Pastor Bryan, you put into words what I have been groping towards in my Christian discipleship, with fits and starts, for some 15 years or so now. And I came to the same, Romans 7 fork in the road (as did my best friend, who is now also a Pastor in Cedar Hill, TX) You get to that light bulb moment when you realize: "The 'me' is the righteous self, on the same side as Jesus!" Yes! Then holiness begins to manifest and be embodied. It's almost as if our Father's kingdom is backwards from the earthly kingdom. In fact, if you add the Calvinist emphasis on union with Christ, you can take it a step further: Not only is the "me" on the side of Christ, the "me" is actually _my spirit in union with Christ's Spirit_ (I Cor 6:17). Add to the imputed justification and righteousness, and it's not a far step to: the "me" is now actually already sanctified, holy, blameless, righteous. The prob is no longer "me" - the problem is sin in my "members" taking me captive. St. Paul in Romans 7 speaks in exactly those terms: as if sin is a bully slave master that violates our will. (And in my experience in life, it often is!). Then add Romans 8, and we have hope because Christ _condemns_ sin in the flesh. I.e., the Father no longer condemns *me* because _the me_ is now regenerated by His Spirit and washed clean of sin. Even when i succumb to sin, the Christ is condemns that sin, "so that the body of sin might be done away with," St. Paul says. In a very real sense, our spirit is Christ's Bride (the Church is too) but Christ in each believer is in one sense uniting with the Spirit in this eternal love dance.
Jesus stands during his temptation by the devil, not by His own strength, but because He depends on the Word of God. We have the Word of God, that can be our strength also. Jesus does not despise us in our temptation, he is our champion. He is there with us in our temptation. What a comfort, I never knew. Jesus is not angry with us or despises us in our weakness and temptation. WOW! Hebrews 2 Jesus is our propitiation!!!
My husband thinks I am being corrupted by the Lutheran Pastors because I don’t believe Christians can have demons! He used to be in the deliverance ministry and thinks ALL Christians can have demons and need deliverance!! I hold on to the promises of grace and Jesus death on the Cross according to the book of Colossians 1:12-14 We have been delivered from the power of darkness ❤please pray for us! Truth divides and I want to continue to follow pastor Wolfmueller and Pastor Rosebrough! ❤
I'll pray for ya. Truth does divide, I lost my wife on the 16 of Jan 22 we were slightly divided in beliefs. The last 14 months have been a sort of hell knowing that division. But God, he has her, he told my heart he has her, so I trust in him and the devil is upset about it, so I know my trust is good.😇🙏 God bless you sister.
I know the feeling of being misunderstood. My sister has one foot in the Lutheran church and the other in the charismatic church. It's like we speak two languages. I call God Almightly God and she Father. Not Father God, but Father. As our Lord Jesus did. We can't even have a simple discussion about God. I love the exposition of the word she likes the supernaturalism of God and focuses on it mostly. It has caused a rift between us. It's hard to live with someone who is not satisfied with the simple word of God. May God richly bless you and lead your husband to the simplicity that is in Christ.
Great words. A while back, I was a lot into metaphysics, and in mine metaphysics, I always explained Evil/Sin as a subtraction, it turns our essense less than it is so that our essence turns to somethig that it wasn't meant to be and I loved how it fit perfecly with saying that we are less human then we were before the fall
Those are really good points. This is why other passages of scripture teach that we have crucified the flesh with all its affections (Galatians 5:24), which can be interpreted as you mention that the flesh is no longer a part of us. We still have to fight it but it has already been exorcised from our identity. We are sinless saints, even though we may sin.
Pastor Wolfmueller, thank you for this video! I was having a discussing with my dear Catholic friends the other day about the Lutheran view of the sinful nature vs the Catholic view of the human “tendency towards sin” but I was having trouble reconciling the fact that the human flesh is sinful, but Jesus took human form completely and yet was not sinful. This video made it make so much more sense. Thank you!
So it's like we're living with a zombie? And in death we are finally rid of the zombie who wanted to drag us off to sin and hell? I need to meditate on this one Pastor. It's deep.
Pastor Brian, this brings me back to your lesson on enthusiasm. At the end you said it's bad. My question; is the meaning of enthusiasm Luther was using the same as excitement? Because scripture excites me in it's receiving.
Thank you, pastor! How difficult it is to confess that we are saints as well as sinners. And then how startling to realize that we are more truly saints.
I found that meditations on the story of Cain and Able was very useful in understanding this. Look at what God told Cain regarding sin. Sin is a corrupted spiritual inclination of the heart. Paul explains it in Romans 1. We are made as image bearers but if our hearts focus is on anything but God we reflect the wrong images. Sin is essentially idol worship which is why man's natural inclination, without Yahweh's intervention, is towards religion and law but not grace
And something also very important that you did not say, is that sin shall have no dominion over us. Many Christians get paralyzed and instead of doing good works, they want to clean up their lives first. This will destroy any man’s spiritual life, if you are a prostitute, you can still do good works, like protecting Joshua’s soldiers as Rahab did or anointing Jesus with oil. God uses imperfect people, mighty sinners like the heroes of the faith mentioned in Hebrews 11, to accomplish his goals. If you have a habitual sin that you cannot kick, do not let it discourage you, because you can serve God mightily. God uses weak men, not strong or mighty or accomplished.
Tears shed over this one Pastor Wolfmueller. God BE PRAISED!
Pastor Bryan, you put into words what I have been groping towards in my Christian discipleship, with fits and starts, for some 15 years or so now. And I came to the same, Romans 7 fork in the road (as did my best friend, who is now also a Pastor in Cedar Hill, TX)
You get to that light bulb moment when you realize: "The 'me' is the righteous self, on the same side as Jesus!" Yes! Then holiness begins to manifest and be embodied. It's almost as if our Father's kingdom is backwards from the earthly kingdom.
In fact, if you add the Calvinist emphasis on union with Christ, you can take it a step further: Not only is the "me" on the side of Christ, the "me" is actually _my spirit in union with Christ's Spirit_ (I Cor 6:17). Add to the imputed justification and righteousness, and it's not a far step to: the "me" is now actually already sanctified, holy, blameless, righteous. The prob is no longer "me" - the problem is sin in my "members" taking me captive. St. Paul in Romans 7 speaks in exactly those terms: as if sin is a bully slave master that violates our will. (And in my experience in life, it often is!).
Then add Romans 8, and we have hope because Christ _condemns_ sin in the flesh. I.e., the Father no longer condemns *me* because _the me_ is now regenerated by His Spirit and washed clean of sin. Even when i succumb to sin, the Christ is condemns that sin, "so that the body of sin might be done away with," St. Paul says.
In a very real sense, our spirit is Christ's Bride (the Church is too) but Christ in each believer is in one sense uniting with the Spirit in this eternal love dance.
Jesus stands during his temptation by the devil, not by His own strength, but because He depends on the Word of God. We have the Word of God, that can be our strength also. Jesus does not despise us in our temptation, he is our champion. He is there with us in our temptation. What a comfort, I never knew. Jesus is not angry with us or despises us in our weakness and temptation. WOW! Hebrews 2 Jesus is our propitiation!!!
This one was mind bending good! Really!!!! Off the chart great! Keep ‘em coming!!!
Well put, Pastor W. Thank you!
My husband thinks I am being corrupted by the Lutheran Pastors because I don’t believe Christians can have demons! He used to be in the deliverance ministry and thinks ALL Christians can have demons and need deliverance!! I hold on to the promises of grace and Jesus death on the Cross according to the book of Colossians 1:12-14 We have been delivered from the power of darkness ❤please pray for us! Truth divides and I want to continue to follow pastor Wolfmueller and Pastor Rosebrough! ❤
I'll pray for ya. Truth does divide, I lost my wife on the 16 of Jan 22 we were slightly divided in beliefs. The last 14 months have been a sort of hell knowing that division. But God, he has her, he told my heart he has her, so I trust in him and the devil is upset about it, so I know my trust is good.😇🙏 God bless you sister.
I know the feeling of being misunderstood. My sister has one foot in the Lutheran church and the other in the charismatic church. It's like we speak two languages. I call God Almightly God and she Father. Not Father God, but Father. As our Lord Jesus did. We can't even have a simple discussion about God. I love the exposition of the word she likes the supernaturalism of God and focuses on it mostly. It has caused a rift between us. It's hard to live with someone who is not satisfied with the simple word of God. May God richly bless you and lead your husband to the simplicity that is in Christ.
Read what Luther said about it.
Baptism is an exorcism.
Thanks for this encouragement.
Amen
Great words. A while back, I was a lot into metaphysics, and in mine metaphysics, I always explained Evil/Sin as a subtraction, it turns our essense less than it is so that our essence turns to somethig that it wasn't meant to be and I loved how it fit perfecly with saying that we are less human then we were before the fall
Thank you, Pastor/Brother! I appreciate the messages. Just know your work is not in vain, thank you
Thanks be to God!!!
Those are really good points. This is why other passages of scripture teach that we have crucified the flesh with all its affections (Galatians 5:24), which can be interpreted as you mention that the flesh is no longer a part of us. We still have to fight it but it has already been exorcised from our identity. We are sinless saints, even though we may sin.
Greetings, p. Bryan, from Greece.
Really good video
This was greatly put, thank you pastor!
Tremendous! Really needed to hear this.
Thank you brother, i needed to hear this
Thank you. Really needed to hear this.
Thank you. God bless 😊
This is what I needed today!
Excellent explanation of sinner and saint. Thank you.
Where have you been! We were worried and thirsty!
Pastor Wolfmueller, thank you for this video! I was having a discussing with my dear Catholic friends the other day about the Lutheran view of the sinful nature vs the Catholic view of the human “tendency towards sin” but I was having trouble reconciling the fact that the human flesh is sinful, but Jesus took human form completely and yet was not sinful. This video made it make so much more sense. Thank you!
Thank you Pastor, edifying as always, this would make a great topic for you to expand on in your next book???
So it's like we're living with a zombie? And in death we are finally rid of the zombie who wanted to drag us off to sin and hell? I need to meditate on this one Pastor. It's deep.
Pastor Brian, this brings me back to your lesson on enthusiasm. At the end you said it's bad. My question; is the meaning of enthusiasm Luther was using the same as excitement? Because scripture excites me in it's receiving.
When we have those genuine moments of communion with the Lord, then we glance at what we are intended to be. Hence, Paul's Romans 7 confession.
Thank you, pastor! How difficult it is to confess that we are saints as well as sinners. And then how startling to realize that we are more truly saints.
We then have no business referring to becoming angels after death, particularly, babies.
When we have those moments of close communion with the Lord, the we 'gate's who we really are, hence, Paul's Romans 7 confession.
I found that meditations on the story of Cain and Able was very useful in understanding this. Look at what God told Cain regarding sin. Sin is a corrupted spiritual inclination of the heart. Paul explains it in Romans 1. We are made as image bearers but if our hearts focus is on anything but God we reflect the wrong images. Sin is essentially idol worship which is why man's natural inclination, without Yahweh's intervention, is towards religion and law but not grace
Yeah it been soooooooooo long
And something also very important that you did not say, is that sin shall have no dominion over us. Many Christians get paralyzed and instead of doing good works, they want to clean up their lives first. This will destroy any man’s spiritual life, if you are a prostitute, you can still do good works, like protecting Joshua’s soldiers as Rahab did or anointing Jesus with oil. God uses imperfect people, mighty sinners like the heroes of the faith mentioned in Hebrews 11, to accomplish his goals. If you have a habitual sin that you cannot kick, do not let it discourage you, because you can serve God mightily. God uses weak men, not strong or mighty or accomplished.