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LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2016, Page 73

Scan: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

Peter on behalf of all the apostles. We note in Matthew 18 that the keys belong to the whole Church,
“Tell it to the church.” And we know from today’s
Epistle that you are all, all of us, spiritual priests, and
all of us are called to proclaim and speak the Word of
God as the royal priesthood.

came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am
the foremost” (1 Tim. 1:15). And this Jesus Christ is
for all, whether you are the shooter or the shot. Christ
is for all. And so with Luther, we say, “I cannot. My
conscience is held captive by the Word. I cannot, I
will not, recant. God help me. Amen.”

And it is precisely this speaking, this message of
Christ, that is the rock. That’s what the Smalcald
Articles say. The rock here really means the ministry,
this speaking of the Rock of Christ. We are called to
remind the world that it is Luther and the Lutheran
Reformation that asserted the free religious conscience. It went from Luther to Magdeburg, to Beza
of the Reformed, to Robinson of the Anglicans, to
John Locke, and even to Thomas Jefferson.

“Who do you say that I am?” “Thou art the Christ.”
And we will confess. And we will do it joyously. And
the world will snarl at us. And they will hate us the
more. They will belittle us and say we are a bunch of
kooks and idiots and antiquated fools. And we, like
the apostles punished for speaking the name of Jesus
in Jerusalem, will suffer with joy, and we will shout it
all the louder. “There is no other name under heaven
given among men by which we must be saved.”

The pressure is mounting, my friends. The world and
its empires and emperors are saying to us, “Revoco.
Give it up.” Obergefell. “Revoco. Your idea of marriage
is antiquated.” The HHS mandates. “Revoco. Nothing
must impede choice.” “Revoco. Accommodate, Concordias, accommodate.” “Revoco.” Our chaplains are
increasingly harassed in the military. “Revoco. Your
view of marriage and sexuality is ridiculous.”

And you know what? “The gates of hell shall
not prevail.”

We are at a point now where what the Bible calls
good, the government calls evil—and what the Bible
calls evil, it calls good. “Revoco,” they all cry out. We
must reject exclusivity, the message of Christ. “For
there is no other name under heaven given among
men by which we must be saved.” “Revoco. There is no
one truth. There are many truths.”
Here’s the truth. Whether you are L, G, B, T, Q, or
just a common farmer from Nebraska or a guy who
lives in a St. Louis suburb, this is true: “Christ Jesus

“Upon This Rock”

And we will say, “Revoco, sin. Recant, sin. Your
penalty has been suffered, sin. In Christ. You are
dead, sin. You are dead to me. I know only Christ
and His righteousness.”
And we shall say, “Revoco, death. Death, you are dead
to me. Death, you have died to me. My death is dead in
Christ, and I am alive. Revoco, death. Revoco. Recant.”
And I shall say, finally, “Revoco, devil. You have become
a devil to yourself. You are condemned. You have no
more power over me. And I shall live eternally.”
“And the gates of hell shall not prevail.”
In the name of the Father and of + the Son and of the
Holy Spirit. Amen.

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