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Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our
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Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
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Amen.
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As we receive the Lord this day, we receive it not as four simple
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verses spoken in a vacuum, but four verses in the middle of an
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argument, a rhetorical structure connecting one piece with an another.
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In the grand sweep of things, Paul has just warned those in Corinth to
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maintain a disciplined life, a principled life, a sanctified life, so
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that they would not forfeit the gift of eternal life.
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Following our text, Paul reiterates the consequences of unbelief even
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if you have included yourself in the visible church. Nearly all of
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those who traveled in the Exodus did not make it to the Promised Land
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because of their misdeeds and their misplaced faith.
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Here in the middle, we find the gracious work of God among his people.
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With a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, God brought his people out
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of the bondage house of slavery in Egypt.
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Like the sower we heard about four weeks ago in the Parable read on
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Sexagesimal Sunday, God showers his atonement upon all. Five times in
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four verses
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our Lord underscores his universal atonement. pontes houpatane
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nephiline, pontes diytes thalase, pontes ebabtistesan, pontes ephagon,
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pontes Epion, pontez pontez pontez, pontes.
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None are excluded from this gracious work of God.
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The entire host of God's people were under the pillar of cloud by day
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and the pillar of fire by night, leading them through the desert.
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The entire host of God's people passed through the sea on dry ground.
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The entire host of God's people, in passing through the cloud and the
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sea, were baptized into Moses.
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The entire host of God's people received nourishment from God.
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It is not the case that some went out into the desert in the morning,
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but for them there was no mana to be found.
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It was not the case that some went out in the evening, but for them
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there was no quail
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to be found.
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All received this blessing from God, for Christ was among them, by his
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grace for all.
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And yet many fell along the way. Just as we see in our own numbers,
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brothers and sisters, family and friends, those who sat in a few next
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to us as we grew in wisdom, them and in stature and in favor with God
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and with men.
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They have gone astray.
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They have wandered into the desert and away from the fold.
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And we wonder why.
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Behold, we see that this is not because of some real absence of Christ
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in their midst.
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All were under the cloud, all passed through the sea.
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All were baptized, all ate, all drank.
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And this rock from which they all drank was Christ.
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Yet some fell away.
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For you see, proximity to God's means of grace is not some magical
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formula.
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It is not some talisman or lucky charm against the attacks of Satan.
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As one popular theologian once quipped during the last century, if
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proximity to the word of God produced righteousness, then the Gideons
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would have single handedly eliminated adultery in this country.
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No, these means are not received by mere proximity, but by faith.
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Do you feel the clouds closing in around?
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Not the pillar of cloud that leads, but the clouds that obscure and
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conceal and consume and confuse. Are the troubles of this world
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like a rising sea ready to swallow you and drown, you? Are Satan's
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host, bearing down upon you like Pharaohs chariots to draw you back
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into the slavery of your own sin?
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Then hear this.
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For you Christ has come.
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For you, Christ draws near, spreading the cloud of his guiding
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presence.
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For you, Christ unites Himself to you in the waters of holy baptism,
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uniting his own death for all sin and thus uniting you to his own
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resurrection.
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For you he gives to eat and to drink, not just for the nourishment of
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the body, but his own body and His
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own blood for the refreshment of your spirit.
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For you he works that faith by which you receive and live.
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For you he pours out his own spirit that you may listen and believe
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and live.
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Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful.
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In the name of Jesus.
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Amen.
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And amen.
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Now the peace of God, which passes all understanding.
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Keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
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Amen.