4th Wednesday in Lent

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5th Wednesday in Lent Service

5th Wednesday in Lent Service

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I would like to welcome you to the Cognizant Lutheran Church. This is our fourth midweek
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Lenten service. Can you believe it's already been a month? Holy smokes, it goes by so quick.
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We're following the order of Vespers tonight on page 229, and if you want to mark in your hymnal, the psalm that we will be chanting together is
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Psalm 38, and we will be using psalm tone F, as in frankincense and myrrh, things like that.
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F as in frankincense and myrrh. So if you are physically present here at Kongsvinger, please rise.
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O Lord, open my lips, make haste,
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O God, to deliver me. Psalm 38,
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Psalm 38. O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger, for your arrows have sunk into me.
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There is no soundness in my flesh because of your indignation, for my iniquities have gone over my head.
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My wounds stink and fester. I am utterly bowed down and prostrate, for my sides are filled with burning.
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I am feeble and crushed. O Lord, all my longing is before you.
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My heart throbs, my strength fails me. My friends and companions stand aloof from my plague.
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Those who seek my life lay their snares. Those who seek my hurt speak of ruin.
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But I am like a deaf man, I do not hear. I have become like a man who does not hear.
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But for you, O Lord, do I wait. For I said only let them not rejoice over me, for I am ready to fall.
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I confess my iniquity, but my foes are vigorous, they are mighty.
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Those who render me evil for good do not forsake me,
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O Lord. Make haste to help me.
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Glory be to the 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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Amen. The hymn is 424. You may be seated. Please rise for the reading of the
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Gospel. The Holy Gospel according to Saint John, the 18th chapter.
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Then they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the governor's headquarters. It was early morning.
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They themselves did not enter the governor's headquarters so that they would not be defiled but could eat the
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Passover. So Pilate went outside to them and said, What accusation do you bring against this man?
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They answered him, If this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered him over to you.
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Pilate said to them, Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law. The Jews said to him,
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It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death. This was to fulfill the word that Jesus had spoken to show what kind of death he was going to die.
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So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, Are you the king of the
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Jews? Jesus answered, Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?
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Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?
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Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting that I might not be delivered over to the
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Jews, but my kingdom is not from the world. Then Pilate said to him, So you are a king.
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Jesus answered, You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born, and for this purpose I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth.
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Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice. Pilate said to him, What is truth?
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After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, I find no guilt in him.
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But you have a custom that I should release one man for you at the Passover. So do you want me to release to you the king of the
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Jews? They cried out again, Not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber.
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O Lord, have mercy on us. He remains standing for the response.
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Deliver me, O Lord, my God, for you are the God of my salvation.
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In you, O Lord, do I put my trust. Leave me not, O Lord, my
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God. Deliver me,
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O Lord, my God, for you are the God of my salvation.
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You may be seated. In the name of Jesus.
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So the kangaroo court that met in the middle of the night has done their business. And you're going to note, kangaroo courts that meet in the middle of the night are up to no good.
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Otherwise, they would have met in the daytime, during normal operating hours. You'll note that our court down in Grand Forks, they do not offer services in the middle of the night.
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People who operate in the middle of the night want to cover their sin. They want to act in ways that are contrary to the light.
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They want to get their stuff done in the dark while people can't see what's going on. So it says this.
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They led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the governor's headquarters. It was early morning.
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How early? I don't know. Six? Seven? Pilate probably hasn't even had his first cup of coffee yet.
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It's kind of annoyingly early. His office hours clearly don't matter to them. And they themselves listened to this sentence.
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They did not enter the governor's headquarters so that they would not be defiled but could eat the
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Passover. What on earth? You'll note here, note this well.
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Sin discombobulates. Sin turns you upside down, inside out, and just gets you going in completely the wrong direction.
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And here, this sentence is spoken just not ironically at all. But you're going to note, these folks have legitimately conducted a kangaroo court in the middle of the night for the purpose of murdering
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Jesus. They were even looking for people to give false testimony, and yet they have the audacity to put on some kind of pretenses.
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Oh, we don't want to defile ourselves. Oh, honey, you are really defiled at this point. You don't get more defiled than this.
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Conspiring against your very God to murder Him and bring His life to an end.
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Oh, you are as defiled as they get. You might as well be swimming in a sewer. Could you imagine swimming in a sewer and coming out?
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Just the thought of it is like, just the idea of how long will it take to get the smell off of you?
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These guys have been swimming in defilement so much, they think that it smells good.
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They're getting out and going, boy, did you, oh, that's the best aroma ever, right? What is wrong with you?
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But that's what sin does to us. So you're going to also note, also, that it isn't a biblical rule that they can't go into the house of a
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Gentile and be defiled and be not allowed to eat the Passover. That rule itself is found where?
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In the Talmud, in the Mishahs. This is a Pharisaical rule. So, I mean, the self -righteousness, the complete unawareness of just how shoddy their religious front is, the facade isn't even there, but, oh, we've got to make sure that we're not defiled.
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Oh, good grief. Now Pilate, clearly annoyed by all of this, went outside to them and says, what accusation do you bring against this man?
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And notice, they don't even give a straight answer. If this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered him over to you.
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Note, the charges are vague. The charges are, well, it's just that we found him guilty.
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That's to be enough for you. Just get your job done. Kill this guy, would you? Please? And so you'll note that here in the
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United States, you have a right to know what your accusation is, what the charges are being brought against you, and you have a right to defend yourself against those accusations.
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They didn't even bring any specific accusations. If this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered him over to you.
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Right. So you're gonna note here, Pilate is not innocent.
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He's going along with this. Although he is doing so begrudgingly, his hands are not clean, despite his attempt to wash his hands.
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He's clearly in cahoots. So what does Pilate do? He says, well, you take him yourselves and you judge him by your own law.
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And the Jews said to him, it's not lawful for us to put anyone to death. Oh, you failed to mention that this was a murder.
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Got it. Okay, now I know what my job here is. That's the point. And all of this, listen to verse 32.
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All of this was to fulfill the word that Jesus had spoken to show by what kind of death he was going to die.
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You'll note that this is not a throwaway verse. It's important that Christ's words come true because it shows us who is true and who is false.
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False prophets, their prophecies don't come to pass. You know why? Because God hasn't spoken to them and they're false, right?
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It says of Samuel that God did not allow any of his words to fall to the ground. How much more so Christ?
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Not a single one of his words fall to the ground. Jesus predicted his death and the circumstances as to which he was going to die and he nailed it ahead of time.
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Isn't that interesting? So this little verse tells us we can trust Jesus. So Pilate at this point has, you have to wonder, has he been able to get one of his servants to get him a cup of coffee?
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It's his morning thing. He can see the newspaper. He wishes to be able to sit down and read it, but alas, he's got work to do.
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So Pilate entered his headquarters. He calls Jesus and he said to him, are you the king of the
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Jews? Now this is a good question because you'll note that in order to put him to death, we've got to have some charge and so he's trying to establish if Jesus is guilty of insurrection, right?
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Anybody who claims to be a king when they're not rightly recognized as a king by the
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Roman Empire, that's an insurrectionist. Insurrectionists are made examples of. That's kind of the whole point of crucifixion.
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It's designed to make an example of you. So Jesus, cool as a cucumber, making no attempt to defend himself at all, legitimately takes control of the conversation and he does so by answering
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Pilate's question with a question. Jesus coolly says, do you say this of your own accord or did others say it to you about me?
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What a great question. Jesus knows exactly what he's doing.
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You'll note that Jesus is on point. He's on mission. He's doing exactly what he set out to do. It is for this reason that he came so that he would lay down his life for your sins and mine.
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He must go to the cross. This is the Father's will and Jesus isn't pushing back against it at all.
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So do you say this of your own accord or did others say it to you about me? Now Pilate, detecting that he's lost control of this conversation and he's no longer in the driver's seat, tries to get back into the driver's seat by answering
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Jesus' question to his question with a question. Am I a Jew? But then he loses.
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He puts himself in the subordinate place by saying, listen, your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me.
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What have you done? And Jesus then answers, all right, listen. My kingdom is not of this world.
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I wish the Christian nationalists would read this hard, right? My kingdom is not of this world.
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You can take a globe and you can spin it and you can put your finger down on any particular region where there's land, even the ocean if you want to, and you'll never put your finger on the kingdom of Christ.
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I would note that the kingdom of Christ is here among us right now, but it's an article of faith.
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How does the kingdom of Christ grow? Does it, well, does it grow by having a putsch?
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Taking over and getting rid of the Weimar Republic and replacing it with a fascist regime?
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Of course not. No, not at all. How is the kingdom of God advancing and growing?
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Oh, I know. Through the preaching of repentance, the forgiveness of sins, because the gospel says that Christ has died for all of our sins.
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And through that preaching of the gospel, you remember Paul says the gospel is the power of God and the salvation for all who would believe, right?
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That being the case, then the gospel, the Holy Spirit is attached to the preaching of the gospel, and when people are confronted with their sins and told and comforted with the good news that Christ has bled and died for their sins,
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God, the Holy Spirit, goes to work in regenerating them, convicting them of their sins, causing them then to cry out to God for mercy.
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And then the Holy Spirit, in the waters of baptism, given to a person, then begins to produce the fruit of the
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Spirit in somebody's life. You'll note that with the preaching of the gospel and every baptism, there is an increase of the number of citizens of the kingdom of Christ, right?
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And you'll note it has very little to do with the United States, if you think about it. Yeah, there's members of the kingdom of Christ who happen to also have dual citizenship in the
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United States, but one of the things I've had the privilege of doing is preaching the gospel in other continents, in other countries.
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And I can tell you, the kingdom of Christ has nothing to do with American patriotism and flag -waving and all this kind of stuff.
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And so that being the case, you'll note then, none of the kingdoms of this earth are the kingdom of God.
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Not a single one of them. In fact, if you don't believe me, you'll note that when Jesus returns in glory to judge the living and the dead, is
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He going to sit down and have a conversation with the leaders of the world at the United Nations and negotiate terms of peace with them?
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No! No! What happens to every nation upon Christ's return? And I like what
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Stephen Ellis did. You know, they're gone! He's going to destroy them all. If you don't believe me, go back and read, like, was it the second chapter of Daniel?
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Where Nebuchadnezzar has that dream of that statue with the gold and the silver and the bronze and the iron and then the feet of clay.
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When that rock comes and just smashes it to bits, you'll note then, and only then, will the kingdom of God be on earth.
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Right? So Jesus says, My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting that I might not be delivered over to the
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Jews. And you sit there and go, Oh, that's why Jesus told Peter to put his sword away. Right.
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Because Peter was thinking, We've got to protect Jesus. He's going to be king next week.
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Put the sword down. I'm not here to do that. He says, My kingdom is not from this world.
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So you'll note that establishing a Christian nation is not on the agenda for the church.
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We can just put that one away. Jesus will do that when he returns. We're to preach the gospel. So Pilate said to him,
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So you are a king. Here it comes. You say that I'm a king,
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Jesus said. It is for this purpose that I was born. For this purpose, I have come into the world to bear witness to the truth.
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Hmm. Truth. Have you noticed that there seems to be a supreme lack of that? It's like a rare commodity nowadays.
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In fact, those who traffic in truth, you would think that something being, you know, here on earth, like if something's really rare, it's super expensive to acquire.
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Right. You'd think that the market for truth would be like that. But you know what? In this world, do we sinners who've rebelled against God, do we value the truth?
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Heck no. We want the lies. All right. In fact, let me just say this.
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Okay. We've got a version of this in my family. My wife recently celebrated her birthday.
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And I can assure you she's not 29. I just, let's just put that out there.
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It's a lie. Okay. She's 56. All right. So just want to make that clear to everybody.
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But you're going to note here, we want to hear lies. Okay. Why is it that churches are growing all over the country, these big old mega churches?
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You know why? Because they've taken the truth and they've just kind of said, well, maybe we can hide it down over here and just push it down over there.
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And what do they do? They tell people what they want to hear. And oh, have you ever thought this through? You know, those of you kids, you're a little young for this, but think back 20 years ago.
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If somebody had said to you 20 years from now, you could potentially lose your job for refusing to use proper pronouns.
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So there you are at work. Okay. And people, we have such a hatred of the truth. We hate the truth of our biology.
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Scripture says God created us male and female, but that guy at work, he no longer wants to be male.
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He wants to be a wombat. And as a result of it, he self -identifies as a wombat. And I have no idea what pronouns wombats use, but if you don't use those pronouns, you're going to get sacked.
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Right? That's how much we don't want to hear the truth.
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But here's the thing. It's not merely about hearing truth. Consider the voices that you listen to.
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And I'm not talking about them. I'm talking about that voice inside of you.
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Right? You have a sinful nature still. It clings to you like a corpse.
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And it says to you, feed me. Right? And what does it want?
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It wants sin. And it doesn't want the truth. And it tells you that the truth is your feelings and the things that you want that make you feel particular ways.
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And what do we do? We listen to that inner voice. And we decide that we're going to feed it the things that it wants in order to make it feel good.
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And in so doing, we commit great sin against God and even our own bodies.
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So brothers and sisters, note here, Christ has come into the world to bear witness to the truth.
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And note here, this idea of truth is vital. Jesus says in John 4 .14, listen to these words,
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I am the truth, Jesus says. I am the life. And no one comes to the
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Father except for through me. Throw that one out on the table at your family
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Thanksgiving meal and see what happens. Boom.
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Are you saying that my Hindu neighbor is not going to go to heaven because he doesn't believe in Jesus?
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Yes, I'm saying that. And he needs to hear the gospel and he needs to repent of his idolatry. You narrow -minded, bigoted...
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Right? No one comes to the Father except for through me.
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Jesus is the way. He is the truth. He is the life. And Jesus makes it very clear. The way to eternal life is narrow.
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It is not broad. If you're with a herd of people, you're in the wrong place.
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In fact, Jesus tells that Samaritan woman, at that well in John 4,
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He says, Listen, woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the
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Father. You, you Samaritans, you worship what you don't know, but we worship what we know for salvation is from the
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Jews. But the hour is coming and is now here when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.
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Don't tell me that you have the Holy Spirit. When? What is being spewed from the stage at your church is just one big litany of lies.
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And God's Word barely makes an appearance, if at all. And when it's done, it's out of context and twisted.
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And the doctrines that are being taught are not doctrines found in the Scripture, but the delusional fantasies and mythologies of people who have rebelled against God, who have closed their ears off from hearing the truth.
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God, Christ says, Those who worship the Father will worship Him in spirit and in truth. And He goes on.
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He says, The Father is seeking such people to worship Him. God is spirit, and those who worship
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Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.
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And yet, the law makes it clear that none of us have done this perfectly.
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In fact, many of us have worshiped God with a different spirit and with lots of lies.
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That's the truth. And it's for us to consider, then, that we are guilty of not hearing the voice of truth, but listening to competing voices that have led us away from Christ and from the truth.
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And we need to repent. Christ says, Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.
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Hear the voice of Jesus. Do not turn away. As uncomfortable as it is, as shameful as it might make you feel,
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I assure you, Christ has bled and died for even this. And though your sins be as scarlet,
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He will make you white as snow. He promises to. So, Pilate then gives what
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I consider kind of the ultimate scoffing answer to Jesus' claims that everyone who is of the truth listens to Him.
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What is truth? Pilate says. And there's kind of an irony here. And that is this.
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God's word is true. All of God's word will be proven and vindicated to be true. There's not a single part of it that is lying to us or is untrustworthy.
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That being the case, you'll note that God's word truthfully documents for us this conversation with Jesus and Pilate and it tells us the truth.
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Even while Pilate was scoffing and asking the question, What is truth?
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He should have asked, Who is truth? Because it's not a woman named Sophia, by the way.
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That's the Greek goddess of wisdom. The truth is Jesus who says,
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I am the truth. So after this, Pilate went back outside to the Jews and he told them,
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I find no guilt in Him. Now, a little bit of a note here. When you read this last paragraph, you're going to note it takes a lot of events and squishes them down into one paragraph.
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This is a great example of how different gospels give us different focuses. When you read
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Luke's account of this, it expands this whole thing out and we can know some of the more bigger details of Jesus standing before this crowd and Pilate saying,
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Behold the man, and things like this. That's all omitted here in John's gospel. So all this gets squished down into a summary statement.
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But this is not a contradiction. This is not the focus that John wants to make in his gospel.
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So he says, I find no guilt in Him, but you have a custom that I should release for you one man for you at the
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Passover so do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews? They cried out again,
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Not this man, but Barabbas. Barabbas, which means son of the father. Note here, given the choice, who would you prefer?
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A lying thief and a murderer named Barabbas, son of the father? Or would you prefer the sinless, spotless
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Lamb of God, the one who's really done no evil and shouldn't even be here because he's really not guilty?
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Who would you rather have? We'll take Barabbas, thank you, Jesus be gone.
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That's all of us making that decision, not just them. We are all guilty of crucifying the
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Lord of Glory, not just the Jews. Each and every one of us because of our sin, that's why
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Christ goes to the cross. And so you'll note, Jesus makes no attempt, as the scripture says, to defend himself.
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He goes willingly to the cross so that you and I can be forgiven. And let us consider then this
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Lenten season. Just how devastating the impact of sin is upon all of us.
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And how it bends us and distorts us and twists us into horrible, and I mean horrible, awful people who despise truth, think themselves innocent while being defiled, all the while trying to establish a kingdom for themselves here on this earth.
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But the truth, Jesus, who is the truth, lets us know that his kingdom is not of this world and instead, makes no effort to defend himself, but in establishing that kingdom, he willingly lays down his life so that you and I can be forgiven, pardoned, and reconciled to God.
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What is truth? Jesus is truth. In the name of Jesus, Amen.
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We rise for the canticle. Let my prayer rise before you as incense.
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Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
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Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
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And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever.
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Amen. The Lord be with you.
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O Lord God, the life of all the living, the light of all the faithful, the strength of those who labor, the repose of the blessed dead.
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Grant us a peaceful night free from all the disturbance that after a time of quiet slumber, we may, by your goodness, be endued in the new day with the guidance of your
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Holy Spirit and enabled in peace to render thanks to you through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
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Amen. O God, from whom come all holy desires, all good counsels and all just works.
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Give to us, your servants, that peace which the world cannot give, that our hearts may be set to obey your commandments and also that we, being defended from the fear of our enemies, may live in peace and quietness through Jesus Christ, your
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Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
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Let us bless the Lord, the grace of our
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Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the