WEBVTT 00:00.730 --> 00:03.646 Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our 00:03.668 --> 00:05.440 Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. 00:06.130 --> 00:07.150 Amen. 00:07.810 --> 00:13.166 As we receive the Lord this day, we receive it not as four simple 00:13.268 --> 00:20.014 verses spoken in a vacuum, but four verses in the middle of an 00:20.052 --> 00:25.560 argument, a rhetorical structure connecting one piece with an another. 00:26.250 --> 00:31.366 In the grand sweep of things, Paul has just warned those in Corinth to 00:31.468 --> 00:39.354 maintain a disciplined life, a principled life, a sanctified life, so 00:39.392 --> 00:44.220 that they would not forfeit the gift of eternal life. 00:45.230 --> 00:50.750 Following our text, Paul reiterates the consequences of unbelief even 00:50.820 --> 00:57.006 if you have included yourself in the visible church. Nearly all of 00:57.028 --> 01:01.406 those who traveled in the Exodus did not make it to the Promised Land 01:01.508 --> 01:06.290 because of their misdeeds and their misplaced faith. 01:07.750 --> 01:15.860 Here in the middle, we find the gracious work of God among his people. 01:16.390 --> 01:21.094 With a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, God brought his people out 01:21.132 --> 01:24.310 of the bondage house of slavery in Egypt. 01:24.730 --> 01:29.862 Like the sower we heard about four weeks ago in the Parable read on 01:29.916 --> 01:38.842 Sexagesimal Sunday, God showers his atonement upon all. Five times in 01:38.896 --> 01:40.162 four verses 01:40.326 --> 01:48.458 our Lord underscores his universal atonement. pontes houpatane 01:48.554 --> 01:59.278 nephiline, pontes diytes thalase, pontes ebabtistesan, pontes ephagon, 01:59.454 --> 02:08.210 pontes Epion, pontez pontez pontez, pontes. 02:08.889 --> 02:13.366 None are excluded from this gracious work of God. 02:13.468 --> 02:18.778 The entire host of God's people were under the pillar of cloud by day 02:18.864 --> 02:23.126 and the pillar of fire by night, leading them through the desert. 02:23.318 --> 02:29.206 The entire host of God's people passed through the sea on dry ground. 02:29.318 --> 02:34.046 The entire host of God's people, in passing through the cloud and the 02:34.068 --> 02:37.274 sea, were baptized into Moses. 02:37.402 --> 02:42.800 The entire host of God's people received nourishment from God. 02:43.650 --> 02:48.800 It is not the case that some went out into the desert in the morning, 02:49.250 --> 02:52.958 but for them there was no mana to be found. 02:53.124 --> 02:58.246 It was not the case that some went out in the evening, but for them 02:58.348 --> 02:59.490 there was no quail 03:00.090 --> 03:00.990 to be found. 03:01.140 --> 03:07.342 All received this blessing from God, for Christ was among them, by his 03:07.396 --> 03:09.120 grace for all. 03:12.780 --> 03:19.928 And yet many fell along the way. Just as we see in our own numbers, 03:20.014 --> 03:24.712 brothers and sisters, family and friends, those who sat in a few next 03:24.766 --> 03:29.152 to us as we grew in wisdom, them and in stature and in favor with God 03:29.206 --> 03:30.016 and with men. 03:30.118 --> 03:32.800 They have gone astray. 03:34.340 --> 03:38.079 They have wandered into the desert and away from the fold. 03:39.800 --> 03:41.750 And we wonder why. 03:44.280 --> 03:51.140 Behold, we see that this is not because of some real absence of Christ 03:51.290 --> 03:52.788 in their midst. 03:52.964 --> 03:57.043 All were under the cloud, all passed through the sea. 03:57.091 --> 04:00.372 All were baptized, all ate, all drank. 04:00.436 --> 04:04.708 And this rock from which they all drank was Christ. 04:04.894 --> 04:06.876 Yet some fell away. 04:06.978 --> 04:11.912 For you see, proximity to God's means of grace is not some magical 04:11.976 --> 04:12.536 formula. 04:12.567 --> 04:18.480 It is not some talisman or lucky charm against the attacks of Satan. 04:19.300 --> 04:25.152 As one popular theologian once quipped during the last century, if 04:25.206 --> 04:30.620 proximity to the word of God produced righteousness, then the Gideons 04:30.700 --> 04:34.950 would have single handedly eliminated adultery in this country. 04:37.159 --> 04:46.600 No, these means are not received by mere proximity, but by faith. 04:48.780 --> 04:52.170 Do you feel the clouds closing in around? 04:53.260 --> 04:57.324 Not the pillar of cloud that leads, but the clouds that obscure and 04:57.361 --> 05:05.180 conceal and consume and confuse. Are the troubles of this world 05:05.330 --> 05:13.644 like a rising sea ready to swallow you and drown, you? Are Satan's 05:13.692 --> 05:19.120 host, bearing down upon you like Pharaohs chariots to draw you back 05:19.190 --> 05:22.260 into the slavery of your own sin? 05:23.240 --> 05:24.710 Then hear this. 05:26.280 --> 05:29.190 For you Christ has come. 05:30.039 --> 05:35.491 For you, Christ draws near, spreading the cloud of his guiding 05:35.556 --> 05:36.068 presence. 05:36.164 --> 05:41.108 For you, Christ unites Himself to you in the waters of holy baptism, 05:41.204 --> 05:47.048 uniting his own death for all sin and thus uniting you to his own 05:47.134 --> 05:48.039 resurrection. 05:49.659 --> 05:57.328 For you he gives to eat and to drink, not just for the nourishment of 05:57.334 --> 05:59.870 the body, but his own body and His 06:00.090 --> 06:03.710 own blood for the refreshment of your spirit. 06:04.770 --> 06:12.240 For you he works that faith by which you receive and live. 06:13.410 --> 06:24.320 For you he pours out his own spirit that you may listen and believe 06:25.770 --> 06:26.840 and live. 06:28.650 --> 06:36.150 Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful. 06:37.370 --> 06:38.870 In the name of Jesus. 06:39.530 --> 06:40.626 Amen. 06:40.818 --> 06:41.826 And amen. 06:41.938 --> 06:44.242 Now the peace of God, which passes all understanding. 06:44.306 --> 06:47.670 Keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 06:48.650 --> 06:49.722 Amen.