are in Christ as being hewn from a rock is perfectly appropriate.

And it is only apprehended by faith, by listening to the voice of God in the scripture.

So listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, and all of you do because you've been baptized into Christ, and you are here seeking his righteousness in his word.

Seeking his righteousness in his forgiveness, his grace, his body and blood given and shed for the forgiveness of your sins.

Seeking his righteousness in sanctifying you and I. You who seek the

Lord, look then to the rock from which you were hewn, Christ. You were hewn from Christ.

To the quarry from which you were dug, look to Abraham your father, to Sarah who bore you.

And you'll note here, now we recognize this because we just heard this from the past couple of weeks.

Everyone who believes and has the same faith as Abraham is counted as children of Abraham.

And indeed we are. So note, the scriptures are consistent here and it's actually miraculous how consistent they are.

Although we have 40 something different human authors of scripture, yet there is one common author among all of the 66 books of scripture and that is

God the Holy Spirit. And he doesn't stutter and he's not a dunderhead who contradicts himself and doesn't make any sense, right?

So look to Abraham your father, Sarah who bore you, but he was, Abraham was but one when

I called him that I might bless him and multiply him. For Yahweh comforts Zion. So brothers and sisters, take comfort.

I know that you are buffeted by your own sin and like the children of Israel, you oftentimes blame

God rather than ask God for the things that you need. You blame him for the discomforts, for the suffering, for the pain, for the persecution, the difficulties you have.

But understand this, that despite all of your grumblings, Christ has forgiven you.

He's bled and died for you. He's been pierced and struck and bled so that you can be forgiven and pardoned.

And he now offers words of comfort and peace to you today. He comforts all

Zion's waste places and makes her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of Yahweh.

Joy and gladness will be found in her thanksgiving and the voice of song. This is all coming upon Christ's return.

So give attention to me, my people. Give ear to me, my nation. And we are God's nation. For a law will go out for me and I will set my justice for a light to the people's.

Gosh, that sounds a lot like the Noctemitus, doesn't it? The Song of Simeon. In fact, that's the reason why is because there's echoes here of that.

So my righteousness draws near, God says. My salvation has gone out. My arms will judge the people, the coastlands they hope for me.

And for my arm they wait. So lift up your eyes to the heavens and look at the earth beneath.

For the heavens, they vanish like smoke. The earth will wear out like a garment and they who dwell in it will die in like manner.

But my salvation will be forever. My righteousness will never be dismayed.

And that is the truth. You have been hewn from the rock, from the quarry that is Christ. And as a result of it, even though you wear out like a garment and we put you over in our cemetery.

By the way, I was today years old when I figured out what the word cemetery means.

It comes from a Greek word which means to rest or a sleeping place. So a cemeterion is the resting place of the saints.

They're out there sleeping. It's kind of an interesting thing. I didn't even know that until just like recently, recently, right?

But here again, this rock theme play out for us Christians, words of comfort for us.

From 1 Peter 2, it says, you, you Christians, you are a chosen race.

You are a royal priesthood. You are a holy nation and a people for God's own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

So beloved, I urge you then as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.

Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify

God on the day of visitation. And so you'll note here that we are

God's treasured possession. And Peter even describes this, describes us in this way.

As you have come to him, Jesus, a living stone who was rejected by men, but in the sight of God was chosen and precious.

You yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

For it stands in scripture, behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.

Listen again to those words, whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.

It doesn't matter how red with blood and filth your sin is and how much you've mucked up your own life.

I don't know a single person who hasn't. It doesn't matter what regardless of the sin that you've committed, whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.

Christ, our rock, has brought us back from death to life, pardoned us, forgiven us and hewn us out of his own quarry, which is of himself.

We are made of the stuff of Jesus now spiritually and he is building us up as a spiritual temple.

And therefore, take comfort in these words, whoever believes in Jesus will not be put to shame. For the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone, a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.

And they stumble because they disobey the word as they were destined to do. So brothers and sisters, take comfort, the scripture is true.

What it says of you and I, that we are hewn from the rock, that we are hewn from a quarry, that we are not made merely of dust, that spiritually we are made of sterner stuff which will far outlast our human nature and eventually, in the resurrection, our new bodies will reflect that stony, eternal character given to us as a gift.

Take heart, though you wear out like a garment, you, like the earth, will be reborn and live forever as one of the stones of Christ in his holy temple forever.

In the name of Jesus, Amen. If you would like to support the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church, you can do so by sending a tax -free donation to Kungsvinger Lutheran Church, 15950 470th

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