Sixth Sunday after Trinity Service

Kongsvinger Lutheran Church

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I would like to welcome you to the

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Kongsvinger Lutheran Church. Today is the sixth Sunday after Trinity, and we'll be following the order of Divine Service Setting 3 in your hymnal.

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And a little bit of a note, when we get to the intro today, we'll be using psalm tone G, as in Gesundheit, and we will be doing this like we did last week, not by half verse but by whole verse.

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And you'll note that I will be joining you during your verse as well, so the whole congregation and myself will do your verse.

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So I will do verse 1, together we will do verse 2, and so on.

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So I thought that worked out really well doing it by whole verse last week. Okay, all of that being said, opening hymn is hymn number 579.

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If you're physically present, please rise for the opening hymn. In the name of the

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Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Beloved in the Lord, let us draw near with a true heart and confess our sins unto

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God our Father, beseeching him in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to grant us forgiveness.

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Our help is in the name of the Lord. Who made heaven and earth. I said I will confess my transgressions unto the

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Lord. 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 and merciful to me, a poor, sinful being.

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Upon this, your confession, I by virtue of my office as a cold and ordained servant of the Word, I announce the grace of God unto all of you and in the stead 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 G, and we're doing this by full verse.

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The Lord is the strength of his people. He is the saving refuge of his anointed.

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Save your people and bless your heritage. Be their shepherd and carry them forever.

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To you, O Lord, I call. My rock be not deaf to me.

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Lest if you be sick, I be silent to me. I become like those who go down to the pit.

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Hear the voice of my pleas for mercy. Oop, no, no, no.

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Gotta do that one again. Hear the voice of my pleas for mercy when

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I cry to you for help. When I lift up my hands toward your most holy sanctuary.

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The Lord is my strength and my shield. In him my heart trusts and I am helped.

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My heart exults with my song. I give thanks to him.

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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, world without end.

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Amen. The Lord is the strength of his people.

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He is the saving refuge of his anointed. Save your people and bless your heritage.

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Be their shepherd and carry them forever. 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, world without end.

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Glory be to God on high. Glory be to the

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Father, and to the Son, and to the

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Holy Spirit. Amen. The Lord be with you.

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Let us pray. Lord of all power and might, author and giver of all good things, graft into our hearts the love of your name.

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Increase in us true religion. Nourish us with all goodness and of your great mercy, keep us in the same 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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You may be seated. The Old Testament reading for this, the sixth

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Sunday after Trinity, is taken from the book of Exodus chapter 20. God spoke all these words saying,

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I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.

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You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water underneath the earth.

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You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

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You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

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Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh is a

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Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male servant or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.

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For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day.

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Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. Honor your father and your mother that your days may be long in the land that the

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Lord your God is giving you. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery.

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You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor's house.

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You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.

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This is the word of the Lord. We'll speak the gradual together by half verse.

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Return, O Lord, how long? Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.

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The epistle is taken from Romans chapter 6. Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

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We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the

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Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

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We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.

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For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.

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We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again. Death no longer has dominion over him.

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For the death he died, he died to sin once for all. With the life he lives, he lives to God. So you must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

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

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Matthew, the fifth chapter. Jesus said,

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For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

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You have heard that it was said to those of old, You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be liable to judgment. But I say to you,

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Everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment. Whoever insults his brother will be liable to the counsel.

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Whoever says you fool will be liable to the hell of fire. So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go first.

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Be reconciled to your brother and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest the accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison.

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Truly I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny. This is the gospel of the

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Lord. We confess our faith together in the words of the

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Nicene Creed on page 191. I believe in one

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God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible, and in one

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Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of His Father before all worlds,

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God of God, light of light, 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 came down from heaven and was incarnate by the

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Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, 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, and ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the

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Father, and He will come again 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 worshiped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets.

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And I believe in one holy Christian and apostolic church. I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins, and I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.

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Amen. You may be seated. In the name of Jesus.

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Alright, I like myself a good puzzle. Do you like puzzles? Now I'm not talking about those jigsaw thingies.

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My wife does those, and I have no idea how she has the patience to do it. In fact, Dwayne Clevin once gifted her with a crazy puzzle, which she promptly finished and then sent off a photo and went,

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I did that. Okay, I'm not talking about those kind of puzzles. I'm talking about puzzles where you have to kind of actually think it through and solve a problem, right?

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When I was a kid growing up, there was, actually it was after I was a kid. So after I was done being a kid, when

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I was in my twenties, there was a game that came out called Myst. Are you guys familiar with the game

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Myst? It was a fantastic game. In fact, they just recently released the sequel to Myst called

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Riven, and I went and purchased it in VR on my Oculus, my

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MetaQuest 3, and oh, it's fantastic. And here's the thing, alright? Puzzle solving is all what that game is about.

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You're not about shooting anybody or anything like this. You have to explore, find things, put clues together, and solve the problem so that the storyline progresses.

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But back in the day when I would run across a game that had a pretty tough puzzle, you know what

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I would do? I would just cheese out. I'd just go, you know, let me just Google this real quick. Give me a walkthrough for this game, and then

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I would be able to solve it in a few hours, right? And not a good thing. If you think about the

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Indiana Jones movies, the Indiana Jones movies, one of the things that makes them so entertaining is the fact that there's these puzzles that have to be solved by Indiana Jones.

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Of course, he's the guy who was always able to solve the puzzles. I think of like the last crusade, you know, and the last scene when they're finally this close to getting to the

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Holy Grail, but they've got to go through this tunnel, and all these guys are going through the tunnel and their heads get cut off.

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And the puzzle, the puzzle clue is this. Only the penitent will pass, right? And of course,

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Indiana Jones figures it out. The penitent is the one who's on his knees, so he goes to the tunnel on his knees, and this buzzsaw goes right over his head, and he's able to stop the mechanism, solve the puzzle, and move on.

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Here's the thing. Did you guys notice just how law -heavy our texts are today?

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Old Testament text, law. Gospel text, law.

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Okay, where's the gospel? Funny enough, it's in our epistle text, but we'll talk about this. But this then gets to the conundrum, and that is that when we approach

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God's word and we hear God's law, we think we know how to solve the puzzle.

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Let me give you the puzzle in the words of Christ, if you would. Jesus tells us in our gospel text today,

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I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the

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Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. That sounds pretty exclusive, doesn't it?

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Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

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I think about the people hearing this when Jesus said these words. They would have kind of looked shocked because a

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Pharisee is like the kind of guy you'd want your daughter to marry because he was a good guy.

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But Jesus says unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you'll never enter the kingdom of heaven.

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And so we sit there and go, ah, this is a puzzle that we need to solve. And what does our training in this earth tell us?

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Keep in mind that God keeps order on our planet, in our nation, in our state, and in our cities through the law.

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First use of the law is the civil use of the law. And it goes something like this. Do good, obey the laws, and you get to enjoy particular freedoms and joys and stuff like this.

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Break the law and you're going to be punished. Don't believe me? Try speeding through town at 70 miles an hour on Gateway and see how long it takes for Matt to catch up with you.

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And when that happens, you're going to have penalties to pay.

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And you'll think this goes all the way back to our training as children. From the time you were tall enough to actually do chores, you know what your mom and dad made you do?

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Chores. The first couple of years of life are pretty simple because nobody expects you to do nothing.

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But then all of a sudden you hit a particular maturity level and mom starts saying things, I want you to clean up your room.

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Well, I've never had to clean up my room before. Why should I have to start doing it now? Well, the reason why you find out really quickly is because there's this thing called a paddle.

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And the paddle, well, it hits your bottom if you don't do what mom says.

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And so there's punishments. Do good, mom praises you. Do bad, dad punishes you.

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This is how the law works. That's first use of the law. The world is governed by first use of the law.

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But I can tell you this, if you think you can solve the puzzle of how you can enter the kingdom of heaven by that kind of training, you are horribly mistaken.

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You will not crack the code. In fact, you try to save yourself by doing good, you will end up in hell.

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Full stop. Jesus said, I tell you unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the

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Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Which then leads to the second use of God's law.

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Second use of God's law is to show us that we are sinners in need of a savior. Okay, don't believe me, let's just walk through the

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Ten Commandments here. We happen to have a handy dandy copy of the Ten Commandments right here in our hymnal. It's on page 321.

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First commandment, you shall have no other gods. You sit there and go, well, I've never worshipped a false god. Hold on a second there, buddy.

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We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.

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Okay, well, good news is there's still nine to go. Okay, maybe, just maybe we can pull out a little righteousness here.

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And I would know, what are the things that we fear, love, and trust in? Money, power, entertainment, sex, drugs.

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You get the idea. And so many people, they put their trust in these things. Don't believe me?

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Just watch a few minutes of television and it becomes very clear that's exactly what people are doing. And here's the thing, you have done the same.

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Second commandment, you shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God. Here's what Luther says, it means we should fear and love

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God, so we do not curse, swear. Any of you done that?

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Some of you have been in the Navy, so I'm not even going to ask, right? Curse, swear, use satanic arts, liar to see by God's name, but call upon it in every trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks.

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How many times has trouble shown up at your door and the last thing that you're thinking about doing is praying and asking

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God to help you through? You've broken that commandment horrifically. Or I would note some of you here, like myself, we've come out of some pretty sus churches that taught some cap theology, right?

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And as a result of that, we were guilty of misusing God's name horrifically, worshiping

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God falsely, and worse, teaching others false doctrine in the name of God. Well, that means we haven't kept this commandment.

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So far, I'm batting a thousand. How about you guys? Third commandment, remember the

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Sabbath day by keeping it holy. What does this mean? We should fear and love God, so we do not despise preaching in his word, but hold it sacred, gladly hear and learn it.

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I gotta admit, the only reason I'm at church today is because I have a job, right?

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Back when, before I was a pastor, there were certain Sundays I would wake up and go, you know, the weather is so beautiful, and the drive to church is so long, and you know, if we just don't go to church today,

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I could probably get in a round of golf and be able to watch the football game when it starts at four.

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I think I'm gonna, I don't feel like going to church today, kind of thing. None of you have ever done that,

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I'm sure, but you can see what's going on here. Again, I'm still batting a thousand.

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Fourth commandment, honor your father and mother. Oh, well, you know, I've never talked, no, wait,

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I have talked back to my parents. Oh, it gets worse, though. For those of us who are adults,

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Luther says we should fear and love God, so we do not despise or anger our parents or other authorities, but honor them, serve and obey them, love and cherish them.

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Would other authorities include Joe Biden? Have you noticed that after the debate, not a lot of people are saying kind things about him, and the fact the things that they are saying about him go beyond whatever it is that ails him?

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Well, I guess I've blown that one, too. Fifth commandment, you shall not murder.

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Yes, okay, there's one. I don't know any murderers here in the congregation. Any of you guys murdered anybody?

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Hold on a second here. This is where our gospel text might come into play. Jesus, after reviewing the tape,

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Jesus said, you may have heard it said you shall not murder, but I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment.

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Whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council. Whoever says you fool will be liable to the hell of fire.

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I don't feel comfortable in here anymore. I just realized I'm in a room full of murderers, and bad news, your pastor's one, too.

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Next one, we should all be able to breathe easy on this. You shall not commit adultery. Yes, we got this one, but do we?

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Do we, though? Jesus says if you look at a woman with lustful intent in your heart, you've already committed adultery with her.

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I guess I've done that one, too, and by the way, this works for women as well.

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Just Brad Pitt, adultery. Got it? You just have to think about it, okay? Okay, you shall not steal.

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What does this mean? We should fear and love God so we do not take our neighbor's money or possessions or get them in any dishonest way, but help him to improve and protect his possessions and his income.

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Wait, what? It's not enough that I haven't taken stuff from people? I have to actually help people protect the stuff that they've got?

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Oh, and by the way, every single time you've punched in on the clock at work and you've taken a really long coffee break.

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Back in the days, they would smoke breaks. We're not allowed to do that anymore, right? And you've done kind of a schlocky job or maybe you're on the clock and you're texting and stuff like that.

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You're stealing every single time you do that. Every single time.

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You have agreed to work this many hours for this much money and you're not putting in the hours.

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You're being distracted. You're not doing your job. That's stealing. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

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We should fear and love God so we do not tell lies about our neighbor, betray him, slander him, hurt his reputation, but defend him, speak well of him, and explain everything in the kindest way.

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Well, there goes gossip right out the window. And who of us can say that we've never engaged in such activity?

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I'm still batting a thousand. How about you guys? You should not covet your neighbor's house.

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Oh, forget it. I've broken that one too. The grass is always greener on the other side,

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I would say, and filled with less weeds, right? So yeah, I've coveted my neighbor's house.

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How about the tenth one? Here we have a real shot at it. You should not covet your neighbor's wife. Oh, forget it.

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His manservant, maidservant, his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor. Who needs the

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Ten Commandments anyway? Are you guys feeling righteous right now?

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I'm not. So how are we going to solve the problem?

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Because here's the thing. Luther, at the close of the commandments, has some really strong words that he bases on scripture.

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Listen to what he says, okay? So what does God say about all these commandments, Luther asks?

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He says, well, he says, I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

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What does this mean? God threatens to punish all who break these commandments. Therefore, we should fear his wrath and not do anything against him.

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But he promises grace and every blessing to all who keep these commandments. Therefore, we should also love and trust in him and gladly do what he commands.

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Well, clearly, I'm not doing that. Neither are you. And based on what

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Luther says in the small catechism, based on scripture, what should we expect from God at this point for all of us?

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Wrath. Punishment. It's what you and I have earned and deserved. Jesus says, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the

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Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. I'm beginning to think that we can't solve the puzzle with the law.

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I'm beginning to think that the law cannot save me and that not a single person on planet earth is going to be declared righteous by Jesus on the last day because they just got their act together.

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So how does one solve the problem? I would note, the puzzle is solved by reading the rest of scripture and believing what it says, even if your experience and your feelings are saying there ain't no way that's the solution to the problem.

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You trust the word of God. The apostle Paul, if you remember him before he was the apostle

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Paul, he was Saul of Tarsus and he was a Pharisee of the Pharisee. He liked to brag.

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I would note Paul tried salvation via the

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Pharisaical route and just as Jesus said, his righteousness didn't meet the standard.

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Paul writes in Philippians 3, if anyone thinks that he has confidence, reason to put confidence in the flesh,

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I myself have more, more reasons. I was circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin, a

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Hebrew of the Hebrews as to the law of Pharisee, as to zeal persecutor of the church, as to righteousness under the law, blameless.

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But can the law save you? Was the law given to save you? If a law had been given by which righteousness could be attained, then we would be saved by the law,

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Paul writes in Galatians. He says, whatever gain I had, I counted as a loss.

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It didn't exceed the necessary righteousness that was necessary to save him. Whatever was my gain,

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I count as a loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my

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Lord. And it's for his sake that I have suffered the loss of all things and I count all of my works as a rubbish in order that I might gain

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Christ and be found in him and listen to the words, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but the righteousness which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness that is from God and depends on faith.

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There's the puzzle. You need a righteousness that isn't your own.

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I need a righteousness that isn't my own. My own righteousness will never get me there and it doesn't even come close to exceeding the righteousness of the

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Pharisees. That being the case, where does this righteousness come from? God.

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It's given to us by grace through faith, not by works. It's a righteousness that comes from God.

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It depends on faith. And here's the thing. It's truly yours because it's given to you as a gift.

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And if you don't believe me, let's work this out with me. There are two primary days that we all receive gifts.

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Two of us. Two of them. Every single year, you're going to receive gifts on your birthday. You're going to receive gifts on Christmas.

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Unless you're Jewish, then that's a whole other thing. But that being the case, those two primary days when you receive gifts, how many of you having received a gift from somebody you love, when somebody says, wow, that's an amazing thing you have there, you say, oh, well, it's not really mine.

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It was given to me as a gift. Nobody talks this way, right? If somebody gives you a gift, who does it belong to?

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You, right? If you are a 16 year old and your dad buys you a car, guess whose car it is?

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It's yours. That means you got to pay for the gas. You got to pay for the insurance.

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It's your car. You got to pay for the upkeep. It's your car. Even if it was given to you as a gift, it's yours.

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And if this righteousness is given to us by God as a gift, and it is, then it is your righteousness.

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But who did it belong to originally? Well, in order to answer that question, we have to consider this.

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What was Jesus doing hanging on the cross? Jesus, the scripture says, he was tempted in every way that you and I are tempted, and yet was without sin.

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Why was he hanging on the cross? Doesn't Isaiah said God laid on him the iniquity of us all?

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Your sin, my sin, was gifted to Jesus.

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And when Jesus was gifted with your sin and my sin, he bore our sins in his body, and he went to the cross, and he bled and died as the sinner.

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Your iniquity becomes his iniquity. Your sin was his sin. He bled and died for your sins.

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God's wrath was truly, well, satisfied by the suffering of Christ on the cross in your place and mine.

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But he committed no sin. He was gifted yours. So when we are brought to faith in Christ through the means of grace,

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God then gifts us with Christ's righteousness. His sinless, spotless life is imputed to you, and therefore your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, because the righteousness given to you was originally

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Christ's. And his righteousness exceeds that of any man who's ever lived on this earth.

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In fact, it exceeds it so much it's perfect. And that being the case,

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God sees you clothed in the gifted righteousness of Christ given to you by God's grace.

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Then it depends on faith. Can you see it? No. Can't see it.

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Is it there? Absolutely. How do we know? The scriptures say so. You mean you're going to trust these words in this book that this is how you are saved?

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You're not even going to try to save yourself by your works? Nope, I'm not going to do that. And now here's where third use of the law comes into play.

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You want to get yourself in trouble, and I know a few things about getting in trouble by saying things. That's what happens to me.

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Sometimes I pick the fight. Other times the fight comes to me. But the third use of the law, what is the third use of the law?

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Third use of the law is shows us what a good work is. But here's the thing.

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If I've been gifted with Christ's righteousness, I still have a sinful nature.

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So do you. What does your sinful nature like to do? Sin. That's why it's called a sinful nature, right?

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It still likes to sin. It's the old Adam still in us. And being a Christian really is for the birds.

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It's kind of hard because every single day I wake up with two conflicting wills.

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The new person that I am in Christ desires to do good and to serve my neighbor.

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My old sinful Adam, no. My old sinful Adam cares about one person and one person only, and that's himself.

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And he's going to do everything to satisfy himself. And so now the conflict begins because every single day

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I have to wake up and my day begins with repentance and asking God to give me the strength to do the good that he would have me do and to obey his commands.

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My sinful nature goes, I don't want to do that. So I have to do all of my good works with my old

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Adam hanging around my neck trying to drag me down into something else. Here's the thing. I'm describing you also, okay?

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This isn't rocket surgery. We all suffer this way. So when you hear the gospel and you're not familiar with how the puzzle is solved about righteousness, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the

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Pharisees, and you hear salvation is a gift given by God, it is 100 % by grace, through faith, apart from works, people will hear that and say, oh, so you're saying we can go out and sin all we want to, aren't you, huh?

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You're just using the gospel as an excuse to cover up your wickedness and turn it into a license for you to go out and live recklessly.

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And you sit there and go, you know, I should go and get some popcorn to watch this movie because you're projecting a lot here.

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Clearly you're telling me more about yourself than you are about me. But here's the thing. Paul knows full well that when you preach this gospel, the only gospel there is, that there are people who are going to slanderously accuse you of basically taking

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God's law and turning it into a license for sin. And I would note that's not without merit to make the accusation, because here's the thing.

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Remember we're talking about solving the puzzle here. There are some people who've solved the puzzle, the conundrum of your righteousness exceeding that of the scribes and Pharisees, by watering down God's law.

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When I was in Nazarene, I gotta tell you, being in Nazarene was tough. It was super hard and I stunk at it, okay?

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But I put on a great front. I put a lot of paint on the facade of my self -righteousness.

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But behind the scenes, I was terrified. Absolutely terrified because I knew I wasn't living up to it.

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I one time went to go visit my youth pastor and told him about the problems that I was having with my own sin. And here was his solution.

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Well, you know, Chris, I know that this is what the law says, but God looks on the heart.

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And although you're not obeying his law perfectly, don't worry, God knows that your intentions are good and that you really want to.

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That didn't solve the problem at all. Because I just looked at him and said, if I really wanted to obey, then

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I would. And the reason why I don't is because I don't. Telling me that God looks on the heart doesn't solve the problem because the heart is desperately wicked.

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Other people, they'll say, well, you know, we live in the 21st century and the people back in the times of the

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Bible, they were just a little too tightly wound. And I know they had all these laws about certain sexual mores and stuff like this, but you just need to understand we can ignore all of that because God just wants you to be happy.

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Oh, does he now? God just wants me to be happy. And so they basically say, just love the one you're with.

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That didn't solve the problem either. That is just rank lawlessness. All right. So when we get to this good works bit, how then are we to understand it?

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Well, this comes back then to the means of grace. Paul, his slanderers would say, well, you're saying,

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Paul, that we should just keep on sinning so that grace may abound. Well, God likes to forgive sins and he gives us all kinds of grace to cover our sin.

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So let's get more grace from God by sinning more. And he says, what's wrong with you people?

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So Paul takes those slanderous accusations of the people who were opposing the gospel and he puts in the form of a question in chapter six of Romans.

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So what shall we say? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may abound? No, by no means.

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But then he says this, how can we who died to sin still live in it?

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Wait, what? When did I die to sin? Do you not know,

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Paul then says, that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death.

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I thought that was just a symbolic thing. That's not what Paul's saying.

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Paul is literally saying that when you were baptized, God did something to you.

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And in fact, it's not just a something. He did a bunch of somethings to you. Baptism is efficacious.

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It's not a mere symbol. It is not something that you do to show the world that you've made a decision for Jesus.

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It is something that God does to you. And so note here in dealing with sin and dealing with that third use of the law, do you not know that all of us who've been baptized into Christ, we were baptized into his death.

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We were buried therefore with Jesus by baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of God, we too might walk in newness of life.

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Now here's the thing. If you believe that baptism is merely a symbol, you are not embracing the weapon that it is.

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And it is a weapon because this is a reality that is only apprehended by faith.

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Do you believe the words of God or not? You'll note that when you are buffeted by sin and the temptations of the devil, here

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Paul is saying you are baptized. You have already died.

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In fact, that's the point he then makes. If we have been united with Christ in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

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Well, I have, I guess, then been united with Christ in his death. And it's true. I will be united with him in the resurrection.

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And then he says, we know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.

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Can I even begin to tell you how many times I've heard people say, I just can't help myself. When it comes to an unbeliever,

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I said, yeah, that's probably right. That's true. But somebody who confesses

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Christ and who's been baptized, for them to say, I just can't help myself, you're denying the scriptures.

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Scriptures say you are no longer enslaved to sin. What do you mean you can't help yourself? Why are you acting like you are a slave to sin and denying that Christ has freed you from slavery to sin?

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And listen to what he says next, verse seven, the one who has died has been set free from sin.

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Yesterday, I conducted the funeral for Linda Jean Fetterspiel. It was the second funeral

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I'd done in two weeks. I've done a few this year. I would note that we rejoice that Linda Jean Fetterspiel is with Christ presently.

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And she died in the faith, confident that her sins were forgiven and that she would rise from the dead.

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Absolute confident of it. But that's not what Paul here writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is talking about.

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He's not talking about how when we finally die, we will be set free from sin.

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He's saying the one who has died, i .e. the one who has been baptized, because in your baptism, you have died with Christ.

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That means you have been set free from sin. You are no longer a slave to sin.

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You've been united with Christ. You have died. Good way to put it is the way Pastor Swirlow, one of my pastors used to say it.

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Every time I sit down with an adult and tell them they're going to be baptized, I say something terrible is going to happen to you in those waters, you're going to die.

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And it's going to take a few years for your body to catch up. This is how he talks about it. It's not a bad way to think about it.

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But that being the case, if you've already died and anyone who's died is no longer a slave to sin, then why aren't you embracing this baptismal reality?

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You're saying that God did something to me in baptism. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Well, I've never heard it said that way before.

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When Jesus was baptized, did God do something when Jesus was baptized? Yeah, right?

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The Father spoke, you are my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. The Holy Spirit descended and stayed on Christ.

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God did something in the waters of baptism with Jesus. Why would you think he wouldn't do something with you when the scripture says he does?

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You can't see it with your eyes. You can't apprehend it with your knowledge. You have to believe it by faith because the scripture says it.

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You have already died, all of you who are baptized. You are no longer a slave to sin.

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So it's time for you to live like freed people rather than slaves. One who dies has been set free from sin.

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If we've died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again.

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Death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died, he died to sin once for all.

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The life he lives, he lives to God. Verse 11, the last verse of our epistle text.

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So therefore, because you've been baptized, you must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

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Think of it this way. Have you ever been in contact with somebody who seems to be disconnected from reality?

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Okay, do you feel comfortable around that person? Have you ever said these words, what color is the sky on your planet?

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Okay, that being the case, we note that we kind of make fun of people that seem disconnected from reality.

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They seem to think they know how the world operates and clearly they don't, right? They think they know what's going on, but clearly they don't know what's going on, okay?

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It's not safe to be around people like that, but I would note it's not safe to be around Christians who do not recognize the truth of the reality that they have died with Christ and therefore they need to consider themselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ, and that this then forms the whole basis for why we do our good works.

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Why do we do our good works? Because I ain't a slave to sin anymore. I don't have to do that junk.

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Neither do you. But if you don't embrace this reality, you think you're still a slave when you have been set free, and you're going to act accordingly.

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How long have I droned on today? Brothers and sisters, note this then.

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You have been baptized into Christ, and when you were baptized as we confessed in the

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Nicene Creed, we acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins. Your sins were washed away.

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You've been united with Christ and his death and his resurrection, and the implication of that is that you have been set free from sin.

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You're no longer a slave to sin. So when the devil comes knocking on your door and says, hey brother, would you like to come out and play?

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You say, you ain't my brother. You're here to drive me back into slavery. I'm not interested in that.

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And by the power of the Spirit, through faith in these words, you know then that you have been set free.

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So live as free people rather than slaves. And if somebody says that's crazy, say yeah, no.

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It might seem that way because isn't the gospel foolishness to those who are perishing? These words are foolish to those who don't believe them, but we will cling to them and hang on to them and embrace this reality that we cannot embrace with our senses, only by faith in what

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God's Word says. So know this then. You cannot be saved by doing the law.

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Christ was right, and he was right in saying that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the

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Pharisees, you will never be saved. And thanks be to God that Christ was gifted with your sin and mine, and that he bled and died in our place on the cross, and that by grace through faith we have been gifted with Christ's righteousness so that we can now say the righteousness we have exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees.

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And as a result of it, we have confidence, confidence that we will be able to stand on the day of judgment and hear from Christ, well done good and faithful servant.

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Not because we have been sinless, but because we've been gifted with the sinless righteousness of Christ.

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And then by the power of the Spirit, embracing our baptismal reality, have done the good works that God has called us to do, because to obey

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God's law is freedom. To disobey God's law is slavery. In the name of Jesus, Amen.

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We rise for the offertory. In peace let us pray to the

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Lord. Lord have mercy. In thanksgiving for Christ whose innocent suffering and death has freed us from the prison of everlasting death, and that we may trust in his righteousness which covers all of our sin, let us pray to the

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Lord. For God's people that they would receive the spirit of peace and reconciliation and so live together in forgiveness and harmony, let us pray to the

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Lord. Lord have mercy. For the ministers of the word, they may be devoted to their task and to prayer, and for many servants in God's church that neither the preaching nor the care of his people may fall into neglect, let us pray to the

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Lord. Lord have mercy. In thanksgiving for Christ's righteousness revealed in the sight of the nations, that he would strengthen the song of his church, we pray for musicians and poets and artists, that they may serve skillfully and for the congregation of God in this and every place, that we may sing with boldness the eternally new song of Christ, let us pray to the

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Lord. Lord have mercy. For all Christian people that God would give his Holy Spirit and teach us to honor authority, protect life, cherish marriage, respect possessions, defend reputations, and be content with the gifts that he gives us, let us pray to the

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Lord. For all fathers and mothers, pastors and teachers, that God would guide and bless them as they bring up children in wisdom and in favor with God and man, to live a holy life and to love their neighbors as themselves, let us pray to the

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Lord. Lord have mercy. For those afflicted by any adversity, whether of body or soul, today we lift up and pray for Jacob, Elizabeth, Carol, Susan, Sheila, Jana, and Luca.

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We pray for Brianna, Gideon, Pat, Kim, Patricia, David, Roger, Robin, and Bonnie.

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We pray for Pat and Heather. We pray for Mara, Nia, Jonathan, Jeff, Wendy, Renee, Luis, Deborah, Rachel, and Gloria.

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We pray for those who mourn. We remember the family of Wendell Sands. We pray for those who are in danger and are persecuted,

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Marie and Charles, and we pray for all who are deceived or spiritually unbelievers.

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We pray for Christine, Terry, JP, Cory, Ryan, Jess, Gabriel, Karen, and Tara.

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We ask, Lord, that you would lead them by your spirit to renewed strength and peace.

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Let us pray to the Lord. For all who receive the Lord's body and blood this day, that forgiven of their sins and bound to God in his communion of love, that they would gladly forgive the sins of their brothers, and let no division arise at this holy table.

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Let us pray to the Lord. Hear us, Heavenly Father, for the sake of Christ Jesus our

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Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.