Cleansed by the Blood

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 Saint Mark, chapter 14, verses 12 through 26.

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And on the first day of unleavened bread, when they had sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the

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Passover? And he sent two of them and his disciples and said, go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you.

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Follow him. And wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, the teacher says, where is my guest room where I may eat the

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Passover with my disciples? And he will show you a large upper room, furnished and ready. There, prepare for us.

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And the disciples set out and went to the city and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the

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Passover. And when it was evening, he came with the twelve, and as they were reclining at the table and eating,

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Jesus said, truly I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.

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And they began to be sorrowful and say to him one after another, is it I? And he said to them, it is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread into the dish with me.

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For the son of man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the son of man is betrayed.

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It would have been better for that man if he had not been born. And as they were eating, he took bread and after blessing it, broke it and gave it to them and said, take, this is my body.

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And he took a cup and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them and they all drank of it.

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And he said to them, this is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many.

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Truly I say to you, I will not drink of it again of the fruit of the vine until that day when

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I drink it anew in the kingdom of God. And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the

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Mount of Olives. This is the gospel of the Lord. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

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I hope you're ready for a little Bible study tonight. We've got to do some Bible study.

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But let me first paint for you the problem. I am a sinner.

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You all are sinners. I know that doesn't make you feel good about yourselves, but see that's the problem.

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And when sinful human beings come in contact with the Holy God, usually that encounter is one that doesn't fare well for the sinner.

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In other words, if we want to stand in the presence of God, as the book of Hebrews says, without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

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With that, let's work through some of our texts. In fact, let's work through all of them and add to them, shall we not?

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Exodus 24, starting at verse 3. We hear now the children of Israel are going to come in full -blown covenant with Yahweh.

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He's revealed his word to Moses, and Moses has written down the

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Scriptures. And if you remember the very end of this pericope, in verse 11 of 24, it says these words.

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And God did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel.

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They beheld God and ate and drank. That's an important verse.

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And the reason why that verse is important is because that would not be the normal result when sinful human beings are in close proximity with the

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Holy God. So we'll pay attention to the details of this. Verse 3. Moses came and told the people all the words of Yahweh and all the rules.

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These are the commandments. And all the people answered with one voice, and they said, all the words, the davarim that Yahweh has spoken, we will do.

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They intend to. They won't exactly do that. We'll have to talk about that as we work through the remainder of this portion of Exodus.

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As you remember, the children of Israel were quite known for their grumbling and their lack of faith. But here they've said, we will do these words.

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And Moses wrote down all the words of Yahweh. Did you catch that, by the way?

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This is the beginning of the Scriptures. This is when they first begin to be penned.

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Included in the works here, it would include Genesis and portions of Exodus up to this point.

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As well as the parts of the Mosaic Covenant that are recorded for us in the other portions of the

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Torah. So it says this. Moses rose early in the morning. He built an altar at the foot of the mountain.

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And 12 pillars according to the 12 tribes of Israel. Remind me during our

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Sunday school, when we get to this chapter in a few weeks, to show you where this is.

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I know exactly where it is on planet earth. We'll take a look at it in some of the photographs of this place.

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This is the foot of Mount Sinai. So he sent young men of Israel. He sent young men who offered burnt offerings.

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Sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to Yahweh. And so you'll notice here, they're shedding blood.

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That's an important bit and we'll talk about why that's important in a minute. Moses took half of the blood, put it in basins.

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Half the blood he threw against the altar. Then he took the book of the covenant. Read it in the hearing of the people.

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And they said, all that Yahweh has spoken we will do. And we will be obedient.

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Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said,

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Behold the blood of the covenant Yahweh has made with you in accordance with all of these words.

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And then Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu and the 70 elders of Israel went up Mount Sinai.

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And they saw the God of Israel. Probably looked just like Jesus. There was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone.

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That shows up again in the book of Revelation. Like the very heaven for clearness. And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel.

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They beheld God and they ate and they drank. A feast with God eating and drinking.

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Sinners not consumed by God's wrath. But able to stand in his presence without his wrath and judgment breaking out against them.

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Now, turn with me over to the book of Hebrews. The book of Hebrews chapter 9.

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We are going to look starting at verse 18. This is a direct cross reference to what we just read.

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We need to pay attention to the details here. Hebrews 9 .18

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Therefore, not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood.

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For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all 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,

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This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you.

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So you notice that this covenant was established by blood. With blood. And that those sacrifices were for the forgiveness of their sins.

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And so in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent, all the vessels used in worship.

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You can kind of say there was blood everywhere. Now, when I was growing up, long time ago, there was this ride called

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America Sings at Disneyland. Actually, it was the Country Bear Jamboree now that I think about it.

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It was the Country Bear Jamboree. And when you go into the Country Bear Jamboree, partway through the show, this bear shows up and this bear starts singing a song.

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And the song is, Blood on the sidewalk. Blood on the ground.

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And there was blood everywhere, right? So I want you to consider this if you would.

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There is literally blood everywhere. Moses has taken this blood, put it in basins.

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He has sprinkled the people. There's blood on their face, blood on their garments.

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There's blood on the tent. There's blood on the Book of the Covenant. There's, well, it's a bloody mess.

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And without, listen to what the text says. Indeed, under the law, almost everything is purified with blood.

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Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins.

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This is offensive to many people today. Many. But this is most certainly true.

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Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. And see, the text then continues.

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Verse 23, Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites.

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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.

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Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly as the high priests enter the holy places every year with blood that is not his own.

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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.

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And just as it is appointed for man to die once and after that comes 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.

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So we see that our salvation, our ability to have a right standing with God, our ability to feast with God, here tonight at the altar, and there at the great wedding feast of the

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Lamb, the inauguration of the new heavens and the new earth, what makes it possible for us to eat and for God not to break out against us in the same way that God did not break out against those 70 elders is the blood of Christ.

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Now, that's an important little bit of information. Now I would like for you to consider another text that might seem a little out of place, but actually will help us as we consider what the text we looked at tonight really mean.

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If you would flip over with me to Isaiah chapter 6. Isaiah chapter 6.

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In the year the king Uzziah died, Isaiah writes, I saw

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Yahweh sitting upon a throne high and lifted up. And the train of his robe filled the temple, and above him stood the seraphim, each had six wings.

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With two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.

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And one called out to another saying, Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh.

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Chayahweh savaoth. Notice the triple holy here.

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Kadosh means holy in Hebrew. Holy, holy, holy.

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Father, Son, Holy Spirit. The whole earth is full of his glory, and the foundations of the threshold shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.

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And I said, Oh, woe is me. I'm lost. I'm a man of unclean lips. I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the king,

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Yahweh savaoth. This is about the standard reaction that you would expect from a sinful human being in the presence of the holy

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God. One of the seraphim, they flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar.

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And he touched my mouth and said, and by the way, where had that coal been?

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The altar. Sacrifices are on the altar. Behold, this has touched your lips.

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He touched my mouth with it and said, Behold, this has touched your lips. Your guilt is taken away, and your sin is atoned for.

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Really? Really? His guilt taken away and his sin atoned for simply because a hot burning ember from the altar had touched his lips.

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Hmm. Isn't that interesting? Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins.

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And with that little bit of information, let's take a look at our gospel text. In our gospel text, we are in Mark chapter 14.

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So we walk through this. The night that Jesus was betrayed, the first day of unleavened bread, when they sacrificed the

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Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, Where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the

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Passover? And he sent two of his disciples and said to them, Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you.

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Follow him. Wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, The teacher says, Where is my guest room where I may eat the

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Passover with my disciples? And he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready.

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There, prepare for us. And the disciples set out and went to the city and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the

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Passover. The Passover is this wonderful event where the blood of the lamb on the lintel doors of the

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Israelites caused the destroyer to pass over them. Yeah, that blood does some amazing stuff, if you would.

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And without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. And so when it was evening, he came with the twelve, and as they were reclining at the table and eating,

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Jesus said, Truly I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me. Jesus is getting ready now in earnest for the long night ahead and for the tough

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Friday's day work before his Saturday rest. They began to be sorrowful, and they said to Jesus one after another,

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Is it I? He said to them, It is one of the twelve, the one who is dipping bread into the dish with me. The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to the man by whom the

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Son of Man is betrayed. It would have been better if that man had not been born. And so as they were eating,

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Jesus took bread, and after blessing it, he broke it and gave it to them and said,

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Take, this is my body. And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and when he had given thanks, they all drank of it, and he said to them,

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This is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many.

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Truly I say to you, I will not drink of it again, of the fruit of the vine, until the day when

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I drink it anew in the kingdom of God. You see, the bread and the wine,

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Christ hands them to his disciples and says, This is my body.

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This is my blood. This is my body, and this is the blood of the new covenant.

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You see, the new covenant is established, as the divine author of Hebrews pointed out, through the shedding of blood, because without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins.

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And that shedding of blood was Christ's own blood. And so, here, now, we see something quite amazing.

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Passover gives way to Christ, because it was always pointing to Him in the first place.

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But now we've got this very fascinating thing. These wonderful, comforting words, broken and shed for you, for the forgiveness of your sins.

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Think of it this way. The wrath of God would break out and destroy all of us because of our sin.

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And so when we come tonight to receive Christ's body and blood, like Isaiah, now he had a coal from the altar touch his tongue.

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We have the body and blood of Christ touch our tongues. How much more are our sins atoned for and are we forgiven than even

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Isaiah was? Think of it this way. The door of your body is your mouth and your tongue.

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And the blood of Christ, there, after having the Lord's Supper tonight, will be right there on the door of your body.

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And God in His wrath passes over. You are forgiven. You are set free.

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It's so amazing when you think of it. This is such a gift that we have from Christ.

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It is so powerful because the promises are sure and certain because, well,

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I hate to break it to you. I'll tell you about it more on Sunday. But Jesus actually rose from the grave.

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So we'll talk about it then. But because He's risen from the grave, we know with confidence that His sacrifice for our sins was accepted by God.

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And now His blood and His body, broken and shed for us, they've done their atoning work.

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And so over and again, God gives us the gift, not just merely of His Word, but also

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He gives us the gift of Christ's very body and blood so that our lips can be touched and we can have confidence that we are forgiven by God.

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And this is so powerful because our sinful, weak human flesh causes us to do things on a daily basis that we know that we must be forgiven for.

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And the devil would then whisper in your ear and say, you call yourself a Christian. How can you possibly think that you are saved?

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But Christ says, no, I have fed you with my very body and blood.

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You are forgiven. Your sins are atoned for. You can stand in the presence of God like the 70 elders,

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Moses, Nadab, and Abihu, like Isaiah did, and like all the saints do now in the very presence of God who have gone before us, who are awaiting our arrival or who will return when

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Jesus comes, if it should be next Thursday. And so, tonight, as we think about Christ's passion,

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His all -nighter on trial, He knew exactly what

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He was doing. He knew exactly what He was doing so that the night before He instituted the very signs of the covenant, instituted the

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Lord's Supper for our comfort and for our assurance. So every time you take this feast, you feast with Christ, you feast with God, all the angels in heaven, and with all of each other.

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That's kind of the last little fun bit. If you take a look at 1 Corinthians 10, the last portion of our readings for tonight, here's what

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Paul wrote in verses 16 and 17. The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ?

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The answer to the question is, well, of course it is, because Christ said, this is

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My blood shed for you. The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?

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Of course it is. The reason why it is, is because Christ says, take, eat. This is

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My body broken for you. So because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.

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Think of it this way, is that when we have the Lord's Supper, we have communion with God by virtue of the fact that we are participating in the blood and the body of Christ.

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But because each and every one of you receive this same gift in your mouth, we are all in Christ.

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He is in all of us. We have communion with each other.

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The thing that unites us in the Lord's Supper is not the vessel that holds the wine or the blood of Christ, or whether we eat chewy bread or thin bread, it doesn't matter.

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What unites us is the body and blood of Christ. That wonderful gift that touches our mouth, that causes the destroyer to pass over, and for us to be assured that our sins are forgiven.

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So tonight, when you eat and when you drink, focus on these words, for the forgiveness of your sins.

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Take heart. The blood of Christ from the altar has touched your lips.

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Your sins are put away. You are forgiven. In the name of Jesus, Amen.

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