From Which God Do You Expect Good?

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 and salvation by grace through faith alone.

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And now, here's a message from Pastor Chris Roseberg. The Holy Gospel according to St. John, the 5th chapter.

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After this there was a feast of the Jews and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, an

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Aramaic called Bethesda, which has a five -roof colonnades. And in these lay a multitude of invalids, the blind, the lame, the paralyzed.

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And one man was there who had been an invalid for 38 years, and when Jesus saw him lying there, knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him,

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Do you want to be healed? The sick man answered him, Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up and while I am going and other steps down before me.

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Jesus said to him, Get up, take your bed and walk. And at once the man was healed and he took up his bed and he walked.

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This is the gospel of the Lord. Grace, mercy, and peace to you for the one true

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God, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. And yet there are not three gods, there is only one.

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I've decided to take another crack at this gospel text, if you would. John chapter 5, this is a text that has bugged me, bugged me deeply, but everybody knows

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I'm a Bible nerd. And so as a result of that, we'll kind of dive into this in this way.

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Archeology has done us a great favor over the last few years and we'll explain how that plays into our gospel text.

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But a little bit of a note before we get started. A little bit of a note. The first commandment, you shall have no other gods.

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That's the first commandment. No other gods, not a single one. And we human beings are prone to idolatry, the way that zebras are prone to have stripes.

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It's kind of a mess if you think about it. Now Luther commenting on this, Luther commenting on the first commandment in the large catechism, here's what he says.

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He says, you shall regard God alone as your God. And so what does this mean? How is this to be understood?

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What is it to even have a God? What is a God? Answer, well, a

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God is to that which we look for all good and in which we find refuge in every time of need.

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To have a God is nothing else than to trust and to believe in him with our whole heart.

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As I have often said, trust and faith of the heart alone make both

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God and an idol. If your faith and trust are right, then your God is the true

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God. But on the other hand, if your trust is false and wrong, then you do not have the true

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God. For these two belong together, faith and God. That to which your heart clings and entrusts itself is,

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I say, really your God. So what do you turn to in times of trouble, distress, difficulty, right?

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When you're studying hard for a final, or maybe your life is falling apart, relationships have broken down, or maybe you find out that you are suffering from a horrible illness and you're never going to be cured of it.

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What do you turn to in your time of trouble? That thing which you turn to often turns out to be your

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God. So the purpose of the first commandment, Luther then says, is to require true faith and confidence of the heart in the one true

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God. See, these fly straight to the one true God, and they cling to Him alone. So the meaning is this.

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See to it that you let God alone be your God, and never seek another. In other words, whatever good thing you lack, look to God for it and seek it from Him.

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And whenever you suffer misfortune and distress, and notice that's not an if, it's when. That happens to all of us.

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Whenever you suffer misfortune and distress, you come and you cling to God alone. God says, I am the one who will satisfy you, and I am the one who will help you out of every need, and only let your heart cling to no one else.

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Peter writes to Christians in this way, in 1 Peter 5, Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time

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God may exalt you, casting all of your anxieties on Him. Why?

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Because He cares for you. You see, anxieties will come. Anxieties do come.

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I don't know if you've noticed, life is a little bit challenging. Paying the bills is not always that easy.

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And then you always have the unexpected thing happen. Your car breaks down, your plumbing gives out, you know, something happens and you have to pay for it, and you don't know how you're going to do so.

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And like I said, relationships break down and other things. So anxieties are going to come. But you cast all of your cares on Christ.

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Why? Because He cares for you. And He's proven this in the most amazing of ways, because God demonstrates

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His love for us, even while we were yet sinners. Christ has bled and died for our sins.

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Now that's preface. We're talking about idolatry today. And in the Gospel of John, chapter 5, we have an instance of idolatry, and we'll do a little comparative work in the

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Gospel of John, chapter 9. This is going to be a long sermon. Settle in, grab some popcorn.

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You're probably going to need it, is the best way I can put it. So, in the Gospel of John, chapter 5, our

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Gospel text, it begins this way. After this there was a feast of the Jews. Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

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And now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool in Aramaic called Bethesda. Bethesda, by the way, in Aramaic means the

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House of Mercy. What a great name, Bethesda. And it has a five -roof colonnade.

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So, a little bit of the historical background. One of the reasons why

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I have always been dissatisfied with this text is because as you read this text, we're going to find out that Jesus heals this fellow, and we're actually going to look at his response.

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This fellow was healed by Christ, and this fellow never even says, And instead, he turns

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Jesus into the Pharisaical police for doing the healing. It's kind of interesting when you consider it.

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As a result of that, it's always bugged me. And when you read the commentaries and you read the sermons through church history on this particular text, there seems to be two camps.

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One camp who finds fault with the fellow, and the other camp who wants to give him a pass. You know, we shouldn't be too hard on this guy.

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Let's put the best construction on it. Now enter recent archaeological evidence. We now know what the

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Pool of Bethesda was. The Pool of Bethesda was a temple, a healing center, to the

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Greek god Asclepius. I say that ten times fast. Asclepius.

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Now, Asclepius, apparently, according to the Greek pantheon of gods, was the god of medicine and health, and he has a couple of his daughters, you might recognize their names, the goddess

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Hygeia, and the goddess Panacea. Hygeia. That sounds a lot like where we get the word hygiene from.

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Yeah, that's correct. That's right. Hygeia is where we get the word hygiene from. And Panacea, if you're not familiar with what that is, a

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Panacea is a cure -all. Remember back in the days when people would sell these elixirs, it didn't matter what was ailing you.

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Did you have gout? Did you have ingrown toenail fungus? Were you suffering from heart failure?

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No problem. Just drink this elixir. It'll cure everything. That's what a Panacea is.

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And so you kind of get the idea. A little bit of another note here. Snakes were also a key attribute of the

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Asclepian cult. And if you take a look at the medical symbol today, any of you studying to be doctors, you'll note the medical symbol has a stick with a snake wrapped around it.

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Kind of fascinating if you think of the symbology there. But that's where the Asclepian, that's actually an

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Asclepian symbol, which the cult of Asclepius stole that from Moses, by the way, from the serpent, the bronze serpent that was hanging in the wilderness.

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And so you'll note all of this is kind of coming into play. And a little bit more of a note.

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We know for a fact, archaeologically, that in this time during the Roman Empire, there were no less than 400

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Asclepian cult centers, healing centers throughout the

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Roman Empire. It was like a franchise. And covered colonnades were a big part of their way they would do business and stuff like that.

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In fact, it was such huge, big business that if you had a cold or a flu or you were suffering from anything in the

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Roman Empire, it was a common thing for you to go to an Asclepian. Now, you come down with a cold today, you go to CVS or you go to Walgreens, you grab yourself some

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Nyquil or Dayquil or whatever your preferred Theraflu medication is for whatever is ailing you, and it doesn't involve anything religious.

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But in the ancient world, if you're sick, you have to go and see the gods. You have to go and talk to the deities. And so here, the

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Asclepians were big business, a big franchise throughout the ancient world and they were known for some of the more interesting, outrageous claims out there as far as faith healing is concerned.

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In one account, there was an Asclepian priest who paraded a fellow forward and said, take a look at this fellow.

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He was born with only one eye. One eye. But now, but now, take a look.

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He has two, and he'd open up his eyes. Both eyes, oh, wow, this is great. In another account, an

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Asclepian priest paraded a young boy, maybe 10 years old, and claimed that he was suffering from water on the brain and that he had prayed to Asclepius, had paid the proper amount of money.

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By the way, none of the healings from the Asclepian cult were free. And they guaranteed, 100 % guaranteed you would always be healed.

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And so this child supposedly came with water on the brain and as the story goes,

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Asclepian came and visited him in the middle of the night, cut off his head, took his skull, drained it of the water, put it back on his shoulders, and healed him right up.

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And the kid even is said to have said, take a look, there's no scar, it's great. Yeah.

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But it's also important to note that ancient historians ascribe dubious activities on the part of the

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Asclepian cult. And they've noted that one of their common things to do is if you came with a fever or a cold or something that they thought you would be healed of, they would welcome you and take your money gladly.

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And if you showed up with a mortal wound or a physical ailment that they knew wouldn't be healed, they either wouldn't take you or they would put you off in a place where no one would see you.

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And in some cases, this is not rampant throughout the Roman Empire, but in some cases,

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Asclepian healing centers were known to take in people with mortal illnesses, not provide very good hospice care for them, and upon their demise, they wouldn't even bury them, they just stacked them up like cordwood off in a ravine somewhere, and you can just imagine the smell associated with that.

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The 2nd century Christian apologist Justin Martyr actually talks about his contemporaries and their obsession with Asclepius.

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In fact, Justin Martyr notes, he says, when the devil brings forward Asclepius as the raiser of the dead and the healer of all diseases, may

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I not say that in this manner, likewise, he has imitated the prophecies about Christ? Justin Martyr even noted that.

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And of course, the famous 2nd century Jewish rabbi Akiva was asked at one point to try to explain why some people who went to go visit

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Asclepius came back cured if Asclepius didn't have any power. Akiva's answer to this question can be found in the

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Jerusalem Talmud. All that being said, a little bit of a note here, there are people running around the landscape today claiming to be faith healers in the name of Jesus, and they are engaging in these same dubious activities.

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For instance, Benny Hinn. A few years ago, ABC did an investigative report on Benny Hinn, followed him around as he was claiming to heal people in the name of Jesus.

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Big venues, major events, big bucks, if you think about it. And people were showing up with all kinds of maladies to be healed at these

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Benny Hinn revivals. And the undercover cameras showed that when somebody showed up in a wheelchair, and it was obvious that they were a paraplegic or a quadriplegic, they were made to go to the back of the venue.

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And then when it came time for the healing line, when Benny Hinn would wave his jacket and supposedly heal people and stuff like that, the people with these obvious diseases were escorted out of the back of the venue and the door was shut behind them and they found themselves in the parking lot.

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And there's video evidence to back this up. You can find it on YouTube. So keep that in mind.

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So all of that being said, we now know that the Pool of Bethesda, the

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House of Mercy, was a house set up not to receive mercy from the one true God, but mercy from Asclepius of all things.

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And now we kind of understand what is going on here. So in this temple of Asclepius, as you would expect, verse 3 says, there was a multitude of invalids, the blind, the lame, and the paralyzed.

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This is an Asclepian healing center, and if you have these maladies, Asclepius is the guy to go to.

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One man who had been an invalid for 38 years was there. And I want you to think about this.

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The one definition of insanity is you do the same thing over and over and over and over again and expect a different result.

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So you'll note this invalid, an invalid for 38 years, has been there a long time, and he has yet to receive any mercy from Asclepius, any mercy at all.

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Of course, he's looking for mercy in all the wrong places. Asclepius, in case you don't know, doesn't exist.

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His phone hasn't even been hooked up so that he can take phone calls. Try dialing him. You won't get an answer signal or anything like that.

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You'll just get that weird ringtone. Do -do -do! We're sorry, but the number you're trying to reach has been disconnected.

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It's no longer in service. It never has been in service. So Jesus sees this fellow lying there.

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He knew he'd been there for a long time. And he said to him, Do you want to be healed?

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Knowing where he is, this question has a wee bit of a bite to it. It's like Jesus is saying,

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If you want to be healed, why are you here? Asclepius can't help you.

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So the sick man answered him. You almost see him saying this in a kind of pathetic voice. Sir, I have no one to put me in the pool when the water is stirred.

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So apparently the Asclepian cult claimed that an angel would come and stir the water. First one in would get healed.

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This poor fellow never seemed to figure out how to get in first. Makes you wonder if they had a jacuzzi set up to it so they could stir the waters to make it look like an angel was doing his thing.

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And so while I'm going down, another steps in before me. And now Jesus, the one true

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God in human flesh, has mercy on this fellow at the pool of Bethesda.

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And he says, Get up. Take your bed and walk. And at once the man was healed.

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He took up his bed and he walked. It's a great outcome. But we're going to note something here.

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I love how the next portion of this text says Now that day was the Sabbath. And you can almost hear the soundtrack go dark.

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We all know what that means. The pharisaical police are out and you don't want to run afoul of these guys.

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Before we continue with our fellow here in Bethesda, let's do a little comparative work in the

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Gospel of John chapter 9 where we have almost an identical set up. We have a pool of water.

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We have a person who's been suffering from a physical malady for a very long time.

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He also is going to be healed on the Sabbath. And you can see how idolatry will play into the first fellow by comparing it to the second fellow.

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Similar circumstances. John chapter 9. It says, As Jesus passed by, he saw a man blind from birth.

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Yeah, that's a pretty long time to be blind and he's a man, not a kid. His disciples asked him, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?

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And you can almost see Jesus going, Oy vey. Yeah. That's some bad theology right there. And you know where that theology came from?

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The idolaters known as the Pharisees. They invent stuff. Make up doctrines.

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And so apparently, if you're born with a physical malady, oh, it's because you sinned or your parents sinned and God's giving you what you deserve.

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Sounds more like karma than anything. So, Jesus answered. Listen, it was not that this man sinned or his parents.

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The reason he was born blind was so that the works of God might be displayed in him. And you can almost see the disciples going,

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What? Yeah. So he said, We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day.

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Night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. So having said these things, he spit on the ground, made mud with the saliva, and then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud and said to him,

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You go and wash in the pool of Siloam. Siloam means scent. So he went and he washed and he came back seeing.

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You'll notice, kind of an allusion to baptism here. You should see that.

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Now, a little bit of a note here. At this point, this fellow has been baptized. He's been given his sight.

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And you think of that great hymn, Amazing Grace. Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.

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I once was lost but now I'm found. But I was blind and now I see. There's a sense in which sin blinds us but Christ is the light of the world and he gives us our sight back.

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And so this fellow at this point is like any Christian. A baptized believer in Jesus Christ.

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And even though he has infant faith in Jesus, oh man, this guy's ready for a fight because the fight's going to come to him.

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You associate with Jesus. You even get healed by him. You are in deep kimchi. That's all I've got to say.

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So, the neighbors who had seen him before as a beggar, they were saying Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?

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Some said, It is. Others said, Nah, it just looks like him. But he kept saying, I'm the man.

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So they said to him, Well then how were your eyes opened? Just watch how the villagers here are acting.

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So he answered, Listen, the man called Jesus. He made some mud, anointed my eyes, and he said to me,

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Go to Siloam and wash. So I went, I washed, I received my sight. And they said to him, Where is he?

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He says, I don't know. So, they brought him to the Pharisees.

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Again, the soundtrack goes dark. These are idolaters.

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They've invented their own religion. It isn't even Biblical Judaism. So they brought him to the Pharisees, the man who had formerly been blind.

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And now the day, it was the Sabbath day, when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes.

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Seriously? That's a problem? That's not a problem. If Jesus makes mud on the Sabbath, it doesn't matter.

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He's the King of Kings, Lord of Lords. He's the Lord of the Sabbath, and I'm pretty sure making mud with spit is not a breaking of the

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Sabbath. Otherwise, Jesus would have sinned. But the Pharisees, again, they asked him how he had received his sight.

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And he said to them, Alright, Jesus put mud on my eyes, I washed, and I see. Some of the Pharisees said,

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This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath. And others said, Well, how can a man who's a sinner do such signs?

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And there was division among them. So they again said to the blind man, What do you say about him?

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Since he opened your eyes. What a hostile question. I mean, this poor fellow woke up on Saturday, you know, did his normal thing, put his clothes on, brushed his teeth, combed his hair, went to work begging, and next thing you know,

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Jesus comes by and gives him his sight, and now he's on trial. How does this happen?

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What do you say about him? This is a dangerous question. He opened your eyes. He said,

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Well, he's a prophet. Get out of here. So the Jews did not believe that he had been blind.

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This is some kind of Asclepian trick going on here. Something's not right. So they didn't believe that he had been blind or received his sight until they called the parents of the man who received his sight.

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So they asked them, Is this your son who you say was born blind? How does he now see?

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Oh, this is dangerous stuff. And you're going to note here, his parents are not willing to suffer any kind of shame or dishonor or persecution for the name of Christ.

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Their answers are going to be designed to preserve their reputation, designed to preserve their livelihood.

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They're not about to be suffering for Jesus because some random act of merciful kindness of Jesus happened to befall their son.

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So, here's what they did. We know that this is our son. This is true. And yes, he was born blind.

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But how he now sees, we don't know. We don't know who opened his eyes. Ask him. He's of age. He'll speak for himself. Goodbye.

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Thanks, Mom. Thanks, Dad. Glad you're there for me through thick and through thin.

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But here's the reason why they did this, and this is another form of idolatry. Idolatry where you will preserve your own life in any way possible, even denying the truth about God.

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And they know for a fact it was Jesus who opened the eyes of their son. But here's what they did.

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This is the reason why they did it. His parents said these things because they feared the Jews. For the Jews had already agreed if anyone should confess

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Jesus to be the Messiah, he was to be put out of the synagogue. So his parents said, he's of age.

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Ask him. Hmm. So, second time they called the man who had been blind.

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And this is awesome. This is just awesome. This guy has infant faith. He knows the truth, just enough truth to stand his ground.

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And he's going to be persecuted like you wouldn't believe. Again, what crime did he commit? He was healed by Jesus.

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So, second time they called the man who had been blind. They said to him, give glory to God. We know this man is a sinner.

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So he answered, listen, whether he's a sinner, I don't know. One thing I do know, I was blind. And now I see.

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Beat that, would ya? Can't, can ya? No. So they said to him, what did he do to you?

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How did he open your eyes? So he said to them, I already told you and you're not listening. Why do you want to hear it again?

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Do you want to become one of his disciples? Awesome answer, right? Yeah. So they reviled him.

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You are his disciple. We are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses.

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But as for this man, we don't even know where he comes from. So the man answered him, wow, this is an amazing thing.

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You don't even know where he comes from. Yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshipper of God and does his will,

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God listens to him. Ooh, ooh. That's some good catechesis right there. That's some good theology right there.

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And then he even knows a little bit about his Bible. It says, never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind.

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And now comes his statement of faith. If this man were not from God, he can do nothing.

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Yeah. Now that's awesome. Now, he's going to pay dearly for this.

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So here comes a nice ad hominem attack. It's almost an SJW tactic here.

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So they answered him, you were born in utter sin and you would teach us. So they excommunicated, and they cast him out.

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Wow. What a great day. Right? And then here's the thing. Note this then.

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Up to this point, every single penitent, baptized believer in Jesus Christ is identical to this guy.

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We have been given our sight back by God, regenerated in the waters of baptism, forgiven of our sins, and given the gift of faith.

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And even we too, as infants as we are, are able to stand our ground knowing that Christ has healed us, that Christ has forgiven us, that Christ has blessed us.

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And we have yet to see Jesus face to face. We have never seen him. And so this fellow hasn't seen the one who has given his sight back, but Jesus finds him.

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And he heard that they had cast him out, that they had excommunicated him. So he, having found him, he said to him, do you believe in the

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Son of Man? He answered, sir, who is he so that I might believe in him?

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And Jesus says, you have seen him. He is the one who is speaking to you.

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Beautiful, beautiful picture. And so note the mercy and the kindness of Christ.

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And there is a day coming for all who are in Christ when they will see him face to face as well. And it will be this kind, it'll be this merciful, it'll be this awesome.

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Because he's returning in glory to judge the living and the dead, you and me all. But all of that being said, you'll note that the touchpoints, there's a similar track here.

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Fellow who's been physically ill with a very obvious disease, a malady for many, many, many years.

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Christ heals on the Sabbath. The Pharisees show up and immediately offer persecution.

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One has faith. And he receives a blessing from Christ.

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And listen to what this fellow then does. He is the one who is speaking to you. And this blind man, formerly blind man said,

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Lord I believe. And he worshipped Jesus. Now do the comparative work.

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Come back to our gospel text in the gospel of John chapter 5. And we can see what happens.

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So the Jews said to the man who had been healed at the pool of Bethesda, it's the

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Sabbath. It's not lawful for you to take up your bed. A rule they invented, not one that God invented.

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And you'll note that like the blind man's parents, he's not about to suffer dishonor or persecution for the name of Christ.

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So he deflects. Shifts blame. And he says, hey listen, the man who healed me, that's the man who said to me take up your bed and walk.

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So they asked him, who is the man who said to you take up your bed and walk? Now they've got to file an official pharisaical police report.

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There's been a crime committed. So now the man who had been healed, he did not know who it was. Jesus had withdrawn.

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And there was a crowd in that place. So afterwards, Jesus found him.

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Just like he found the formerly blind man. Jesus found him in the temple. But here's what he says to him.

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See, you are well. Sin no more that nothing worse might happen to you.

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Jesus found him expecting mercy from the god Asclepius, a false god. Jesus found this fellow an idolater.

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And although he did nothing to deserve a healing and had no faith in Christ whatsoever,

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Jesus gave him the mercy that he was looking for. And Jesus calls him to repent of his sin.

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To repent of his idolatry. Who of us is not tempted by idolatry?

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All of us are. And you're thinking, well I don't worship Zeus or Asclepius or even

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Panacea or Hygieia, although I brush my teeth. Yeah. But listen.

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Scripture's clear. Paul writes in Philippians, The Lord is at hand. Do not be anxious about anything.

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But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

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Well I have. I prayed to him and he hasn't healed me. I prayed to him and I still don't have any money in my bank account.

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I prayed to him and she never came back to me. I prayed to God and he never came back to me.

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I prayed to God and my boss is still a jerk. Well, when did

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Jesus promise that your boss wouldn't be a jerk? So then what happens when things don't go your way?

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Well you turn to all kinds of other things rather than the one true God. You might turn to human achievements.

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Intellect, science, technology or something like that. Maybe the God you worship is the God of random chance.

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The God of random chance is the one who apparently created evolution. Right? And you trust that there is no

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God so pretty much anything goes and of course YOLO, you only live once so make sure you live life to the fullest.

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Or maybe you turn to human goodness or religious devotion.

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I assure all of you people here at Kongsvinger, even if you've been attending regularly week after week after week, you cannot take your weekly attendance and bargain with God for it.

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Listen God, you have to heal me. I've been to Kongsvinger 12 weeks in a row. It don't work that way.

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At all. How about money and possessions? I'll solve my own problem with my money.

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Worship my possessions. Or you might even turn to something a little bit less expensive but still costly as far as your eternal soul is concerned.

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You could turn to things such as food, drink, sex, sports, entertainment.

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You might even turn to your own family and worship them. The thing that you turn to in your time of trouble is the thing that is your

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God. So when things don't go your way, do you disappear in a multi -day long Netflix binge watching episode after episode after episode of Stranger Things?

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It's a great show I'm saying. In fact, you'll note that food is a good thing.

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Drink is a great thing. Sports, entertainment, there's nothing wrong with them on their face. Even your family and friends, these are great gifts from God.

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But when they become your God, well, then you're trusting in these things rather than your creator.

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You're confusing the creation and God himself with his creation and thus you're breaking not only the first commandment, you end up breaking a whole bunch of other ones along the way as well.

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Note this. Christ truly cares for you and he cares about the conditions and the sufferings and the different things that you are experiencing in this life.

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This is most certainly true. Matthew 8 says that when Jesus entered Peter's house, he saw his mother -in -law lying sick with a fever.

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That's right. The first pope had a mother -in -law. That means he was married. Yeah, I said that out loud. Sorry. So, Jesus touched her hand and the fever left her.

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She rose and began to serve and we find out that that evening they brought to Jesus many who were oppressed by demons.

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He cast out the spirits with the word, healed all those who were sick and all of this was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet

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Isaiah that he took our illnesses and he bore our diseases. He didn't only just take our illnesses and our diseases.

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He also took our iniquity. He also took our sin, our guilt, our shame and he died in your place and my place on the cross.

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Not only can we be forgiven but also that we would have a hope of eternal life.

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Note here, although the song talks about I never promised you a rose garden. It's another great song but I'm showing my age.

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God never promised us in this life that everything was going to go great or hunky -dunky. In fact, he promised us in this life suffering, difficulties, distress and anxieties.

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That's the nature of life under the curse which we brought on ourselves because of our rebellion against God. But Peter writes to us in 1

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Peter 1 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to his great mercy he has caused us to be born again to a living hope.

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Now that term born again boy that's an abused term but note this. Every one of us who is in Christ has been regenerated.

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We truly have been born anew, born from above, born again and we also still have our sinful nature to contend with.

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But God has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

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To an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, unfading, an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you.

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In other words, you're going to suffer now. Eventually you're going to die.

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That's the way of things here but don't worry. We have a living hope of an imperishable inheritance that God is keeping for us.

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In fact keeping for us in heaven and you yourselves are being guarded through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

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Not now. So in this then you rejoice. Though now for a little while if necessary, and boy it does seem necessary doesn't it, you have been grieved by various trials so that the tested genuineness of your faith more precious than gold that perishes is tested by fire that your faith may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus.

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Though you have not seen him, you love him. None of us have seen him and yet we love him.

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Though you do not see him now, you believe in him and you rejoice with a joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory and you will obtain the outcome of your faith.

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And the outcome of your faith is not perfect health, wealth, or great things happening to you in the here and the now.

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No. The outcome of our faith is the salvation of our souls when Christ appears.

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So the best way I can tell you this is to repent of your idolatry.

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And you'll note when Jesus confronted this fellow and said to him see your well, sin no more so that nothing worse might happen to you.

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Rather than look Jesus in the eye and say Lord I am sorry that you found me in the temple of Asclepius.

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I was seeking for mercy from a false God but truly you are the son of God. Forgive me for my idolatry and turning to a false

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God to give me what only you can give me. Instead of doing that and worshipping Jesus and believing in Jesus the way the man who was born blind did this fellow at the pool of Bethesda says well he went away and told the

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Jews that it was Jesus who healed him. He turned Jesus into the police. He's the guy.

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He's the one. He's the guilty one. Get him. And so this was why the Jews were persecuting

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Jesus because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. Hmm.

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The first commandment when you break it you break them all. This is most certainly true. And this is sobering then for us.

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What do you turn to in your time of trouble and distress? To Christ? To a bottle?

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A bottle of booze? A bottle of prescription meds?

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You know, something you could buy on the street illegally? Food, sex? Entertainment?

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A good book? What do you turn to? That's your God. So repent.

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Repent. Cast all your anxieties on Christ. He is the one who cares for you. He is truly your

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God. And the good news is that he has bled and died even for your idolatry so that you can be forgiven in him.

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In the name of Jesus. Amen. The address is

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Kungsvinger Lutheran Church 15950 470th

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Avenue NW Oslo, MN 56744 We thank you for your support.

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