Reformation Sunday Service

Kongsvinger Lutheran Church

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I would like to welcome you all to Congregator Lutheran Church.

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Today we are observing the Feast of the Reformation and remembering God's gracious gift of bringing back the

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Gospel after it had been papered over by Rome. Today we'll be following the order of Divine Service Setting 3, and then for the intro it today, the psalm tone today is going to be psalm tone

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C, as in cacophony. So if you are physically present here at Kongsvinger, opening hymn is 566, and if you are able, please rise.

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Divine Service Setting 3. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Beloved in the

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Lord, let us draw near with a true heart and confess our sins unto God, our Father, beseeching him in the name of our

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Lord Jesus Christ to grant us forgiveness. Our help is in the name of the

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Lord. I said I will confess my transgressions unto the

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Lord. O Almighty God, merciful

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Father, I, a poor, miserable sinner, confess unto you all my sins and iniquities with which

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I have ever offended you, and justly deserve your temporal and eternal punishment.

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But I am heartily sorry for them, and sincerely repent of them, and I pray you of your boundless mercy, and for the sake of the holy, innocent, bitter sufferings and death of your beloved

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Son, Jesus Christ, to be gracious to me, a poor, sinful being.

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Upon this your confession, I, by virtue of my office as a called and ordained servant of the Word, I announce the grace of God unto all of you, and instead, and by the command of my

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Lord Jesus Christ, I forgive you all of your sins, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the

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Holy Spirit. Amen. Psalm tone C today. I will speak of your testimony before kings,

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O Lord, and shall not be put to shame. I will bless the

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Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

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My soul makes its boast in the Lord. Let the humble hear and be glad.

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Come, O children, listen to me. I will teach you the fear of the

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Lord. The Lord redeems the life of His servants.

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None of those who take refuge in Him will be condemned. Glory be to the

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Father, and to the Son, and to the

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Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever.

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I will speak of your testimony before kings, O Lord, and shall not be put to shame.

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The Lord be with you. Almighty and gracious Lord, pour out your

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Holy Spirit on your faithful people. Keep us steadfast in your grace and truth.

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Protect and deliver us in times of temptation. Defend us against all enemies, and grant to your church your saving peace.

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Through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the Holy Spirit, one

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God, now and forever. May we be seated.

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A little awkward.

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One second here. Don't look this up in the back. I didn't do it ahead of time.

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Can you believe that? Rose, bro? There we go. Reformation day.

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That's this day. Our first reading today is taken from the book of Revelation chapter 14.

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Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on the earth, to every tribe, every nation, and language, and people.

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And he said with a loud voice, fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come.

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And worship him who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and the springs of water. This is the word of the

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Lord. Speak the gradual together by half verse. Great is the

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Lord and greatly to be praised. Walk about Zion.

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Go around her. Number her towers. Through her citadels.

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That you may tell the next generation. Our second reading, our epistle reading, is taken from the book of Romans chapter 3.

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We know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law. So that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may be held accountable to God.

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For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

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But now the righteousness of God has been manifested, apart from the law.

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Although the law and the prophets, they bear witness to it. The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.

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For there is no distinction. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by his grace as a gift.

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Through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith.

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This was to show God's righteousness. Because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.

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It was to show his righteousness at the present time. So that he might be just. And the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

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So then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law?

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By a law of works? No. But by the law of faith. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

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This is the word of the Lord. The Holy Gospel according to St.

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John the 8th chapter. So Jesus said to the

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Jews who had believed in him. If you abide in my word you are truly my disciples. And you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.

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They answered him. We are offspring of Abraham. We have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say you will become free?

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Jesus answered them. Truly truly I say to you. Everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.

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The slave does not remain in the house forever. The son remains forever. So if the son sets you free.

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You will be free indeed. This is the Gospel of the Lord. We confess our faith together in the words of the

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Nicene Creed. I believe in one

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God. The Father Almighty. Maker of heaven and earth. And of all things visible and invisible.

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And in one Lord. Jesus Christ. The only begotten Son of God.

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Begotten of his Father before all worlds. God of God. Light of light.

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Very God of very God. Begotten not made. Being of one substance with the

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Father. By whom all things were made. Who for us men. And for our salvation.

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Came down from heaven. And was incarnate by the Holy Spirit. Of the Virgin Mary.

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And was made man. And was crucified also for us. Under Pontius Pilate.

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He suffered and was buried. And the third day he rose again. According to the scriptures.

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And ascended into heaven. And sits at the right hand of the Father. And he will come again.

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With glory. To judge both the living and the dead. Whose kingdom will have no end.

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And I believe in the Holy Spirit. The Lord and giver of life. Who proceeds from the

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Father and the Son. Who with the Father and the Son. Together is worshipped and glorified.

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Who spoke by the prophets. And I believe in one holy. Christian and apostolic church.

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I acknowledge one baptism. For the remission of sins. And I look for the resurrection of the dead.

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And the life of the world to come. Amen. You may be seated. In the name of Jesus.

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Amen. Human beings love a good underdog story.

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You've got to admit. We're kind of addicted to these things. And at the risk of gloating. I would note we had an underdog story.

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That appeared on Friday night. First game of the World Series. Dodgers Stadium.

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It's gone into the 10th inning. They were tied at the beginning of the 10th inning. The Yankees score a point.

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And now the Dodgers have got to come back. If they want to win the game. And of course they load the bases.

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But there's two outs. And our wounded Freddie. Freddie Freeman comes to the plate.

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And in one pitch. He hits a grand slam home run. Walk off. And everybody loses their minds.

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And we sit there and go. This is the best thing ever. But here's the thing. A lot of people think this is how salvation works.

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Work with me here. Every single human and demonic religion.

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And those are their origins. Humanity and the demonic. Every single human and demonic religion.

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Says. You earn your salvation. Either in whole.

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Or even in part. And so here's how this works. If you are truly a

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Christian. Well then you're going to get your act together. You're going to go out.

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And you're going to slay your Goliaths. You're going to do all this kind of stuff. And you're going to know. This is a tiring type of religion.

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And you'll know. It doesn't provide you with any. And I mean any assurance whatsoever.

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And so people who follow. These types of religions. They often times delusionally think.

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You know at some point. I'm really going to get my act together. And then in the 10th inning. I'm finally going to hit that grand slam.

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And I'm going to defeat Satan. I'm going to defeat Jezebel. I'm going to defeat my own sinful nature.

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And I'm going to waltz into heaven. And God's going to go. Well done. Wow. That was impressive.

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It's delusional. It's absolutely delusional. And here's the thing.

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Don't let your love of a good underdog story. Make you think that's how salvation works. In fact.

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When we consider what the scriptures teach. Regarding our fall into sin. I must assure you.

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It's far worse than you've ever imagined. It's so bad. That I don't care how intentional you are.

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I don't care how many new years resolutions you make. I don't know. I don't care how much you apply yourself to it.

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In fact. Go ahead lock yourself up in a monastery. See if that helps. You will not in your own strength.

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Have the power to free yourself. To slavery. To sin. Death. And the devil.

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These mighty. And I mean mighty. Oppressive foes. You have no ability to win against them.

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None whatsoever. And if you think you're going to somehow pull it off. In the 11th hour. You are out of your mind.

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Instead the scriptures teach. Something way different. And I would note this. When you look at all of these man made.

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Versions of religion. Demonically inspired. Versions of religion.

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You know what's at the core of this? A God who is a. Insane. Unloving.

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Unmerciful. Tyrant. You ask somebody who says they are a Christian.

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Who embraces this kind of self righteous religion. So what was Jesus doing on earth?

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You might get an answer like this. Well Jesus came and he lived a perfect life. To show us how it is done.

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So we got to get busy doing it ourselves. And you sit there and go whoa.

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That's not good. But let me just give you just a couple of samples. Of just how bad.

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The badness is. In the gospel of John chapter 1. We read these wonderful words.

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In the beginning was the word. The word was with God. And the word was God. John starts his gospel.

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Like the other gospel writers. Focusing on Jesus Christ. As we all should be focused on him.

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And describes him as the Logos. The word that was with God. And the word that was

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God at the beginning. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him. Without him was not anything made that was made.

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In him was life. Life was the light of men. Light shines in the darkness.

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And the darkness does not overcome it. And then we read the true light. Which gives light to everyone.

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Was coming into the world. He was in the world. And the world was made through him.

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Yet the world did not know him. Say what?

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No, this is absolutely true. I'm convinced. If you were walking down the streets of Grand Forks.

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And Jesus walked out of a coffee shop. And was walking down the street. You wouldn't recognize him. You wouldn't.

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And that's a terrifying thing. It always bothers me whenever I read those gospel texts. Where we have demons.

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They know exactly who Jesus is. And as soon as they see him. We know who you are. You're the holy one of God.

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And Jesus is all. Quiet, come out of me. But there's the disciples.

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In the early part of the gospel of Matthew. And Jesus had had a long day of ministry. And they were crossing the sea of Galilee on a boat.

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And of course one of those storms comes up. And the disciples are freaking out. And what's Jesus doing?

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He's sleeping. He needs a little bit of R &R. He's sleeping on the captain's couch.

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Of this little boat. And they wake him up. Don't you care that we are perishing?

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Like Jesus doesn't care. Right? And of course Jesus then gets up. And I kind of picture him kind of annoyed.

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Like dealing with a badly behaved dog. Okay? Any of you who have dogs as pets.

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They're loyal. They're great. They're stupid sometimes. Oh man. Anyway.

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So you've got a badly behaved dog. And this is what's going on. Jesus kind of wakes up and goes. Quiet. I'm trying to sleep here.

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I had the last part. And so what happens? Like an obedient dog.

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The weather just goes okay. It goes silent. And there's the disciples in the boat going.

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Who is this? That even the wind and the waves obey him. Who is he indeed?

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Well, he's our God. He's the God who made us. And here's the thing. Get all of your ideas about God that you've learned from the self -righteous religion.

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From your own sinful nature. That seems to think that you can somehow earn your salvation. Put it all aside.

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God isn't like that. God is merciful. He's kind. He's slow to anger.

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Abounding in steadfast love. And he pardons iniquity. You'll know. God also will punish iniquity.

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But here's the thing. People sometimes ask. What is Roseboro like? Well, ask my wife.

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She'll tell you. And here's the thing. There's normal Roseboro. And then there's Roseboro under stress.

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There's normal Roseboro. He's pretty chill. And then you've got Roseboro when he feels provoked.

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And he's not happy. He's grumpy. He wakes up on the wrong side of the bed. So the idea then is, what is

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God like? Is he grumpy? Just waiting to take your little scrawny carcass and flick you into the fires of hell?

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And you sit there and go, yeah, I've been waiting to do that. Yeah. No, God isn't like that at all.

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In fact, he takes no pleasure, none whatsoever, in sending people to hell. It's not his will that any should perish, the scripture said.

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You sit there and go, anybody? Yeah, including Hitler. Work that one out. It's not his will that any should perish. So the fact that people perish is their own stupid fault.

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Right? So what is God like? He is amazing. But here's the thing.

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In our sin and in the darkness of sin, if God were walking among us, we wouldn't even know it.

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I think of that song that I remember. There are some really good songs from the 90s, but there's one that just kind of stood out. I remember hearing it for the first time.

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And the lyrics went something like this. What if God was one of us? Just a slob like one of us. Like a stranger on the bus trying to find his way home.

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Every time I'd hear the lyrics, it'd go, he was one of us. He came to earth, born of the

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Virgin Mary. He came to save us. And yet, he was a stranger. People didn't even recognize him.

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I don't think of Jesus as a slob. I think he cared for himself pretty well. But if Jesus were on the bus, would you recognize him?

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If you were on the tube in London, would you see him and go, oh, there's Jesus? No! That's how deep our sin is.

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In fact, the Apostle Paul gives us a very unflattering picture in just three verses of just how far gone we are.

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In Ephesians 2 he says, and y 'all, talking to the church in Ephesus, y 'all were dead in trespasses and sins.

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And by the way, stop with this idea it's only mostly dead. That's a notion from the

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Princess Bride. Miracle Max was funny. I get it. But this is not where you get your theology. We weren't mostly dead.

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We were completely stone cold dead in trespasses and sins.

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And corpse don't do nothing. Have you noticed we never invite the people in the graveyard in for coffee during fellowship time?

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Right? We don't. So you were dead in trespasses and sins in which you once walked, how you conducted your life, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sun's disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of our sinful bodies and minds, and we were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind.

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And I can hear some Karen going, that's horrible. Are you saying that children aren't innocent?

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That they're born dead in trespasses and sins? No lady, I didn't say that. God did.

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Right? And you'll know this offends us. You talk to an unbeliever and tell them they're a sinner, you might get punched in the face because they don't want to come to grips with that.

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But here's the thing, there's no place for this in the church. We began the divine service by confessing our sins.

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And none of us painted a glowing picture of ourselves. But you're going to note here, it doesn't end there.

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And here's the thing, confessing what you are is a very anxiety producing experience because when you say

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I don't have my act together, I am a sinner, there's no hope if it depends on me, you at this point have nothing to hang on to in and of yourself.

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And this is a good thing. But it's anxiety causing because now the question is what next?

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So Paul in the immediate context of our epistle text today, he says these important words and he's quoting from the psalms.

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So he's echoing exactly what the Old Testament says in two different places. None is righteous.

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No, not one. No one understands. No one seeks for God. And I gotta tell you, your sinful nature is sitting there going, well that's not totally true.

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This doesn't exactly apply to me. Oh really, it does. Well this hurts my self -esteem.

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Good. That satanic little self -esteem of yours needs to be crushed and destroyed.

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No one is righteous. Not one. And here's the problem. We all know that on the day of judgment, if we don't have righteousness, we're not going to be able to stand before God.

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You can't. If none is righteous, now we've got a problem. No one's able to stand on the day of judgment because you need to be righteous in order to be able to stand.

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But Paul says none is righteous. And now we begin to scramble. And like Adam and Eve in the garden, we think, ah, fig leaves.

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That'll fix the problem here. Let me give up alcohol. Let me stop dancing.

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Don't do that, by the way. That's a Norwegian thing. Go ahead and dance, okay? Let me stop smoking.

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I know I'll lose 30 pounds and I'll go to the gym five days a week. I'm going to really clean up my act and I'm going to do good at work, too.

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And I'm going to stop cheating at night and have snacks and things like this. Do you think for a second that that is going to be able to be the currency that you can offer to God on the day of judgment?

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Your paltry, anemic, half -hearted, sin - tainted, good works?

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Good luck? It's not going to work. So we come back to the problem, the conundrum.

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None is righteous. No, not one. No one understands. No one seeks for God, and yes, that includes you.

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It includes me. All have turned aside. Together they have become worthless. Uh -oh.

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Well, Todd White was wrong when he said that the reason why Christ died is because you were so special.

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You were so worth it. No, the text says you were worthless. Well then, if we were worthless because of sin, why would

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God even send His Son? Because He's that good.

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Because He is that kind and merciful and loving. No one does good, not even one.

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The throat is an open grave. They use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips.

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Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood, and their paths are ruined in misery.

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And the way of peace they have not known, there is no fear of God before their eyes. And if this is true, the most logical question to ask is now what?

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Because you'll know that Scripture paints a picture of complete hopelessness when it comes to you being able to stand before a holy

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God on the Day of Judgment. It describes you as a perpetrator, as a criminal, as a trespasser, as one who's committed iniquity, as somebody who is unrighteous and ungodly.

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And until you come to grips that this is a perfect description of you and of me, you are not ready to hear the

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Gospel. You're just not. Because as long as you think that there's something good in you that you can bargain with God and that God will sit there and go, you know, everyone else was unrighteous, but you, you, you proved you were the exception to the rule.

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And in our delusion of sin, we oftentimes think of ourselves as that. Put it out of your mind.

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So Paul then, here's our epistle text at the beginning. We know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may be held accountable to God.

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God did not give us the ten commandments so that we have ten easy steps if we just apply ourselves that we can climb the ladder into heaven and Jesus would pat us on the head and go, oh good boy, good girl, you figured it out.

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The purpose of the law is to let you know you are dead. You are guilty.

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There is nothing you can do. You are a transgressor and you have earned, to the fullest extent,

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God's wrath against your sin. You are not somebody who's got their act together.

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You are a complete spiritual screw -up. You are not somebody who's rich spiritually.

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You are 100 % bankrupt and poverty stricken. You got nothing to offer

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God and that's what the law says. And the whole purpose of the law is to make you aware of the direness of your situation and the hopelessness of your ability to save yourself.

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That's its purpose. And then to punctuate the point, Paul says this, by works of the law, no human, in the

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Greek, no man, that means all of mankind, no human being will be, important word, dikaiao, justified.

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Dikaiao, what does that mean? Well, dikaiao is a court term.

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It's a legal term. It's forensic. Dikaiao means that you are standing before the judge and the judge slaps his gavel down and goes, not guilty.

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So listen again to the text. By works of the law, no human being will be declared not guilty in God's sight.

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So there you are on the day of judgment. The law says, you're guilty.

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You've done this, this, this, this, this, this, this, and it goes on for hours and hours and hours, days and days and days, listing off all the things you've done wrong.

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And you sit there in your defense and you go, yeah, but I worked at a soup kitchen on Thanksgiving in the year 2014.

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Woohoo. I decided to be kind to my wife one time. Oh, you are such a saint.

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You see the problem here? Nobody will be declared not guilty in God's sight through works of the law, since through the law comes the knowledge of sin.

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And like I've pointed out many times, and I'm going to note something here. As I've gotten older, I've noticed that I've begun repeating myself like my grandparents did.

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And so if I ever repeat myself, just look at my gray hair and say, oh, he's getting old.

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Okay? I need a little bit of slack here. I've pointed out before, and I'll continue to point out, the word but always has this weird magical thing that it does.

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It erases the stuff before it. And as I've said before, I hated working in the corporate world.

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I hated working in retail. I hated having to get my annual review because every single annual performance review began like this.

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You know, Chris, we love that you did this. And we think that this is great that you're doing that.

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And these are the things that we're really thankful that you are a member of our team. And then comes the magical word, but.

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And everything else that follows has this magical way of making all of the good things they said just completely go whoosh.

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All right? And you're sitting there going, well, how bad could it be? Let me be blunt with you. Okay? I'm a sinner like you.

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Okay? I have strengths. I have weaknesses. I have things that are legitimate gifts.

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And then there's parts of me that are just ornery and awful. Okay? And you put me in a group of people, guess what?

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There's some people who are going to sit there and go, Roseboro's a mess. And you know what? They're right. I am.

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Okay? You should try working with me. My poor wife. I feel bad for her. Okay. So here's the idea.

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The but here in verse 24 of our epistle text. And you'll note, a but also appears in Ephesians chapter 2.

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Note that the but comes after the bad stuff. Not after the good stuff.

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You are dead and trespasses and sins. None is righteous. No, not one. No one seeks for God.

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But! Is God really going to erase that?

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All that negative stuff? That's the point of the but. But now, listen to this. The righteousness of God has been revealed apart from the law.

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I love the fact that in my Greek class this week, I asked my Greek students, ah, we were translating this text, the diakosune theou, the righteousness of God.

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I asked, whose righteousness is this? And James DeBoer chimed up and said, it's

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God's. Good. How do you know this? Well, because theou is in the genitive and it's possessive.

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So listen to the but. The righteousness of God. Whose righteousness? God's righteousness.

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Not yours. Not mine. His righteousness has been revealed apart from the law.

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Although the law and the prophets bear witness to it. And you sit there at this point and you go, okay, yeah, so the righteousness of God has been revealed, but what good is that?

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Well, the text continues. Verse 22. The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ, and then the most important word in the whole sentence.

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For all who believe. Remember, the problem is this. None is righteous.

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No, not one. That's the problem. You and me included. But here we read in this text of God's righteousness and here's what the text says.

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It is for all who believe. That's you and me.

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If our problem is that we don't have any righteousness, then the solution is, well, we've got to have some.

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Where are we going to get it? By faith, God gives it to you.

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In fact, let me do this. I'm going to add a text to my sermon. It's not part of my manuscript, so I'm just going to have to hunt this down real quick.

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In Ephesians chapter five, we have these wonderful words about what husbands are to do for their wives.

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Listen to these words. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church. And how did

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Christ love his church? Sacrificially. And gave himself up for her so that he might sanctify her.

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Sanctify. To make her holy. So that he might make her holy, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, a reference to baptism, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, so that she might be holy and without blemish.

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But here's the thing. The bride of Christ is not any of those things when he finds her.

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The bride of Christ has blemishes. The bride of Christ is not holy.

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The bride of Christ is not full of splendor. And the bride of Christ instead is full of sin.

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He sanctifies her. He washes her. He presents her to himself in splendor.

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Where did that splendor come from? Christ. And so the scriptures describe righteousness in this way.

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It is imputed to us. It's Christ's righteousness. He comes to us and finds us stinking, rotten, decomposing sinful corpses.

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He raises us to life. He clothes us in his righteousness. And so the text says that the righteousness of God has been revealed apart from the law, although the law of the prophets bear witness to it, and this is the righteousness that is through faith in Jesus Christ and it is for all who believe.

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Are you saying that everyone who's a believer in Christ is given God's righteousness as a gift?

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No. The text says that. That's what God says. You see, the problem is we're sinful.

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God knowing full well that we cannot free ourselves, we cannot do enough to save ourselves to pay our debt.

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He cancels the debt by going to the cross and paying our debt in full with his own sacrificial suffering, bleeding and dying for your sins and mine.

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And as a result of it, then when we are brought to faith in Christ we are clothed with the actual righteousness of Christ and it says it is for all who believe.

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Problem solved. You don't have any righteousness? God says, I give you my own.

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For there is no distinction. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And they are declared not guilty by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ whom

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God put forward as a propitiation by his blood. Christ's death on the cross legitimately expiates.

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It appeases the wrath of God against our sins. God rightly rightly has anger and wrath against sinful humanity.

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Christ's death on the cross expiates. It propitiates the wrath of God and turns his wrath away from us because he took it all in himself so that we can be pardoned and forgiven.

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And all of this is received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness because in his divine forbearance he had passed over the former sins.

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It was to show his righteousness at the present time so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

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So then now the question, considering that we unrighteous sinners have been clothed with the righteousness of God and have been gifted with the verdict of not guilty because of God's grace and his love and his mercy for us that Christ won for us on the cross what then becomes a boasting?

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Have you guys ever been in self -righteous churches where the gospel doesn't even make an appearance?

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Have you noticed how insufferably, intolerably boastful people are?

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When I was in Nazarene it used to just gall me because as a young man I hadn't quite figured out the ruse that was going on.

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And so we on the stage at the Nazarene church that we were attending in Pasadena, Pasadena Nazarene, there was a constant parade of people getting up and talking about how they had slayed their

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Goliath sins and how they are now walking in perfect freedom and how they are doing this.

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And I'm sitting there going, how did they pull that off? As a 17 year old

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I still had hormones raging through me. I couldn't be in the presence of a cute girl without going, and then going, oh no

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I sinned. How are these people living in victory over sin? Here's the answer to the question.

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They're not. They're lying. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

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And so here you've got this parade, this constant parade and litany of people talking about how they are pulling it off.

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I recently was watching a video with Todd White and he has this big old t -shirt that he's selling in his merch store and the front of the t -shirt says,

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I am a giant slayer. What?

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No, no you're not. You see in true Christianity there is no room for boasting.

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I've got nothing to boast about. I am legitimately a rank sinner who

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God has had mercy on. In my sin I was completely worthless but God had mercy on me and forgave me.

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Same with you. So what then becomes a boasting? Paul says it is excluded.

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You know you are in a bad church when people are boasting about their sinlessness.

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Because Paul says boasting is excluded. And then he asks a question, by what kind of law? By the law of works?

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No, it's excluded by the law of faith. And then here's the kicker. For we hold that one is declared not guilty by faith apart from works of the law.

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You know, Luther's translation of this verse is hilarious because Luther translated, we hold that one is justified by faith alone apart from works of the law.

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He added the word alone. And of course Rome lost their minds. Luther, you can't, you can't, the text doesn't say alone.

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And Luther said, I know what the text says and that's exactly what it means.

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We hold that one is justified by faith alone. If you're not justified by works of the law, and in fact the text says, apart from works of the law, what else is there to be justified by?

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We hold that one is justified by faith alone apart from works of the law.

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And I can hear all the self -righteous going, so you're saying that works don't matter? You're saying that you can just do whatever you want?

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No, that says a lot about you. It doesn't say anything about us. Absolutely, works are necessary. Not in order to be saved, but because I am.

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So brothers and sisters, if I seem a little exercised, I am. But I would note this sermon's not about Martin Luther.

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This is about Christ. This is about what Christ has done for us. And here's the thing.

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Take heart when the law accuses you and you feel its condemning words and you know that it speaks the truth about you, do not wither under its voice.

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Because our God and Savior, he was not an underdog at all.

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He was the champion who came onto the field and here's the deal. He didn't defeat

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Satan in the tenth inning. He defeated him soundly at every engagement.

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And he laid down his life and destroyed the dominion of darkness by taking away the ability for Satan to point his bony finger at you and say, you're guilty.

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Satan is the accuser of the saints and Christ silenced him and said, nope, they're all accounted for.

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I bled and died for every one of those sins. So then learn from this text to comfort yourself despite the terrorizing condemnation of God's law.

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Comfort yourself with these words. No one is justified by works of the law. And we hold that what the scripture says, that we are clothed with the righteousness of God given to us by faith.

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We do not have any righteousness of our own but Christ has gifted us with his righteousness and he's declared us not guilty by faith apart from the works of the law.

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And though I deserve hell, he is giving me heaven. And same with you, 100 % gift.

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This is why Christ in our gospel text gives a very important set of words.

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Jesus said to those who believed in him, if you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples.

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You will know the truth and the truth will set you free. The truth that Christ has died for our sins, that salvation is a gift, you will find it in no other place than in the scriptures.

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You cannot find it in philosophy. You cannot find it in the holy books of other religions.

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It's not there. You cannot find this gospel in the raving lunatic prophecies of today's so -called prophets who are out there declaring new seasons and suddenlies and breakthroughs.

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You will not hear the gospel in those words because God is not speaking through them.

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Stay in the word. Abide in Christ's word because God's word is the thing that teaches us the truth and it is only the truth that sets us free.

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And let me push a little farther on that. Jesus says, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life.

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That being the case, Christ is the one that sets us free. So listen only to his words.

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Do not listen to the false winds of doctrine blowing through the visible church today.

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They're all satanic voices designed to lead you away from the gospel and the comfort that comes of the forgiveness of your sins.

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To bring you back into bondage and make you believe that you have to earn your salvation. That God's word teaches us the truth that Christ is our great champion, has knocked the snot out of Satan.

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It wasn't even close. It was decisively won in the first inning.

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So Jesus says, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. This is true. And the slave doesn't remain in the house forever, the son remains forever.

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But no, the son who remains forever, Jesus, says that I am going to have you remain forever by giving you my righteousness.

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So if the son sets you free and he has, you'll be free indeed. And indeed we are.

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I cannot think of a better way to celebrate the great reformation and the rediscovery of the gospel of Jesus Christ than to preach these comforting words to you.

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Comfort yourself with them. You are forgiven in Christ. You've heard the absolution today. You will hear the words, take eat.

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This is the true body of Christ given its death for the forgiveness of your sins. Take heart and believe that your sins are forgiven.

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Take drink. This is the true blood of Christ shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins. And note then that when you have the

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Lord's Supper, it is for you and you are forgiven. Not a single one of your sins is going to be remembered by God.

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That is the promise of the new covenant. God remembers to forget our sins and he will never recall your sins on the day of judgment.

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Instead he will only see you as one whom he has clothed in his own splendor. Whom he has clothed with his righteousness.

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Whom he has loved so much that he has washed away your sins and made you holy. What a great

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Jesus we have. He is nothing like the God of the self -righteous.

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He is truly loving and kind and he gives salvation away as a gift because you couldn't earn it if you tried.

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In the name of Jesus Amen. We rise for the offertory.

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Let us pray for the whole Church of God in Christ Jesus and for all people according to their needs. Almighty God we give you thanks and praise for all your goodness and your tender care.

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Especially on this Reformation Festival we thank you for the gift of your son and for the revelation of your will and grace.

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Implant your word in us and give us fertile hearts to keep it and bring forth its good fruit in our lives.

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Lord in your mercy God of grace keep us steadfast in your word and prevent our wayward hearts from following false gospels that lead us away from you.

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Provide your church with faithful pastors who preach impurity and joy that we are saved by your grace alone through faith alone because of Christ alone.

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Lord in your mercy mighty God you have great power and yet you acted with mercy.

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Teach those who lead us to use power rightly for the preservation of order, the accomplishment of justice, the protection of life and the defense of the weak.

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Give us wise, godly and faithful leaders who will follow your commands and serve with integrity. Lord in your mercy.

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Gracious God remember all who face adversity of any kind. Today we lift before you

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Lloyd, Evan, Naya, Kathy, Georgette, Landon, John, Catherine, Cricket, Elizabeth, Carol, Susan, Sheila, Jana, Luca and Tatum.

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We also pray for Louise, Cheryl, John, Brent, Pat, Kim, Patricia, David, Roger, Robin and Bonnie as well as Joseph, Rodney, Matt, Angela, Susan, Marty, Marilyn, Mara, Naya, Jonathan, Jeff, Wendy, Louise, Debra, Gloria and Rachel as well as Jonathan, Heather and Doug and Gilman and for those who mourn especially the family of David Hathaway.

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Comfort them by your Holy Spirit that they would acknowledge their afflictions as the manifestation of your fatherly will.

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Lord in your mercy. Heavenly Father you have given us the certainty of sins forgiven in your son.

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Set forth as the propitiation by his blood to be received by faith. So lead us to eat and to drink your holy body and precious blood with repentance and faith now and always.

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Lord in your mercy. Preserve your church O Lord and each of us as members of Christ's body that we may not surrender the true gospel for any reason but be kept in this faith and fear throughout the days of our earthly pilgrimage until that day when we all your people shall stand before the judgment seat of Christ to receive the reward that you have prepared for us and all who have loved his appearing.

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To the same Jesus Christ your son our Lord who lives and reigns with you in the Holy Spirit. One God now and forever.