The Unholy Made Holy

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Date: Holy Trinity Sunday Text: John 3:1-17 www.kongsvingerchurch.org

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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. John, the third chapter.
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Glory be to thee, O Lord. Now there was a man of the
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Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night, and he said to him, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.
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Jesus answered him, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to him,
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How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?
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And Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
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That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit. So do not marvel that I said to you,
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You must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear it sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.
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So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. Nicodemus said to him, How can these things be?
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And Jesus answered him, Are you the teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? Truly, truly,
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I say to you, we speak of what we know and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony.
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If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
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No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from the heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the
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Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave
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His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.
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For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.
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This is the gospel of the Lord. In the name of Jesus. Amen. Last week was
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Pentecost Sunday, and we read the pericopes regarding Christ and the Father sending the Holy Spirit.
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And we were reminded again that the Spirit is the Spirit of truth, not of error, of weird things.
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He's the Spirit of truth, and Christ specifically says that the Holy Spirit is going to convict the world regarding sin, righteousness, and unbelief.
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That's kind of the point. In fact, let me make this point right up front here. The situation that we have all been born into is dire.
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It is not something that is a light wound. Over and again I like to think about the fact that Miracle Max made it so that Wesley can come back because he was only mostly dead.
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Well, the reality is this, is that we were born stone -cold dead, dead in trespasses and sins and objects of God's wrath.
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We, each and every one of us, are unholy. And Scripture makes it clear that unholiness is likened to phrases that are not exactly ones that we would like to embrace.
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Unholiness is likened to uncleanness, to dirt and to filth and things of that nature, things that are smelly, putrid, and decaying.
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That's the way unholiness is described. And over and again you'll note in Scripture when unholy human beings like you and like me come into the presence of the
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Holy, it generally is an uncomfortable situation. It's generally uncomfortable, and it should be, because being in the presence of the
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Holy is the thing that points out just how unholy and in need of washing and bathing we are.
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I sometimes think about the fact that when I do the occasional yard work, and don't get me wrong here,
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I don't do it all the time, but from time to time I'll actually go out in the yard and do some things, right?
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That when I come back into the house, my wife goes, phew, you go take a shower.
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What is that smell? What is that odor? I have this amazing ability to make my own personal odor.
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Well, sin is a lot like that, and we need to be cleaned of it. So consider then, we'll weave together all of our text together in this way, that Jesus in his conversation with Nicodemus, the
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Nicodemite passage, he makes it clear that man's condition is so bad that we have to be born, and I'll use the
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Greek word here, anothen, from above. I really think that's what Jesus is getting at, that the situation is so dire that there's no way to repair what's broken in us.
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So we have to actually be born from above, born again as Peter says in his epistle in 1
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Peter. And that means that what we have going on for us, well, all of that's got to die.
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We're going to be saved not by restoring what is wrong within us right now.
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We're going to be saved through death and resurrection. There's nothing here that can be redeemed.
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It's got to die, and Christ has to raise it from the dead. And so with that, consider then the account of Isaiah's commissioning.
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From this text, we surmise that Isaiah may have been a priest. He may have been a Levite. And this vision that he has of the
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Lord high and lifted up inside the temple may have been while his eyes being open to a reality that we don't normally see.
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And you'll note that he came undone as a result of that particular experience. It says this,
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In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up. And the train of his robe, it filled the temple.
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And above him stood the seraphim. Now a little bit of a note here.
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That's an interesting word. You guys remember the account from Numbers of the people of Israel grumbling against God, and so God sent fiery serpents into the camp?
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Those are called the nechashim, seraphim. So seraphim are serpentine angels, if you were.
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It's a weird way to think of them, but they have feet. So what do you call a serpent with feet?
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I don't know, maybe a dragon, something like that? So we see here something about, ah, this might explain what's going on in the
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Garden of Eden. It also explains the imagery from the Book of Revelation because Satan himself is described as a dragon.
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So here are the seraphim, these awesome creatures in the very presence of God. They have six wings.
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Two, they cover their face. Two, they cover their feet. And two, they fly. And they're one and called to another, and they're crying to each other, kadosh, kadosh, kadosh,
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Yahweh, Sabaoth. Holy. Holy. Holy.
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The triple holy. You'll note that it kind of hints at the doctrine of the Trinity, does it not?
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The whole earth is full of his glory. And with this pronouncement, then, of God being holy and Isaiah in the presence of the holy, we hear that 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 to myself, woe is me. I'm lost. I'm a man of unclean lips. I dwell in the midst of people of unclean lips.
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My eyes have seen the king, the lord of hosts. What does Isaiah expect is going to happen next?
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That his prophecy will end with these words, thus perished Isaiah. Because Isaiah here is woefully made aware of just how sinful and unclean he is.
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And to be in the presence of the holy is one of those things that causes you to recognize just what the real problem is.
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Fast forward, then, to the day of Pentecost. Last week, we noted we heard the first part of Peter's sermon, so we heard
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Peter's sermon part one, to be continued next week. Well, this is next week, and so we're going to continue with Peter's Pentecost sermon by way of reminder the
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Holy Spirit has been sent. Galileans who are not known for studying other languages proclaim the wonders of God to all the people in Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost in their own languages.
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And they were all wondering what was going on, and Peter has stood up, and he has just quoted from the prophet
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Joel, all who call on the name of the Lord, who call on Christ, will be saved.
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And then he continues, So men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know.
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Never in all the history of humanity has there ever been a man like Jesus who can walk on the water, who can calm a storm with a word, who can raise the dead by calling them by name out of the grave, who cleansed the lepers, gave sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, and cast out demons.
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In all of the annals of human history, there is none like Christ. And his works are held up today to us by his apostles in the written living
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Word of God, so that God is attesting that Jesus is the one whom he promised that he would send.
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So Jesus, he was delivered up according to the definite plan and the foreknowledge of God, and you crucified, and you killed by the hands of lawless men.
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Now, I've gotten into a few conversations, shall we say, debates, spats, on Twitter.
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Twitter is a cesspool, by the way. It's just a terrible place. But from time to time, if I ever say anything that is remotely interpreted as even being the slightest bit inaccurate, somebody comes flying out of the
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Twitterverse to get up in my face and say, You're being extreme, Rose, bro.
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That's not true. You're slandering and all this nonsense. And so I could just see
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Peter, if he tweeted this out, like highlights from his sermon today. He tweets out, You crucified the
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Lord of life. You could just see somebody go, What do you mean I crucified the Lord of life? I wasn't even there. It's the 21st century.
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I live in North Dakota. Come on. Right? Because everybody knows how innocent North Dakotans are.
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I'm speaking in Minnesota, so we should all say amen to that, right? Dwayne's making a note.
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This is the official name of the sermon. Got it. Okay. Evil North Dakotans.
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Got it. All right. But all of that being said, is Peter engaging in hyperbole?
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Is he being inaccurate? No, he's not. And it's true that there were people who were listening to Peter's sermon that day who were not there when
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Pilate said, Whom shall I release to you, Jesus or Barabbas? They weren't in the crowd saying,
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Free Barabbas. What do I do with Jesus? Crucify him. I mean, some guy had just come in from Pentecost.
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His boat arrived two days earlier, and he had just arrived in Jerusalem for the Feast of Pentecost. He wasn't even there.
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And what does Peter say? You. You crucified him. And this is where we have to come to grips with something that is very important that we come to grips with.
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Just like I said, we're not mostly dead. We are totally dead. We are extremely unholy, broken beyond repair.
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We are sinful and guilty before God, and each and every one of us has deserved an eternity in hell. And here's the thing.
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Christ, because he died for your sins and mine, you and I are guilty of crucifying
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Jesus. So don't sit there and say, Oh, it was those pesky
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Jews. It was the Pharisees. Oh, it was the Romans. And we all know how evil those guys are.
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No, it was you. You crucified Christ. And so did
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I. If you cannot come to grips with this and confess this, you do not yet know the magnitude of your sin.
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And you do not yet understand the absolute amazing good news that Christ bore your sins in his body on the cross.
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He bled, suffered, and died and experienced the wrath of God in your place so that you can be forgiven, pardoned, reconciled, and ultimately live.
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So hear the words of Peter. They come across the pages of time to us today. And they let us know that we are the ones who handed
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Christ over to be crucified by lawless men. But God raised him up. On the third day, he was raised bodily from the grave, loosing the pangs of death because it was not possible for him to be held by death.
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David says concerning Jesus, I saw the Lord always before me, that he is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken.
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Therefore my heart was glad, my tongue rejoiced, my flesh also will dwell in hope, for you will not abandon my soul to Hades or let your
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Holy One see corruption. You have made known to me the paths of life, and you will make me full of gladness with your presence.
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So brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.
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Being therefore a prophet, and that's what David was, you'll note he's an author of scripture too in the
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Psalms, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne,
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David foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, the Messiah, that he was not to be abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.
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And this Jesus God has raised up, and of that we are all witnesses.
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You see, the resurrection is validation for the fact that Christ's sacrifice for your sins and mine was accepted by God the
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Father. The fact that Jesus didn't remain dead, because what is the wages of sin? Death. What sin did
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Jesus commit? None. And so because of his own righteousness, he bore your sins, but death could not hold him.
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It would be unlawful for it to do so. So being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and that's where Christ is right now, today, pleading, mediating, praying for you and for me.
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Having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, Christ has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.
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For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool.
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So let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain, God has made
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Jesus both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.
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Now you'll note the Holy Spirit is active on this Pentecost Sunday that Peter is preaching, and the
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Holy Spirit is active among us today. And what did all those unholy sinners experience when the
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Holy Spirit proclaimed as crucified for their sins, risen from the dead, ascended to heaven?
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Oh, and by the way, did you note the little bits in there were in our sermon portion from today?
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Peter even talked about the Holy Spirit, the Father, and the Son. A little aside here, have you ever run into somebody who says,
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You know, the doctrine of the Trinity isn't really a biblical doctrine. And, you know, the guys in the Bible really didn't believe it.
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Well, if they didn't believe it, then why did Peter talk about Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? Peter's a Trinitarian. There is no development in Christian theology.
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There is only a careful study of what is revealed there for us. And so that being the case, you'll note
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Peter was a firm Trinitarian. Aside finished. I just had to put that in here.
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So what then is the response? What is the response? What is the experience that unholy sinners have being in the presence of the
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Holy Spirit? Christ said the Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. Well, upon hearing these words, it says in verse 37 of Acts 2, that the crowd, when they heard these things, they were cut to their heart.
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And they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, Brothers, what shall we do? Ah, that's a similar experience to what
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Isaiah had, isn't it? Being in the presence of the Holy Spirit, they're convicted of their sin and they recognize their guilt, their culpability in crucifying
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Christ, their great God and Savior. And Peter doesn't say to them,
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Well, that's on you. Your blood be on your own head. How dare you crucify the Lord of life?
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Don't worry. When Jesus comes back, he's going to be thrilled to see you. You won't be excited about it, but he sure will because he's going to finally get his vengeance on you.
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Not at all. You see, Christ didn't die in order that we would be found more guilty and for vengeance to be exacted upon us by God.
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Consider the words of Christ in our Gospel text today. Jesus himself says to Nicodemus, that just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the
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Son of Man be lifted up, so that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
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For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
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God does not will for you to go to hell. God does not will for you to perish.
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He does not will for you to suffer the eternal consequences of your sin, your rebellion, your guilt.
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God loves you and he wills for you to be saved and pardoned. And if you don't believe it, then consider the greatness of what he went through in order to save us by sending his only begotten
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Son, who became sin so that we might become the righteousness of God.
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And anyone, you, me, wherever they are in the world today, whoever believes in him, though your sins be as scarlet,
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Christ could even save Hitler had it been brought to repentance. That's how deep the forgiveness of Christ is.
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I'm sure he can forgive you. Whoever believes in him will not perish but will have eternal life.
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For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him, you and me, every one of us.
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So Peter then, knowing that Christ so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, ends his sermon beautifully.
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When they're cut to the heart, when they are undone because they are in the presence of the Holy, when they see their guilt and their filth and recognize their need to be forgiven and pardoned,
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Peter says, repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus, for the forgiveness of your sins.
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There is forgiveness, mercy, and grace for all of you. And you yourselves will receive the gift of the
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Holy Spirit. And the promise of the forgiveness of sins and the promise of the gift of the
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Holy Spirit is for you and for your children and all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord God calls to himself.
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There's forgiveness. And so you'll note that day, those who received Peter's words, they were baptized.
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They were baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. And rather than being, well, burned up and experiencing fire, the fire of God's judgment, they instead experienced the cool waters of baptism and had their sins washed away.
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And they received the Holy Spirit and they were made clean and they were made holy.
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You see, when that happens, when God takes a sinner and washes away their sins and fills them with the
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Holy Spirit, they go from being sinners to now being called what? Saints.
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The Greek word is hagios, holy ones. The unholy become holy, made holy by the powerful working of the
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Holy Spirit because of the great love and mercy of our God. So brothers and sisters, we have much to rejoice in here.
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Coming back to Isaiah, it would be fun to kind of bookend it here. There's poor Isaiah in the temple seeing this beatific vision of the
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Lord of hosts high and lifted up and seeing the seraphim proclaiming, holy, holy, holy is the
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Lord of hosts. And he's thinking he's going to perish because he's seen the King, the
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Lord of God. But one of the seraphim flew to him and having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with the tongs from the altar, he touched my mouth and he said, behold, this has touched your lips.
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Your guilt is taken away. Your sin is atoned for. Don't ever tell me that God isn't in the business of forgiving sinners.
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He absolutely is all about that. And even here we have this picture of something that was on the altar, a coal taken from the altar that touches his lips and takes his guilt away.
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I like to always kind of picture that as a little type in foreshadowing of the Lord's Supper. On those days when we have the
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Lord's Supper, you hear these words, take, eat, this is the true body of Christ given into death for the forgiveness of your sins.
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Take, drink, this is the true blood of Christ shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins.
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So note this, Christ's body and blood, well, those were the things that were sacrificed on the altar of the cross.
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And every time we have the Lord's Supper, your mouth touches what was on the real altar.
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And it touches your lips and you can be assured that just like Isaiah, your guilt is taken away and your sin is atoned for because truly it is.
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And because of what God has done for us, we who are sinners and saints at the same time, because that's what we
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Christians all are, because we are forgiven to have confidence in God's love and mercy, knowing that it's not his will that we would perish, he's given us the
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Holy Spirit, he's washed away our sins, he's assured us with his body and blood that we are forgiven and atoned for.
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Now, rather than in terror, shrieking back and wanting to hide, feeling like we've come undone when we hear about the
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Holy God, we can join our voices with the seraphim and we can say,
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Holy, Holy, Holy is Yahweh Tzavaoth, and the whole earth is full of his glory.
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Come, Lord Jesus, fill the earth with your glory, for it is the glory of you to forgive and pardon sinners.
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Pardon us again today, assure us of your great love and mercy, and let us take comfort in the words that you did not send your
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Son into the world to condemn the world or to condemn us, but that we might be saved through him.
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Oh, blessed be the Holy Trinity who concocted such a great plan to save all of us, his lost and sinful creatures.
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In the name of Jesus, Amen. If you would like to support the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church, you can do so by sending a tax -free donation to Kungsvinger Lutheran Church, 15950 470th
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Avenue NW, Oslo, MN 56744 And again, that address is
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Kungsvinger Lutheran Church, 15950 470th
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Avenue NW, Oslo, MN 56744 We thank you for your support.
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