WEBVTT

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<v Speaker 1>What sort of a God and what sort of a faith do</v>

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<v Speaker 1>you have?</v>

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<v Speaker 1>If your God would never kill anyone, then you do not have</v>

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<v Speaker 1>the Lord God.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>If your faith would never take up the sword, then you have</v>

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<v Speaker 1>a dead faith.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>At the end of all things the Lord God will destroy all</v>

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<v Speaker 1>of his enemies.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>He will slaughter every man or woman who opposes him, and cast</v>

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<v Speaker 1>them all into the fire that does not consume, and it will</v>

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<v Speaker 1>be the cause of his elect to rejoice in this destruction.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>If you would prefer not to see such an end, then I</v>

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<v Speaker 1>would encourage you to ask yourself if you are wiser than God.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>Certainly you may and should desire that all come to saving faith,</v>

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<v Speaker 1>for God Himself desires this, and plainly states so in Scripture.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>But you may not do so at the expense of God's infinite</v>

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<v Speaker 1>and perfect justice.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>The wicked will be destroyed, and this is good and godly.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>All men will live to see this, as spectator or participant.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>And yet do not make the crass error of the deists and</v>

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<v Speaker 1>others, who deny that God intervenes in his world.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>Such men are the fools who contend for a so called clockwork</v>

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<v Speaker 1>universe. They contend that God designed the universe, wound it up, and</v>

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<v Speaker 1>then walked away.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>Such is not our God, for such is not the Lord God.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>Ours is the God who walked with Adam in the garden.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>Ours is the God who preserved righteous Noah and his two righteous</v>

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<v Speaker 1>sons in the ark.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>Ours is the God who struck down the first born of the</v>

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<v Speaker 1>Egyptians, and parted the sea.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>Ours is the God who made the sun to stand still in</v>

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<v Speaker 1>the sky, and commanded and oversaw the slaughter of those who worship</v>

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<v Speaker 1>demons. Ours is the God who walked the shores of Galilee, and</v>

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<v Speaker 1>then, forty years later, brought down the might of the Roman military</v>

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<v Speaker 1>upon the wicked Jews, destroying them along with his former temple.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>And ours is the God who will come again with sword and</v>

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<v Speaker 1>fire and blood.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>We are not wrong to depict Christ Jesus as the caring shepherd,</v>

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<v Speaker 1>who seeks his lost sheep, for he is indeed the good shepherd.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>But that is not all that he is, for he is also</v>

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<v Speaker 1>a dread warrior, a terror to his enemies, and master and creator</v>

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<v Speaker 1>of all things.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>Do not curtail, narrow, or corrupt your view of God.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>He created, maintains, upholds, and intervenes in this his creation.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>Many false teachers have arisen over the centuries, and a great many</v>

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<v Speaker 1>of them found their errors upon a false and perverted understanding of</v>

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<v Speaker 1>God's nature.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>The Romanists overemphasize the Christ's role as judge And so they run</v>

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<v Speaker 1>to Mary and the saints, to seek the comfort that can be</v>

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<v Speaker 1>found and is promised in the Christ alone, for he is our</v>

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<v Speaker 1>good shepherd.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>The Eastern Orthodox overemphasize the love of God, or at least their</v>

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<v Speaker 1>misconception of it, and so they attempt to allegorize away the Old</v>

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<v Speaker 1>Testament, which speaks of a jealous God, who will surely destroy all</v>

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<v Speaker 1>who oppose him, and the reformed overemphasize God's sovereignty, and so they</v>

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<v Speaker 1>go so far as to deny the plain words of Scripture.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>In this the Baptists surely join them, which plainly teach that God</v>

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<v Speaker 1>desires that all should be saved.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>We Lutherans have fallen off neither side of the horse.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>But this is not cause for arrogance or sinful pride.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>Yes, we are proud of our heritage and our forefathers in the</v>

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<v Speaker 1>faith, but with humble recognition that our preservation and restoration were wrought</v>

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<v Speaker 1>by the hand of a merciful God.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>We did not fall off the left side of the horse, when</v>

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<v Speaker 1>the East followed Palamas and his demons into apostasy, for God preserved</v>

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<v Speaker 1>us. We did not fall off the right side of the horse,</v>

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<v Speaker 1>when Rome wandered from the faith and chose a mere man over</v>

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<v Speaker 1>the Christ, for God preserved us, and we did not jump off</v>

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<v Speaker 1>the cliff, instead of getting back on the horse, when the radical</v>

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<v Speaker 1>reformers in rejecting Rome rejected also God's word, for God preserved us.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>Our Lutheran fathers were surely wise and learned men, and yet God</v>

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<v Speaker 1>clearly preserved them from errors they surely would have made, sometimes did</v>

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<v Speaker 1>make in their private lives, when they were drafting our confession, it</v>

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<v Speaker 1>is my firm belief that the Lutheran Reformation was inspired, guided, preserved,</v>

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<v Speaker 1>and protected by God's gracious hand.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>Many of our Lutheran fathers believed in the so called perpetual virginity</v>

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<v Speaker 1>of Mary Our confession is silent on the issue.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>Some of our Lutheran fathers were proud of their mastery of Hebrew</v>

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<v Speaker 1>so called.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>Our confession, unlike many of those produced by the radical Reformation, was</v>

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<v Speaker 1>Does not define the Old Testament as being Hebrew.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>The list goes on.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>It seems clear to me and for context, I have recorded nearly</v>

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<v Speaker 1>the entire book of Concord every year for seven years now, that</v>

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<v Speaker 1>our Lutheran forebears were guided by God, for they in their own</v>

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<v Speaker 1>capacities, no matter how substantial, would surely have committed errors that they</v>

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<v Speaker 1>did not when drafting the confessions.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>It is my firm belief that the book of Concord</v>

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<v Speaker 1>stands alongside the Creeds as a symbol of the Christian faith.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>It is good, perhaps another gift from Providence, that Reformation Day coincides</v>

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<v Speaker 1>with all hallowtide on the calendar.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>During a period of the church year, when we recognize both the</v>

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<v Speaker 1>faithful and the faithful departed, we recognize also our Lutheran forebears, who</v>

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<v Speaker 1>pledgedge their lives in their honor, their lands and their families, their</v>

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<v Speaker 1>wealth and their titles, and even their very souls both to advance</v>

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<v Speaker 1>and to defend the restored gospel.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>We generally lack good comparisons today, for the Pope has minimal temporal</v>

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<v Speaker 1>power, and we have no emperor, and the president hardly cares what</v>

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<v Speaker 1>you do or do not believe about God or scripture.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>You are unlikely to be persecuted, at least by the state, regardless</v>

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<v Speaker 1>of what you believe or teach about baptism, the real presence or</v>

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<v Speaker 1>justification. There are, of course, truths for which you will be persecuted,</v>

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<v Speaker 1>a topic for another time, but our society simply does not take</v>

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<v Speaker 1>Christianity seriously anymore.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>These days, open and obvious blasphemy is not only permitted, but even</v>

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<v Speaker 1>encouraged and rewarded.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>We live in godless times among godless men under a godless government.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>Our fight is not identical to that of our forefathers, but it</v>

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<v Speaker 1>is certainly similar, for the sides are the same as they have</v>

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<v Speaker 1>always been.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>During the Reformation, Satan attacked justification, Article II.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>Today he attacks nature, Article I.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>In many ways, Satan's attack on Article I is more subtle than</v>

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<v Speaker 1>was his attack on Article two The denial of the Christ as</v>

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<v Speaker 1>the sole mediator, and the substitution of our imperfect works, for the</v>

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<v Speaker 1>Christ's perfect and complete work, was rather blunt, and yet many fell</v>

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<v Speaker 1>for it for centuries.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>It is no wonder that so many today fall for the relatively</v>

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<v Speaker 1>subtle attack on Article I, particularly given how many pastors and teachers</v>

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<v Speaker 1>fail to teach rightly on these issues.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>Satan conquered the seminaries years ago, in some cases decades ago, and</v>

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<v Speaker 1>these false teachers who deny or pervert Article I will quite happily</v>

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<v Speaker 1>murder you for the sake of their false God.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>They are no less murderous than the Medici Pope, who excommunicated Luther</v>

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<v Speaker 1>and sought his head.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>Even Herod was more righteous than such men, for at least he</v>

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<v Speaker 1>did not truly desire to murder John the Baptist.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>And yet our God is still on his throne, and his promises</v>

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<v Speaker 1>never have and never will fail.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>When the church went astray in the past, God sent prophets and</v>

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<v Speaker 1>teachers, and he still sends her teachers when she goes astray to</v>

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<v Speaker 1>day When his people go astray, he sends teachers and leaders.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>Some hear God's truth when it is spoken by the men he</v>

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<v Speaker 1>sends, and then they rightly repent, and turn from their former wickedness.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>But some men hear the word of God and reject it, doubling</v>

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<v Speaker 1>down on their evils and being thereby doubly damned.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>We face today the same sort of choice presented by both Moses</v>

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<v Speaker 1>and Joshua.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>On the one hand, the path of faithfulness, life and blessing, and</v>

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<v Speaker 1>on the other hand, the path of wickedness, death and curses.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>Our Lutheran forefathers chose faithfulness.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>Our more recent forefathers largely chose wickedness, and it has brought death</v>

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<v Speaker 1>down upon us.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>We must reject the ways of the wicked generations that came before</v>

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<v Speaker 1>us, and preserve instead the things and the truth of God, in</v>

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<v Speaker 1>clearly the truth about creation, and his good design of it.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>There are no optional truths, for all truth is one, to accept</v>

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<v Speaker 1>the truth about Christ, but reject the truth about creation is not</v>

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<v Speaker 1>in the end analysis even possible.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>Sure, an individual may pursue such a foolish and wicked worldview and</v>

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<v Speaker 1>be saved by felicitous inconsistency, but he will only be damning his</v>

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<v Speaker 1>children and grandchildren, for they will surely become apostates, if they follow</v>

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<v Speaker 1>in the foolish footsteps of their father.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>Rome did not start off worshipping Mary, and relying upon human works</v>

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<v Speaker 1>to save, but that is where they are to day.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>Our grandparents and great grandparents did not deny the reality of biological</v>

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<v Speaker 1>sex, but many of them did stop believing in the truth about</v>

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<v Speaker 1>race. And now most among the younger generations believe in virtually nothing.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>Deny or reject any truth, and you or your line will eventually</v>

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<v Speaker 1>deny and reject all truth.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads</v>

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<v Speaker 1>to destruction, but the gate is narrow and the way is hard</v>

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<v Speaker 1>that leads to life.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>What does it matter if popes, princes, or even indeed the whole</v>

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<v Speaker 1>world loves you?</v>

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<v Speaker 1>If it comes at the cost of your eternal soul, in the</v>

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<v Speaker 1>words of Christ, and do not fear those who kill the body</v>

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<v Speaker 1>but cannot kill the soul.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>Rather, fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>And so we come to the second topic that we must surely</v>

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<v Speaker 1>address on this Sunday: death.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>All men are mortal, and so all men who are born of</v>

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<v Speaker 1>the mater of this fallen world must some day die.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>Even the Christ, born of the fallen substance of his mother here</v>

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<v Speaker 1>in time, had to die.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>This entire universe, separated, severed from God by the fall, is winding</v>

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<v Speaker 1>down, is dying, all that exists is slated to be destroyed by</v>

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<v Speaker 1>fire, and only that which or those who are in the Christ</v>

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<v Speaker 1>will be resurrected in the new world.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>For the demon and the unbeliever alike, death is eternal.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>There is no end to the torment, the flames do not burn</v>

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<v Speaker 1>out, they have no hope.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>For those of us who have been washed clean by the waters</v>

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<v Speaker 1>of holy baptism, a very different sort of eternity awaits.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight</v>

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<v Speaker 1>of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things</v>

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<v Speaker 1>that are seen, but to the things that are unseen, for the</v>

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<v Speaker 1>things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen</v>

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<v Speaker 1>are eternal.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>Our modern culture has, and certain of the reformed theologians have, led</v>

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<v Speaker 1>many astray on this subject.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>No ye will not spend eternity as a celestial eunuch, praising God</v>

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<v Speaker 1>in heaven.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>You will in fact not be in heaven at all, for that</v>

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<v Speaker 1>is the domain of angels and not of men.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>Rather we will spend eternity in the new creation, in a universe</v>

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<v Speaker 1>restored to what God always intended it to be.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>You are not, as I have said so many times before, and</v>

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<v Speaker 1>will undoubtedly say many more times in the future, a soul piloting</v>

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<v Speaker 1>a body.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>You are a gestalt of body, mind, and soul.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>In the absence of any of those, you would not be whole,</v>

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<v Speaker 1>and God will surely not leave you incomplete for eternity.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>The very suggestion is ridiculous.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>Instead, God will restore you to the perfect version of yourself yourself</v>

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<v Speaker 1>that you would have become in the absence of the fall.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>Paradise, your actual eternal home, is different in kind, due only to</v>

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<v Speaker 1>the extremity of the difference in degree.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>You will still be flesh and blood, and you will still eat</v>

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<v Speaker 1>and drink, but you will neither grow old nor fall ill, for</v>

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<v Speaker 1>the Christ has already conquered death.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>What then of our first reading, which speaks of our being day</v>

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<v Speaker 1>and night in his temple.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>Well, what is the temple?</v>

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<v Speaker 1>It is the place where God's glory dwells.</v>

00:13:15.440 --> 00:13:17.920
<v Speaker 1>And who is the glory of God?</v>

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<v Speaker 1>He is the Christ.</v>

00:13:19.360 --> 00:13:22.560
<v Speaker 1>And where will God the Son dwell for eternity?</v>

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<v Speaker 1>He will dwell with us, in paradise.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>It is the new creation itself that is the true temple of</v>

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<v Speaker 1>God, for that is where He will dwell forever with his elect.</v>

00:13:32.960 --> 00:13:35.760
<v Speaker 1>There is, of course, more to this, but that will have to</v>

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<v Speaker 1>wait for another day.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>This Tritum, all hallowtide, commands some of my favourite hymns, among them</v>

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<v Speaker 1>for all the saints, even though many of us will be singing</v>

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<v Speaker 1>that hymn this Sunday, I will still recite the fourth verse here.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>O Blessed Communion, Fellowship Divine, We feebly struggle, they in glory shine,</v>

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<v Speaker 1>yet all are one in thee, for all are thine.</v>

00:14:02.160 --> 00:14:05.360
<v Speaker 1>Alleluia, allelujah.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>Many of us lost loved ones over this past year.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>I will not tell you not to mourn them, especially not on</v>

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<v Speaker 1>this Sunday, but Even Jesus wept.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>Instead I will commend you to the very same promise upon which</v>

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<v Speaker 1>each and every one of us depends, and in which each and</v>

00:14:22.480 --> 00:14:25.840
<v Speaker 1>every one of us has placed his or her trust and hope.</v>

00:14:25.840 --> 00:14:29.440
<v Speaker 1>Christus propecitoribus crucifixus.</v>

00:14:29.440 --> 00:14:32.400
<v Speaker 1>The Christ, crucified for sinners.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>The faithful departed are absent according to the flesh, but they are</v>

00:14:36.320 --> 00:14:38.320
<v Speaker 1>present according to the Spirit.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>This is why we so jealously guard our tradition, our liturgy, our</v>

00:14:42.880 --> 00:14:46.640
<v Speaker 1>hymns. We know that those already in glory join with us in</v>

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<v Speaker 1>worshiping the one true God, in unity and in trinity.</v>

00:14:50.640 --> 00:14:54.000
<v Speaker 1>No longer are the faithful departed troubled by the cares and the</v>

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<v Speaker 1>burdens of this life.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>Although this does not relieve us of the sorrow and the pain</v>

00:14:58.800 --> 00:15:03.040
<v Speaker 1>here in time, it should certainly steal us to stay the course,</v>

00:15:03.040 --> 00:15:06.640
<v Speaker 1>firm in the belief that we will surely see our loved ones</v>

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<v Speaker 1>again. Where the Christ went first, a great host is now followed.</v>

00:15:12.240 --> 00:15:16.000
<v Speaker 1>Death cannot hold them because it could not hold him.</v>

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<v Speaker 1>O death where is your victory?</v>

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<v Speaker 1>O death where is your sting?</v>

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<v Speaker 1>This life is a fleeting thing, and we shall all be reunited,</v>

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<v Speaker 1>sooner than we suppose</v>

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<v Speaker 1>Amen.</v>