The Kindness and Severity of God

Kongsvinger Lutheran Church

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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

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Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins in salvation by grace through faith alone.

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And now, here's a message from Pastor Chris Rosebrook. The Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew, the 22nd chapter.

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Again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come.

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Again he sent others, saying, Tell those who are invited, see I have prepared my dinner.

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My oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.

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But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them.

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The king was angry, and he sent troops, and destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Then he said to his servants,

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The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go, therefore, to the main roads, and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.

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And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad. So the wedding feast was filled with guests.

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But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garments.

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And he said to him, Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment? And he was speechless.

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And the king said to the attendants, Bind him hand and foot, cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, for many are called, but few are chosen.

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This is the gospel of the Lord. In the name of Jesus, the kindness and the severity of God are on full display in our gospel text today.

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And you'll note that when we consider the cross -reference to this text, Romans chapter 11, that is exactly what the

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Apostle Paul points out, both the kindness and the severity of God. So as we work our way through this parable, we'll consider the implications as it relates to other portions of Scripture.

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And I would like to say that the three rules for sound biblical exegesis are context, context, and context.

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We're going to apply a little bit more of the context as we look at the problem that is present as a result of the

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Pharisees. So again, Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come.

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These are the A -listers, right? And you'll note when a king invites you to a wedding feast, it doesn't make a lick of sense to like turn the king's invitation down.

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It's more of a summons if you think about it. I mean, not that I have ever been invited to a royal wedding, nor is there any danger of such a thing happening, but in the future, some bizarre thing happened and I get invited to a royal wedding.

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Guess what I'm doing? I'm going to a royal wedding, which means I'm probably going to have to find some new clothes to put on, you know, because I happen to like wearing the uniform because it makes it so I don't have to think about what

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I'm going to wear. It's kind of nice. But when you're invited to a royal wedding, what do you do? What do you wear? Well, you'll note that in the ancient world, when you were invited to a wedding, you were provided with wedding clothes.

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It came along with the invitation, if you would. You didn't have to think this out. You were provided those clothes, but I'm getting ahead of myself in the sermon.

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So here are the A -listers. They're not coming. And here's the problem.

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The A -listers are genetic Israelites. They are the A -listers, the ones who received the prophets, the one who received the oracles of God.

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They are the ones who received the Torah from God given to Moses on Mount Sinai.

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They were the ones who were marched out of slavery and into freedom by God. And they, from their race, actually comes the

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Messiah. So what is going on here? And that is that you'll note that over and again in the

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Old Testament, genetic Israel serves as a warning for us. They experience, if you would,

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God's blessings as well as God's wrath for their sin. And so we learn from other portions of Scripture that in dealing with the

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Israelites, that many of them were quite stiff -necked. That's a good way to describe people, right?

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I get that way when my wife asks me to do chores around the house. I become stiff -necked. Right? I don't want to.

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No. No, I don't really behave quite like that, but you get the idea. And as a result of it, they continued throughout the

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Old Testament to fall into rank idolatry. And God over and over and over again would punish them for their sin.

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They would cry out to God to deliver them. He would send them a Savior, and then the whole pattern would repeat.

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And you'll note that what has happened between the intertestamental period is something that is actually just like this.

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In the intertestamental period, you had the rise of the Pharisees. When you read the Bible from Genesis to Malachi, you will never hear anything about Pharisees.

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They didn't exist in the Old Testament. These were a group of people who are heretics.

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They are kind of like Mormons, if you would. They have a veneer of biblical belief, but they've added to the

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Scriptures. Where the Mormons have added to the Scriptures, the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, the Pearl of Great Price, all of them nonsensical, not from God, the

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Pharisees did exactly the same thing. And they added to the Scriptures what they claimed was the oral

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Torah, that when Moses ascended on Mount Sinai, God didn't give him one

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Torah, he gave him two, one written and one oral. And guess who conveniently turned out to be the keepers of the oral

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Torah? They were. But Christ in Mark 7 repudiates their tradition of the elders, their oral

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Torah. In fact, you're going to note here something important. And that is that not only did

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Jesus not keep any of the commands of the oral Torah, he forbade his disciples from obeying it as well.

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And you'll note, when you look at Christian history, at no point in Christian history, unless you're looking at the heretics like the

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Judaizers, do Christians ever pay attention to the Torah. I mean, that's the oral

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Torah, the tradition of the elders. There is no Mishnah in Christianity. There are no

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Talmuds. And at no point are they ever quoted or talked about, discussed or anything like that.

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Biblical Christianity from its inception completely ignored every bit of the

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Talmud and the oral traditions and instead focused only on the written Word of God.

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And when people add to God's Word, they become idolaters.

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They rather than believing in the God who is revealed in Scripture, they start to make modifications.

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They begin to add to God things that they would prefer that he be like. And you're going to note, many a denomination has done this over the last two millennia.

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Rome has done it, Eastern Orthodoxy has done it, the ELCA has done it. They're not keen to have a

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God that is with male pronouns, and so they confess the sparkle creed and weird things like this.

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These are all additions to the Scripture. And when you add to the Scripture and you believe the commandments of men rather than the commandments of God, you end up leaving the commandments of God and making void

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God's Word. That's an important aspect of what we're looking at here. So note that in this parable, there is a direct warning against doing such things because Christ in this section of Scripture has a particular group of people in mind, and that is the

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Pharisees. And he is going to accuse them of murdering the prophets.

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This isn't the only place that he does so, but other places in the Scripture confirm this basic theme.

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So the king sends people to the wedding feast, they wouldn't come. So he sent other servants saying, tell those who are invited,

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I have prepared my dinner, my oxen, my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready.

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And I always think back to one of my friends in the ministry, George Borghardt.

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He's no longer a pastor, but back in the day, he had a wonderful way of finding

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Christ in parables like this, and he said, I found Jesus in this parable.

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Really, George? Where is he? He's the slaughtered calf. It's like, that's not a bad way of looking at it, because you'll note that somebody had to be sacrificed, something had to be sacrificed for this party to take place.

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So I would say that Christ is the son as well, but you'll note that Christ lays down his life so that we can participate and enjoy this feast.

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In fact, today, we're going to be feasting on our slaughtered king of kings and lord of lords.

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But as he says, I prepared my dinner, my oxen, my fat calves have been slaughtered, everything is ready.

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And you'll note, God intends, his desire is that everybody be saved, including those who don't want to have anything to do with him, including those who are rank idolaters.

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God acting in good faith invites them with the absolute expectation that they would come, and they are welcome to come.

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But they paid no attention, and they went off, one to his farm, another to his business, another to his stock portfolio and his day trading, and you get the idea, right?

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And while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them.

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That is not even a veiled reference, that is a flat out, straight out reference to the fact that God sent prophet after prophet after prophet to apostate

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Israel and apostate Judah, calling them to repent of their idolatry, and they would not repent.

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And God now is sending other servants, sending Jesus himself, Christ will send his apostles as well as the prophets of the early

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New Testament era, and they will be shamefully treated as well. Christ is making it very clear here that the

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Pharisees are every bit as murderous, false teachers as the false prophets of old and the idolaters of old who killed the prophets.

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So the king was angry, he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

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That's a prophecy of what's going to happen in 70 AD, we're just about 40 years on from that when

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Christ says these words, and that's exactly what he does. Again, note the kindness and the severity of God.

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And here it behooves us to consider one of the cross -references here.

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In Romans 11, the apostle Paul lamenting the fact that those who he's related to genetically, those who are descended from Abraham, that many of them have rejected

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Christ. He says this, I ask then, has God rejected his people? By no means,

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I myself am an Israelite. And you'll note that Paul is invited as well, but he was invited while he was

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Saul of Tarsus and a murderer, and one who was rounding up Christians and persecuting them.

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So God hasn't rejected his people, he still continues to invite them to this day. And so Paul says,

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I myself am an Israelite, I'm a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew, in fact, they're still invited.

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Do you not know what the scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? Lord, they've killed your prophets, they've demolished your altars,

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I alone am left, they seek my life. But what is God's reply to him?

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I have kept for myself 7 ,000 men who have not bowed the knee to Baal, so too at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.

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And all the way to our day, there are still a remnant of people who are genetic descendants of Abraham, who by God's grace and mercy are brought to penitent faith in Christ.

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They are a remnant, they are a small minority of those who are genetically descended from Abraham, but still they are chosen by grace and we have those remnants still to this day.

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So if it is by grace, it's no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace would not be grace. So what then?

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Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect, though, they obtained it, the rest were hardened.

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As it is written, God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see, ears that would not hear, down to this very day.

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Again, note the kindness and the severity of God, that when God calls you to repentance, since the call is legit, the promises of forgiveness and reconciliation are legit.

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But the thing is, you harden your heart against the gospel, and you do not heed

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God's call to repentance, then at some point, just like Pharaoh, God goes all

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Burger King on you and gives it to you your way. That's what happens. So God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see, ears that would not hear, down to this very day.

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As David says, let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them. Let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see and bend their backs forever.

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So I ask them, Paul says, did they stumble in order that they might fall?

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By no means. Again, the invitation is still there for them. Rather, through their trespass, salvation has come to the

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Gentiles so as to make Israel jealous. Now, if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the

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Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean? And you'll note the Apostle Paul, picking up on this theological theme from Christ, makes it very clear that Israel's rejection of the

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Messiah results in us Gentiles being able to be grafted into Israel, for us to be included in the promises of Israel.

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So he says, I'm speaking to you Gentiles, and as much then as I'm an Apostle to the Gentiles, and I magnify my ministry in order that somehow to make my fellow

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Jews jealous, and thus save some of them. For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?

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If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches.

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But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, you Gentiles, although a wild olive shoot, you were grafted in among the others, and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches.

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If you are, remember it is not you who supports the root, but the root that supports you.

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And here we see in the Apostle Paul's letter in Romans 11, a warning to all who would be arrogant against those genetic descendants of Abraham who have fallen and have been broken out of Israel.

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And he says, do not be arrogant towards them. God is able to graft them back in, and you arrogant ones, be careful.

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In other words, antisemitism, it's off the table. Antisemitism is the ultimate example of arrogance towards those branches who have been broken off, and it is legitimately condemned by God the

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Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul here. It is not you who supports the root, you

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Gentiles who've been grafted into Israel. Do you not understand that you've been grafted in?

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Therefore, you should not be arrogant towards those branches that were broken off. Then they will say, well, branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.

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That's true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you, you stand fast through faith.

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So do not become proud. You fear, for if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.

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So note then the kindness and the severity of God, severity toward those who have fallen, but kindness to you, and listen to what he says, provided you continue in his kindness.

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Otherwise, you too will be cut off. Wow. So what's our attitude towards those genetic descendants of Abraham who have been broken off?

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Our attitude should be the same as like anybody else in any other religion, whether it be Mormonism or Islam or Hinduism or Buddhism or Jainism or Taoism, whatever the ism is, we call them to repentance, call them to recognize their idolatry, to abandon their false beliefs and their idols and instead be forgiven because Christ has bled and died for their sins.

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And so we pray for those who are enemies of the gospel, noting that they are still beloved by God and that we as Christians are called to continue in God's kindness.

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When we as Christians sit there and say, well, God's punishing them and so we're going to treat them terribly.

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And we're going to tell everybody that those Jews, then those Semites, they're trying to take over the world and you take their name and slander them with all kinds of false charges.

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Note that God says, you too could be cut off for doing such a thing.

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In fact, I cannot think of a more clear passage in scripture that is actually written against anti -Semitism than Romans 11.

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Even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, scripture says they will be grafted in for God has the power to graft them in again.

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For if they, if you were cut off, if you were cut from what is by nature, a wild olive tree and grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these natural branches be grafted in to their own olive tree?

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Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers.

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A partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.

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And in this way, all Israel will be saved. It is written that the deliverer will come from Zion. He will banish all ungodliness from Jacob.

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And this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins. So as regards to the gospel, they are enemies for your sake.

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Again, enemies for your sake. If it weren't for their rebellion, it's questionable as to whether or not the gospel would be preached throughout the world.

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That's kind of the point. They are enemies for your sake. But as for regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers.

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For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. The investation is still for them.

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Right? For just as you were at one time disobedient to God, but now you have received mercy because of their disobedience, so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you, they may now receive mercy.

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For God has consigned all to disobedience that he might have mercy on all.

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Oh, the depth of the riches and the wisdom of the knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable are his ways.

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Indeed, the kindness and the severity of God are on full display in our gospel text. And you can see now how

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Romans 11 connects perfectly with this parable that Christ has spoken. So now that the

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A -listers, at least a generation of them, have rejected Christ and God has burned their city and killed those murderers,

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God now has to figure out what to do. He's got all this food prepared, kind of like my house on a

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Sunday. It would be a tragedy if my wife cooked all this food and nobody showed up on Sunday night.

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That would be horrible. But it's even worse than that because consider who's putting on this feast, the king himself.

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So he said to his servants, the wedding feast is ready. Those invited were not worthy. So go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.

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And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad.

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So the wedding hall was filled with guests. I love this picture here because you'll note that by noting that everybody that was found, whether good or bad, that means the invitation goes out to everybody, to the whole world.

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Well, what about Bob, the town drunk? He's invited. Well, what about the hookers in the brothels?

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They're invited. What about the attorneys? That's a tough one.

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Accountants, oh, right? Ex -navy guys, oh, yeah, right?

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Farmers? You get what I'm saying here.

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Everybody, truckers included, everybody is invited. And so the wedding feast was filled with guests.

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The kindness of God is beyond belief. I mean, they always say if it sounds too good to be true, it is.

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It's too good to be true. But when it comes to the gospel, it sounds too good to be true, but it is true.

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Though your sins be as scarlet, Christ will wash away all of your sins. And here, a cross -reference is super helpful.

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Last week, we talked about in our epistle text, Philippians chapter 3, where Paul talks about how he's clothed not in a righteousness of his own that comes from the law, but instead he's clothed with the righteousness of God given as a gift.

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But have you considered the picture that is given to us in Ephesians chapter 5?

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It is legitimately glorious and fits perfectly with the theme of this text.

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Now, this is the portion of Scripture that a lot of people like to avoid nowadays because of all the wars related to gender.

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But listen to this passage of Scripture. Husbands, love your wives as Christ has loved the church and gave himself up for her.

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See, it fits perfectly with this parable if you think about it. Because the son here who this feast is being held for, he is none other than Jesus Christ who gave up his life for his bride.

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We, the church, so that he might sanctify her, and listen to the way it says, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, so that she might be holy and without blemish.

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You'll note that Christ loves his bride so much, he loves you, that he laid down his life.

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He suffered, bled, and died for his bride and her sins, although he committed none.

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In fact, if you kind of think about it, it's kind of, this is where Adam failed deeply because his wife committed sin first.

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What was called for was for Adam to lay down his life for his beloved bride.

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But where Adam fails, the second Adam succeeds, and he lays down his life for his bride, and he's the one who cleanses her, washes her, takes away the stench and the filth of her sin, and makes her clean, and then dresses her in splendor, in glory, without spot and wrinkle.

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It's in this context, then, that it makes sense why the king would be rather upset that somebody would get into the wedding feast without the clothes that were provided, because the son provided the clothes, his own righteousness.

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How can somebody come to the wedding feast not clothed in the righteousness of Christ, not having their sins washed away?

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And I would note that there are many people who are kind of like cultural Christians. Beware of cultural

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Lutherans. That's a thing, and it's not a good thing that somehow, well, you know, my parents were

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Lutherans, my grandparents were Lutherans, that makes me a Lutheran. Does it now? Really?

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Is that how this works? That just because they serve Lefse at certain times of the year, that that makes it

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Lutheran? That makes you Lutheran? No, that's not how this works. Instead, every one of us must, must believe and trust in Christ, must embrace our baptismal faith given to us by Christ in the waters of baptism, must daily put to death our sins and call on God to forgive us, must not despise his word.

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But you'll note that some people, they're not really interested in hearing the Bible. They're not really interested in receiving the sacraments.

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They come to church because it's a great place to network, because they're trying to build a business.

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Or they come to church because the church is a great community center, a place where we can get together and we can talk about the harvest and the weather and things like this, right?

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Maybe from time to time we can invite people over for a concert or something, right? But have no faith at all?

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Well, as they say around here, ufda. That's not what

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Christianity is. You want the benefits of being a part of the church without believing in Christ, without having your sins washed away, without any of the things that actually make us

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Christians? This next part is a warning to those who think of the church in such a way. So the king came in to look at the guests, and he saw that there was a man who had no wedding garment.

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And he said to him, buddy, how'd you get in here without a wedding garment? That's really how the Greek better works, buddy, because the king is not exactly thrilled, okay?

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And the man was speechless. He had like nothing to say. Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, because it's clear here he did something sneaky.

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He didn't come in the front door. He came in the back door, wanting to be able to eat the hors d 'oeuvres, enjoy the wine.

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And by the way, it's absolutely true here. Did you look at the menu for the wedding feast of the lamb?

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Oh, boy. Anyway, teetotalers beware, because wine's mentioned not once but twice, okay?

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It says this, on this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food of well -aged wine, a rich food full of marrow of aged wine well -refined.

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That's right, and you're going to note here, alcohol isn't the sin, sin is when you take this good gift that God has given and you abuse it and you use it to hit a state of inebriation so that you are no longer in control of your senses.

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Scripture strictly forbids that and calls it sin, but Jesus himself was not a teetotaler, he was somebody who drank wine, and as a result of it the

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Pharisees slandered him and said, oh, he's a drunkard. No he was not, and you'll note that wine is on the menu, but the most important bit from this

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Isaiah prophecy is the last part of this text. It's so amazing. I keep saying it every time

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I preach on this, but I have to make the point again because it's still this thing that's coming in the future, and it's for all of us.

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And first of all, I don't know how the seating arrangements work in the wedding feast of the

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Lamb. You know, will Kongsvinger have its own table? Will the onliners be next to the in -person attenders?

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And what about Aletheia? I'm kind of hoping that all the tables will kind of be together, but then I'm assuming that that's how this is all going to work, right?

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But there's this point in the feast. There we are at the wedding feast of the

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Lamb, the judgment has taken place, the dragon has been cast into the lake of fire along with all the attorneys, sorry,

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I just keep having to point that out. The dragon's in the lake of fire, we now are at the wedding feast, and there's this moment, this amazing moment.

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We might have seen Christ on that day, and we might have seen him busy about the task of swinging his sword, of putting to death his enemies, and things like this.

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We might have seen him on his horse, but this is a different thing altogether. We might have seen him on the throne.

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We've all had our face -to -face conversation with him, but that's kind of a terrifying experience if you think about it, but we

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Christians have nothing to fear on the day of judgment. But there we are, all in the wedding feast, all of us enjoying the food, our company together, and all of a sudden

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Jesus walks into the hall, and in stunned, not silence, because there's a roar, there's a murmur, there's a hush, and there's words, behold, this is our

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God. Beautiful picture. We have waited for him so that he might save us.

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This is Yahweh, we've waited for him, let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.

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It's a beautiful picture, absolutely stunning. But all that being said, we know that this is a gift given to us by God, and you'll note, nobody's really going to be in the wedding feast that doesn't have the covering of the righteousness of Christ.

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And so as we consider this last fellow, I mean, it's a warning to those who attend church but don't believe for sure, but you'll note that it also notes something else here, because there will be nobody like this.

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Nobody can sneak into the wedding feast of the Lamb, there will not be anybody who jumps the fence, you know, who finds a way around security and all that kind of stuff, who then shows up, you know, wearing khaki cargo shorts and Birkenstock sandals and a

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Ron John surf shop t -shirt, okay? No one's coming to the wedding feast dressed like this.

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Which means that really what this is pointing at is the fact that we will be clothed.

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That although none of us are worthy to be there at all, that Christ is the one who provides us with everything.

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The forgiveness of our sins, won by Him on the cross. Reconciliation with God, again, won by His bloody death on the cross.

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He provides us with the very righteousness necessary for salvation by clothing us with His own righteousness, all as a gift because of His great love for His bride.

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And so, we note then that we who trust in Christ, we have no fear of God the

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Father saying to us, bind him or her hand and foot and cast them into outer darkness.

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Instead, we know that that's exactly what we have been saved from. And so, let us rejoice in this great salvation that God has given us.

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But let me add into the mix here, kind of a final thought.

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Not supposed to end off on law, but I wanted to get this context in here.

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In chapter 23 of Matthew, which you'll note numerically follows chapter 22, context, context, context.

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Right, I can count to 23, by the way. Not much past that. Jesus calls down woes on the

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Pharisees, who are rank idolaters. So, Jesus said to the crowds, the scribes and the

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Pharisees, they sit on Moses' seat. So do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works that they do, for they preach but they do not practice.

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And that's the thing with the self -righteous. They can talk a good game, but they never practice what they preach.

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They tie up heavy burdens hard to bear. They lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.

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They do all their deeds in order to be seen by others. They make their flaccidaries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others.

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If you were to think about it, if the Pharisees were kind of up and running today and were keen on social media, they would be doing these get -ready -with -me videos where I put on all of my rabbi clothes and do all this kind of stuff and then head out into the marketplace and say, oh, rabbi, it's so good to see you.

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Thank you, thank you, thank you. And who are they all about? Themselves.

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That's who the self -righteous are about, themselves. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, Jesus says, you hypocrites.

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You shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. You neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.

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And woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.

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Did Jesus just say the Pharisees were children of hell? Yes, he did. And he said their disciples were twice as much children of hell as the

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Pharisees were. Oh, what are you supposed to do with that? Down with patriarchy? No. Get a helmet.

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Life's tough. People say things that are offensive. Jesus just did. Get over it. You're not entitled to not be offended.

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In fact, if you're offended, you should consider the fact that you're the offense, not Christ. Woe to you, blind guides, who say if anyone swears by the temple, it's nothing.

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But if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he's bound by his oath. And here, Jesus has taken on the oral

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Torah. He's taken on the Talmud and portions of it and just showing how absolutely silly it is.

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And he's mocking it. You blind fools. Which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred?

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And you say if anyone swears by the altar, that's nothing. But if anyone swears by the gift that's on the altar, he's bound by his oath.

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You blind men. For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred?

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So whoever swears by the altar, swears by it and everything on it. Whoever swears by the temple, swears by it and him who dwells in it.

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Whoever swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites, for you tithe mint and dill and cumin.

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You've neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy and faithfulness.

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These you ought to have done without neglecting the others, you blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel.

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I can go on, but I think you get the point. Again, check your self -righteousness at the door and note that inside of each and every one of us, our old

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Adam is a Pharisee of Pharisees. This is why human beings are bent towards self -righteousness.

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We think that the law was given so that we can climb up into heaven and by our righteousness say move over Jesus, another one has arrived that's pulled it off too.

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That's not it at all. And so we recognize that the self -righteous, they didn't even make it to the feast at all.

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God put an end to them before the feast even began and that's the fate of all who trust in their works, in their righteousness.

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So let us repent of our little Pharisee inside of each of us and let us recognize that the law was not given for us to find a way into heaven, the law was given to show us our sin so that we can see our great need for our

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Savior and then see his glorious, loving work for us on the cross in order to save us.

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And we'll note then this, and that is that everybody in every religion apart from true

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Christianity is guilty of this idolatry. And we've all committed this idolatry ourselves.

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And so we repent and we continue to trust in Christ knowing that he has made us worthy, he has cleansed us, he has clothed us and for this we are truly grateful.

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In the name of Jesus, Amen. Thank you for your support.

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