For Real, Good News

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

And now here's a message from Pastor Chris Roseberg. The Holy Gospel according.

To Saint Luke chapter 24 verses 44 through 53. Then Jesus said to them, these are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you. That everything written about me and the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.

Then He opened their minds to understand the scriptures and He said to them, thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead. And that repentance and the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all nations beginning from Jerusalem.

You are witnesses of these things and behold I am sending the promise of my Father upon you but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. And then He led them out as far as Bethany and lifting up His hands He blessed them and while He blessed them He parted from them and was carried up into heaven.

And they worshiped Him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy and they were continually in the temple blessing God. This is the gospel of the Lord. In the name of Jesus. Just a quick note of blessing.

You who are mothers in our congregation and those even who haven't given birth. Blessings to you in this great vocation of caring for God's little ones. Now with all that being said, I don't know if it's just me.

Have you all noticed that when you watch the news on television the news is always bad. It's the weirdest thing. I mean it's like you pay attention to the tornadoes of earthquakes of lions and tigers and bears.

Oh my. Yeah. And then you know there's drug labs and drug addicts and police officers shooting people. Police officers being shot. Presidents being accused of nefarious things. People accusing the president of nefarious things being accused of nefarious things.

It's just one big never ending drama of well bad news. And so today as we consider the ascension of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Have you considered this fact that this story of Christ's ascension is just chock full of good news.

And I mean really good news. I don't think there could be a television station that could put on a whole program or 24 hour news cycle of nothing but good news. No one would watch this. Because our sinful nature.

We want to hear about death and destruction. But today's text really tell us a lot of good news. And so what we're going to do today. Just if you want a little bit of a road map so you can work it out in your Bible ahead of time.

We're going to start in our gospel text. We'll work part way through it and then we're going to go all the way back to 2 Kings chapter 2. Then we'll come forward into the gospel and we'll end with our epistle text.

So if you want to kind of work that out you can do that ahead of time. But consider what Luke writes for us in our gospel text in Luke chapter 24 starting in verse 44. Jesus said to them these are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.

Christ in the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms

I've said it once. I've said it a thousand times. I sound like my mother when I say that. I've told you once. I've told you a thousand times to clean your room. Why can't you do this? Because I'm a sinner.

But that's a different story. I digress. But I've said it before and scripture says it and Jesus teaches us this wonderful fact. The Bible. All of it. From Genesis 1 .1 all the way to the book of maps and yes I know maps is inspired.

It is. All the way. Everything in between. It's really all about Jesus and we misread these texts when we stick ourselves in them. We don't belong there. They are all about him and so Jesus is reminding his apostles here the ones he's about to send out.

Empower with the power of the Holy Spirit to go and proclaim actual good news that the scriptures themselves from the Torah to the prophets to the Psalms. That's shorthand for everything in there. It's all about him.

And we've said this before. Scripture over and again. You can see pictures of Jesus. These wonderful little snippets of the life of Christ in type and in shadow in the story of the Old Testament. And so let's take a look at one of them.

In fact one that relates to our text today. Let's turn back if you would then to 2nd Kings chapter 2. 2nd Kings chapter 2. We all know the story of Elijah on Mount Carmel and Elijah is one of these fellows who well he never died.

That's a little awkward. Be kind of cool. Never die. But he's still quite alive and well. He never died. Listen to the details of his ascension because that's what it is. He ascended into heaven. Type and shadow prefiguring Christ.

2nd Kings chapter 2 verse 1. Yahweh was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind. Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal and Elijah said to Elisha please stay here for Yahweh has sent me as far as Bethel.

Bethel the house of God. But Elisha said as Yahweh lives and as you yourself live I will not leave you. So they went down to Bethlehem to Bethel. The sons of the prophets who were in Bethel came to Elisha and said to him do you know that today Yahweh will take your master from over you?

And he said yes I know it. Be quiet. It's kind of how that works out. It's like yeah I'm already aware of this. Thanks guys. So Elijah said to him Elisha please stay here for Yahweh has sent me to Jericho.

But he said as Yahweh lives and as you yourself live I will not leave you. So they came to Jericho and the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho drew near to Elisha and said to him do you know that today Yahweh will take your master from over you?

And he answered yes I know it. Be quiet. So then Elisha said to him please stay here for the Lord has sent me to the Jordan. But he said as Yahweh lives and as you yourself live I will not leave you. So the two of them went on.

Fifty men of the sons of the prophets also went and stood at some distance from them as they were both standing by the Jordan. And then Elisha took his cloak, rolled it up, struck the water and the water was parted to the one side and to the other so the two of them could go over on dry ground.

Hmm where have we seen that before? That's strange. I seem to recall Red Sea stuff. Yes this happened when the Israelites crossed the Red Sea. Oh and when the children of Israel crossed into the promised land.

The Jordan did this as well. So a recreation if you would of this baptismal typology. A little baptism stuff going on here. So when they had crossed Elisha said to Elisha ask what I shall do for you before I am taken from you.

And Elisha said please let there be a double portion of your spirit on me. That's interesting. By what spirit did Elijah do the things that he did? By whose spirit did he prophesy? By whose spirit was he emboldened to stand against the prophets of all?

Well that would be the Holy Spirit. So notice if you properly understand this the thing that Elisha is asking for he'd like a double portion of the Holy Spirit please. It's an interesting thing to ask for.

So he said you've asked a hard thing. Yet if you see me as I am being taken from you it shall be so for you. But if you do not see me it shall not be so. And as they still went on and talked behold chariots of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them.

And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven and Elisha saw it and he cried my father my father and chariots of Israel and its horsemen and he saw him no more. And then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them in two pieces.

Which would be what you do when you're mourning the death of somebody. And yet Elijah is not dead. He took the cloak of Elijah that had fallen from him and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan.

And then he took the cloak of Elijah that had fallen from him and struck the water saying where is Yahweh the God of Elijah? And when he had struck the water the water was parted on one side to the other.

And Elisha went over. A little baptismal work going on there. So when the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho saw him opposite of them they said the spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha. And they came to meet him and bowed to the ground before him and they said to him behold now there are with you 50 servants 50 strong men 50 Pentecost 50.

You see there's little types and shadows pointing even to Pentecost here. Please let them go and seek your master that it may be that the spirit of Yahweh has caught him up and cast him upon some mountain or into some valley and he said you shall not send.

But when they urged him till he was ashamed he said send and then they sent therefore 50 men and for three days they sought him but did not find him. 50 men three days spirit of Elijah. An ascension if you would.

All of this if you would prefiguring what Christ would be doing in our text today. Jesus himself is the ultimate one who has ascended into heaven and unlike Elijah we hear in this text that when Elijah ascended that he was now at rest.

But have you ever stopped to ask yourself the question after Jesus ascended what's he doing? What's he up there doing? Is he twiddling his thumbs going dad I was kind of hoping I'd have something to do up here.

What's Jesus doing? Is he at rest right now? Has he been playing golf for 2 ,000 years? I'm sure he can give Tiger Woods or the younger Tiger Woods a run for his money if that's the case. What has he been doing?

I assure you he's not resting. And this same spirit that fell on Elijah next Sunday we will hear how he's given that same spirit to the church. And so you'll see if you would type and shadow the ascended Christ sends his spirit and then the work continues.

Continues in that same spirit. That's the whole point of the story of the ascension. The taking up to heaven of Elijah. But let's return now to our gospel text and we consider more of what's happening here.

Jesus opened up their minds so that they can understand the scriptures. I almost feel like I could do a whole sermon on that little sentence because the reality is this. We must understand this. That the scriptures are a locked book unless God the Holy Spirit helps us understand who it's about.

What it's about. And so he said to them thus it is written that the Messiah the Christ should suffer and on that third day rise from the dead and that repentance and your translation may have the word and.

Wonderful thing. New manuscripts of the New Testament have been found that are really old and some of these oldest manuscripts that we now have of the gospel of Luke. The word is a little bit different.

It's not repentance and it's repentance for. Repentance for thus is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations beginning from Jerusalem.

This is Luke's version of the Great Commission if you would. And you take Matthew's Great Commission. Squish it together with this and then you get this wonderful picture of what it is that we are to do.

And we'll even tie in some of Matthew's words from his gospel in just a minute. But think of it this way. We the church because we are the ones now who've been given this message. We've inherited it from those who were fathers in the faith before us who heard this message from their fathers in the faith before them going all the way back to the original disciples and apostles and their words and this is what we proclaim to the whole world.

Repentance for the forgiveness of sins. This we learn from 1st Corinthians 15 is the actual gospel itself. Gospel Ewangelion means good news. This is truly good news. You see all the suffering that you see around you all the suffering that you experience in your own life.

Every broken relationship. Every bad result. Every car that breaks down in Fargo. Little personal stuff there. All of the things in the travail that we experience it's because of our collective sin. And each and every one of us crying out to God.

God where are you? Where are you? How could I be suffering in this way? You see the scriptures teach us that all of the suffering that we experience is because of our rebellion against God. That we have sinned terribly against God and we have sinned terribly against each other.

And all of the misery that we experience in our life. Well we've earned that and more. And yet the good news that we are to proclaim is that Jesus Christ has bled and died for all of these sins. And that he's calling each and every one of us to repent to be forgiven.

Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And this is the good news that we are to send to the whole world to proclaim to all nations beginning from Jerusalem. And so it did begin from Jerusalem. And these apostles they were eyewitnesses of all the things that Jesus did.

And they documented them for us in the New Testament which became part of the overall Bible. Combined with the law of Moses, the prophets and the Psalms and now all scripture being fulfilled in that sense is pointing us and telling us of a day that is coming when all things will be made new.

Where cars won't break down in Fargo and relationships won't fall apart. In a world where we will truly love each other and be loved. And all of this because of this good news that we are forgiven in Christ.

And see he says behold I am sending you the promise of my father upon you. The promised Holy Spirit. The mantle of Elijah if you would. He's promised to give that to all of us. And he tells the disciples to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.

And then Jesus led them out as far as Bethany. And lifting up his hands he blessed them and while he blessed them he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. Now people say if you've ever listened to people who kind of pay attention to prophecy in the New Testament that when Jesus returns just like it says here the way he goes up is the way he's going to come down.

People say that Jesus when he returns he's going to return to the Mount of Olives in this same way. Fascinating idea if you think about it. Combined with our text from Acts. And if you've ever been to Jerusalem.

I haven't. I've traveled there using other people's vacation photos. Cheap way to go by the way. Cheap way to go. But from the Mount of Olives you can see one of the walls of the old city. And it's up on the Temple Mount right there.

Now there's a gate that has been closed up. And it's called the Golden Gate. And this is a gate that Jesus himself had once traveled through. And so what's really fascinating is that it is currently blocked up.

You can't travel in or out of the Golden Gate anymore. And some people actually think that the reason why it is closed up is so that when Jesus returns he can't walk through that gate. They're trying to stop him.

And in fact in front of that gate is a Muslim cemetery. So full of dead men's bones if you would. And even there was a little excavation that was done about a hundred years ago into the insides of the Golden Gate.

And it's filled with bones. And so you're thinking will these bones be able to stop Jesus when he returns? Not at all. Not at all. And see think of it this way. There is a day truly coming. And this is our great hope.

Being forgiven. Our King. Our God. Our Jesus. The Son of David. The same way he ascended he will descend again. And this time he will call us home. He will call us out of our graves. And we will come from our graves if we're dead at the time.

And we will join him in a new creation. A new heavens. In a new earth. In the new Jerusalem. You see all of this is exactly what he's promised. This is also the good news that we have to proclaim. That all of this misery and suffering and meaninglessness of this life will give way to a life without end.

Where we will no longer cry out God where are you? Instead we will see Jesus face to face. And we will know him for who he is. We will see the love in his eyes. We will see the nail prints in his hands.

The scars in his feet. And the scar in his side. All of these the tokens of the cost that he paid in order to ransom us from slavery. To transfer us from the dominion of darkness into the kingdom of his light.

And so where is he now? Is the question we were asking. So Jesus he returned to the Father. But take a look with me now at our epistle text as we wrap up our meditation on our text today. Paul writes in Ephesians chapter 1 starting at verse 15 these wonderful words that tell us what Jesus is up to and what this ascension means.

For this reason because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward the saints. I hope you don't consider it beating a dead horse. But don't you see how faith and love go together?

You can't have one without the other. Faith in Christ for the forgiveness of our sins. And because of his great love for us. That love now pouring through us to other people. Especially the saints. So Paul says I do not cease to give thanks for you.

Remembering you in my prayers. And I would say we would be wise to remember each other in our prayers as well. As we sojourn together through the valley of the shadow of death. So that God. The God of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The father of glory may give you a spirit of wisdom. And of revelation in the knowledge of him. Having the eyes of your hearts enlightened. So that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you.

And what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints. And what is the immeasurable greatness of his power towards us who believe according to the working of his great might. And often times when we hear about God's great power.

And great might. Those are words and concepts that evoke in us actually more fear than comfort. When we think of God's power and might. You think of the book of Job. Or you think of other portions of the scripture where God is described in his presence coming to earth.

And the mountains melting. And the sea giving way. And the clouds rolling back. Like the ultimate cosmic train hurling down the track coming right at you. I bet you if that were happening to you. And I know for a fact if it were happening to me.

My knees would buckle from the shaking. And yet listen to the way Paul is describing this power and might of God. That he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead. And seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places.

And there it is. Jesus the God man is currently seated at the right hand of the Father. Think of Matthew's gospel where he says all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. All authority. He sits at the right hand of the Father presently now.

And all far above all rule, authority, power and dominion and above every name that is named not only in this age but also in the one to come. Now think about this in these terms. We've all had the experience where the fellow we voted for for President of the United States lost.

And the other guy who we didn't want to be President of the United States won. Am I the only one who's experienced this? I think you all experienced this, right? And it doesn't matter who you vote for or who's King or who's President or who isn't or who sits on the Supreme Court.

This text is telling us that Jesus currently is above all of that. And he has an eternal life. He is raised from the grave and he doesn't change. And so regardless of who's in power above us in the government, there's one even greater than all of them.

And he's currently ruling and reigning at the right hand of the Father. But it's even more amazing than that. And he put all things under his feet, gave him his head over all things to the church which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all and all.

And so here we see a picture of Jesus in his ruling might. But in the book of Hebrews we hear about Jesus who is our priest, who prays on our behalf, who is the mediator between the Father and us, who has bled and died for us.

And we learn now that when Christ has ascended, he fills all things. And now consider the words of Matthew where he says, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

And last words of Christ before he sends, and lo I am with you always, even to the end of the age. And we remember back in the beginning portion of Matthew's gospel, where Jesus is announced, his birth is announced by the angel Gabriel, that he would come and that this would be a fulfillment of the prophecies, that Jesus, the Christ himself, would be called Emmanuel, God with us.

Have you ever had that really nagging feeling where you thought, man, the disciples lucked out. They lucked out because they were able to see Jesus and they got to experience God with us. But see this text is saying that because Christ has ascended and sits at the right hand of the Father, that he now currently fills all things.

Jesus now is God with us. Did you not hear him speak to you this morning when he said to you, not me, I forgive you all of your sins. Last week we had the Lord's Supper. Did you not hear Jesus's words that he spoke to you?

Take, eat, this is my body broken for you for the forgiveness of your sins. Take drink, this is my blood shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins. Or have you not heard the words of Christ, where he says, where two or more are gathered in my name, there I am among them.

You see, Jesus, because he has ascended, is now presently God with us. He is here now present to care for you, to comfort you, to convict you of your sins, to exhort you to good works and love and to assure you that he is again coming and he's going to make all things right.

It doesn't matter if everybody in this congregation were to disappear or die or you found yourself stranded in the middle of the Canadian wilderness alone. You are never alone. Ever. Not even for a moment.

And this is good news. Because he loves us. He's died for us. He will never leave you. He will never forsake you. He is the faithful one. And you will see him face to face. And he is with you now. Teaching you.

Convicting you. Comforting you. Assuring you. He fills all things for you. And he is your good shepherd. Leading you through the valley of the shadow of death. To the shores of the new Jerusalem. The world that is coming.

You will see this king who currently reigns for you, who hears your prayers and is your go-between. Between you and the Father. And all of this is happening right now. Elijah, when he ascended, entered his rest.

Jesus, when he ascended, got busy and started really doing the real work that he's still continuing to this day. As he is building a kingdom and filling it with mansions that he, the carpenter of Nazareth, is personally overseeing the construction of.

What a great Jesus we have. Who lives and reigns for us. So that we can be forgiven. Reconciled to the Father. And as promised, have eternal life with him. Praise the Lord for such amazing good news. Because that's what I need to hear today.

And I'll pray for my car that gets fixed in Fargo. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

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