Don't Imitate Evil

All right. Let's pray and we will get started. Lord Jesus help us to grow in the knowledge of your word and in your saving work for us and to remain firm in the confession of your blessed word. Give us love to be of one mind and to serve one another in you.

Then we will not be afraid of that which is disagreeable nor of the rage of the arsonist satan whose torch is almost extinguished. Dear father guard us so that his craftiness may not take the place of our pure faith.

Grant that our cross and suffering may lead to a blessed and sure hope of the coming of our savior Jesus Christ for whom we wait daily. Amen. All right. As is our practice. Are there any questions that cropped up as a result of the sermon.

I don't see anybody jumping here. You're chomping at the bit. Either i confused everybody or it was just crystal clear. It's probably the first not your fault. I'm easily confused. Thanks mark. Thank you.

I appreciate you helping me understand what the silence is really about. I have a hard time interpreting it. All right. Hearing no questions. Then we're going to take. We're going to continue walking through the um the book of leviticus.

We're up to leviticus 1932. And again just a reminder we're dealing with law. And so a right understanding of god's law it convicts us of our sins. Uh the the government uses it for the purpose of curbing evil.

And it also shows us what a good work is. And i'm going to make an important distinction here. Oftentimes when we look at the commandments we have this weird ornery thing that we do and that is is that as we're reading the commandments we say something like oh i wish so and so could see this.

And um apparently i've let the cat out of the bag. So so the the issue is this is the third use of the law when god is showing you what a good work is it applies to you. It's for you. Okay. And and the idea is let god's law work in your in your neighbor.

Uh and and don't play holy spirit for that person. Does that make sense. So the idea here is if you're reading these commandments and you're sitting there going man i really wish you know. The question is what is this commandment saying to you all.

Right. I always find it fascinating that the people who read god's law as if it doesn't seem to apply to them or has nothing to say to them how much they end up breaking the commandments. You know in the name of helping somebody else they end up breaking the eighth commandment egregiously.

And uh slander people and other things like that. So so primarily when we when we hear god's law i always like to kind of put it this way. And that is is that when i preach the law i have no clue what god is going to do with it.

No no clue whatsoever. And when it comes to the uses of the law the law itself doesn't have a dial. It's it's not like one now i'm going to date myself. It's not like one of those star track phasers. Okay where you can set it to stun you know with a really cheap and cheesy sound effects to go with it anyway i'm a old school james t kind of guy you know anyway uh but i remember the star track phaser you know you'd set it to stun and what would happen is is that you know you'd fire that thing off and somebody would get hit by it and they would just fall.

They would go fall and go to sleep. This is not how the law works and so there's no way to set a dial on it. So when the preaching of the law goes out it's going to result in death occurring within you.

Not because the law is bad but because you are sinful. And the law then has is becomes a means by which our sinful nature just rises up and dies. It's it's it's a fascinating thing how this works. But the other thing is is that god's law for the christian for the new man that you are in christ when you hear god's law you're going to sit there and go.

You know that's a really good idea for me that that really helps me. And that's where the spirit then is using the law to reveal to you what a good work is. And the nice thing is is that when the law is doing that when the holy spirit is doing that through the law showing you what a good work is and you're sitting there going yeah that would be a really good idea then you'll know that the spirit is at work number one sanctifying you.

Because yeah scripture says it is god's will for your sanctification. But also then you have confidence that what god's law has shall we say inspired you to do as a good work that you have confidence that that is a good work.

You don't have to invent your good works. I always find it fascinating when people try to invent good works they come up with these really bizarre ideas. Now i i like to pick on roman i'm sorry mike i like to do that but you know you think about some of the good works that they've invented you know.

So it's it's a good work. Then if you make a pilgrimage to rome you can still i think the pope still has it as an open thing where you can get a plenary indulgence for making a pilgrimage to rome. And if you uh visit rome in uh in rome itself they claim that they have the exact same stairs that jesus stepped up on these stunt the stone stairs that he stepped up on when he was on trial and i think it's called the scalia and rome says that if you if you ascend these stairs on your knees and every step you stop and you pray in our father and a hail mary all the way up all the way down then you also earn a plenary indulgence and you get time off of purgatory.

Okay now i'm going to note something here then is and you'll note that how does climbing the scalia on my knees and saying in our father and a hail mary how is that a good work. How does that help my neighbor.

It doesn't. This is a man-made commandment centering around a man-made doctrine regarding purgatory regarding this man-made concept that somehow christ's death isn't sufficient and that you know it his death really only covers you know so much.

And then the rest is kind of up to you and it's up to you to make yourself to cleanse yourself and to purge off your sinful nature. And that somehow visiting rome and climbing the scalia these are a good work before the the eyes of christ.

And then back in the time of the reformation you can think about people who would travel to different cathedrals or to different castles where either the cathedral or one of the local dukes or you know members of royalty or whatever had collected particular relics and going and visiting and seeing those relics saying a particular prayer and of course always giving a little bit of money would result again in more time off purgatory.

You know how. How is it that going to a cathedral and looking at their art collection of relics and visibly beholding the knuckle bone of saint anne how is that a good work. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's that opus day is a thing still to this day.

Oh yeah opus day that still exists to this day. Right. Yes they would terribly treat their body. And this is what luther did when he was in the monastery. I mean he he engaged in that same type of self-flagellation of actually whipping his body with a whip you know which does not sound fun to me at all.

I didn't like to be spanked as a child. So right. And you'll note that all of that is kind of based upon this concept of spirit of fear. You know i i hope i've done enough to be saved. Yes isn't it. It seems like it undercuts the.

Sufficiency of christ. Yes indeed that i know jesus died for everybody but i know how bad i am. I need a little extra. I mean he probably took care of 99 of it but it's gonna take me.

50 years of beating myself to get rid of that extra one percent. Yeah i'm. I'm a special case. You know you know. So then you're glorifying your sin. Yeah. Yeah. And i would point out that the apostle paul uh before he was the apostle paul was salt of tarsus.

And i mean if there ever was a special case. Okay that would. That that christ's grace was not sufficient and that he needed to hedge his bets and add a little extra to what christ did for him on the cross.

It would have been paul. And coming back to the main point then is is that paul at the end of his life he's got all the blue chips on jesus. You know he's bet everything on the gospel and that's sufficient.

And he continues and insists that he has received his salvation as a gift. That it is given as a gift. And it is so you'll note then that uh the main theme then of the sermon today is putting our works in a proper perspective.

And so james in his epistle says. Just as the body that is not breathing is dead dead dead dead doobie doobie dead. If if that if that body cannot fog a mirror it's it's a corpse in the same way. Then faith without works is dead.

Which then should you know have you asking the question what's a good work. How do i go and find out what them is. Because the the third use of the law is it shows us what a good work is now that being the case consider this commandment.

You shall stand up before the gray head and honor the face of an old man. You shall fear your god. I am yahweh. Right. Christ came to fulfill the law. I'm staying seated. Uh-huh. No. The point is this is that this is an extension of the fourth commandment.

Okay. Honor your father and mother. But you're going to note something. American society for the most part i am convinced is a youth cult. It really is. I mean what happened to all the beautiful starlets from the 80s.

Where are they now. Nobody pays any attention to them at all. It's it's always the new crop of the the young the pretty the beautiful the bright the shiny. Right. Until they're no longer bright and shiny.

And i always find it fascinating. You know when you're on a news site and they have the clickbait at the bottom of the of the page you know where are they now. Right. And and so they get people to click on the link where they show you know the picture of such and such beautiful starlet who was in the movies in the 80s.

And where is she now. And you you click. You're looking at this because you want to see what the train wreck of time has done. Right. It's kind of a morbid. We all do this. I've done it. Maybe is it just me.

Right. Of course. Of course we click on it. Right. Okay. Oh how the mighty have. Indeed we are but missed so. Yeah. Yeah it does. It takes like 50 clicks and 10 000 ads to actually get to it. But every one of them yes i want to see that one that was on the picture.

Okay. Yeah we do it. Okay. But i won't. Yes mike. Okay. Um i wouldn't say it was the early church. So um when you read the the writings of the church fathers all the way up you know it's like gregory the great.

By the way have you read the theology of gregory the great. He is called the great for a reason. This man was a brilliant theologian. I don't think there is a single modern day theologian that can hold a candle to his understanding of scripture.

But you're going to note what happens is is that christianity is a thoroughgoing healthy christ-centered thing. And what happens is is that after gregory the great there's kind of a rumbling you can start to see it showing up in the writings about his period a little bit before him and then after him it gets a whole full head of steam with the rise of islam.

And the issue was is that how do you organize such a growing organization as the church when you don't have one visible person at you know calling the shots at the top. And so there was already at before the time of gregory a growing group of people who were calling for the primacy of the seat of peter.

You know the primacy of the bishop of rome. But back in the old day that was completely impossible. Here's the reason why is because there were many papas there were particular regions within the mediterranean where there were strong bishops and and their seas were really really uh wielded a lot of power.

For instance you think of the bishop of ephesus. You think of the bishop of antioch. You think of the bishop of alexandria. All right. And also the bishop of jerusalem. These men were constantly bickering with each other politically because we're two or more gathered there's politics.

Um i don't know if you've noticed that uh but the thing is is that they kind of kept each other in check. And so you know somebody would say i think you know we need to have the primacy of uh of the bishop of rome because he's the you know he he holds the sea of peter.

And the bishop of alexandria who's also called the papa he was also called the pope would say over my dead body you know that good for nothing whatever you know. And they were bickering and fighting and and all this is what they did.

It's clearly in the in the writings of the church fathers even you know post augustine you know at the time of and beyond gregory the great and there were there were even bishops of rome who were arguing against the primacy of peter's sea.

And one particular it may have been even gregory if i'm remembering this correctly said that if you were to make the bishop of rome primary then you would establish the office of antichrist. That was gregory.

Okay. So what was the thing that changed everything. The thing that changed everything was the rise of islam. Because israel islam rises up it takes out alexandria takes out jerusalem takes out antioch ephesus as a city uh started drifting farther and farther inland as the silt built up and it was no longer a port city.

It lost its appeal and its strength as as a city that the bishop of ephesus totally like you know that the city practically went to ruin sapad and and with the rise of islam and all of that you had basically two guys left and you got the bishop of rome you've got the bishop of constantinople and those guys kind of had duked it out and then with the great schism you know that occurred with the splitting of the east and the west which really if you kind of think about it was a natural thing to have happen because the east was so much more influenced by particular theologians in the west.

The east and west had very different mindsets even in how they did theology. And it's with that vacuum of power then you see the ascendancy of the bishop of rome within the catholic west. And um from there you start to see just standard theological doctrinal creep you know.

And the same thing's happening in evangelicalism right now it's just happening a lot faster. I mean the evangelicalism i grew up in made a concerted effort at least to attempt to back up their doctrines from scripture.

Nowadays people are just making stuff up all right and so the same you know you know tendency towards apostasy and false doctrine that we're seeing in evangelicalism that's the same thing that we saw going on in rome and you know and so you're going to have to put that really into uh historically the context it's not in the early church it's more really at it's it starts to build up a head of steam in the early part of the middle ages and comes to a full head then at the time of the reformation but i would i would note this that that uh the rome that we know today did not exist in the time of luther it was a sect of of the catholic church and uh and that within the catholic church visible even at the time of luther there were places that you could still go to hear the gospel you you still could the church never slipped out into complete apostasy.

And what ended up happening is is that the the the reformation was an attempt to truly reform the catholic church and get her back to sound doctrine and to pair off all of these extra man-made things that had come up.

And what ended up happening is is that a large piece of of rome split off with the reformation especially after the excommunication of martin luther. And uh and so what what i would say the more careful historians and theologians recognize is that the the lutheran reformation is a western confession within the church catholic and it actually represents um a theology that never was fully extinguished even in the time of the in the time of the before the reformation.

But that being the case um you know you you you you don't think about catholic in terms of rome because even the phrase roman catholic this is an oxymoron all right the the catholic church is the universal church and so you know this this is not a way to think but the rome as we know it today um and i have to make a caveat because it's morphed again after vatican too but rome as we know it today you know this the really hardcore indulgences works righteousness and everything like that that was not formally you know set in stone as dogma until the council of trend and now post-trend no pope can actually change the edicts of the council of trend.

In the council of trend they anathematized the gospel itself and so that's when rome doubles down and solidifies their doctrine of salvation by works. And it's it's clearly shown in the council of trend.

And a good read would be martin book. It's a four volume work called examination of the council of trend by martin chemnitz. It's not an inexpensive set of books but man is it worth the read. Chemnitz knew his stuff and he was an expert in the writings of the church fathers.

And so martin chemnitz's books the on examination of the council of trend walks you through literally the decisions that were made in in the council of trend what was wrong with those decisions. And he backs it up from scripture as well as the writings of the earliest church fathers.

And so you get the idea but that that's the place to go. So what happens is is that that sets in stone the course for rome until vatican 2 and and now vatican 2 they've loosened up on some of that stuff.

But the issue is is that roman catholic policy makes it impossible for them to overturn uh the the anathemas of the council of trend. So rather than getting rid of them what they've pretty much done is kind of cover them up paper over them mute them a little bit and and so roman catholics today they bemoan the state of the roman catholic church presently.

And uh the the purists within uh rome look longingly back to the days prior to vatican 2 because um it's the post-vatican 2 rome is a mere shadow of what it used to be mere shadow but it's still a works-based religion.

But it's got this kind of squishy weird kind of universalism that's just right underneath the surface of it that's just there. So yeah and that's.

Been a big problem for the last generation is defanging the council of trend. Yeah take away their ability to. You'll get these cell or embedded sin like boston. Yeah you know. And it's much harder for them to crack the whip and pull them into line right.

So even in so far as they have an imperfect understanding of the gospel they've taken away their ability to enforce it in order to prevent.

The next religious war right now. A little bit of note here before we get all. You know just like well they've defanged you know trend and you know in the morning i can't think of a single and i mean this a single ecclesiastical christian visible organization on the planet that can't that effectively deals with false doctrine right now or even has the the ability to do so.

We're in weird days. I mean you know we're just in strange days. And you look at what happened to the elca. Where was the power to stop that apostasy. What's funny is is that i'll note this when you do a case study on the elca.

It's the apostates within the elca who didn't focus on doctrine. They focused on how to exert power. They became the best at robert's rules of order and using the mechanisms of power for the purpose of changing the church and evacuating of it of sound doctrine and even the.

Law. But that is the doctrine of the social gospel right. Yeah it's all about power. Gospel is jesus is a good metaphor for communism and hugs. So it's all about earthly power. So that doctrine is. Then if jesus is about earthly power then bringing about your vision of justice is righteousness.

That is.

Oh i know yeah. And they'll squash anybody in the name of jesus in pursuing it you know. And and so a lot of the aalc pastors the the old guard who were who were there when they left they jumped ship out of the you know the newly formed elca.

The stories they tell are absolutely horrifying of how their bishops would call them into secret meetings and basically say you're going to stop preaching the sin and repentance stuff or we're going to get rid of you.

It wasn't even it wasn't even veiled there. There was no velvet glove over the iron fist it was just pure iron fisted.

Exertion of power. Yeah. Well and then many congregations. They can't they don't a lot of them don't own actually own their property. Yep. So they hold that over and said fine. You know you can you know you can.

Leave the elca but the building belongs. Lock the doors send us the key.

And you know fascinating isn't it. Dominion of darkness. How it works. Um we recently recently.

There was a congregation that wanted to join the aalc and that was the exact tactic that they used. Yeah. And as a result they haven't left. 60 70 of the congregation left. Yeah. Um yeah. But like you.

It's it's every church body. I've had an lcms pastor telling me to my face well as soon as i got out of seminary i had to relearn everything they taught me there so i can do real ministry and he's still practicing.

I'm not gonna i'm not gonna give names but that was his direct quote.

And he's still ordained and they're still giving them calls. You know i i and i love my my brothers who are confessional lutherans within the missouri senate. But i i always find it fascinating when i have other confessional lutheran pastors and other confessional bodies who say to me things like why is the aalc in fellowship with the lcms.

They are heterodox at best and they seem to have almost zero and i mean it's like zero desire or will to crack down on the bona fide heretics within their within their ecclesiastical body. But that's like i said this is everywhere.

Yeah.

So where is the power of the holy spirit in this era. It's in the preaching of the gospel. Yeah i guess you know maybe it's just a i i just want the holy spirit to just set things right.

But christ will. And so here's now now. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah marianatha you're gonna note then that this is this is not something new. The church as an organization has always been weak corrupt in one way or another dealing with bona fide false teaching false prophecies false.

Whatever i mean even it was it was augustine who said that the road to hell is paved with the skulls of priests with the mile markers being the skulls of bishops. That was augustine in his day. All right.

Is anything different today. But here's the thing. So what comes to us then. In weakness. What comes to us and the confession that we make that christ has saved us bled and died for all of our sins. This confession that we make we.

You'll note then that the gospel you can't waterboard somebody with the gospel. It comes to us in rejectable means the word of god the waters of baptism even the sacraments you know lord's supper in the absolution.

And the men who preach this gospel dang they're all messed up like me first. Right. Okay. And and the organization that we're a part of is is the aalc. Like the epitome of like clockwork how to run a christian.

Okay. No like not at all. In fact yesterday at our at our uh we had a meeting of the uh north plains region of the aalc and i said that the the aalc's organization is as effective as the way the confederate states of america organized you know it.

But i'm sorry i stand by my evaluation. Okay. And it's this is most certainly true. So here's the thing what comes to us right now in weakness. Don't worry. When jesus shows up everything flips and everything gets seen for what it is.

You see we recognize the strength of christ and the gospel. Not because christ is out there flexing real muscle and taking on the evildoers and slaying them. Okay that day is coming. Right. But right now jesus comes to us humbly.

He comes to us in the words of a sinful man preaching his word. He comes to us in ordinary tap water from minnesota. He comes to us in bread and wine and even sometimes bread crumbs depending on if we have enough wafers left.

That's sorry inside baseball there. If you know the joke you know the joke. Right. And he comes to us in wine comes to us in the absolution. And here we are out in the middle of the sugar beet fields.

And it just does this look like a powerful kingdom place to you at all. No. And the people who come here including the pastor hear the word of god call us to repent the law of god killing us evacuating us of our self-righteousness and all of us being humbled and brought to our knees and receiving these gifts from our savior who right now has not chosen to act in glory but instead chosen to come to us humbly.

And so we're buffeted we're made to suffer. We're persecuted we're slandered. And is our experience any different than the generation before us or the generation before them or the generation before them.

This it's the parade of those who have taken up their cross denied themselves and are following christ to their death. And see this is where where. And this is where the difference is. All these other religions are somehow trying to figure out how we can maneuver it so that we can use god's power to have an amazing excellent devil slaying life now.

Well it's so much for that because the church gets to be pursued by the devil in the wilderness the dragon pursuing the church. And if it were not for the miraculous intervention of christ we would be overcome by him.

So we come to church we confess that we're sinners. We receive the absolution we hear the word rightly preached long gospel. We're called to repent again return to our baptismal faith. We receive the body and blood of christ.

And then we go out and we get the snot kicked out of us again by the devil by the world by our own sinful flesh. And so we come into church limping bleeding bruised. I don't know i haven't seen you guys parading in here in victory lately huh.

Yeah. Yeah. Right. And so what are we. We're already dead. And we're also already alive. We're just waiting for our bodies to catch up. There's a new world coming. And when christ shows up everything that you're longing for will finally come.

I assure you there will be no heretics none in the new earth. There will be no sin in the new earth not in me not in you. We will finally know what it really means to experience loving one another. Could you imagine a friendship that doesn't have all the static of sin in it.

Or a family relationship that doesn't have all the static of sin in it. Or how about a you know there's no marriage in the new earth. So you know i don't again. Stay tuned. I have no idea how the relationships work out that way.

But uh you know. But could you imagine having a relationship with somebody of the opposite sex where there's no static of sin in it. No fear no anxiety not no abuse. No ridiculously stupid fights with towering raging yelling and screaming and the roof flying off the building over.

Nothing. None of that all. Right. That's coming. But right now if christ were to flex all of his muscle and get rid of all the evildoers we're in trouble. Me first. Right. So you kind of get the idea there's there's a there's a wisdom behind what christ is doing.

There really is. And it's a kindness and it's a mercy. But it means that finding a church that truly confesses what scripture says preaches the gospel rightly administers the sacrament. It'll always be a challenge.

And it always has been. Even in the days of the apostles the apostles dealt with the same kind of nonsense. Have you ever read like third john. I mean it's a short little letter. But there's a funny little detail in it that i just it just cracks me up.

Okay. Third john. Not a very long one. Third john here we go. I'll read it out just because it's you know it's just a terse little letter but it's fun to the elder to the beloved gaius whom i love in truth.

Yeah notice i love him in the truth. So no who's writing this. The apostle john. This is the guy who we know because of the way he wrote about himself. Unlike the other. The other gospel writers he made it clear.

If you read between the lines he's the disciple whom jesus loved. Right. Oh and he's also the guy who happened to beat peter to the tomb in the race to get there. You could just see peter going.

Oh of course just the sort of thing a teenager would remember exactly.

He's the youngest son of the disciples and of course he beats middle-aged peter. Well way to go. Don't you know. Like nowadays when they have marathons and stuff they divide people up by age group you know.

So. Yeah. Anyway. So but the elder whom i uh to the elder the beloved gaius whom i love in the truth beloved. I pray that all may go well with you that you may be in good health as it goes well in your soul.

I rejoice greatly when the brothers came and testified to your truth as indeed you are walking in the truth. Have you considered just the fact that why would gaius need brothers to come and testify to the truth if the truth itself was not under attack.

Right. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. Which means there's a whole lot of people who ain't okay beloved. It is a faithful thing you do in all of your efforts for these brothers strangers as they are who testified to your love before the church.

You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of god. For they have gone out for the sake of the name accepting nothing from the gentiles. Therefore we ought to support people like these that we may be fellow workers for the truth.

Now i've written something to the church but diatrophus who likes to put himself first does not acknowledge our authority. Okay. Work with me for a second here. Okay john. All right. This is a fellow who is the eyewitness of a resurrection of jesus.

He was there when christ bled and died watched him expire on the cross. In fact not only was he there. Jesus says to john john behold your mother mother behold your son. He gets the honor of caring for mary the mother of christ.

He after paul establishes and plants the church in ephesus. Church history tells us traveled with mary to ephesus and basically had the what was the bishop of ephesus as an apostle. He this is the man who catechized catechized polycarp.

I mean his credentials are impeccable. Who is this diatrophus fellow. Because diatrophus doesn't recognize the authority of the apostle john. Are you kidding me where in the church. And listen to what this fellow does.

He likes to put himself first. He doesn't acknowledge our authority. So if i come i will bring up what he is doing. Talking wicked nonsense against us and not content with that he refuses to welcome the brothers and also stop those who want to and puts them out of the church.

Who is this. Yahoo has anything changed. No nothing's changed if they didn't. If there were people in the visible church who didn't recognize the authority of the apostle john and put people out of the church who did and note this in the name of jesus because they never act.

You want to make it clear that they're acting on their own authority. Who are we to expect anything different. Do people in the church today as a whole recognize the authority of faithful pastors. No.

And i need not remind you that you know that from personal experience. Of course not. Do faithful pastors today experience the same kind of thing where people speak wicked nonsense against them. Yep. And again i don't need to remind you you know that personally.

Why should we expect anything different. So the church today appears humble weak bruised beaten battered. And it is. But there's a day coming when christ who comes to us humbly right now through means the day of god's grace and his mercy will end.

This is the day that we find ourselves in today the day when god makes his appeal to sinful humanity through men who are sinful who proclaim to them the forgiveness of sins in christ who are then mistreated and slandered and abused and even put out of the church.

And there's a day coming when they will be vindicated who have been put out of the church. And those who acting on their own authority and contrary to the expressed will of god and his word they will have no power.

They will go into eternity in the lake of fire. Nameless. They will have no name. And we each and every one of us will be given a personal name from christ himself whom nobody else will not even know.

Not only are names written in the lamb's book of life but each and every one of us will have a unique name given to us by christ himself. So today's the day of humble things today. We suffer today we take up our cross today we die.

It's loads of fun you should embrace it as as a joy and a privilege. It seems a little hard though.

Yeah but while we want the church made right right now and i'm kind of interested in seeing fireworks that are involved in that process um the peter tells us why. It's good to wait right when he says god's not willing for any to perish but he's being patient so as many people as possible can.

Yeah that helps me endure these cruddy days before the coming of christ.

It's an oxymoron. We want right to happen but we want salvation to be there for those.

Yeah you need it. And see here's the thing if you were to try to flex political muscle for the purpose of making everything right in the church you would be doubly a child of hell in doing so.