WEBVTT 00:00.600 --> 00:05.400 Grace peace, and mercy to you from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. 00:06.200 --> 00:10.300 This morning's gospel lesson, it's a reminder to us during this 00:10.500 --> 00:15.800 penitential season of Advent to live a life that is pleasing to our 00:15.800 --> 00:16.400 Lord. 00:17.100 --> 00:20.600 So in the first part of the sermon, I'll focus on God's word to you. 00:20.600 --> 00:25.000 But in the second part of the sermon, I'll focus on the only place 00:25.000 --> 00:29.800 that you can put your hope into. The Bible Lesson is a 00:30.000 --> 00:34.000 blow to your sinful Pride. It's a reminder that you're never so 00:34.000 --> 00:40.400 smart and you're never so pious that you cannot fall into sin. First 00:40.400 --> 00:45.600 Corinthians warns you, therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands 00:45.800 --> 00:51.600 take heed lest he fall, and that's exactly what the devil wants to do. 00:52.400 --> 00:56.700 The devil wants to promise you, everything and then give you nothing, 00:57.200 --> 00:59.800 nothing but hurt. Nothing but shame. 01:00.900 --> 01:01.200 Nothing 01:01.200 --> 01:04.000 but brokenness. Nothing but ruin. 01:05.200 --> 01:06.400 The Christian faith 01:06.600 --> 01:11.300 it's more than an intellectual assent to the Old and New Testament. 01:12.000 --> 01:16.400 When CFW Walther when he preached on this sermon text, he explained. 01:16.800 --> 01:19.700 The Christian should be a person of progress. 01:20.100 --> 01:23.800 He should never stand still, but always seek to go forward. 01:24.300 --> 01:25.700 He should always be found 01:25.700 --> 01:30.200 actively doing the will of God. Always in battle for the treasure. 01:30.600 --> 01:34.700 Always in a race for the Crown of Glory. With each day 01:35.000 --> 01:39.200 he should come closer and closer to the goal that is seeking to be 01:39.200 --> 01:41.300 Holier and more like Christ. 01:42.000 --> 01:45.900 So, in the narrow sense, sanctification as nothing more than the 01:45.900 --> 01:50.600 restoration of the image in which God created us, that is in His 01:50.600 --> 01:51.300 image. 01:53.600 --> 01:58.400 It's a Godly desire to want to be more like Christ and less like this 01:58.700 --> 02:01.900 broken sinful world in which we find ourselves. 02:02.500 --> 02:07.600 And Saint, Paul is reminding you to constantly be sweeping out the 02:07.600 --> 02:13.000 dark evil corners, of your heart, to be sweeping out the dark evil 02:13.000 --> 02:17.300 corners of your mind and those sinful thoughts that lead you into 02:17.300 --> 02:21.100 sinful actions and possible spiritual ruin. 02:22.500 --> 02:25.100 And today's biblical lesson St. 02:25.100 --> 02:29.000 Paul is focused on sexual immorality. 02:29.700 --> 02:32.800 The devil this world and your sinful mind. 02:32.800 --> 02:36.600 They love to twist things in your brain to self 02:36.600 --> 02:43.100 justify your actions in your evil desires. And it's so easy to make up 02:43.100 --> 02:48.300 excuses for yourself. So easy to make up excuses for your sin. 02:48.300 --> 02:51.800 Like yeah, this technically might be a sin but 02:52.200 --> 02:54.200 it's really not that big of a deal. 02:55.100 --> 02:59.500 It's so easy to make up excuses in your mind and say, yeah, 02:59.600 --> 02:59.800 but. 03:00.000 --> 03:04.600 This might be a sin but we're living in 21st century America and 03:04.600 --> 03:08.900 that's just the way our culture is this stuff happens all the time. 03:10.500 --> 03:15.700 It's easy to make up excuses in our minds, like Christians don't want 03:15.700 --> 03:17.800 to be perceived as prudes, do we? 03:17.900 --> 03:20.700 We don't want to be weird in the way that we act? 03:21.700 --> 03:24.000 All of these are lies of the devil. 03:25.200 --> 03:30.600 Brothers and sisters in the Lord, the struggle to live a sexually pure 03:30.700 --> 03:33.800 life, that is honoring to God is nothing new. 03:34.400 --> 03:38.300 It was a struggle in the first century for the Christians and for St. 03:38.300 --> 03:42.100 Paul. It was a struggle and the fourth Century for St. 03:42.100 --> 03:43.900 Augustine and the Christians. 03:44.700 --> 03:47.300 It was a struggle for Luther and the Christians 03:47.300 --> 03:52.700 in the 16th century. It was a struggle for Pastor Walther and the 03:52.800 --> 03:54.800 Lutheran's that were here in America in 03:55.000 --> 03:56.200 the 19th century. 03:57.400 --> 04:02.800 And for those of us today in this Century, the sin and this 04:02.800 --> 04:07.400 licentiousness will continue to be a real challenge for you and your 04:07.400 --> 04:12.100 family members and your future church members in the 21st century. 04:13.800 --> 04:15.100 And it's tragic. 04:15.800 --> 04:20.899 It's horrible that even our wives and our sisters and our daughters 04:20.899 --> 04:27.600 are not immune to this sin, the sin of licentiousness which sometimes 04:27.600 --> 04:30.700 is thought of as a guy's sin. 04:32.300 --> 04:33.400 But that's not true. 04:34.200 --> 04:38.400 We've all heard the phrase and we probably said that it takes two to 04:38.400 --> 04:39.000 tango. 04:39.700 --> 04:46.800 But sadly the devil is directly attacking our wives, our daughters and 04:46.800 --> 04:52.800 our sisters, encouraging them also also to act out in perverse ways 04:52.800 --> 04:54.300 and horrible ways. 04:55.900 --> 04:59.600 Now, you might be thinking, wow, Pastor Johnson, your this is this 04:59.600 --> 05:01.500 kind of beating us up with this biblical text, 05:01.500 --> 05:05.900 this is a lot of law. Verse 8, of our epistle lesson, it says, and it 05:05.900 --> 05:10.800 reminds you that whoever disregards, this teaching, against living, a 05:10.800 --> 05:16.100 sexually pure life disregards, not man, but disregards, God. 05:18.100 --> 05:23.200 Now in this epistle lesson, unfortunately we don't see a lot of overt 05:23.200 --> 05:28.500 clear, articulated gospel in these Bible verses, it's primarily 05:28.500 --> 05:30.200 instruction for believers. 05:30.700 --> 05:34.700 It's about how to live a life that is obedient and pleasing to God. 05:35.700 --> 05:36.100 But St. 05:36.100 --> 05:40.500 Paul reminds you of whose you are. In verse 8, St. 05:40.500 --> 05:44.100 Paul reminds you of your heavenly Father and he says that he is the 05:44.100 --> 05:46.700 one that gives you the Holy Spirit. 05:47.300 --> 05:47.800 It's the 05:47.900 --> 05:50.100 Holy Spirit, that makes all the difference. 05:51.200 --> 05:55.300 Maybe you're like so many Christians who are absolutely fed up in so 05:55.300 --> 05:57.100 many different ways with this world. 05:57.700 --> 05:59.900 Maybe you're fed up with this, over the 06:00.000 --> 06:03.000 top licentiousness that's all around us in our culture. 06:03.700 --> 06:07.500 Maybe, you're like so many Christians that are absolutely frustrated 06:07.500 --> 06:10.500 with the prevalence of pornography, that's everywhere. 06:11.400 --> 06:15.200 Maybe like so many Christians, that are frustrated and fed up with our 06:15.200 --> 06:18.900 government school system, that's teaching our children sexual 06:18.900 --> 06:22.400 deviancy, and normalizes perverted behavior. 06:23.900 --> 06:27.800 If you're frustrated, if you're fed up, that's a good thing. 06:28.300 --> 06:32.900 It means that the Holy Spirit is alive and at work in you convicting, 06:32.900 --> 06:35.900 you of the sin of this world and your own sin. 06:37.200 --> 06:40.300 But the danger is this, the danger is in 06:40.300 --> 06:41.900 what are popular news 06:41.900 --> 06:46.700 media sources are telling you. That, if we just elect the right judges, 06:46.700 --> 06:50.000 if we just elect the right president, if we just change our 06:50.000 --> 06:53.700 government, we can fix all of America's problems and that sins, and 06:53.700 --> 06:57.400 the sins of this world will then go away or at least be stifled. 06:58.300 --> 07:03.500 But the truth is the devil laughs at the plans of politicians. The 07:03.500 --> 07:07.400 devil laughs at the outcomes of elections. Elections. 07:07.400 --> 07:09.300 don't stop the work of the devil. 07:10.600 --> 07:16.500 What the devil is terrified of, is the preaching of the Gospel. In a 07:16.500 --> 07:21.000 few months or maybe in a few years, you will also be ordained and 07:21.000 --> 07:26.000 preaching Christ crucified and the Holy Spirit will be active and alive 07:26.000 --> 07:27.000 in your preaching. 07:27.600 --> 07:31.700 And the devil will hate the gospel that you preach, because the Holy 07:31.700 --> 07:35.600 Spirit uses, the gospel to change people's hearts and change their 07:35.600 --> 07:40.200 minds and conforms them to His will and His image and people will leave 07:40.300 --> 07:44.800 leave the darkness of sin and enter into the kingdom of God. 07:45.300 --> 07:45.900 You see it 07:45.900 --> 07:48.200 the gospel is the power of Salvation. 07:48.200 --> 07:51.000 The gospel has the power to change hearts and Minds. 07:51.400 --> 07:55.300 The Gospel destroys, the work of the devil. The gospel destroys, the 07:55.300 --> 07:59.400 work of the great gospel destroys, the work of this sinful world. 08:00.600 --> 08:05.200 And the devil will hate it when you proclaim to your congregation and 08:05.200 --> 08:09.500 remind them that they are baptized children of God. That because of 08:09.500 --> 08:13.700 Jesus and his death for them, they belong to God and they no longer 08:13.700 --> 08:16.900 belong to this world and they no longer belong to the devil. 08:18.100 --> 08:20.600 And soon, you'll be called and ordained. 08:21.000 --> 08:21.900 You'll be preaching 08:21.900 --> 08:27.700 the gospel performing exorcism casting out the devil and baptizing 08:27.700 --> 08:29.400 people into his kingdom. 08:30.600 --> 08:35.200 You'll be forgiving sins in the very stead of Christ himself. 08:35.700 --> 08:39.700 And you'll be blessing your members in the name of the Father, and of 08:39.700 --> 08:42.400 the Son and of the Holy Spirit. 08:43.400 --> 08:47.800 Your work has a pastor will be so much more destructive to the devil 08:47.900 --> 08:51.500 and his demons than any work of any politician. 08:53.500 --> 08:57.000 So in the midst of this world's trials, in the midst of this world's 08:57.000 --> 08:59.800 temptations that you face and all the 09:00.100 --> 09:05.300 licentiousness that's all around us. In the midst of your frustrations 09:05.300 --> 09:06.400 with this life 09:07.300 --> 09:10.500 and even when you're frustrated with your very own sin, that you 09:10.500 --> 09:14.000 struggle with, and deal with every day, remember this. 09:15.000 --> 09:16.700 To repent of your sins. 09:17.400 --> 09:22.400 But also remember whose you are that you're a baptized child of God, 09:23.200 --> 09:26.600 and that the Holy Spirit is dwelling in you. And it's that the Holy 09:26.600 --> 09:30.200 Spirit is the one that has strengthened you and he's keeping you, and 09:30.200 --> 09:34.600 maintaining you and the one true Christian faith. And remember that, 09:34.600 --> 09:39.800 the real power is of this world is not found in politics, it's not 09:39.800 --> 09:44.600 found in politicians or, or judges it's found in the preaching 09:44.800 --> 09:45.900 of the Gospel. 09:46.900 --> 09:49.500 The gospel is that you are saved. That 09:49.500 --> 09:54.400 you are forgiven. That you're God's child. You no longer belong to this 09:54.400 --> 09:56.700 world or to the devil, or to sin. 09:56.900 --> 10:00.900 You don't belong to this world, you belong to your heavenly Father. 10:02.000 --> 10:06.600 Now may this grace which surpasses all understanding may it guard your 10:06.600 --> 10:07.200 hearts. 10:07.600 --> 10:12.400 May guard your minds who is in Christ Jesus. Amen.