God Provided the Sacrifice For Us

Kongsvinger Lutheran Church

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Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church. Kungsvinger is a beacon for the gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern

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Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone.

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And now, here's a message from Pastor Chris Roseberg. The Holy Gospel according to St.

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John, chapter 1, verses 29 through the first part of verse 42. The next day,

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John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him, and he said, Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

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This is He of whom I said, After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.

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I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.

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John bore witness. I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him.

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I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me,

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He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the

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Holy Spirit. And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.

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The next day, again, John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said,

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Behold, the Lamb of God. The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them,

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What are you seeking? And they said to him, Rabbi, which means teacher, where are you staying? He said to them,

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Come and you will see. So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day. For it was about the tenth hour.

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One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.

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He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, We have found the Messiah, which means

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Christ. And he brought him to Jesus. In the name of Jesus. So, our text begins with these words.

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The next day, John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him, and he said, Behold, the

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Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Man, there is a lot going on in that sentence.

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We are going to have to unpack that thing. In fact, we are going to have to do two things in this sermon this morning.

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We are going to have to first unpack what does it mean, Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

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The other thing we are going to have to do is pay close attention to how witnessing is done.

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There are some really confusing ideas out there about what it means to be a witness as a

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Christian. And we are going to clean some of that up today in our sermon. So, with that, we are going to first look at this idea.

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Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And by the way, what do you think the world means there in that context?

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Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of some. Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of those who were really trying hard, while the rest of the people who weren't really trying hard to be good, well, he didn't die for them.

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No, it's not what it says. Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the whole world.

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These are very comforting and assuring words for us. And the reason for this is this, is that, well, the devil being who the devil is, the great deceiver of the world, he would deceive you into believing, yeah, you know that sin that you committed, that one that you never tell anyone about, that sin that you were ashamed of, if it ever got out on social media, you'd want to die.

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That sin. Well, the devil says, yeah, Christ probably didn't die for that. When you stand before him, he's going to basically say, thanks for trying.

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I appreciate the fact that you believed in me, but you see, there's this sin that you committed that, whoa, that was like way beyond what

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I could die for. Or you can sit there and say, well, maybe Jesus died for Roger, because Roger's an upstanding guy.

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But for me, Pastor Rosebro, see, that's the reason why he's a pastor.

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He's trying really hard to make up the ground that's lost between him and Roger, right? That's not what the cross is about.

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The cross in this statement, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, tells us that there is no sin unaccounted for.

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There's no sin that fell through the rafters, is hiding in some dank, murky place right now, that at the end of the world,

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Jesus is going to pull out and go, whoa, forgot to die for that one. And this gives us hope.

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And this gives us confidence. And so when you hear the phrase, behold the

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Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, you can consider yourself part of that group.

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And the reason why is because you are. You are part of that group. That means everybody from Adam and Eve all the way to the last child born on the very, very last day of this planet.

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Christ has bled and died for the sins of the whole world. And it's important for us to understand this, that when we talk about Jesus bleeding and dying, it is a bloody affair.

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And this, to our 21st century ear, might sound really offensive.

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You seriously saying, Pastor Rose, bro, that the blood of Jesus, you know, blood, that God demanded a blood sacrifice?

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Well, let me do some unpacking here. Leviticus 17 .11, you don't need to turn there.

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I'll just read it to you. Here's what Leviticus 17 .11 says. The life of the flesh is in the blood, and Yahweh has given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls.

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For it is the blood that makes atonement by the life. And so you have to think of it this way.

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Is that your sin, every single one of them, your smallest and your greatest, and don't think for a second that somehow that God sits there and goes, well, there's these tiny little sins, and then there's ginormous sins, and things like that.

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No. How many sins did Adam and Eve commit before it plunged us into this horrifying curse?

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One. We're talking about a little petty theft in a garden. And it plunged us into the mire that we're in.

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So we need to stop thinking of sin as tiny little things. So every time you have not loved

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God with your whole heart, the first commandment, and every time you have not loved your neighbor as yourself, consult the second table of the

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Ten Commandments for details there. It includes things like murdering, committing adultery, coveting, lying, dishonoring your parents.

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Are you children listening? Yeah. Every time you've done that, you have earned for yourself an eternity in the lake of fire.

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Let that one kind of hang out there for a second. Are you really saying that that tiny little white lie that I told to my teacher when

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I was in third grade about my homework being eaten by the dog is going to send me to hell?

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Well, of course. Of course. We checked your dog and he did not have indigestion.

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Of course. And see, the thing is, in order to make things right with a holy

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God, well, there has to be a blood sacrifice. You see, grace is free, but it is not cheap.

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It is not cheap at all. In fact, I'd like to do a little cross -reference work so that we can get a biblical theology, a biblical understanding of what exactly was going on on the cross.

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So if you turn in your Bibles to Hebrews 9, verse 1. Hebrews 9, verse 1.

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I'll give you a second to get there. You're going to note that this portion of Scripture begins by making reference to the

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Old Testament tabernacle. If you're not sure what that is, the tabernacle became the temple.

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But the tabernacle began as this ugly tent out in the middle of the wilderness that God gave the specifications to Moses to construct.

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And whence this thing was constructed, it became a factory that didn't burn coal, that didn't burn wood.

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It was a factory of burning animal sacrifices. And the daily routine there at the tabernacle was a bloody affair.

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And it was a visual, tactile representation of just what it takes to forgive sins.

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But here's the rub. Not one of those animals that were sacrifices ever actually forgave a single sin.

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And that's what we're going to hear in this text. Now, as we've been working through the book of Exodus, I have noted that Old Testament is type and shadow, pointing to the reality.

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The temple itself is type and shadow of none other than Jesus Christ and His death on the cross.

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It always and ever pointed to Him. So let's take a look at Hebrews 9 as it begins to take

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Old and New Testament and helps us understand the reality of what Christ has accomplished for us.

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Verse 1, Now, even the first covenant, that's the Mosaic covenant, had regulations for worship in an earthly place of holiness.

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For a tent was prepared for the first section in which were the lampstand, the table, and the bread of the presence.

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Hmm. Bread of the presence. Hmm. Just let that one mull around in your mind for a minute.

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And it is called the holy place. Behind the second curtain was a second section called the most holy place.

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Having the golden altar of incense, the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron's staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant.

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And above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.

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These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section performing their ritual duties.

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That's the holy place. But in the second, that's the holy of holies, only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people.

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By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy place is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing, which is symbolic for the present age.

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According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered, and watch what it says, that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper.

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Now, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, and all of the blood sacrifice that that really involves actually can perfect the conscience of the worshiper.

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Hold the thought, and we'll talk about that as it relates to our assurance and confidence before God just a little bit further in the text.

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But, they deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of Reformation.

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But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, that's right, they have already arrived, then through the greater and more perfect tent not made with hands, that is, not of this creation, he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.

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A little bit of a note here. If you're thinking, is this text saying that the temple wasn't the real thing, that it was a copy of the real thing?

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Yeah, actually it's saying that, and it's going to say it even more explicitly in a few verses. Think of it this way.

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The temple that was on earth back in the time of Jesus, that was a replica.

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A replica of the real thing. The real thing was not made by human hands. It was made by God.

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And so we're going to find out that Jesus Christ, through his sacrifice and his blood, actually went into the real holy of holies to make peace with God for us.

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Talk about this a little bit more. Verse 13. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer sanctify for the purification of the flesh, well, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal

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Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our consciences from dead works to serve the living

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God? And this is an important note here. Hmm. The Lamb of God.

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Whose lamb is it? God's lamb. Now, if you think of it this way, all of the religions of the world and all of the perversions of Christianity say that you are made right with God by your sacrifice, your obedience, the things that you do, or maybe the check that you write.

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I like that. Please make your check payable to Pastor Chris Roseborough. But see, Scripture flips this on its head.

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You see, it's not about you bringing your sacrifice. It's about God providing for you the sacrifice in his grace, in his mercy, as a gift.

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Remember when Abraham was told to sacrifice his son Isaac. And the way the text reads,

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Sacrifice your son, your only son, on the mountain that I have commanded. You say,

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Only son. Wasn't Ishmael? Another sermon. We'll talk about that in a different sermon. But what happens?

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While Abraham and Isaac are climbing Mount Moriah, Isaac is sitting there going, Well, we've got the fire.

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I see the knife. Where's the lamb for the sacrifice? More truer words you will never hear in Scripture.

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Abraham answered, God himself will provide the sacrifice. And he did.

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It wasn't Isaac. The sacrifice that God has provided is his son, who has bled and died for you.

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The lamb of God. The spotless, sinless lamb of God. The true sacrifice for our sins wasn't something you brought.

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It was something that God brought for you. Or should I say, someone whom

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God brought for you. Verse 15 So therefore, Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance since the death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

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An important motif in Scripture is this concept that eternal life is an inheritance. Let me remind you that inheritances, we all know how they work.

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Grandma, she's loaded. We can't wait for her to crump because as soon as she's gone, oh man, the inheritance is coming and we're going to Tahiti, baby.

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That's a little crass. But you get the idea. The idea is an inheritance is given upon someone's death.

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And eternal life is an inheritance. Scripture says it over and over and over again.

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Even the Jews in Jesus' day understood it's an inheritance. Remember that rich young ruler? Lord, what must

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I do to inherit eternal life? What a dumb question. Just wait for the person to die who's going to give you the inheritance and wait for the will to be read out.

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This is the point. So, Jesus is the mediator of a new covenant so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance since the death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant for where there is a will involved uh huh,

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I think last will in testament the death of the one who made it must be established for a will takes effect only at death since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood for when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to the people he took the blood of calves and goats with water and scarlet wool and hyssop and sprinkled both the book itself and all of the people saying this is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you and in the same way he sprinkled with blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship indeed under the law almost everything is purified with blood and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins let me say it again without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins and this should give us pause because we've all heard preachers, popular preachers in our day who never talk about sin they always talk about mistakes they never talk about things that you've committed against God by sinning and transgressing his holy law they always paint you out to be the victim you would be achieving great things in your life if only people hadn't have spoken terrible words over you saying you'll never amount to anything now

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I'm not justifying that kind of talk but the problem is this our problem with God has nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that we're not living up to our potential the problem is is that we've transgressed

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God's holy and eternal law and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins to rightly understand the problem and the only solution that is offered in scripture requires me as a pastor to do that thorny thing and look at each of you in the eye and say you are a sinner you do not do what you ought to do you know you should do better and you don't and don't think for a second that God sits there and goes well

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I just understand that humans are frail and weak and so I'll just turn a blind eye that's not the solution that's offered the solution like I said is free it's a gift but it is not cheap and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins and Christian preaching that does not call sinners to repent and to trust in the shed blood of Christ spilled on the cross of Calvary is not

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Christian preaching or as Paul says in 1 Corinthians I chose to know nothing among you except for Christ and Him crucified important stuff now verse 23 it was necessary therefore for the copies the copies of the things in heaven the tabernacle, the temple itself that the heavenly things be purified the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these for Christ has entered not into holy places made with hands which are copies of the true things but into heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf and you're sitting there going where does it say this in Scripture that Jesus went into heaven into the temple in heaven in order to enter into the holy place well to appear in God's presence with His own blood in hand answer, it says it right here this is giving you information that no human being ever saw with their own eyes but was revealed through the

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Holy Spirit to the divine author of the book of Hebrews for Christ has not entered into the holy places made with hands which are copies of the true things but into heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf for us nor was it to offer

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Himself repeatedly as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood that is not

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His own for then He would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world but as it is He has appeared once and for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself and just as it is appointed for man to die once and after that comes the judgment so Christ having been offered once to bear the sins of many will appear a second time not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him for since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come and this is a very vital text over and again

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I say Old Testament type and shadow New Testament the reality the form the substance that appears that casts the shadow in the

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Old Testament Hebrews 10 .1 explicitly says that the Torah has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities and it can never by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year make perfect those who draw near now a quick note here if the tabernacle that becomes

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Solomon's temple is burned down rebuilt by Herod is a copy of the thing in Heaven and is a type and shadow pointing us to the reality and the reality is

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Christ do the math on this there is a whole group of Christians today in our country and around the world who think it's a good thing that the

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Israelites are hoping to someday rebuild the temple in Jerusalem based on what we know from this text is that a good thing or a bad thing?

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it would be bad it would actually be an abomination it's a physical literally if it were rebuilt it would be a physical daily poke in the eye of Jesus and say we deny that you have died for our sins and the temple was pointing to you the whole time it's the bringing back of the type and shadow and the denying of the substance that it always pointed to so keep that in mind verse 2 otherwise would they not have ceased to be offered since the worshippers having once been cleansed would no longer have any consciousness of sin but in these sacrifices there's a reminder of sins every year for it's impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins doesn't say it's hard doesn't say it's difficult doesn't say it's challenging it says it's impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins none of the

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Old Testament sacrifices ever did that they always pointed to the mercy of God that was coming in Christ so consequently when

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Christ came into the world He said sacrifices and offerings you have not desired but a body you have prepared for me and burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure and then

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I said behold I have come to do your will oh God as it is written to me in the scroll of the book and when He had said above you have neither desired nor taken pleasure and sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings these are offered according to the

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Torah then He added behold I have come to do your will He does away with the first in order to establish the second notice verse 9

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Christ has done away with the Torah and all of its sacrifices and He has established the second covenant which is the new covenant and by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all notice sanctified is in the past tense you have already been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ period once for all think of it this way scripture is clear you are not made holy by Jesus' work plus your work it's not like there's a part of your sinfulness where you can say don't worry

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Jesus I got it I'll take care of that part and you can just take care of the rest that's not how this works

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Jesus' sacrifice is a sacrifice once for all for every one of your sins and He's the

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Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world verse 11 every priest stands daily at his service offering repeatedly the same sacrifices which can never take away sins doesn't say they can't take away sins from time to time never but when

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Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins He sat down at the right hand of God waiting from that time until His enemies should be made a footstool for His feet for by a single offering

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He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified hmm it sounds like that behold the

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Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world statement when you start to unpack what Scripture reveals about it that's huge so huge that it can actually begin to do something crazy make you begin to think maybe just maybe

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I can be saved and it begins to give you a little bit of confidence because if you think about your sin and the things that you've done the things that you are ashamed of these are the kinds of things that well wake you up in the middle of the night have you ever done this?

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you know there you are sleeping soundly and maybe your dreams kind of drift off into a bizarre direction and all of a sudden you wake up with a start and you go

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I'm going to die someday and that fear and dread and doubt and oh my goodness what am

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I going to say starts to come into your mind and what do we try to do? we start to arrange and kind of sort through our life well

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I did this good thing I did this good thing I went to church on that Sunday and I wrote that big check that one time and then you start to think about the other column and you and you start to kind of weigh them and always that sin pan just goes tonk you know and what does it do?

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it creates inside of you anxiety so that the idea of standing face to face with Christ doesn't bring you joy or peace or something that you long for instead what it brings you is complete fear and dread oh no there's

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Jesus where's a rock? I've got to hide under it but when you understand behold the

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Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world you begin to have a different set of feelings and these feelings are

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I can't wait to worship at His feet and thank

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Him for what He has done for me there is no longer any fear only a longing to see

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Him face to face and a confidence of His love and His mercy towards you you see the cross is everything and when you try to add to it you lose it all

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His sacrifice is once and for all verse 15 the

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Holy Spirit also bears witness to us saying this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days declares the

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Lord I will put my laws on their hearts write them on their minds and He adds I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more is that saying

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God's gonna get me off Scott free? yes because Jesus actually suffered in your place and where there is forgiveness of these there's no longer any offering for sin you don't need to try to please

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God or earn your salvation by your works your checks all the things that you'd want to try to offer up put those away regarding justification do them because you are saved not in order to be saved therefore brothers since we have and watch this word confidence not fear not doubt not anxiety confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus you can literally no joke because of the blood of Christ waltz right in to the very presence of God and he will not smoke you you have confidence because of the blood of Christ by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain that is through his flesh and since we have a great high priest over the house of God let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance that's right you can have assurance and have confidence and know that you are saved now you are made pleasing to God by Christ and his shed blood for you so you have the opposite of fear, anxiety and doubt now you have confidence now you have assurance with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience that's right you don't need to feel your guilt no more the blood of Christ even sprinkles clean those evil thoughts within your conscience and our bodies have been washed with pure water think baptism so let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering for he who promised is faithful let me ask you this when was the last time

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Jesus lied to you? never so let us then because of all of this let us consider how to stir up one another to love and to good works and oh that's just the result of all of this you have been set free you have been forgiven now you can forgive you can love and you can serve and you can sit there and go

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I don't care how cranky and awful and terrible that person is they can't make me stop loving them because Jesus loves me not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some and this is a good point that I would like to make here keep coming to hear these words because Christ has promised to be here for you every

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Sunday to forgive your sins to feed you with his word and to give you his body and blood this is where he's promised to be for you to continue to heal you to forgive you to bind up your wounds to strengthen you and give you the food from heaven to keep you on your wilderness wanderings as we wait until the day when he returns or we join him in heaven so not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some but encouraging one another all the more as you see the day drawing near he's coming back we can say yeah

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I can't wait now let's consider then how this then our text our gospel text points us to how we are to witness and this is where I might say something that may step on somebody's toes understand this

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I'm not stepping on your toes in order to just step on your toes if you say in your spirit ouch it may be just may be that Pastor Rosebro isn't crazy but maybe he has a point so here's the idea many people teach and believe that in order to share the gospel with somebody and be a witness to Christ they have to have one whopper of a conversion story and so we think the greatest spokesmen for Jesus are the ones who say let me tell you

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I used to be a scumbag I used to be in the mafia and I'd break the kneecaps of like 10 people a day and then

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I would get high every night but then somebody said you know you gotta try Jesus out and I thought that they were crazy and so the next day

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I woke up in a pile of my own vomit and then I thought you know what I'd give Jesus a try and so now

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I'm not a scumbag anymore I'm only mostly a scumbag and so you need to try Jesus too because he's going to make your life so much better a little bit of a caricature here's the problem the person who is doing that they're not actually telling you about Jesus the

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Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world they're telling you about themselves and how much more gooder they are

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I know it's bad English but you get the point they're not really pointing to the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world they're saying yo look at me and that's the problem that's not bearing witness to Christ that's bearing witness to yourself and I've got news for you this is a therapeutic kind of Jesus they're talking about the what's in it for me

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Jesus I mean after all I mean if Jesus isn't going to make your life better of what use is he but Jesus promises us in this lifetime persecution and suffering and a cross and tells us to deny ourselves so the experience of being a

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Christian may be like the worst thing ever and you're going to note this there are some in this congregation who have grown up in the

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Christian faith they never spent time in the mafia never broke anyone's kneecaps and they've come to church have their sins forgiven

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Sunday after Sunday they've raised their children and now they're living a quiet peaceable life paying their taxes waiting to retire and so they sit there and they think because well cousin

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Vinny over here has this great testimony and I don't that somehow I can't talk about Jesus as if my well my testimony isn't compelling enough your testimony has nothing to do with pointing people to the

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Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world and let me show you from the text going a little long today the next day

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John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him and said behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world this is he of whom

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I said after me comes a man who ranks before me because he was before me I myself did not know him but for this purpose

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I came baptizing with water that he might be revealed to Israel John bore witness and said

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I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove and it remained on him I myself did not know him but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me he on whom you see the

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Spirit descend and remain he this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit and I have seen and bore witness that this is the

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Son of God notice it says bore witness witness witness witness who is

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John talking about himself or Jesus does scripture ever reveal that John the

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Baptist went through that really wild college phase where he sowed his wild oats and then Jesus turned his life around no but he is the quintessential witness because John basically tells us nothing about himself and keeps saying that's him that's him that's the

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Lamb of God he's the take he's the one who takes away the sin of the world to be a witness is to point people to Jesus not you which means it doesn't matter how great or terrible your story is that doesn't matter what matters is he's the

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Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world let me tell you about Jesus and this is what it means to be a witness the next day

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John was standing with two of his disciples that's right two of his leadership team and they looked at Jesus as he walked by and said behold the

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Lamb of God the Lamb of God knowing full well by doing this that his leadership team was going to shrink and so the two disciples heard him say this and they followed

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Jesus and Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them what are you seeking and they said to him teacher where are you staying he said to them come you will see so they came and saw where he was staying and they stayed with him that day for it was about the tenth hour one of the two heard

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John speaking and followed Jesus it was Andrew Simon Peter's brother that's right the great apostle

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Peter he found his brother Simon and said to him we found the Messiah and he brought him to Jesus to be a witness is to bring someone to Jesus to point them to Jesus Peter had to have somebody bring him to Jesus John the

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Baptist brought his own disciples to Jesus you are here today because somebody brought you to Jesus so don't think for a second that witnessing is somehow this really mystical very difficult thing to do all it requires is for you to bring someone to Jesus in the name of Jesus Amen 470th

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Ave NW Oslo MN 56744 and again that address is

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Kungsvinger Lutheran Church 15950 470th

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Ave NW Oslo MN 56744 We thank you for your support