Where is Peace When the Church is Corrupt?

Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church. Kungsvinger is a beacon for the gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone.

And now, here's a message from Pastor Chris Roseberg.

The Holy Gospel according to St. Luke, the 19th chapter. When Jesus drew near and saw the city, He wept over it, saying, Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace!

But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you, and surround you, and hem you in on every side, and tear you down to the ground, and you and your children within you.

And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation. And He entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, saying to them, It is written, My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of robbers.

And He was teaching daily in the temple, and the chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy Him, but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were hanging on His words.

This is the gospel of the Lord, in the name of Jesus. So apostasy is not really fun, and you'll note that the church itself seems to constantly be harassed. Harassed by the devil, harassed by idolaters, harassed by people who don't want to believe the truth, and sadly, history and biblical history has proven, that sometimes those who teach false doctrine, who are apostates, they get the upper hand in the visible church.

You'll note that was what was going on in Jeremiah's time, that is also what was going on in Jesus' time, we'll note that, but it's also, well, happening in our time as well. But here's the thing, when we look at the world around us and we see that, well, the saying goes, the world is going to hell in a handbasket.

Have you guys been paying attention to the rank grossness of what's been taking place at the Olympics in Paris, right? I prefer to watch my sports without any of the weird transvestite politics, but that seems to have taken over, and you'll note the big swipe against Christianity in the opening ceremonies, we noted that last week.

All that being said, I'm far less concerned about the world than I am about the state of the church, and scripture is far more concerned about the state of the church than it is the state of the world, because here's the thing, peace is the thing that you and I need, and I'm not talking necessarily about peace with each other or peace among nations.

That's truly a blessing when God grants it, but I'm talking about the real thing that we all need, and that is peace with God, and there is no peace with God where there is apostasy, because you'll note that there are only two religions in the world, and I know that sounds like a crazy thing to say, but we Lutherans stand by it.

There's the religion of works, and it takes on many different forms, and when apostates take over, what do they do? They institute works righteousness. You need to be more spiritual. You need to do this.

You need to do that, and you're not really saved if you play cards, drink smoke, or chew, or go to movies that are higher than PG, and things like this. They start imposing the law and basically taking away the gospel and the forgiveness of sins, and worse, what's weird about works righteousness is that when it comes to works righteousness, in order to attain their salvation, they have to take the law and they have to dilute it.

I mean, they have to cut it hard so that at the end of the day, if you're just really trying hard, if your intentions are good, then somehow you're in. It's crazy how this all works. That being the case, let's walk through our Old Testament text and note the apostasy in the time of Jeremiah in the form that it takes, and note the parallels with today.

We'll also take a look at the apostasy in Jesus' times. Jesus having to drive money changers out of the temple is not a good look. That's how the kids talk nowadays. It's not a good look that the religious leaders, from the top all the way down, they thought it was a good idea to basically turn God's temple into a place where they can turn a prophet.

And of course, when Jesus opposes their apostasy and their rank idolatry, what do they do? They want to crucify Christ, and they do. And now we live in a day of apostasy as exactly prophesied by both the prophets of old and the apostles.

That being the case, what shall we do? What's the attitude that we should take? Should we bite our fingernails off? Should we have anxiety attacks? What should we do in the midst of all of this? Let's read our text.

Backsliding, Works Righteousness, and the Lying Pen of the Scribes

Jeremiah 8, verse 4. God says to Jeremiah, You shall say to them, the leaders of Judah, Thus says Yahweh, When men fall, do they not rise again? Now here I have to take issue with God, and I mean it this way.

I'm 56 years old, and I've noticed that when I fall nowadays, it takes me a lot longer to get back up. When I was a young kid, I was made out of elastic or something. You'd hit the ground and just spring back up and dust off the dust and just get back to it.

Now when I fall, it's like I have to ask myself the question, Am I capable of getting back up, or do I need to call 911? I remember when I was a kid, there was a stupid commercial of this life alert thing.

Help, I've fallen, and I can't get up. Now that I've gotten older, I get it. I'm kind of happy that my Apple Watch has such features. If I fall down, my watch goes, You have fallen. Would you like me to call 911?

It's like, No, I'm okay. Anyway, so when men fall, do they not rise again? Yes, they do, but there's an asterisk. If one turns away, does he not return? Generally, that's the case. So then why then has this people turned away in perpetual backsliding?

That's a big word, by the way, in Christianese, backsliding. Are you a backslider? Well, when I was a Nazarene, backsliding meant that as a teenager, I did something evil like playing cards. Can you imagine playing poker with your friends?

Oh, I know, it's shocking, right? Or if you really want to ramp it up, a backslider is somebody who listens to secular music or has smoked a cigarette, had a swig of whiskey, went to a dance. These are all backsliders.

And I begin to get the feeling here based on this text, this isn't what God is referring to because you'll note that those are not prohibited in Scripture, playing cards or things like this. A backslider is one that God describes here in this passage as one who holds fast to deceit and they refuse to return.

A backslider is one who holds fast to lies. And I would note, take a look at the religious landscape here in the United States of America, right? When we talk about the mainline denominations, which used to be the bulwark of Christianity in this nation, when we think about the Episcopalians, what do you think about?

Do you think about how faithful they are to God's Word and to the proclamation of Christ and Him crucified? Of course not. They're leftist apostates. You look at the ELCA, and they're the ones who, I kid you not, they preach deceit so badly that they embrace this trans agenda.

And if somebody decides, if Tommy decides that he's no longer Tommy and he wants to be Jessica, then they will re-baptize Jessica. It's crazy when you think about it, right? So they are holding fast to deceit.

They have backslidden, and they're engaged in perpetual backsliding. And here's the thing. I'm going to note this. There is no guarantee that Satan will not attack the AALC or the Missouri Senate or any of the faithful confessional denominations, and that one of them will not fall in the future and become like the ELCA or like these others.

And so here's where we have to make an important distinction. Christ makes it very clear in Matthew 16. Let me remind you of what He said. The occasion is Christ has taken His disciples out of Judea, up into pagan territory, and He asked them, who do people say that I am?

And the disciples kind of coyly answer, well, some say John the Baptist raised from the dead, which I sit there and go, why would you Jewish boys talk like this? You don't believe in reincarnation. What is this idea that Jesus is John the Baptist reincarnate?

That's just nonsense. Or maybe one of the prophets. So Jesus asks the question, who do you say that I am? And now Peter speaks up and he says, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus blesses Peter.

He says, blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. I tell you that you are Petras, you are Peter, and on this rock, Petra, I will build my church.

This is the rock of his confession. And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. So let me ask you a question. Have the gates of hell prevailed against the ELCA?

Yeah, they have.

Have the gates of hell prevailed against Rome? Yeah, they have. The Eastern Orthodox, yeah, they have. So what is this promise referring to exactly then? It is not a promise that a particular ecclesiastical body will never be brought down by Satan.

That's not the point that Jesus is saying. And if your trust is in men or your trust is in your synod, then your trust is poorly placed. When Christ says the gates of hell will not prevail against the church, you'll note that in our Nicene Creed, we confess that we believe in one holy, we need to go back, we need to put it back right, one holy Catholic and apostolic church.

Catholic meaning universal. Christian is too watered down. And I understand that Lutherans get, you know, they get this weird sweaty palms and knee-jerk reaction when they hear the word Catholic, but we need to embrace the proper understanding of it.

So when we confess that we believe in one holy Catholic and apostolic church, we are not confessing that a particular ecclesiastical body will not fall. What we are saying is that there will always be, until Christ returns, Christians who confess Christ and Him crucified for the forgiveness of all of their sins.

And so you'll note then that the church is an article of faith. It's an article of faith. And here's the thing. How do I know that the church is present somewhere? We look for signs. Two main signs. The word of God is preached correctly and the sacraments administered according to the gospel.

Where you have those two things, you have confidence that the church is present. And you sit there, well, why don't we talk about it in terms of church membership? I mean, aren't the members of Kongsvinger members of the church?

Well, most likely, yes. But we must remember that Satan has sown weeds among the wheat. So we can't look at what we see with our eyes and say, this is the church. We must look with the eyes of faith and say the church is present here.

Because on the day of judgment, I'm pretty sure there's going to be a lot of surprises. I'm convinced that there will be people who say, that person didn't make it?

No way.

And other people will say, that person made it?

You've got to be kidding me.

That's what's going to happen when I go waltzing into heaven. Oh, my goodness, property values are going to plunge in the new earth because Rosebro made it. We thought that this was going to be paradise, but not with him.

You get the idea. So the gates of hell have never prevailed against the church,.

Ever.

And so we must remember that. Christ has made good his promise. Even in the times of Jeremiah, the gates of hell did not prevail against the Old Testament church. I have to put it in quotes because it's kind of an oxymoron to talk about the believers of the Old Testament as church, but it makes sense to think of them in that term.

So coming back then to our text, Judah has gone into perpetual backsliding. They hold fast to lies and deceit, and they refuse to return.

We love sin. We love heresy.

It's the best thing ever. So God says, I have paid attention and listened, but they have not spoken rightly. No man relents of his evil, saying, what have I done? And there's a simple reason for that.

In the time of Jeremiah, the false teachers, the false prophets, they were telling everybody, oh, listen, you're the apple of God's eye. And I say it that way because we know in the time of Jeremiah they had turned God's holy temple in Jerusalem into a male prostitute brothel, which tells you something about their theology that sounds a lot like today, doesn't it?

So no one turns from their evil because they're never confronted with God's commandments. And he's going to explain a little bit more about why that's the case. And then he says this. Everyone turns to his own course.

That's another way of saying everybody pursues their own sinful heart's desires. When you hear anybody from the pulpit say, God just wants you to be you, you need to be true to your authentic self, that is somebody who's preaching you to follow your own course.

You are not the northern star, and your heart is not the northern star by which you navigate this life, God's word is. And if you are going to go your own course, then you are wandering off the narrow path that leads to life, and you have turned on to the large highway that leads to hell.

So following your own course, that is a certain doom for people. And this is why God describes it like a horse plunging headlong into battle. I've always seen paintings of the way battles used to be fought, and always thought, how do you get a horse to jump into an entire defensive line of spears aimed right at its heart?

And you know what happened to those horses that plunged headlong into battle? They died, right? Always amazes me when you look at old photographs of the Civil War, you see human corpses among horse corpses, things like this, right?

So when you follow your own course, you're like one of those poor horses running headlong into battle who's doomed to die. And then God gives a little bit of an insult. You ever heard somebody say, that's so stupid.

You have bird brains, right? Well, here in this text, birds have better brains than apostates. Even the stork in the heavens knows her times, and the turtle dove and the swallow in the crane, they keep their time of their coming.

Those birds know better than you do, right? But my people, they know not the rules of Yahweh. How can you say we are wise and the law of Yahweh is with us? And here's one of the issues. Listen to this one.

This sounds almost modern. Behold, the lying pen of the scribes has made it, my law, into a lie. Think that one out for a second here. In the course of my lifetime, as a Christian, as an apologist, and as a pastor, I have noticed that some of the greatest attacks against sound biblical doctrine have been launched by Christian publishing houses, right?

And you'll note that it's, who are some of the greatest enemies of Christianity? Seminary profs and people who call themselves biblical scholars.

Why?

Because they're lying pens, or I should say they're lying keyboards, right? They are constantly attacking the word of God. You can't trust the word of God because we didn't find this particular thing in archaeological history regarding the Amorites so the whole thing is false.

Can't trust it, right? And so you sit there, and if you listen to them, you can't trust the Bible, which then leads to the question, well, then who can I trust? You can trust me, the Bible scholar.

Really?

I'm going to trust you, and I'm going to no longer trust the word of God. The ELCA, you know what they say about the word of God? They say the Bible isn't the word of God. In fact, if you were to apply to their seminaries, all right, the ELCA seminaries, and you were to say, I believe the Bible is the inerrant, infallible word of God, your application would be denied.

It is their official policy. So what do they say about the Bible? Well, the Bible isn't the word of God, but it contains the word of God.

What does that even mean?

What do you mean it contains the word of God? What kind of nonsense is this? And so you'll note in the times of Jeremiah, who were the ones turning God's word into lies? It was the scribes, the scribblers, just like today.

The scribes and scribblers of today, what do they do? They attack the word of God, attack, attack, attack, attack. Can't trust it, but you can trust us. We've discovered the truth, and the Bible is something you should just put away.

Well, if you put the Bible away, what do you have left in the church? And you're going to note, these people, these men and these women, they teach in seminaries, which means they're training the next generation of pastors who come into the church, or Pastrix is.

What's the plural of Pastrix? Pastrix I, I don't know. They train them to go into the pulpit and do what? Attack the word of God. They don't sow seeds of faith, they sow seeds of doubt. And at the end of this, if you lose the word of God, what do you lose?

Peace with God and the gospel itself. All right, so they've rejected the word of God. Let's see here. Where was it? The lying pens of the scribes have made it into a lie. The wise men shall then therefore be put to shame.

They shall be dismayed, and they shall be taken. That should give them pause. Of course, I don't think they read Jeremiah. In fact, I've seen notable heretics hate Jeremiah. They consider him to be a whiny crybaby.

And they think that the innovations at the time of Judah were good, and that he was just some kind of a person who was just sad and upset at the innovations that God had led the people of Israel into.

But God here through Jeremiah says that they will be taken. That's a reference to the fact of the Day of Judgment. They'll be taken and thrown into the fires of hell. Behold, they have rejected the word of Yahweh.

So what wisdom is in them? Let's answer the question. There isn't any. Anybody who claims to be a Christian or is a pastor who rejects the word of God, they are not somebody who is wise. They are a fool, and they should not be listened to.

And I'll show you that from Peter. Therefore, God says, I will give their wives to others, their fields to conquerors, because from the least to the greatest, everyone is greedy for unjust gain. Yup. From prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely.

This sounds like the entire religious organization that was set up by God for the purpose of instructing Israel in the word of God and having them rightly worship God according to the scriptures of their day, that the entire organization had gone corrupt.

From priest to prophet, everyone deals falsely. Who was left in Jeremiah's day?

Jeremiah.

That's almost it. Now, thankfully, God brought some people to repentance, and then in Jeremiah's day, we have Ezekiel and Daniel and others, but it's a scant few, right? Then listen to this. False teachers, they have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying peace, peace, when there is no peace.

And is that not exactly what the false teachers do today? Oh, listen, God just loves you the way you are. You just need to learn how to love yourself the way God loves you. In fact, you don't need to change anything about you, and anybody who would make you feel guilty for anything that you're doing, they don't understand the love of God.

This is how they talk, right? What are they doing? They're telling the impenitent that they have peace with God without repentance. It is true that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, but in giving him, what did he do?

He offered him up as a sacrifice for your sins and mine, because God's wrath had to be propitiated. If God loves us the way that we are, then we don't need a crucified Savior. Why did Jesus have to suffer the wrath of God in our place?

And so when the gospel disappears and the only thing you're left with is some kind of watered-down law that kind of shifts with the changing sands and the winds of strange doctrines, then you're going to know you lose the message of peace, and there is only peace through Christ.

We are reconciled to God by what Christ has done for us on the cross. We cannot be reconciled by our works. In fact, that's exactly what Paul was getting at in our epistle text, that the Jews of his time, the Pharisees, had abandoned the right worship of Yahweh, and they pursued a salvation based on works, and as a result of it they did not attain that righteousness because you'll note that it says that they pursued it not based upon faith, but they pursued salvation as if it were based on works.

Right?

So when somebody tells you, oh listen, you just need to love the way you are, you need to be true to your authentic self and all this kind of nonsense, they're preaching a form of watered-down law that doesn't bring you peace with God, it leaves you under God's condemnation.

Christ tells his disciples at the tail end of the gospel of Luke to go and proclaim repentance and the forgiveness of sins in his name to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem. Repentance and the forgiveness of sins.

You'll note that people just talk about the love of God nowadays in the church, but they don't talk about repentance. That's so passé, that's so yesterday, that's so old-school and trad, right? But Christ says to proclaim repentance for the forgiveness of sins to all nations, that includes the United States and every nation that comes up after us until Christ returns.

So peace only comes through Christ, but false teachers proclaim peace when there is no peace. Were they ashamed when they committed abomination? No, they were not ashamed. They did not know how to blush.

And I have to be careful how I tell this. I saw this with my own eyes this week. If you ever follow the website called protestia .com, it's a fascinating website that's kind of chronicling all the weird apostasies in the church, and they showed a video blog of two liberal mainline pastrixes who have a video blog, and they were praising the polyamorous couples in their congregations.

And my head just about blew up. This is exactly what God was talking about. Were they ashamed when they committed abomination? No, they were not ashamed at all. They didn't even know how to blush. It is absolutely disgusting that anybody who calls themselves a pastor in Christ's church would speak positively and glowingly of any other relationship between men and women other than marriage.

Therefore they shall fall among the fallen. When I punish them, they shall be overthrown, says Yahweh. And you'll note, in Christ's time, there was also rank apostasy. At the end of our gospel text, it says that Jesus was teaching daily in the temple, and the chief priests, plural, and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy Jesus, who happens to be the God of Israel in human flesh.

If that isn't corruption, then I don't know what is.

Right?

And so Jesus says this as he's going in to triumphantly enter into Jerusalem. This is right before Palm Sunday and right after it as well in our gospel text in Luke. Jesus has gone into Jerusalem for the purpose of laying down his life, bleeding, suffering, dying on the cross so that you and I can be forgiven.

And when he comes over the top of the hill and he sees Jerusalem, he stops and he weeps. This is not the first time that Christ weeps, but it's the second time that he's wept. And we see it in the scriptures.

So there's Christ. He can't hold it together. He's legitimately weeping. Would that you even you had known on this day the things that make for what?

Peace.

It is Christ who is the one who brings peace. And he's going to the cross to reconcile us to God and to make peace where there has been hostility. Hostility created by us in our rebellion. If only you had known this day the things that make for peace.

But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side. And here Jesus is noting and describing what God will do to punish them for their rank apostasy and for their sinful wickedness and impenitence and idolatry.

And God is invoking the last few clauses of the Mosaic Covenant in the curses section for them. If you don't want to be forgiven, if you don't want peace with God and you can only have it on God's terms, not yours, then there is nothing else for you other than God's judgment.

Full stop.

There are no other ways. Well, that seems like really narrow black and white thinking, Pastor Roseborough. I know that's what the Scripture says.

Right?

If you don't want peace with God, you don't want to be forgiven, you don't want to repent, then you don't have to repent and you don't have to be forgiven. Just know that you are choosing then to face God's wrath in full strength.

And that's what they chose. Your enemies will surround you. They will tear you down to the ground. Your children within you, they will not leave one stone upon another in you because you did not know the time of your visitation.

God himself has visited his people, and yet they want to destroy him. So when Jesus entered the temple, he began to drive them out, those who sold, saying to them, It is written, My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it into a den of robbers.

Apostasy, corruption, it seems to go wherever we go.

Right?

You should never, ever trust in the establishment. Our trust is in God. And Kongsvinger Lutheran Church is just as susceptible as any other church, any other place, to these destructive attacks of Satan.

Apostasy in the Last Days and the Need to Avoid False Teachers

So in the midst of all of this, where do we find peace? Where are we to look? Well, I would note that in the days that we live in, Scripture prophesied exactly what it is that we are looking at right now in our time.

Paul writes in 2 Timothy 3,. Understand this, in the last days there will come times of difficulty. People will be lovers of self. That's called narcissism. They will be narcissists. And I'm going to note here, Paul is not describing the world.

He's describing the state of the church, and you can see it in the context. People will be narcissists in the church, lovers of money in the church. Ken Copeland, Benny Hinn, right? Proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving the good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness but denying its power.

Avoid such people. So what do we do if Satan takes over our association? What if Satan gets a foothold here at Kongsvinger and rank heresy begins being taught here, and all the good doctrine that you've been taught is now brought into doubt in your mind?

Scripture says avoid such people.

Leave.

It doesn't matter if your family founded this church. If they're not teaching the truth and you have no way of getting the heretics out, leave. You are to avoid these people. Go where you hear the Word of God preached correctly and sacraments administered according to the gospel.

Keep that in mind. If you ever get to the point where you have no ability to get rid of those who are teaching heresy, then you need to find something else to do. In 1 Timothy chapter 4, Paul says this.

The Spirit expressly says, this is the Holy Spirit, that in the latter times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared.

That sounds like a certain group of people that I know nowadays. If you've ever spent any time in the charismatic movement, they are prone to telling tall tales, kind of like Pecos Bill or Paul Bunyan.

I've heard stories that go something like this. I went to the hardware store because I needed a new chainsaw because I had to cut down a tree. The guy on the floor was explaining to me how to use this chainsaw.

He fired it up and accidentally slipped on a banana peel and cut my left arm off. Thankfully, I had enough in my mind that I laid hands on my stump and in the name of Jesus, I declared my healing. Right there on the floor of Lowe's hardware store, my arm grew back.

We just mopped up the blood and everything was fine. People tell nonsensical stories like this. Every time I hear these kind of stories, I sit there and go, how is it possible that you can say such patent lies?

Of course, here's the thing. If that had truly happened, it would have made the international news. And you've got to remember, everyone has a 4K video camera in their pocket, right? If God grew an arm back on the floor of Lowe's hardware store in Grand Forks, believe me, there'd be video evidence of it.

But they tell all these stories without any compunction whatsoever. And what does the scripture say? These are insincere liars and their consciences are seared. The reason why they tell these tall tales is because they're not capable of feeling guilt when they lie like that.

Well, that's the day we live in, right? From Jeremiah to Jesus to us. Paul, not Paul, we've heard Paul. Peter talks about the days that we happen to be living in as well. At the end of 2 Peter 3, Peter writes these words.

Now, this is the second letter that I'm writing to you, beloved. In both of them, I'm stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles.

So, in the midst of apostasy, where do you find peace? Remember the prediction of the prophets and what the apostles have said. It's important. Everything, by the way, is going according to plan.

Some people go, the whole world's out of control.

No, it's not. Jesus is in control. And he prophesied through his prophets and apostles the exact days that we happen to be living in. So we don't need to run around like Chicken Little going,.

The sky is falling, the sky is falling.

No, it's not. Everything's going according to plan. That's kind of the point. Knowing this, first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing. And they're here following their own sinful desires.

They will say, where is the promise of his coming? Ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation. These people deliberately overlook this fact that the heavens existed long ago and that the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God and that by means of these, the world that then existed, talking about the world before the flood, it was deluged with water and it perished.

But by the same word, the same word of God, the heavens and the earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and the destruction of the ungodly. Kind of think of it this way.

Yeah, they kind of got the upper hand right now, but that's a temporary thing. It only lasts for about this long. And you sit there and go, well, it seems to be taking forever. This long. Because how long are we on the new earth?

That long.

And that's kind of the point that he's talking about. So do not overlook this one fact, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years is a day. So the Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise, as some count slowness, but God is patient towards you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.