Lent 4 - E - 2014 - Darkness comes to Light

The Fourth Sunday of Lent

March 30, 2014- Pastor Adam Moline

Isaiah 42:14-21           Ephesians 5:8-14         John 9:1-41

Hymns – LSB 435, 551, 423

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.  Our text today is from the Epistle lesson just read, especially these words, “Walk as children of light.”  Thus far our text. 

Dear friends in Christ.  Within each one of us, deep in the depths of our soul are terrible secrets.  Things we don’t want the other people in town to know about, things we don’t want our spouses and families to know about.  Sinful, dreadful things.  You all have committed some sort of sin that you don’t want to become public, that you don’t want to come to light.  And due to the shame you’ve felt over that sin, you’ve buried it deep within your hearts, to keep it hidden away from prying, judgmental eyes. 

What defines these deep dark secret sins?  Specifically?  It’s different for each one of us.  Perhaps it is some sort of adultery that you have committed.  Perhaps it that money you wrongly received and stashed away.  Perhaps it’s the way you’ve treated a neighbor or family member, perhaps its hating and despising, perhaps its even the abortion and murder you’ve committed.  Maybe you’ve been angry.  Maybe you’ve been drunk, maybe even on one more than one occasion. 

In fact, these things define who you are.  You are a sinner, dear friend.  You are wrong in God’s eyes.  He despises the things that you’ve done, the person that you are in sin.  That’s why you hide your sin away, you’re trying to hide it from God.  As if God won’t know that you are a sinner if you hide your sin away.  God knows.  He knows you walk in darkness.  He knows your faults.  All of them.  He knows your shame.  All of it.  He knows your sin, you cannot hide it away in the darkness of your soul.  The light must shine upon it. 

And that’s what our Epistle lesson says today.  At one time you were in darkness, but now you are in the Light of the Lord.  The light of Jesus Christ, whom the darkness cannot overcome.  He shines his light upon you, and as the light shines, so too do all your shortcomings and failures become visible.  They are bathed and revealed in the Light of Christ. 

And yet, when Christ shines his light upon them, they are made visible, not for shame, but for forgiveness.  When Christ shines upon your guilt he does so with healing light, a light that shines forth from him because of the great things He accomplished.  He went to the cross.  He bled.  He died, and rose again.  He did this all so that he might shine out forgiveness upon you. 

And he does.  Yes, all your blemishes and secrets are made well in that death and resurrection of Christ.  We need not hide in the darkness of our sin, but instead, we are free to bask in the light of his forgiveness and glory.  That’s what Paul says in our Epistle.  “But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, ‘Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.’” 

The light of Christ for your forgiveness shines upon you.  Your sins are brought to light, and in his blood are made into light.  You are forgiven.  Awake O sleeper, and arise from the dead.  For Christ has shined upon you.  Amen.  

Lent 3 - G - 2014 - Bridegroom and Bride at the Well

The Third Sunday of Lent

March 23, 2014- Pastor Adam Moline

Exodus 17:1-7             Romans 5:1-8              John 4:5-30, 39-42

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.  Our text today is from the Gospel lesson, especially these words, “Jacob's well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well.”  Thus far our text. 

Dear friends in Christ.  In today’s world, there are all sorts of place where spouses meet.  Perhaps at a dance hall, or in college.  Maybe on Eharmony.com or Christian Mingle, or one of the other of dozens places advertised on Radio and T.V.  But thousands of years ago, things were a bit different.  In the Old Testament times, wells were the gathering place for people to talk, to gossip, to visit, and most importantly, to meet your future spouse.  Yes, wells in ancient Israel were the hot spots for dating.  Abraham sent a servant to Haran to find a wife for his Son Isaac, and it was there at a well, in the late evening, that the servant first met Rebekah, the future Mrs. Isaac, the very literal answer to the prayer he had just prayed. 

It was not many years later, that Isaacs and Rebekah’s son Jacob too, having run away from his brother Esau who sought to kill him for stealing the birthright, fell down at the same well, and met for the first time his future wife Rachel.  Jacob worked 14 years for Rachel’s father Laban, so that he might marry Rachel. 

Moses, some 400 years later, also fled Egypt, having murdered a slave master.  He too, after wandering in the desert sat down next to a well, and met the seven daughters of Jethro, including one named Zipporah.  Moses helped them water their flocks at the well, and soon he too married Zipporah as his wife. 

And so it is in our Gospel lesson today, that Jesus too, the fulfillment of the nation of Israel sits down at the edge of a well dug by his Father Jacob many years earlier.  And who should come, but a woman, who is not married.  But unlike the virginal young madiens of the Old Testament, the woman who comes to see Jesus is not so seemingly righteous.  She’s been married before, not just once, not just twice, but five times before.  And now, she lives outside of marriage with a man who is in fact not her husband, but instead a live in boyfriends if you will.  And what’s worse, this woman is a Samaritan, a people who were despised by the Israelites. 

The woman comes not in the evening when the sun was setting and it was cool and crisp to draw water, but instead she comes in the middle of the day, when no one will be there to judge her and the life of sin that she has chosen.  After all, we are embarrassed by our sin, just as she was.  But as she quietly and quickly seeks to draw her water for the day, Jesus speaks to her, asking her to draw some water up for him to drink. 

The woman is taken aback.  How can a Jew talk to a Samaritan woman?  Especially one who is outcast of her own society because of her sin?  Jesus goes on, “If you knew who I was, the bridegroom of all Israel, you would ask me, and I would give you living water to drink, and you would never thirst again!”  This sounds good to the woman, no more drawing water in the heat of the day, no more walks out of town to the well.  Instead no more thirst.  So she asks for this water from Jesus.

And its then that Jesus cuts to the chase, “Go get your husband so that I can give it to you both,” confronting the woman with her sin.  She sheepishly looks to the ground and tells Jesus a half truth, “I have no husband.”  “You’re right,” Jesus responds, “you’ve had five, and the man you’re with now is not your husband.” 

There’s no going around it, the woman’s sin has been called out.  She knows that God knows the truth about her life, and her lack of holiness.  She knows that He knows.  And she’s terrified.  The Bridegroom Jesus has arrived at the well, and the bride has been found wanting.  The Groom has arrived, and the Bride has fallen short of her end of the bargain. 

No dear friends, I’m not talking about Jesus being married in the way that we think about it.  I mean in the eternal, heavenly way, the way in which you and I and all people of the world are supposed to be the Holy Precious Bride of Christ.  We are supposed to be united with Jesus forever.  We’re supposed to be taken care of by Him, to live in the home he’s prepared in heaven.  And in return, we’re supposed to be Holy and pure, beautiful and radiant for him.  But the problem is, we’re not.  We’re sinful.  We’ve whored ourselves out to false Gods and sinful desires.  We’re all adulterers, not just once or twice, not even just five times like the woman at the well, but over and over again, each and every day. 

Yes, dear friends, you as a sinner are that bride whose found wanting.  You’ve sinned.  Not just in adultery as the woman in our text, but also by all the other commandments as well.  When Christ the bridegroom looks at you, he shouldn’t want you because of your sin.  He shouldn’t want you because you’ve done evil in thought word and deed.  He shouldn’t want you. 

But he does.  He cares about you, just as he cares about this poor Samaritan woman in our text.  He loves you enough that he will point out to you where you’ve fallen short, telling you of your sin, whether it be five husbands, or swearing once.  Not only that but he also will still promise to give you the water of life from the well of God.  He meets you at a well, no not a water well for watering animals, but a shallow well sitting right here in the church.  The well of the baptismal font.  There, in baptismal waters, you are washed in the water of life, made clean, made sparkling, and where Christ makes you his sinful dirty bride, holy and sparkling.  He assigns his own righteousness upon you. 

And then, having washed you and made you clean in baptismal waters, he robes you in the white robe of his righteousness, and brings you to the wedding feast, here at this altar.  There you eat his body and blood, why?  To forgive your sins.  To make you holy.  So that by eating the foretaste of that wedding feast you might receive the life of Christ, and salvation in his name. 

And Jesus loves you so much, that he’s willing to give up all he has to make you into his beautiful bride.  He fulfills Ephesians chapter 5, promising to love you his bride so much that he’s willing to give up his life to care for you.  He’s willing to bleed, he’s willing die, he’s willing to give up all that he has to make you well again.  And he does, on the cross, giving up all to make you his bride holy.  He gives his life, so that it might be your life.  He gives his blood that it might wash you.  He gives his body into suffering, so that you might not.  He forgives you sins on the cross. 

Dear friends, today’s story is a wedding story – and you're the bride.  You're the one Christ wants, and loves.  You're the one he meets and washes at the well.  You're the one he brings to the wedding feast.  You’re the one he gives up all he has to care for.  And so thus, your sin is forgiven forever, and you are the beautiful, holy, precious bride of Christ.  Even forever more.  Amen.  

Lent 1 - E - 2014 - By One Man Sin, By One Man Grace

The First Sunday of Lent

March 9, 2014- Pastor Adam Moline

Genesis 3:1-21            Romans 5:12-19          Matthew 4:1-11

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Our text today is from the epistle lesson we just read, especially these words, “by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous.”  Thus far our text. 

Dear friends in Christ.  Dear friends, we all know the story of creation.  In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth – a miracle - and when he was done, he declared that it was very good.  And as the pinnacle of His creation, God created man and woman, and put them in the garden.  And thus the history of humanity began.  Man and wife living together in harmony.  Humankind living in the Garden of Eden with little to worry about.  Everything was very good.  As that seventh day of existence came to a close, one wondered what could possibly go wrong. 

But things didn’t last that perfectly for very long.  In our Old Testament lesson we see how a good and wonderful gift could be so easily be destroyed by sin and selfishness.  Adam and Eve, given so many good gifts from God’s loving hand wanted more.  They didn’t just want to receive God’s gifts, they wanted to be like God Himself, to give gifts.  They wanted to judge right from wrong themselves, and to make their own decisions.  And so, they disobeyed God, and through one man and his disobedience, sin entered the world.  Through one man condemnation entered the world.

That sin entered through Adam and Eve, and because of it death began.  Each person now faced the knowledge that because they had disobeyed God, that one day their heart would stop beating and their lungs would stop breathing.  One day they would die, and until that day, their world would be one of suffering and death, pain and sorrow. 

And this sin didn’t affect them only.  It also affected their children and grandchildren.  You see when Adam and Eve disobeyed, we disobeyed right along with them. We are just as guilty as they are.  We only need read a few paragraphs further in Genesis and we learn that that sin we committed with Adam has caused Cain to stab to death Abel.  That one seemingly innocent bite of fruit has now caused blood to be shed in their own family, and in ours.  Sin now reigns in a world that once was very good.  Death and the devil are now the ruler of God’s holy creation.  And this evil will continue until the world is brought to its end some day in the future. 

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.  And Death reigned from Adam until Moses and yes even unto today.  That same sin is still in your life.  That same sin affects the way that you live, and the way that those around you live.  Adam’s sin infects us down to our very core.  It makes us selfish, wanting to keep for ourselves countless blessings which God still gives to us in our sin.  We store up for ourselves treasures of gold and silver here where moth and rust can destroy.  Adam’s sin makes us hate and fight and murder as we interact with our brothers and sisters in the faith, killing them in our thoughts words and deeds.  Yes friends, Adam’s sin still has a firm grip in our world.

And because that very first sin has a grip on us, so too does death.  It is something that we all will face one day or another, sooner or later.  We will face the sickness and death of loved ones.  We will face the even our own sicknesses and death, and it all stems from that very first sin.  Yes friends, one day each one of us will lay on our death beds.  And no matter what the scientific reason for death may be, the spiritual reason is the same:  sin has come into our world through Adam, and brought death to each of us with it. 

Friends, all mankind is guilty.  All mankind has fallen short of God’s eternal glory.  All mankind deserves death.  Let me say it plainly.  You deserve death.  You have sinned right alongside Adam and Eve.  You have fallen into slavery to Satan, because you have not wanted to obey God’s word.  And your slavery leads only to eternal death and damnation, and no matter how hard you try, no matter how many “good works” you do, you cannot save yourself.  You are trapped, and you have no way to escape.  On your own you are doomed.

But you are not on your own.  God does not leave you alone in your sin, for where you have fallen short and fallen into temptation, Jesus has not.  In our Gospel lesson, three times Satan tries to pull the same shenanigans with Jesus that he so successfully pulled with us in the Garden of Eden.  Satan tries to get Jesus to fall into the same slavery of sin and death that you and I are under.  But Jesus is firm; Jesus stands up and says, “No, I will not turn against my God and my Father.”  And so Jesus does what you cannot, and because of it, God rescues you. 

God doesn’t rescue by giving you a set of steps to follow, or by giving us the ability to earn forgiveness.  In our sin, that wouldn’t work, we couldn’t do the things God asks.  Instead God rescues by having Jesus submit to the punishment we deserve for our sin.  God rescues by having his own son give himself over to the power of death and the devil in our place.  We are rescued by Christ as he goes into Jerusalem, and suffers and dies so that original sin which infests you and me might die with him.  For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous.

Where we did not listen to God, Jesus did.  Where we did not love God more than ourselves, Jesus did.  Where we did not submit to God’s will, Jesus did.  Jesus completed what we could not on our own.  Jesus submitted, even to the point of having nails driven through his hands, as his beaten and gruesomely bloodied body was nailed on a cross.  By the obedience of Jesus, by his submission to His heavenly Father, you are made righteous. 

You are made righteous as you are washed in his blood in baptism.  You are made righteous as you hear what you loving God has done for you because you could not.  You are made righteous, because God loved you so much he was willing to suffer and die, even when it was you who deserved that punishment.  You have rescue on a lonely hill, on a Friday we call Good.  You have rescue as your God dies on a cross to give you His life and His holiness and righteousness. 

Friends, we are sinners.  We are guilty.  But in the blood shed Jesus, we are made clean.  We are made holy and blameless before God.  We are rescued, and we have life.  Yes, one day you may leave this earthly life behind, but on that day you will be raised with Jesus into an eternal life that this life cannot even compare to.  A world much like the world Adam and Eve enjoyed before the fall into sin, only better.  A world apart from tears and pain.  A world apart from fighting and sin.  A world of peace.  Dear friends, Jesus saves.  Jesus rescues.  And by his death, you are brought back to that original holiness that God gave to us in the beginning.

THROUGH ONE MAN, THE GOD MAN JESUS, YOU ARE BROUGHT LIFE. 

Amen.

Ash Wednesday 2014

+Jesu Juva +

Lenten Theme:  “Behold the Lamb of God That Takes Away the Sin of the World!”

John 1:29 / 2 Corinthians 5:19-21

Adapted from a sermon by Rev. Brent Kuhlman

In Matthias Grünewald’s painting, John the Baptist points his bony finger not at himself, but at gory, gruesome, hanging-dead-on-the-cross-Jesus!  John the Baptist, the last and greatest prophet of the Old Testament, preaches … this Jesus!  Imagine that!  John makes as much of Jesus as he can!  He extols Jesus to the hilt!  Jesus is all in all!  He is the way, the truth and the life.  He is the “treasure” (Matthew 6:20) come down from heaven.  He has come to cleanse, wash, and save His people from their sins. 

Therefore, John must decrease -- become less.  Jesus, however, must increase – be greater. (John 3:30)  John is nothing.  Jesus is everything!  With his outstretched index finger and his prophetic mouth John proclaims the good news that Jesus is the Savior of sinners:  you, the entire world and me! That man Jesus who hangs dead on the cross is God FOR YOU!  FOR YOUR SALVATION!  “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29)

Why then would you dare to exclude yourself from John’s promise in the sermon?  Why would you ever take the hellish risk of blowing off God’s promissory grace in Christ?  Why do you bullishly insist on believing the hellacious lie that you are not a sinner who desperately needs a Savior? 

It’s time to be repented.  To live in and from your Baptism.  You need to be truthed by the power of God’s Word!  And here it is:  “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me … Against you, you only [LORD] have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight” (Psalm 51:5, 4)!  That’s you!  It’s the truth about you!

If you purposely exclude yourself from the truth of you being a sinner, then you’ve also deliberately excluded yourself from the salvation job done by the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  After all, Jesus died only for sinners.  If you don’t believe that you’re a sinner, then you have no use for Jesus hanging on the cross.  And then you’ve bought yourself a one-way ticket straight to hell – over Jesus’ dead body! If you insist that Jesus’ dead body on the cross is a nothing, then I’m here to tell you that you are still in your sins and you will be damned in them.       

  

I have been sent to with another message from the Lord.  It’s this:  “Be reconciled to God.”  Put down your guns.  Let all your defenses down.  Stop the 24-7-365 justification of the self.  You are not the exception to the rule. The fact that Jesus is crucified and that He takes away the sin of the world means that you’re a sinner who needed saving!  The fact that “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them,” (2 Corinthians 5:19) means that you have sinned.  When King David cries out:  “have mercy” (Psalm 51:1) it means he’s a transgressor.  It indicates that he’s polluted and toxic with iniquity!  “Blot out my transgressions!” King David begs the LORD.  “Blot out,” King David implores, “my lusting for another man’s wife, my stealing her, bedding her down, impregnating her, and then murdering her husband without any fear, love or trust in you LORD.” 

I beseech you brothers and sisters:  “Now is the time of God’s favor!  Now is the day of salvation!” as I stand here like John the Baptist pointing you to Christ and preaching Christ to you.  Christ has sent me as His ambassador to urge you and to make His appeal “ to receive God’s grace,” favor and forgiveness in His hanging-dead-on-the-cross-Son now!    

It is high time for you to believe John’s promise:  Jesus is “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”  That includes your sin and all your sinning against God and the people in your lives!    

Behold how Jesus takes away your sin – how He forgives it –or washes and cleanses it -- from you the sinner!  It’s incredible!  It will absolutely blow your mind.  The circuit breakers in your mind are going to be popping in astonishment of the Lord’s way of dealing with you the sinner.  I’m here to tell you that the preaching of this Jesus will “restore to [you] the joy of your salvation,” (Psalm 51:12). 

Listen.  God made Jesus who knew no sin – who never sinned in his life – not even once,  “TO BE SIN!”      

Really?  “To be sin.”  Jesus?  Made to be sin?  How can that be?  He’s holy!  Divine.  He didn’t sin!  Ever!  Jesus and sin don’t go together!  Right?  Jesus and sin have to be divorced – kept apart – disconnected – as far as the east is from the west!  Right?  Got to protect holy and sinless God Jesus from the lethal rot, gunk, and filth of our and all sin!  Right?  St. Paul’s got to be wrong!  Surely he misspoke!  Or perhaps he’s just exaggerating.  If Jesus is really made to be sin on the cross, then He can’t be … God anymore.  Right?

WRONG!  Don’t fall for it!  Don’t even try to undo or untangle what God puts together!  Seriously!  Why would you want to do that?  Then you’d be left all on your own to find other ways besides Made-To-Be-Sin-Jesus to get rid of your sin and get to heaven.  You don’t want to do that.  Seriously!

Better stick with the bald and audacious assertion of the text that I’m here to preach.  “God the Father made holy, sinless, all-the-fullness-of-the-deity-dwelling-in-the-body-of-Jesus TO BE SIN!” 

How?  By taking all your sin and carrying it and answering for it in His divine Body to which John the Baptist points and preaches!  “The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all,” (Isaiah 53:6)!  “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree,” (1 Peter 2:24)!  With your sin, the world’s sin, and mine Good Friday Jesus is, as one preacher from the 16^th century puts it, “sinner of sinners,” and “the highest, the greatest, and the only sinner!”[1] 

I know it sounds like madness – sounds so wrong -- but this is what God does FOR YOU when your salvation / forgiveness is at stake!  Jesus is  “made to be sin” on the cross!

Your sin is now Christ’s sin!  He took it away from you.  And He’s answered for it.  Got damned or cursed with it.  In exchange, He gives you his holiness, purity, righteousness – in other words -- FORGIVENESS.  In Jesus, “made to be sin,” God “hides his face” from your sin – He blots out or doesn’t count your sin against you.  After all, He counted it all against Jesus because He was “made to be sin!”      

All this done on the Friday afternoon we call “good”!  God’s doing and giving to save you!  Carrying out a Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world work! 

On the cross Jesus is wrapped in all of your sin!  Your sin and Lamb of God Jesus belong together so that He is “made to be sin.”  Your sin is defeated in Made-To-Be-Sin-Jesus and only in Him.  Christ became sin FOR YOU and FOR YOUR SALVATION. 

Behold, the Lamb of God / Made To Be Sin Jesus who takes away the sin of the world!  At Calvary! 

And even now tonight in the Sacrament at the altar and in your mouth!  With His own Lamb-of-God-who-takes-away-the-sin-of-the-world-promise that your sin is forgiven – “creating in you the pure heart” (Psalm 51:10) of faith – as He feeds you, through my “ambassador” hands (2 Corinthians 5:20), the “treasure” (Matthew 6:21) of His Paschal Lamb body and blood with the bread and wine.  What joy!  The joy of your salvation – forgiveness -- life!  Only in Him! 

In the Name of Jesus.

---

     [1]Dr. Martin Luther, “Lecture on Galatians,” in Luther’s Works 26:278. 

Transfiguration - O - 2014 - Blood of the Transfiguration

The Transfiguration of Our Lord

March 2, 2014 - Pastor Adam Moline

Exodus 24:8-18         2 Peter 1:16-21            Matthew 17:1-9

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God the Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.  Our text today is the Old Testament lesson, especially these words, “Moses took the blood and threw it on the people.”  Thus far our text for today. 

Dear friends in Christ.  Today is Transfiguration Sunday, the last Sunday before Lent.  On this day we celebrate the event recorded for us in our lessons for today.  Peter, James and John went up with Jesus to the top of a tall mountain.  And while they are there, Jesus changes, his clothes began glowing like the sun, his face shone with the glory of God.  And Moses and Elijah appear, talking to Jesus about what must happen to Him, that he must be crucified, that he must shed his blood and that he must die. 

Peter, James and John are amazed at what they see. Elijah was the great prophet of old, who on the top of Mount Carmel built an altar to God, and after having shed the blood of the sacrifice on the altar, the altar was consumed by fire from heaven, proving to the Israelites that the True God was more powerful than Baal.  For the Lord God could not stand the false teachings of the prophets of Baal, and had them killed, for their unbelief.  On that day, the blood of the unbelieving prophets of Baal was required by God, and it was paid in full. 

Moses too had a mountain top experience, the one that we read about in our Old Testament lesson.  Moses made a sacrifice, and capturing the blood in a bowl, he walked around the entire people of Israel, and dipping his finger in the blood, he sprinkled it upon all the people.  Why?  So that their sin might be forgiven, and being forgiven, that they might see the God of Israel.  For it was only with the shedding and sprinkling of blood upon the people of Israel, that God would allow them to be in His holy perfect presence. 

And it is with these events in their mind, that Peter gets nervous in our text.  He sees the God-ness of Jesus shining forth.  He sees the holy prophets from of old, standing with Jesus.  It is at that moment that things click for Peter, and he understands that Jesus is God in human flesh.  The fullness of who Jesus is makes itself manifest.  It is the most clear epiphany – and Peter is scared to be in God’s presence, because He knows God hates sin.  That God hates unrighteousness, so much so that he wants to destroy it from his presence.  And Peter, knowing his own skin is terrified of being with God. 

There’s only one thing to do, the same thing Israel did in the Old Testament. Build three tents – tabernacles really.  Places to hide God away, so that they might know he’s present, but not have to be in his presence.  A place where God might be contained, so that sinners might stay safe in his presence.  But when Peter suggests this in our text, God appears in a glowing cloud, and says clearly – This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased, Listen to him.  Now Peter, James and John are truly terrified.  And they have no sacrifice to atone for their sins before God. 

Dear friends.  You too are guilty of sin.  You too deserve punishment from God.  You too have done wrong, and the only thing that can cover your sin is blood.  The only thing that can forgive your sin is blood. 

And like Peter you ought to be terrified.  One day your life will end, and you, like Peter in our text, will stand before the God of heaven and earth.  He will call into account all the deeds of your life.  He will ask if you’ve done good or if you’ve done evil.  And the truth is, because of sin you’ve done evil, time and time again.  You will not be able to plead ignorance on that day.  You will not be able to pass the buck onto someone else.  You will stand condemned, and your blood will be required by God, just as the prophets of Baal’s blood was required of them. 

Except that you have already been covered in blood.  Your sin has already be atoned for.  Just as Moses sprinkled blood on the people of Israel so that they could stand before God, blood has been sprinkled on you.  Just as blood took away their evil and gross sin, so too your sin is taken care of. 

No it’s not your blood, but it’s a sacrifice in your place.  The blood comes from Christ.  It was shed on a Friday we call good, many years ago.  It was poured out generously, the skin of Christ broken by whips and thorns.  The blood of Christ flowing quickly from his hands and feet, and finally the last of it drained as the point of a spear pierced his dead body.  Yes, it’s the blood of Jesus that was your sacrifice.  It was the blood of Jesus that covers you. 

It too was sprinkled upon you, just as Moses did in our lesson, in a font, where water and the Word of God combined to bring the forgiveness of Jesus to you.  In baptism, you’ve washed your robe and made it white in the blood of the lamb.  Your sin was taken away, because Jesus’ blood was shed in your place – just as it was shed for Peter, and for James, and John, and for all who believe in the name of Christ.  Your sin washed in the blood of the transfigured, and resurrected Lord Jesus Christ.