5th Sunday of Easter Service

Kongsvinger Lutheran Church

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6th Sunday of Easter Service

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I would like to welcome you to the Kongsvinger Lutheran Church. Today is the observance of the 5th

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Sunday after Easter, or the 5th Sunday of Easter. It's the season.

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The opening hymn today and the sermon hymn are going to be the same, 556. We're going to break it up into two pieces.

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For the beginning of the service, we'll be singing stanzas 1 to 5, and then for the sermon hymn, we'll be singing 6 to 10, and the psalm tone today for the intro, it will be

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A as in Antilles. Antilles, that's what we're going to do here. If you have that on your bingo card, congratulations, you can mark that off.

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All right, the opening hymn, 556. If you are present here at Kongsvinger physically, please rise for the opening hymn.

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Divine service setting 2. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

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Let us then confess our sins to God our Father. Most merciful God, we confess that we are by nature sinful and unclean.

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We have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone.

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We have not loved you with our whole heart. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.

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We justly deserve your present and eternal punishment. For the sake of your

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Son, Jesus Christ, have mercy on us. Forgive us, renew us, and lead us, so that we may delight in your will and walk in your ways to the glory of your holy name.

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Amen. Almighty God, in his mercy, has given his Son to die for you, and for his sake he forgives you all of your sins.

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As a called and ordained servant of Christ, and by his authority, I therefore forgive you all of your sins, in the name of the

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Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Amen. Psalm Tone A for our intro today.

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Sing to the Lord a new song, alleluia. His right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.

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He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel.

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All the ends of the earth make a joyful noise to the

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Lord, all the earth. Break forth into joyous song and sing praise.

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Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the

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Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever.

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Amen. Sing to the Lord a new song, alleluia.

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For he has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations, alleluia.

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In peace let us pray to the Lord. For the peace from above, and for our salvation, let us pray to the

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Lord. For the peace of the whole world, for the well -being of the church of God, and for the unity of all, let us pray to the

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Lord. For this holy house, and for all who offer here their worship and praise, let us pray to the

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Lord. Help, save, comfort, and defend us, gracious Lord.

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This is the feast of victory for our

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God, alleluia.

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The Lord be with you.

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And also with you. Let us pray. O God, you make the minds of your faithful to be of one will.

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Grant that we may love what you have commanded, and desire what you promise. That among the many changes of this world, our hearts may be fixed where true joys are found.

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Through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

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Amen. You may be seated. The Old Testament reading for this, the fifth

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Sunday of Easter, is taken from the prophet Isaiah chapter 12. You'll say in that day,

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I will give thanks to you, O Lord, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, that you might comfort me.

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Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid. For the Lord God is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.

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With joy, you will draw water from the wells of salvation. And you will say in that day, give thanks to the

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Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted.

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Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously. Let this be made known in all of the earth.

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Shout and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.

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This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. You'll note there's no gradual today, so get that verse ready for the gospel part.

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Our epistle today is taken from James chapter 1. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers.

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Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

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Of his own will, he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

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Know this, my beloved brothers. Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.

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For in the anger of man does not produce the righteousness that God requires. Therefore, put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness.

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Receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. This is the word of the

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Lord. Thanks be to God. We'll speak the verse together.

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Alleluia. The right hand of the Lord exalts. The right hand of the

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Lord does valiantly. Alleluia. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again.

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Death no longer has dominion over him. Alleluia. The Holy Gospel according to St.

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John, the 16th chapter. Jesus said,

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Now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks, Where are you going? But because I said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.

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Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the

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Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.

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Concerning sin, because they do not believe in me. Concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you will see me no longer.

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Concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.

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When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. For he will not speak on his own authority.

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Whatever he hears, he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.

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He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the

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Father has is mine. Therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

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This is the gospel of the Lord. We continue with 5 .56,

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verses 6 -10. 5 .56

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-10 In the name of Jesus. Amen. Alright, here are the words of our epistle text today.

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And yes, that's right, Lutherans can actually preach on the book of James. Contrary to the myth that's out there that we somehow avoid the book of James like it's kryptonite.

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We do not. Here's again what James said. My beloved brothers, let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.

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That's some pretty good advice right there. That's a divine prerogative, right? For the anger of man does not produce the righteousness that God requires.

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Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your souls.

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Ah, this is a sanctification text. And in fact, that's kind of the point of our entire lesson, our pericope today, is talking about the sanctifying work of God, the

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Holy Spirit. When you look at the world around us, do you think that it's wise?

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That the world is, well, a stable place where godliness prevails?

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Or does it seem like the world has become more and more chaotic? It's as if the creation itself is being undone by our sin.

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And I think that's kind of the point. And so today as we focus on Christ's words regarding sending the helper, the

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Holy Spirit, let me remind you of the beginning of the scriptures, which basically teach that in the beginning

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God created the heavens and the earth. And then verse 2 says these words, the earth was without form and void.

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If you've ever heard theologians talk about the tohu vabohu, those are words that get used here, that's actually here in the

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Hebrew. The earth was without form and void. And so you'll note that the earth and the creation itself begins with chaos.

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Legitimately begins in complete and utter chaos. Formlessness, void, darkness over the face of the deep.

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And there the Holy Spirit of God was hovering, mericafetting, brooding over the faces of the waters in the deep, in the tohu vabohu.

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And you'll note that then God gets to work, taking this chaos and disorder and bringing to it order.

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And God said, let there be light, and there was light. And God saw that the light was good and God separated the light from the darkness.

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God called the light day, the darkness he called night, and there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

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And so you'll note that when God originally created the heavens and the earth and humanity and everything that exists, at the end of the six days of creation,

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God said it is all tov me 'od, it is very good. God brought order to the chaos and structure to everything and put everything in place and it was all really very good.

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But you'll note that in chapter 3, the story takes a dark turn. Satan, a fallen angel, tempted our first parents into grievous sin against God, breaking the one and only command that God had given.

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Do not eat of the tree that's in the midst of the garden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. What did they eat from? The tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

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And thus, chaos was brought back into the formula. And so it's important for us to see sin for what it is.

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It is an unwinding of God's good creation. And this explains why, in part, humanity bristles against God's order.

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You'll note that the world we live in, people are so upset with God and the things that he has made and the way he has made them that they have rebelled against God, even saying that,

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God, you have no right to tell me what my gender is. You'll note that people talk now about how people were assigned a sex at birth.

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Who did the assigning, by the way? Who assigned the sex that people have? That would be

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God. But listen to the way people talk today. You need to be true to your authentic self, as if somehow the authentic self inside of you has some kind of divine spark, as if you're your own little deity.

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And so you've got to be true to your authentic self. And if that horrible deity named Yahweh assigned you a sex that you're not comfortable with, you can be true to your authentic self and you can say, no way,

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Yahweh, I'm going to do things my own way. I'm going to self -identify as a potato. And this is what people do.

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You'll note that this whole thing of feminism, down with the patriarchy. What is that really a rebellion against?

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The order that God has created. So you see that sin is a complete unwinding of God's good order and a bringing back of chaos.

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And here's the thing. That chaos isn't just out there. I grant that it's out there, but the thing is that chaos is inside of me and it's inside of you because have you noticed that your sinful nature desires the chaos?

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Does it not? Indeed it does. With every sinful passion that we pursue, we are pursuing not

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God's good order. We are pursuing instead God's, well, enemy.

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Satan himself and the chaos that he has brought into the creation and that God will eventually get rid of.

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I would remind you, there's a wonderful portion of the book of Revelation at the very end, it describes something standing or something right before the throne of Christ and it's described as the glassy sea.

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If you're familiar with the book of Revelation, you go, oh yeah, I remember that glassy sea bit. What's that symbolizing?

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The restoration of God's good order and the final conquering of chaos.

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Once and for all, chaos will be gone. And so you'll note, coming back to the words of our epistle text,

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James is admonishing us as Christians to not feed or give in to the chaos.

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We need to be, listen to these words again, quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.

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Have you noticed that because of the chaos of sin, we are slow to hear, we are quick to speak and we are extremely speedy at getting angry?

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The exact opposite of all of that chaos is inside of me and inside of you. And therefore, we are admonished by the power of the

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Holy Spirit to put away all filthiness, rampant wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your souls.

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Ah, the meekness to receive the implanted word, the word of God which saves our souls, basically requires an act of God the

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Holy Spirit upon us. Does it not? Bringing us to repentance. So hear then the words of our gospel text.

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Jesus, on the night that he's betrayed, this is part of his last discourse with his disciples while they're celebrating the

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Passover meal and Jesus is giving final instructions and things like this. And Jesus says to his disciples,

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I am going to him who sent me and none of you ask me where are you going because I have said these things to you.

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Sorrow has filled your heart. I found it fun while I was doing my sermon prep this week.

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I got to do my sermon prep in Japan. That's an interesting place to do sermon prep, by the way. But I was reading

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Johann Gerhardt and his thoughts on this particular gospel text and Johann Gerhardt had a really good interpretation and he really dug deep into this distinction.

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Why is it that the disciples are sorrowful because Jesus has told them that he's going to the

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Father? Now important to note here, when Jesus says I am going to the Father, you almost have to put that in scare quotes because Jesus is then talking about his crucifixion, his death, his burial, his resurrection, and his ascension.

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And so he's using that as shorthand for all the things that are about to take place. And the reason why they're sorrowful, according to Johann Gerhardt, and I tend to agree with his exegesis here, is because Jesus in talking this way is basically blowing up all of the plans that they had now that they were in Jerusalem.

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I would remind you that before they got to Jerusalem, James and John, the

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Zebedee brothers, had Mommy go up to Jesus and ask for a favor. Oh, let my sons, one sit at your right hand, one at your left.

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They were already planning cabinet positions in Jesus's administration in Jerusalem.

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And so Jesus saying I'm going to the Father, they're gonna go, what about the kingdom? What about my power?

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What about my position? And then in your government, what about us changing the world?

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Come on, Jesus. And so the reason why they're sad is because Jesus is basically saying, yeah, all of that has come to naught.

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I'm not gonna be here for any of that. And so they're sorrowful regarding this. But then

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Jesus comforts them with words that we need to pay close attention to. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth.

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Does Jesus ever lie? Of course not. It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the helper will not come to you.

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Ah, the helper, the paraclete, is the Holy Spirit. That's what he's referring to. So the helper will not come unless Jesus goes away.

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And he says to you, but if I go, I will send him to you. And here's what the Holy Spirit's gonna do. Are you ready for this?

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The helper. He comes, when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment, concerning sin because they do not believe in me, concerning righteousness because I go to the

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Father, and you will see me no longer, concerning judgment because the rule of this world is judged. Now wait a second.

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I thought you said, Jesus, that you were sending a helper. How does this help me? Right? You're sending a

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Holy Spirit who's gonna convict me of my sin? That's gonna make me feel terrible about myself.

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Right. Right. You guys remember the Back to the Future movie? Doc Brown trying to explain to Marty McFly how time travel works and basically saying, listen, you're not thinking fourth dimensionally.

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The problem with the disciples here, kind of by analogy, is they're not thinking fourth dimensionally.

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They're thinking about temporal power, about setting up a kingdom and changing the world. And Jesus is all, no, no, no, no, no.

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Listen guys, I'm gonna send a helper to you and first thing this helper's gonna do, and he's gonna do this every day for the rest of your mortal existence, he's gonna convict you of your sin.

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Isn't that great? And they're, what? How does that help me?

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Right. You're not thinking fourth dimensionally if you ask such a question. Right. So let me explain using a different passage how this is helpful.

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Have y 'all read recently Psalm 73? If not, well, good news.

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We'll be exegeting our way through that in our sermon today. Psalm 73. This is a Psalm of Asaph.

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So Asaph is the fellow who wrote this, not King David. And this is an interesting Psalm because here we see the helpfulness of the conviction of our sins and why it is such a blessed thing rather than a cursed thing and why it is that Christ is sending a helper not to help teach us how to lengthen legs or speak in gibberish, coulda bought a

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Hyundai, shoulda bought a Kia, or to prophesy about suddenlies and weird things like this. Instead, he's sending the helper who's going to convict us of our sin.

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So listen to the words of the Psalmist Asaph here in Psalm 73. He says,

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Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.

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Now before you sit there and go, well, that just, that left me out because I'm not one of those. Ah, you is.

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All right. You gotta remember that by faith in our baptism, Christ has washed away all of our sins and replaced our heart of stone with the heart of flesh.

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And we have been declared righteous by Christ, by his merits, and what he has done for us on the cross.

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Full stop. That means you are one of those who are pure in heart. And need I remind you that y 'all of all have been grafted into Israel, even if you're a

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Norwegian. Okay, it's kind of an interesting thing. But y 'all have been grafted into Israel, me included.

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Therefore, we are truly those that it says God is good to. But Asaph then says these words.

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As for me, my feet had almost stumbled. My steps had nearly slipped, for I was envious of the arrogant when

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I saw the prosperity of the wicked. So you'll note a big stumbling block for Asaph is he looked at the world around him, and do you notice this?

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Have you noticed this, guys? The wicked do really well, okay? There's a lot of money to be made in wickedness.

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And if you don't believe me, just look at the mafia and things like this. And I would even note that this also applies to Hollywood and politicians.

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They seem to do really well. We who obey the law and who follow

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Jesus, is there a great advantage for us in doing so here? Like, no, okay?

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There's like, I critique heretics on YouTube. There's no money to be made in critiquing heretics.

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You know where all the money is? It's in the heresy side, okay? How many private jets does

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Kenneth Copeland have? And Jesse Duplantis was just recently boasting about how wealthy he is and how greedy it is a good thing and stuff like this.

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You sit there and go, how is it possible that these wicked people do so well? So Asaph looks at the situation, it's the same in his day, and he nearly stumbled.

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His faith came almost completely apart. And then he goes on to describe the wicked.

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Listen to this, this is a great description. They have no pangs until death.

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Their bodies are fat and sleek. Mine is too, but that's a different problem. That's a different issue. They are not in trouble as others are.

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They are not stricken like the rest of mankind. Therefore, pride is their necklace.

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Violence covers them as a garment. Their eyes swell out through fatness. Their hearts overflow with follies.

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They scoff and speak with malice. Loftily, they threaten oppression. They set their mouths against the heavens and their tongues strut through the earth.

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Therefore, his people turn back to them and find no fault in them. Now there's a lot that we can talk about here, but you're gonna note here, this is an interesting thing.

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Those who are wicked and doing well in this life, they don't really think about death until death comes a knocking on their door.

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And you know what they face when that happens? Sheer terror.

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I know they'll sit there and go, well, I'm going to a better place, but they know that isn't true. There's anxiety in their heart, and they do not die well.

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They have no pangs until death. But I would remind you that Christ's helper, the

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Holy Spirit, third person of the Trinity, Christ says that he's going to convict us of our sin.

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So you'll note as Christians, here at Kongsvinger and week in and week out, and daily in our devotional time, in scripture, in the reading of God's word, we are constantly convicted of our sin by God the

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Holy Spirit. These pangs that the wicked do not feel until death is upon them, we have already begun to feel those pangs.

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And you'll note there are two things that go along with that. Real remorse and sorrow for our sins.

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And a true fear of God, that God would judge us for such things. But at the same time, the comforter, the helper, also assures us that because Christ has bled and died for our sins, that we need not fear

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God, or fear the day of judgment. And as a result of it, each and every one of us, we're already ready to go.

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And as a result of it, we don't fear death, nor do we have sudden pangs of fear come upon us as we approach death.

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In fact, we can die well. I think of the late Clement Preuss, who was a friend of mine, did some work with him to try to help get

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Matt Harrison elected as the president of the Missouri Synod back in the day. And Clement, after all of that, ended up getting cancer.

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And it was terminal cancer. And so he went from bad to worse pretty quickly. And I mean really quickly.

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And so much so that he was put in hospice not very long after his diagnosis.

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And one of his sisters came to visit him in hospice. And would you believe this,

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Clement Preuss, when his sister came into the room, he basically said to her, hey sis, too bad for you,

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I get to see Jesus before you do. It's like, who does that to a person, right? I would note, the people who are capable of doing that are the ones who, by the power of the

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Holy Spirit, have been convicted of their sin. And have been assured of the forgiveness of their sins because of what

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Christ has done. The wicked do not die well. We in Christ do.

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Because we know this, we will never die. Christ has promised us that. Even though our bodies die, we are not going to experience death, neither will we taste it, because Christ has tasted it for us.

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The wicked, it is not that way at all. So you sit there and then look at all of the temporal advantages that the wicked have in this life.

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The important word is temporal. How long does that last?

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And when it comes to an end, it comes to an end quickly. And their fate is not a good one, it is a terrible one.

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And so what advantage is there to being wicked? What advantage is there to basically not thinking about death or not being convicted of your sin in this lifetime?

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There is no advantage to it. At all. Because the wicked definitely do not think fourth dimensionally.

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They are steeped in chaos and they love it so. We have been convicted of our participation in the chaos and God the

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Holy Spirit is ordering our lives and making us holy and bringing us back to his good creation, no longer subject to chaos and to sin.

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That is the work of the Holy Spirit. So the wicked, they scoff, they speak with malice, they lawfully threaten oppression, they set their mouths against the heavens, their tongues stretch through the earth, and they say, how can

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God know? Is there any knowledge in the Most High? Behold, these are the wicked. They're always at ease, they increase in riches.

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All in vain have I kept my heart clean, Asaph watched, and washed my hands in innocence.

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At least that's what he thought. What advantage is there to being a good Christian boy or being a good

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Christian woman? There's no advantage at all because the wicked seem to prosper. But Asaph here is gonna be instructed by God the

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Holy Spirit to begin to learn how to think fourth dimensionally. He says, for all the day long, I've been stricken.

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I've been rebuked every morning. But that's the truth of all of us.

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God the Holy Spirit, through his word, strickens us. He rebukes us every morning. Scripture says in the book of Hebrews that God scourges every one of his children.

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He disciplines them, and that's a good thing. Asaph continues, if I had said

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I will speak thus, I would have betrayed the generations of your children. But when I thought how to understand this, so now

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Asaph is coming to his senses. When I thought about how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task until I went into the sanctuary of God, and then

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I discerned their end. In the sanctuary of God, Asaph hears the word of God and realizes, oh, these people are not blessed.

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The wicked are cursed. Truly, he says of the wicked, you set them in slippery places, and you make them fall to ruin, and they are destroyed in a moment.

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They are then swept away utterly by terrors. You guys remember that movie? What was it,

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Ghost or something like that? It's Patrick Swayze, right? And there was a horrible

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Hollywood depiction of somebody dying and then being dragged away by the demons. It was absolutely terrifying when you think about it.

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And that's something for us to consider because that's a real reality, and that's the point.

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The wicked come to an end quickly, and they are swept away in utter terror. They do not go to a better place when they die.

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In fact, they go somewhere altogether terrifying. Like a dream when one awakes, oh

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Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise the wicked as phantoms. When my soul was embittered, when

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I was pricked in heart, I was brutish and I was ignorant. I was like a beast towards you,

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God. Nevertheless, I am continually with you, and you hold my right hand,

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Asaph writes. And that's the truth of all of us. When we were steeped in sin and completely embroiled in the chaos of this world because of what

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Satan has undone in the creation, we too were embittered in heart. We were brutish and ignorant, and we were like a beast towards God.

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But God has had mercy on us. God the Holy Spirit, whom Christ says is our helper, was sent, and he has convicted us of our sin and our unbelief and God's judgment due to the fact that Satan has been overthrown by Christ's death, burial, resurrection, and ascension.

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And as a result of that, we can say along with Asaph, nevertheless, I am continually with you,

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Lord. You hold my right hand, you guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory.

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Whom have I in heaven but you, Lord, and there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.

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My flesh and my heart, they may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

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For behold, those who are far from you, they shall perish. You put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.

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But for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Lord Yahweh my refuge that I may tell of all of your works.

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And now you begin to see it. Oh, Jesus said, he said he's sending a helper, and the helper will convict us of our sin, and that's what you and I need, and that's exactly what his disciples needed in that moment as well.

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And so we then can see how the Holy Spirit truly is our helper, convicting us of our sins, helping us to feel the pangs of death now so that we can cry out to Christ for mercy and forgiveness, for our chaos, our participation in the sin of this world, and for our own evil desires, and he, hearing that prayer, forgives, not just some, but all of our sin.

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So Jesus says to his disciples, I have many things to say to you, but you cannot hear them now.

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But when the spirit of truth comes, ah, the Holy Spirit is the spirit of truth. Keep that in mind if you're prone to wanting to listen to false teachers.

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No lie is of the truth, scripture says. We are instructed by Christ through his word to not listen to those who speak lies to us and tell us what our itching ears want to hear.

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When the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own authority.

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Whatever he hears, he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come, and he will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

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You can always tell that you're dealing with a false Holy Spirit, a counterfeit version of the

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Holy Spirit, because the true Holy Spirit who Christ sends not only convicts us of sin, but keeps pointing us to Jesus and glorifying him.

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False Holy Spirits, well, they glorify themselves, and they teach falsely, and they speak lies.

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I always crack up when I hear somebody like from Bethel or some of these NAR churches say, you know how you can tell a prophecy is really from the

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Lord? Because it builds you up, it makes you feel good. I'm sitting there going, that ain't the Holy Spirit.

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Holy Spirit actually makes me feel terrible for my sin, and you as well.

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The real Holy Spirit convicts us of our sin, and not only that, the real Holy Spirit points us to Christ, not to false teachers.

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It points us to the true shepherd and overseer of our souls, the one who laid down his life so that you and I can be forgiven.

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The Holy Spirit glorifies Jesus. Jesus then concludes, all that the

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Father has is mine. Therefore, I said, he will take what is mine, and he will declare it to you. A good way to end the sermon today is to go back to our

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Old Testament text, and note here that even Isaiah knows full well the importance of the forgiveness of his sins, and knows full well that it is a good and helpful thing that he has been convicted of his own sin.

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Isaiah says in our Old Testament text, you will say in that day, I will give thanks to you,

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O Yahweh, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away that you might comfort me.

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Oh, that's words of somebody who's a penitent believer in Yahweh, in the true

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God. And so he notes that he rightly deserved God's anger and his wrath, but God has turned away his anger and wrath, and Isaiah knows full well why that is, because he prophesied of Christ's suffering in Isaiah 53, that God laid on him the iniquity of us all.

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And so you'll note that God desires to comfort sinners. It is not the desire of God to send anybody to hell.

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It's a tragic tragedy that anybody ends up there at all. But that's the reality.

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You don't want to be forgiven? Well, okay, you can have God's justice instead. So Isaiah said, though you were angry with me, and your anger has turned away, that you might comfort me.

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And then he says these wonderful words. Behold, God is my salvation. Therefore, I will trust and I will not be afraid.

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God is your salvation and mine. Christ is our salvation. God laid on him the iniquity of us all, and God made

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Jesus to be sin who knew no sin, so that you and I might be the righteousness of God. Therefore, we trust in Christ, and as a result of it, we have nothing to be afraid of.

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Death, do your worst. I'm already dead in Christ anyway. Take everything I have, if you want.

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I'll not put up a fight. Put me in a prison. Take my life. Cut off my head.

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Punish me for believing in Jesus. It doesn't matter. It doesn't take away from the fact that upon my death,

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I will see him face to face, and I will inherit the new earth. And those who have done wickedly and persist in sin and unbelief, they will soon be brought to an end, and all of their plans of setting up their wonderful kingdom here on earth will be brought to naught.

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Christ instead will take over the world. So, I will trust and not be afraid, and you should as well.

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For Yahweh, Elohim, he is my strength, and he is my song. He has become my salvation.

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With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation, and you will say in that day, give thanks to Yahweh, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted, sing praises to the

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Lord, for he has done gloriously. Let this be made known in all of the earth. Shout and sing for joy,

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O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel. And all of this that Isaiah is able to confess is because he's been instructed by God the

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Holy Spirit. He's been convicted of his sin, and God the Holy Spirit has helped

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Isaiah to help you and I, and God the Holy Spirit helps you and I, and is it any wonder then that because God the

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Holy Spirit has convicted us of our sin, that in his word in the epistle of James, then we hear those important words.

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Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger, because God the

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Holy Spirit continues to comfort us, to be our helper, to convict us of our sin, and to help us to recognize that that chaos that still exists inside of you and me causes us to be slow to hear, quick to speak, and very rapid to be angry.

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And so we are instructed by God the Holy Spirit to see that for what it is, chaos and sin, and cry out to God to give us strength, to forgive us of this, and help us to bear fruit in keeping with repentance, and to quicken us so that we no longer engage in this chaos, but instead that he would rightly order us so that we would again have the peace that comes, the obedience to God, only given by the power of the

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Spirit in this life. So therefore, brothers and sisters, put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness, and receive with meekness, as those who have been convicted of their sin, the implanted word, the word of the

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Spirit, which is able to make you wise unto salvation, and to save your souls. Ah, Christ has promised us the helper, and he is here helping us today.

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Let us embrace his work, and recognize that it is a good and helpful thing that we are convicted of our sin, our unrighteousness, and God's judgment.

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In the name of Jesus, amen. We rise to confess our faith together in the words of the

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Nicene Creed. I believe in one

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God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.

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And in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of his

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Father before all worlds, God of God, light of light, very

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God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the

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Father, by whom all things were made, who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the

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Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man, and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate.

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He suffered and was buried, and the third day he rose again according to the scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the

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Father, and he will come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead, whose kingdom will have no end.

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And I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, who proceeds from the

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Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets.

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And I believe in one holy, Christian and apostolic church. I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins, and I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.

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Amen. Gracious Lord, you have revealed your righteousness in the sight of the nations.

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Christ Jesus, your holy arm, by his death and resurrection you have worked salvation. Strengthen the song of your church, give skill to musicians and poets, and give boldness to your congregation in this and every place to sing the eternally new song of Christ.

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Lord, in your mercy, you have promised the gift of your Spirit to make known to us all truth and to keep us in your word.

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Grant to us, O Lord, faithful pastors who will teach your word, and devoted church workers who will serve us in your name.

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Bless those preparing for church work vocations, and inspire many to follow your call.

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Lord, in your mercy. Father of lights, every good and perfect gift comes down from you by your

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Spirit. Put away from our families and communities every hasty or harsh word, together with all filthiness and rampant wickedness, and instead give us patience and humility towards our neighbors.

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Since you have brought us forth by the word of your truth, so let us speak truthfully with one another in meekness as beloved brothers.

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Lord, in your mercy. Almighty God, your Son acknowledged

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Satan as ruler of this world and its ways, yet one whose reign is judged and whose time is short.

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Beat back his lies and deadly work that the order of your creation may be seen.

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Give us good government and leaders who are both honest and faithful. Even so, let us look eagerly for your

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Son's return, and let that be quickly. Lord, in your mercy. Hear the prayers of intercession we offer in the unity of your

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Holy Spirit, our Advocate and our Comforter. Especially today do we lift before you Jana, David, Clarence, Roger, Robin, Bonnie, Judy, Heather, Wendy, Renee, Louise, Deborah, Rachel, Mara, Gloria, and Jeff, Charles, and Gabriel, and those whom we now name before you within our hearts.

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Lord, in your mercy. Hear our prayer. Lord, send your Holy Spirit upon your faithful people that convicted of their sin.

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They may also be convinced that the righteousness of Christ is theirs. And in such repentance and faith receive the things of Christ declared in this supper, his

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Holy Body and his Precious Blood for the forgiveness of sins. Unite us by your Spirit of truth and faith and confession, and comfort us with the knowledge that this world's

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Prince is judged. Lord, in your mercy. Hear our prayer. Dear Father, sorrow fill the hearts of the twelve at the thought of Christ's ascension.

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Help us rather to rejoice that he sits on heaven's throne and reigns among the saints and angels. Comfort us in this communion of saints until at last we join with them in your glory.

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Lord, in your mercy. Hear our prayer. All these things and whatever else you know that we need. Grant us,

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Father, for the sake of him who died and rose again and now lives and reigns with you in the Holy Spirit. One God, now and forever.

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Amen. We continue with the offertory.