In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of a church that truly loves and cares for its members' souls. They argue that such a church will not shy away from speaking the truth, even if it is not appreciated or understood. The speaker specifically addresses the Jewish community, urging them to acknowledge their sins and transgressions, including the Holocaust, as a judgment from God. They call for authentic repentance and a willingness to surrender one's own interests for God's purpose. The sermon concludes with an invitation for individuals to come forward and demonstrate their repentance by kneeling at the platform.

For the kingdom of God is at hand. Do it, Boosen, denn das Reich Gottes ist nahe herbeigekommen. These words, spoken first by the Baptist John and Jesus, Diese Worte, die zuerst von Johannes dem Täufer und von Jesus ausgesprochen wurden, are inexorably joined. sind in einer unerbittlichen Weise miteinander verbunden. Always. You cannot speak of the kingdom without speaking of repentance. Du kannst nicht von dem Reich Gottes reden ohne Buße zu erwähnen. There's no entry into the kingdom without repentance. Es gibt keinen Eintritt in dieses Reich ohne Buße zu tun. So we have the reality of the kingdom in exact proportion as we have authentic repentance. So haben wir die Realität dieses Reiches in dem Maße, wie wir Buße tun. And it's not a once and for all repentance. Und das ist nicht Buße, dann ein für allemal. It's a continual state of being. Sondern das ist ein ständiger Zustand des Seins. More rightly, a state of death. Ja, richtiger gesagt, es ist ein Zustand des Todes. For true repentance is the awesome acknowledgment of God. Denn wahre Buße besteht in der heren Bestätigung Gottes as He in fact is and not as we thought Him to be. So wie Er in der Tat ist und nicht wie wir meinten, dass Er sei. And before that holy presence, und vor dieser heiligen Gegenwart, no man dare lift his head. soll kein Mensch wagen, sein Haupt zu erheben. Job was described by God Himself as being outstanding, the foremost of all men. Hiob wurde von Gott selber so beschrieben, dass er einer der hervorragendsten aller Menschen war. God boasted on him. Gott hat sich seiner gerühmt. And yet at the end of God's dealings with him, und doch am Ende der Handlungen Gottes mit diesem Mann, the same man cries out, da schreit dieser Mann aus, I've heard of you with the hearing of my ear, ich habe von dir mit meinen Ohren vernommen, but now my eye sees, aber jetzt erkennt mein Auge, and I abhor myself, und ich verabscheue mich, and repent in dust and ashes. und ich spuße im Staub und in der Asche. This is classic. Das ist etwas Klassisches. This is definitive. Das ist etwas ganz Bestimmtes. And we fall grievously short of this repentance. Und wir ermangeln solch einer Buße ganz besonders. And for that reason the kingdom does not come. Und deshalb kommt aus diesem Grunde das Reich Gottes nicht. It's the ultimate expression of God in glory. Es ist die letztmögliche Ausdrucksweise, den Herrn in der Herrlichkeit zu sehen. And it requires the most profound coming down of man before it. Und es ist einfach erforderlich, dass der Mensch sich wirklich davor beugt. What does it mean to repent in dust and ashes? Was soll das bedeuten? Buße tun im Staub und Asche. What does that symbolically represent? Was symbolisiert das? Having gone under the ground in burial. Dass man letzten Endes in die Erde gesenkt wurde zum Begräbnis. There's no place for me other than to be buried. Für mich gibt es keinen anderen Platz mehr außer dem Begräbnis. Now that I have glimpsed you as you are. Nachdem ich dich jetzt gesehen habe, wie du bist. There's no place for me as man but in death. Da gibt es keinen anderen Platz mehr für mich als Mensch außer dem Tode. And God received that statement from Job. Und Gott hat solch eine Aussage von Hiob angenommen. And he said, pray for your friends, your comforters. Und er sagte ihm dann, bete für deine Freunde, deine Tröster. For my anger is kindled against them. Denn mein Zorn ist gegen sie entbrannt. For you have not spoken as my servant Job has spoken. Denn ihr habt nicht so geredet, wie mein Diener Hiob geredet hat. I'm continually leaving bewildered saints in my path. Ich lasse ständig ganz verwunderte und verdutzte Heilige hinter mir, wenn ich durchs Land ziehe. And I'm remembering one occasion in America. Und ich kann mich noch an eine Gelegenheit, Begebenheit in Amerika erinnern. An outstandingly successful fellowship. Eine sehr erfolgreiche Gemeinde. You know what my message for them was? Und wisst ihr, was meine Botschaft für sie war? You think you have it all together? Ihr meint, dass ihr alles so gut beieinander habt? You haven't even begun to speak as Job's comforters have spoken. Ihr habt noch nicht einmal angefangen so zu reden, wie die Tröster des Hiob gesprochen haben. Which is the most sublime spirituality in the Holy Scripture. Und das ist doch die abgehobenste Geistlichkeit in der ganzen Bibel, die man da findet. It was not appropriate for Job. Das war für Hiob nicht geeignet. But the statements in themselves. Aber die Aussagen in sich selber. Are sublimely spiritual. Sind also höchst geistlich. And despite that God says, my anger is kindled against you. Und trotzdem sagt Gott, mein Ärger ist gegen euch entbracht. However spiritually insightful you were. Wie geistlich begeisternd ihr auch gewesen seid. Deep in your understanding. Tief in eurem Verstehen. You still failed. Habt ihr dennoch versagt. For there's only one statement that I can receive from man. Von dem Menschen kann ich nur eine Aussage annehmen. I abhor myself. Ich verabscheue mich. And repent in dust and ashes. Und ich tue Buße in Staub und Asche. Is there a nation in the world today for which the issue of repentance is more important than Germany? Gibt es heute ein Land in dieser Welt, für das die Sache der Buße wichtiger wäre als für Deutschland? You will live continually under the shadow of the historic past. Ihr werdet ständig unter dem Schatten eurer historischen Vergangenheit leben. Will you ever be washed from the stain of the Holocaust? Werdet ihr jemals von diesen Flecken des Holocaustgeschehen gereinigt werden? And yet there's continual reference to repentance. Ja und ständig wird auf die Buße, auf das Bußeton hingewiesen. And I've had opportunity to observe it. Und ich hatte Gelegenheit das zu sehen. Even most recently in the conference on prayer for Israel in Berlin. Erst vor kurzem auf dieser Konferenz für Gebet für Israel in Berlin. There's a continual theme of repentance toward the Jew and toward Israel on the part of the German church. Dort wurde erklärt, dass man, was die deutsche Gemeinde anbelangt, man ständig immer wieder neue Buße tun müsste wegen Israel. You would think that as a Jewish believer, my spirit would rejoice. Und dann hättest du vielleicht meinen können, ich als ein jüdischer Gläubiger, mein Geist hätte sich so gefreut darüber. But the more that I heard these appeals to repentance. Aber je mehr ich diese Aufrufe zum Bußeton wegen dem Holocaust hörte. And witnessed the character of it. Und dann den Charakter dieses Aufrufes mitbekam. The more uncomfortable I felt in the inner man. Desto unbequemer fühlte ich mich in meinem inwändigen Menschen. Something is wrong with this kind of repentance. Etwas stimmt nicht bei dieser Art von Buße. One of the evidences of which is the continual need to reiterate it. Einer der Beweise dafür ist ja, dass man das ständig und immer wiederholen muss. How often are we going to feel sorry for the same thing. Wie oft wollen wir uns denn traurig fühlen, dass es uns leid tut. Immer wegen der gleichen Sache. That it needs again and again to be restated. Dass das immer wieder und immer wieder erwähnt werden muss. Maybe the problem is that we have not rightly understood repentance. Vielleicht besteht das Problem darin, dass wir die Sache um Bußeton nicht richtig verstanden haben. And that feeling sorry falls short of it. Und dass es einem leid tut, dem einfach nicht genügen kann. I got the impression that what these German saints wanted was psychological relief. Ich hatte so den Eindruck, dass was diese Art von deutschen Heiligen hier wollte, war eine Art psychologische Entlastung, Erleichterung. They came to the conference in the hope of it. Und sie kamen zu dieser Konferenz in der Hoffnung, das zu bekommen. And needed so desperately to experience it. Und mussten das in ihrer verzweifelten Lage auch erleben. There's a word for this in psychology. Und in der Psychologie haben wir einen Ausdruck dafür. They wanted catharsis. Sie wollten eine Katharsis, eine Erleichterung erleben. A relief for a burden of guilt. Eine Entlastung wegen dieser Schuldenlast erfahren. That evidently had not been met in any other way. Die offensichtlich in keiner anderen Weise irgendwie erleichtert wurde. And so I began to ponder this before the Lord. Und so habe ich angefangen, das vor dem Herrn zu bedenken. And here is my essay. Und hier ist mein Essay darüber. Notes on the issue of German repentance toward Israel. Ich habe das dann so formuliert. Ein Nachtrag zur Bußhaltung mancher Christen in Deutschland gegenüber dem Holocaustgeschehen. What's wrong with this kind of repentance? Was stimmt an dieser Art von Buße nicht? Maybe it has to do with not rightly understanding the issue of guilt. Vielleicht hat es damit zu tun, dass wir die Sache der Schuld nicht richtig verstehen. That assumes that Germany is the cause of the Holocaust against the Jew. Dieses Verstehen nämlich, dass wir annehmen, dass Deutschland die Ursache für das Holocaustgeschehen ist gegenüber dem Juden. If that's your understanding, you'll never be relieved. Dann wirst du niemals Erleichterung bekommen. Because it misses the truth of the Holocaust itself. Denn es geht an der Wahrheit um das Holocaustgeschehen vorbei. The magnitude of that tragedy is beyond the issue of German complicity. Das Ausmaß dieses tragischen Geschehen geht über die Komplizenschaft Deutschlands, dabei weit hinaus. And if we were students of God's dealings in history with Israel, Und wenn wir wirklich wahre Studenten der Geschichte Gottes um Israel wären, we would be able to distinguish between the judgments that God brings and the rod that he employs. Dann wären wir bestimmt in der Lage zu unterscheiden zwischen den Gerichten, die Gott bringt über Israel, und den Zuchtrouten, die Gott einsetzt. Nazi Germany was the rod of God's chastisement. Nazi Deutschland war die Zuchtrose der Züchtigung Gottes gegenüber Israel. But the cause was Jewish sin itself. Die Ursache aber war jüdische Sünde an und für sich. Historic and present. Die historische Sünde und die gegenwärtigen. The sins of the fathers, never recognized or acknowledged. The cries of the prophets, never heard, nor repented for. And the sin continues und diese Sünde läuft weiter and gathers its weight und häuft Gewicht an. And though God may deter in bringing his judgment, und obwohl Gott vielleicht zurückhaltend ist, sein Gericht zu bringen, he's not under obligation to bring it immediately in a cause and effect situation, er besteht ja nicht unter der Verpflichtung, dieses Gericht sofort ergehen zu lassen, wegen Ursache und Wirkung, but bring it he will, in his own time, for his own purpose, für seine eigenen Ziele. So you need to pray for the book that Klaus is translating. So solltet ihr wirklich für dieses Buch geben, was Klaus beinahe fertig übersetzt hat. Utterly radical in its thesis. Eine sehr radikale Aussage. Jews will rail against it. Die Juden werden sich dagegen aufbäumen. Segments of the church will be offended by it. Und Teile der Gemeinde Jesu werden dadurch wirklich verletzt werden, beleidigt sein. The Holocaust as judgment. Das Buch beinhaltet den Holocaust als Gericht Gottes. In exact proportion to Jewish sin. In dem Verhältnis wie die Sünde in Israel. Yes, even in Germany. Ja, auch in Deutschland. The kind of influence that we expressed in our history here. Und den Einfluss, das heißt jüdische Sünde auch in Deutschland, und das kann man daran sehen, wie der jüdische Einfluss hier in Deutschland ausgedrückt wurde. Our substitution of German civilization for God's messianic answer. Dass wir Juden für uns Gottes Antwort für uns ersetzt haben durch deutsche Zivilisation. Encouraging German rationalism. Dass wir deutschen Rationalismus auch noch ermutigt haben. That is offended by the supernatural God. Der von einem übernatürlichen Gott ja beleidigt wird. Und das hatte seine letzte Äußerung in der Theologie, Gott ist tot. Und in dem jüdischen reformierten Judaismus. Das ist alles, was ich jetzt im Augenblick darüber so sagen kann. Und dass Gerichte sind immer in dem Verhältnis zu unseren Sünden zu sehen. Und als Eichmann in Jerusalem vor Gericht stand. Dieser Staatsanwalt. Sein Name war Gideon Hausner. Er schreibt das in seinen Memoiren. Eines Menschen Sünde, seine Verbrechen oder das seines Volkes. Mag für lange Zeit unbeachtet bleiben. Aber eine Zeit muss kommen. Wenn der Verbrecher gefasst wird. Und das gerechte Gericht wird vollzogen. Und so ist es für Eichmann gekommen. Viele Jahre nach dem Ende der Nazi-Zeit. Wie die Bibel sagt, sei sicher, deine Sünde wird dich finden. Und wir wurden gefunden in unserer Sünde im Holocaust-Geschehen. Und warum war Deutschland die Zuchtrute? Weil wir so sehr die deutsche Kultur zelebriert haben. Kein Teil der deutschen Gesellschaft war doch enthusiastischer als wir. Bei Philosophen, Goethe, Schiller, Fichte, Hegel. Und wir hätten niemals glauben können, dass ein Mann wie Hitler an die Macht kommen könnte. Doch nicht in einem Land von solch einer zelebrierten Zivilisation und Kultur. Das muss nur eine vorübergehende Sache sein. Auch das wird vorübergehen. Aber es ging nicht vorbei. Und es wurde uns zum Gericht. Dass wir uns als Deutsche also schuldig fühlen, weil wir die Ursache des Holocaustes wären, ist das dann eine falsche Schuld. Eine von der Gott nicht will, dass du sie auf dich nimmst. Heißt das dann, dass Deutschland von jeglicher Schuld an dem Absolution erhalten hat? Nein, überhaupt nicht. Deutschland ist immer noch die Gerichtsrute Gottes. Und dazu noch allzu sehr willens gewesen. Und darüber muss man dann Buße tun und die Sache wirklich so ansehen. Aber nicht wegen einer falsch angenommenen Schuld. Es gibt noch eine tiefere Sünde als die vom Holocaust. Und darauf wartet Gott immer noch, dass Buße getan werden. Und deshalb wird er diese falsche Bußhaltung nicht beachten. Denn du willst das ja nur wegen deiner psychologischen Erleichterung haben. Die deutsche Sünde ist identisch mit der jüdischen Sünde, worüber der Holocaust ein Gericht war. Und was ist denn diese Sünde? Es ist der Verrat des wahren Glaubens durch die Christen und durch die Juden. Indem wir unser Geistliches Erbe genommen haben und haben das Ganze so schön angepasst gezählt. Und haben daraus eine Samstag- oder eine Sonntagskultur gemacht. Eine bürgerliche Anpassung. Die in keiner Weise unsere persönlichen Interessen während der Woche bedrohen könnte. Und die uns dann irgendwie eine gewisse Art von Religiosität hier erlauben. Ja, das ist die Sünde. Und wegen dieser Sünde wartet Gott immer noch auf die Buße. Ja. Dass wir den apostolischen Glauben genommen haben und haben ihn so hinten angehängt in unserem Leben. Nicht nur bei unserem liberalen Christentum, sondern auch bei den wirklich evangelikalen Gläubigen und so weiter. Das ist nichts anderes als den Missbrauch Gottes. Für das Menschen eigene Ziele und Zwecke. Es ist höchstmöglicher Götzendienst. Denn das Ganze wird in dem Namen Gottes auch vollzogen. Und dann meint man, man tut ihm noch einen Dienst. Und so will man psychologische Entlastung über Buße erreichen. Das bedeutet ja, dass man in der gleichen Sünde weitermacht. Wir sind das Objekt unseres religiösen Lebens. Unsere Linderung, unsere Erleichterung, unsere Befriedigung und Glückseligkeit. Ja, so ist es immer gewesen. Und der Charakter von all dem bleibt immer noch. Auch in seiner besten charismatischen Form. Wir haben das nicht erkannt. Und darüber Buße getan. Dass wir Gott missbraucht haben. Indem wir ein religiöses Leben kreiert haben. Wo unsere persönlichen, selbstsüchtigen Interesse im Vordergrund stehen. Wo man keinerlei Interesse an einem gekommenen oder kommenden Reich Gottes hat. Und die ganze Unbequemlichkeit, die damit verbunden ist, will man nicht erleben. Geschweige denn noch, ein Objekt des Widerstandes und der Verfolgung zu werden. Es ist doch viel besser, sich religiös irgendwie anzupassen, das Ganze so an sich zu nehmen. Und vielleicht die Ziele des jeweiligen Staates damit zu sanktionieren. Und den ganzen imperialistischen Ambitionen eines solchen Staates ein kleines bisschen religiöse Tünsche zu verpassen. Das ist nicht nur die Sünde, die in Deutschland geschehen ist, sondern in sogenannten christlichen Nationen überall. Und der Abstieg Großbritanniens ist hier ein Beweisstück dafür. Land of Spurgeon and George Whitefield. The great missionaries. Is the land of the rock punk culture. And it's celebrated Christianity. Has a funeral for Princess Diana. Held dann eine Begräbnisfeier für Prinzessin Diana ab. Die eine Jet Set Prinzessin von der schlimmsten Art gewesen ist. So groß ist das Bankrott britischer Christentums gewesen. I waited for the British Church to express its prophetic voice. To protest the celebration of this pagan. And her illicit relationship with a muslim prince. Not a word. Not a statement. Even in its prophetic publications. Yeah, there's a repentance for which God is waiting. But it's not for our relief. It's for his. For we have offended against him since time memorial. And what rubs the salt into the wound. Is not to offend against him as pagans. But as Jews and as Christians. Who share together the same mentality. Of a religious convenience. Which serves the purposes of man. And is entirely indifferent to the purposes of God. Ultimate idolatry. Performed in the name of God himself. And still continuing. In seeking this cathartic relief. At Israel's expense. And the fact that this relief is never obtained. And needs again and again to be repeated. Shows how questionable are its motives. And how unrecognized. The church wants to repent toward Israel. I'll give you a good reason. Your failure to have made known to the Israel in your midst. The reality of its own messiah and God. In whom you professed to believe. Allowing them to co-exist side by side. To have their own religious institutions. As if somehow the synagogue is a church. Is a valid religious reality. And not a statement of continuing Jewish apostasy from Christ. Is there any nation in the world. That has had a longer Jewish presence than Germany. And has so little affected them by your witness. We had a direct mandate in scripture. This gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes. To the Jew first. And then also to the Greek. God's priority, God's order. Which we consciously circumvented. Because the Jews are so intimidating. And so bright. And intellectual. And professional. And their lives seem so well ordered. Better than ours. How dare we tell them that they are lost without our Christ. In whose name Jews have suffered historically in Germany. Such an obedience to the requirement of Jesus as Lord. Not to appear to Jews as being utmost arrogance. Who would dare perform it? Only one. That one who is truly repentant and broken. And has so descended into death. Which is what repentance is. Repentance of the inadequate religious life. And a coming forth in a newness of life. That does not need Jewish approval. And is willing to bear the offense. Of the gospel itself. In that you have failed. You have not maintained an apostolic witness. To that people whom God has placed in your midst. It's the statement of your failure. The betrayal of the kingdom. And it's gone on historically. And never been recognized. Nor acknowledged. As sin. And therefore continues still. The scandal of the Jew is something that polite Christianity cannot afford. And if German society has been anything, it's been polite. It's more important to be polite than to be radical. No wonder Nietzsche said, God is dead. He showed no evidence. In polite German Christianity. For a Christianity that is polite is not Christian. It's a contradiction in terms. The very nature of the faith is radical. And will always bring upon itself reproach. It's a reproach for which German Christians were unwilling. Of course Paul said he would wish himself accursed for his brethren's sake. That they might know Christ. Of course that's Paul. That's not us. That's a man speaking as a Jew. In his fleshly ethnic identification with his own people. Of course we could not be expected to have a burden like that. Really? Well I want to raise a question. Is Paul crying out in Romans 9 out of his Jewishness? What he is in the natural? Or is he crying out as an apostle? And that the grief he's expressing is not some ethnic identification? But that of the high priest and the apostle of the faith himself. If that's true. Then there's a possibility for an identification with the Jewish people. That is beyond sentiment. It is the deep heart cry of God himself. For which we would be willing to forfeit our own salvation. Did Paul have it because he was a Jew? Or because he was an apostle? I'm not talking about his title. I'm talking about his apostolic union with God. His repentance was authentic. It was not a little feeling sorry. It was a man who went down into death. And everything that he celebrated as a man and religiously died with him. All his categories went into death. And he was raised to newness of life. There's no one in whom the resurrected Christ had greater continuation than the apostle Paul. That's what he meant when he said for me to live as Christ. What's our excuse? What did Paul enjoy that is not available to us? What expression of the resurrection life? Which bears the grief of God for Israel? And the courage to express it is not available to us also. Everything depends on our repentance. Expressed in our baptism. Was it a burial? The only thing that our humanity deserves? For in the flesh is no good thing at all? Or was it a getting wet? Performing a religious obligation? By those who did not recognize that baptism is a burial. And if they knew it even now, would not desire it. How shall we expect apostolic reality from a church that is still alive unto itself and has never repented unto death and wants only relief and is itself the object of its own consideration I'm not arguing now for a form of baptism. My preference of course is for the full immersion as burial. But there are untold millions who have gone down that way and came up out of that water no more changed than those who were merely sprinkled. What was their intention? Certainly not death. Not burial. For they were not persuaded that there was anything about them that required so radical a thing. They are after all nice people. Who need only to be reformed. Improved. Not buried. You know what I'm saying? The Jew finds us out and has always revealed the condition of the church. Even Luther's condition. There is something about the unbelieving Jew. That reveals our secret heart and shows us where in fact we are. Not only with regard to them but with regard to God. A really repentant German Christian will tell Israel their sins and Jacob their transgressions. That's what we are told in Isaiah. Do not hold back. Lift your voice like a trumpet. Tell Israel of its sin and Jacob of his transgressions and that the holocaust was not some momentary historic aberration but the calculated judgment of God promised in scripture in Deuteronomy and Leviticus in the books of Moses of what would befall us in the last days if we will not acknowledge our transgression and that of our fathers that the sword would pursue us and terror in the chamber and the infant and the old man at the bottom and the young man and the maiden at the top exactly the way the bodies were stacked in the gas ovens. God may deter his judgment but he will not avert it or he is not God and only the people who will tell Jacob their sins and the judgment that is yet to come of which I spoke last night of which Jesus spoke that there will never again be anything like it that eclipses all of the suffering of the past even the Nazi holocaust itself and if that time were not cut short no flesh would survive that time is future the conditions for it are already at work it is near who will tell Israel their transgressions and that you are going to suffer again for your unrecognized transgression that instead of coming out of the holocaust broken and repentant to ask why did we suffer this where was God for his covenant people unless he was required to be silent or as the scripture says to turn his face from us and that what we have suffered is in exact proportion to our sins and the sins of our fathers for which there has been no capora no covering no remission for without the shedding of blood there is no remission for sin no Levitical priesthood no place of sacrifice no shedding of blood 2000 years of accumulated Jewish sin without a covering open and naked to the retribution of the powers of darkness only too happy to inflict the judgment and take a malicious delight in doing instead of crying out what was our sin we cried out never again not us we may have been victim in the past in our Jewish defenselessness but now in the possession of the state and the apparatus of the state we have the air force military power never again and who contradicts us who warns us who shows us the word of God of the judgments that have come and the judgments that will come only a church that really loves us loves our souls and wants to save us from the eternal fire and will speak a warning that will not be appreciated that will not be understood that will invite angry reprisal how dare you speak this to us German Christians after what we have suffered at your hands we have been your victim and so long as we can descend to them and walk on eggshells not to offend and to seek a reconciliation which never comes nor can it come is only serving our emotional need and offers nothing to the Jew redemptively it confirms them in their understanding of themselves as victim after all for what sin should they have been judged they live such a nice bourgeois life and made their contributions to society and never hurt anybody only those who have the courage to speak to them the truth can save them from the judgment that is to come both in time and eternity so long as they see themselves as victim victim of what of the church's failure the bankruptcy of Christianity and the corruption of the New Testament that encourages anti-Semitic attitudes so long as you can descend to them you confirm them in their victim mentality and their condemnation of the church and the church's message and the church's gospel and therefore it robs them of the only hope that could save them out of death and hell brother, what you're suggesting is frightening I don't have the courage for it I don't have the ability for it that's true in your present condition but the resurrected Christ to whom all authority has been given in heaven and in earth the high priest and the apostle of our confession the ultimate prophet who is also truth as he is also love he would not withhold himself he would suffer the death of their disappointment he would suffer the pain of their rejection he did it 2000 years ago in his own body and he will do it now in yours you will be able to say with Paul for me to live is Christ here is your sin you're falling short of the glory of God and living beneath the resurrection applauding yourself that you endorse the doctrine but have no necessity for its reality well able to conduct services and programs as a church that has its own satisfaction as its purpose for being but take the apostolic mandate of God seriously you'll have to say with Paul as I have to say standing tonight in front of you speaking this for the first time who is sufficient for these things a church that's sufficient is outside the faith it's already apostate and doesn't know it yes there's a repentance for which God is waiting but not the sentimental one that we thought that only provides us with a relief it's a deep repentance historically over done historically long standing and the truth of the church still even in its best charismatic forms only by his life could Paul Paul's apostolic burden for his brethren after the flesh be known only by his life only by his life only by that life could he have the courage to express it and suffer the rejection that it must bring only by the life the Christ life the resurrection life that union that oneness would have shown the Jew in your midst the difference between mere religion and authentic spirituality that demonstration was never made for 2000 years so what alternative did they have but their own rabbinical Judaism or secular culture and in that they perished we're called to move Israel to jealousy and Paul doesn't explain what that means as if this is a critical purpose for our life as the church to move to jealousy the enemies of the gospel is ultimate requirement and the church that can answer it is indeed the church and will only become such a church out of repentance an awareness of its terrible historic failure and its present failure still and a repentance unto death that we're really ready to die in the fire who am I? I'm done out of that death will come the life that will move Jews to jealousy even in admiration for your courage to face them with an unwelcome message that you know they're going to reject and yet you're compelled by the love of Christ you cannot keep silent you're Christ full and when they see this that you're willing to risk their censure and their condemnation you have the painful rejection of a Germany that so desperately wants Jewish approval that that very courage will move them to jealousy because they know it's beyond religion it's nothing other than God himself I'm a Jewish believer burdened both for Germany and for Israel but I'm strangely chafed at this so-called repentance needing continually to be repeated affecting nothing in the church and certainly nothing for the Jews for the kingdom of heaven is at hand this requires a valid baptism one that is a real burial because our history and present life has persuaded us that in ourselves there's no man good even our best intentions are not good enough only Christ the resurrected one as our life consistently is our answer and God has provided the means a baptism which is more than a religious ordinance it's a burial of that which needs to be brought to death for there's no hope for it even in its best German form we'll fall short of the glory of God who will enter those waters that's once and for all and if there's no resurrection after that burial you of all men are most to be buried then you are most to be pitied but don't think that you're going back to your job your business, your profession all of the nice amenities of your present life your hopes for the future you have no hope you've died to hope this is a newness of life and it's radical and it has one motivation only the glory of God and not our convenience it's for the want of this that God is waiting repentance we have practiced a Christianity of convenience and it left a great vacuum as it necessarily must and into it came demonic Nazism we made it possible we provided the vacuum into which this evil came as a flood for nature abhors a vacuum and will soon enough fill it if not with the reality of God then the reality of Satan Nazism is our fault respectable and polite Christianity not only made it possible but made it inevitable a kind of Christianity that we thought would be polite and humane where Goethe wanted to garland the cross with roses wonderful human sentimentality becomes ironically exactly its opposite in the most ugly, bizarre inhumanity and cruelty we can think in man be assured your sins will find you out and it will express itself ironically you celebrated humanism and wanted to be polite and nice then here is the fulfillment bestiality unbelievable cruelty utterly inhumane God is not mocked and whatsoever a nation sows that too will it reap there is no understanding of what is Jewish independent of what is German we have affected each other shaped a common culture conspired against God and against his king and we have both suffered for it what would it mean for a German church now that does not just seek its own cathartic relief but will find a place of true repentance and brokenness not only for itself but for its fathers but do not think that you would have done any better than they if you had lived in the Nazi time no man good nor not one we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God God is waiting for that repentance and the laying down of that life and the evidence of the truth of it that we will find a new ability and a burning passion to tell Jacob of their sins and Israel of their transgressions for that prophetic church that can warn of the judgment to come is alone qualified to speak of the restoration that will follow comfort ye comfort ye my brethren for they have suffered double for their sins they do not need some kind of schmaltzy sentimental pat on the back they need comfort that is by the spirit God's own word in the midst of their being judged by a people who did not withhold and did not spare they spoke the word of judgment they called Israel to the recognition of its sin they will also speak to Israel God's comfort that will be a comfort indeed the same comfort that you yourself will know who have been raised out of death unto newness of life and can rejoice in Christ Jesus as Savior and Deliverer you will comfort them with the same comfort wherewith you have been comforted if indeed you have been comforted and your religious life is not a fraud so this is the deep repentance that is needed not the holocaust as some regrettable momentary lapse an embarrassing historical failure but the inevitable consequence of our own long apostasy our sin is Israel's sin and it is exactly the same sin we will not charge them with their sins from some place of superiority from the place of brokenness the priestly place that is able to speak to a sinning people as those who know their own sins and are exactly as Israel's a church willing to come under the Jewish people in its priestly service for which they seek nothing for themselves no benefit, no satisfaction no personal relief for their sake and the Lord's sake a priestly church a broken church a repentant church what a blessing for Israel a real blessing and what a blessing for the German nation itself to have such a presence in its midst of a broken priestly people willing to come under another and forfeit any self interest of its own I can't think of any single message that Germany needs more to hear I can't think of any demonstration present Germany needs now more to see what is not only God's calling for the church of Germany but the nation itself God's purpose is not your imperial ambition that you should be a master people over the nations He knows your secret heart and this ambition has never died that when the historic reconciliation between East and West Germany came I personally did not rejoice something in the inner man now we will see it again the true Germany in its ambition and power betraying God's call not to be a great force in the world but a priestly nation to the people Israel so that they might be restored to Zion as the redeemed of the Lord for their redemption is His coming and His coming is His kingdom in which nations shall study war again no more the Jew is not just another ethnic people they are at the heart of God's theocratic design for only with their return will His law go forth out of Zion you could do nothing more for the nations not that they should admire your engineering brilliance and your masterful business ability but that you should effect Israel's true restoration that they might bless all the families of the earth and all the nations will know that the God of Jacob is a lone God that's your task go tell it at the Reichstag but with apostolic conviction not as a theory an opinion, a suggestion but as the word of the Lord to the nation spoken with authority by a people whom He has raised from the dead because they have deeply repented of their own sins and the sins of their fathers of which the holocaust was only a symptom the holocaust is to Germany what the crucifixion of Jesus is to Israel our Jewish sin is not the crucifixion of Jesus it's the summation of all our sins our long history of apostasy and the rejection of the prophets that were sent unto us that when the Lord Himself came we could not only not recognize Him but were offended by Him and had to crucify Him He was the summation of our sins and not the sin in itself so also the holocaust for Germany it's not the sin in itself it's the summation of all your sins through all your generations in converting the radical faith into a domestic addendum a Sunday convenience to the burglary life repent for your fathers and for yourselves for nothing has changed and God will not honor your false repentance that seeks only your relief He waits for this recognition this depth this death that He might be all in all Israel's destiny is at stake our eternal destiny waits more on such a church in Germany than in any other nation the nation that cast us into the physical fires is the same intended by God to save us from the eternal fire of His judgment you have a destiny a mandate unfulfilled that you cannot fulfill in yourself but only in the power of His life in union with Him both in death burial and resurrection I want to pray for such a repentance such a church such a nation Lord if this is your word it astonishes me but let the spirit of truth witness to it stab us in our hearts even where our minds cannot lay hold of all this it's so different from what we have understood thinking we were doing Israel service to let them alone to be polite come Lord in this first speaking of this word in this nation let there be from among this people the first fruits of repentance the first breaking the first willing going down into death the forsaking of all interest that if there is no resurrection this people of all people are most to be pitied and our Jewish people with them so in the name of Jesus as the minister of this word I invite you to repentance authentic repentance for yourself and for your fathers unto death a real going down in which when you are raised up your life will no longer be your own his Christ fools for his last days purpose and his purpose alone now don't mock God don't come out of your seat for psychological relief as a religious reflex action come out of your seat for death with the end of all your expectations even of how you were going to serve God it's no longer your problem it is his when he will have the total possession for the expression of his life who will come forward for this who will kneel at this platform for this you will validate your baptism and bring to it the meaning that God had always intended God waits for this repentance and who wants to come then kneel down this is the end and a new beginning and hope for Germany hope for Israel that is hope indeed the triumphant life of Christ that death could not contain which Jews had never seen in your midst will see now thank you Lord thank you Lord precious God look upon us this is not a sentimental gesture this is not a religious response this is significant response for those who have heard your word and have received your call seal it in heaven put an end to the natural life to the religious life to the charismatic life to the well-meaning life to the polite life and be radical be raised up in this people that they might lift their voice as a trumpet to tell Israel its sins Jacob his transgressions and Germany its error its false ambition its continuing imperialist desire for God has appointed a day in which he will judge all nations by that man whom he has raised from the dead let your voice be heard in this earth whether you were sprinkled with water or were baptized and immersed God is not interested in the form he is interested in the reality made possible by his own death and resurrection he gives you this opportunity to join him in the waters of death that you might be raised to newness of life more than politeness rehearse this with him you who are down on your knees Lord I receive my baptism though I didn't understand it then I understand it now and I receive it as my death I am buried with you and when I get up from my knees I fully expect to experience the resurrection for newness of life new thought, new expression new impulse new courage new love that's really love beyond sentiment that can be offended against and not fail for it is your love your unconditional love that Israel needs to experience by those who will convey it for they are in your life Lord I seal these children unto the resurrection and raise up in this church an intention beyond anything that men have conceived maybe for the first in the history of the church in Germany an apostolic church whose foundations are immovable for whom the kingdom has come beyond the petty religious ambitions of men because they have repented unto death even of their own design for the church that your kingdom might come seal it perform it be glorified by it let this night be historic for the church of Jesus Christ in this nation that Israel might be blessed and your soul gratified and your name glorified before all nations thy kingdom come is our cry and our belief our real hope in Jesus name we pray amen and amen give him priestly praise not something out of your mind just your spirit freely flowing all obstructions removed they have been brought to death your self consciousness give God your voice express your gratitude for so great salvation that he has made possible through our identification with him in death and resurrection let's lift up our voices beyond charismatic praise priestly praise uninhibited full of God himself God celebrating God through a people whose life is not their own whose praise is not their own whose prayers are not their own for whom to live is Christ for whom to worship is Christ for whom to serve is Christ give him your voices in priestly praise hallelujah hallelujah oh glory oh glory oh glory oh glory oh glory precious God and the King hallelujah and the Savior and the Redeemer the Holy One of Israel glory glory glory glory glory my Father and my God glory glory glory glory my Father and my God glory glory glory glory glory glory glory glory glory glory glory glory glory glory