Thursday, September 1, 2011
From Joe Krohn:
According to Holy Word Ev.Lutheran Church...
We have maintained that it is not Scriptural and therefore not Confessional and that it may not in fact be the correct teaching of the WELS.
If we are in fact forgiven before we are born...what good are the Ministry of the Keys? Matthew 18 says that if our brother sins against us, we are to go to him and confront him. If he repents, we have won him over. The message of the Bible has always been the message of sin; the need for a Savior; repentance, forgiveness and salvation...all through Christ's active obedience from Genesis 3:15 through His redemptive work for men (at the cross in mans place-propitiation) worked through faith by the Holy Ghost.
And yet I hear none of this in this sermon clip. I hear a loathing of the Law and an unconditional forgiveness to all men (whether they are sorry or not) and that those who have come to 'faith' must also forgive all those who sin against them regardless of whether they are sorry or not. This preaching makes the Gospel Law and the forgiveness of sins a good work of man!
From Luther's Small Catechism:
"What Does God Say of All These Commandments?
He says thus (Exod. 20:5f):
I the Lord, thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the
fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them
that hate Me, and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me and
keep My commandments."
We can not keep God's commandments... this is
the essence of faith! Daily we seek repentance by contrition worked by
the Holy Ghost and receive His forgiveness for Christ's sake by His
propitiation for us through faith.
