- He had traveled thousands of miles with him. And he was trusting and he was obeying, since he first heard his voice. And even though there had been some ups and downs in their relationship, he trusted him. After all, God gave him an unconditional promise that we would, from his descendants, create a brand new nation and bless the world. God had promised him that, even in his old age, he and Sarah would have a child when they were beyond childbearing years and that through this child, he would raise up this new nation and bless the world. That's why he just couldn't understand what God was asking him to do next. We pick up the story in Genesis chapter 22. Don't turn there, just listen to the account. After these things, God tested Abraham and said to him, "Abraham," and he said, "Here I am." He said, "Take your son, your only son Isaac "whom you love and go to the land of Moriah, "and offer him there as a burnt offering "on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you. "So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose, and went to the place of which God had told him. And on the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place from afar. Then Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey, "I and the boy will go over there "and worship and come again to you." And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it on Isaac his son, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. And Isaac said to his father, Abraham, "My father," and he said, "Here I am, my son." And he said, "Behold the fire and the wood, "but where's the lamb for the burnt offering?" And Abraham said, "God will provide for Himself the lamb, "for a burnt offering my son." So they went both of them together. When they came to the place of which God had told them, Abraham built the altar there, and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son, but the angel of the Lord called to him, from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham," and he said, "Here I am." He said, "Do not lay your hand on the boy, "or do anything to him, "for now I know that you fear God, "seeing you have not withheld your son, "your only son from me." And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up as a burnt offering, instead of his son. So Abraham called the name of that place, the Lord Will Provide, as it is said to this day, on the mount of the Lord, it shall be provided. It's remarkable to me when I read the account, how many times Abraham says, "God's gonna take care of things in so many different ways." He said to the servants, "We're coming back," so he trusted God. He said to Isaac, "God's gonna provide a solution to this." Abraham trusted God, he did from the first day he heard his voice over in Iraq, and he ended up coming into the promised land. It was Abraham who was declared righteous, or in right standing by his faith in God, and so now God was asking him to trust and obey. But this was way, way different. And Abraham had a choice. He had a choice to trust God, in the midst of a situation where he had no idea what the outcome would be. See, Abraham was pushed into a situation, where he couldn't turn to anybody else to come up with a solution. Was he going to trust God's character, his faithfulness, his unconditional promise that through this son, Isaac, he would create a nation, and bless the world? But now he was asking him to take the life of this son. And by the way, just so you know that throughout the rest of the Old Testament, God forbade human sacrifices. He was forbidding it, he wouldn't allow it at all, and so for God to ask him to do this, and yet he said, "But I'm gonna trust Him." Do you ever get yourself in a situation where, you know God is asking you to do something, but you don't understand His will and you don't understand His ways? Especially in light of our culture today, God says, act this way, but you and culture and whatever else has go this way, and we don't understand it. But yet God says, "I want you to trust me. "I want you to trust my will, "I want you to trust my ways." And sure enough he did, he threw everything at God's feet. And he said, "I will trust you. "I'll trust you no matter what, "you gave me an unconditional promise, "so somehow, some way you're going to provide a solution." And He did. Because ultimately, a ram was provided, so that a sacrifice could be made. A substitute would be given, so that Isaac would live, the animal die, but life would be given because of this principle of a substitute. And that's why Abraham said the Lord will provide, he was all in, at this point. You've been your all in God, I don't get it, but I'm all in, I will trust your character and your love. And throughout the rest of the Old Testament, God revealed this incredible plan of a sacrifice, of a substitute. Through Moses, he gave a system through the law, to the nation of Israel, the nation that would come from the promise given to Abraham, that this Holy God loved them, wanted to live in the midst of them, wanted to be with them, and yet their sin wasn't a front, it was rebellion against Him, and so, in order for that to happen, He instituted what is called a sacrificial system, so that by these sacrifices that would be offered, they would be a temporary, what is called atonement or covering for sin, so that a Holy God, could live in the midst, of an unholy people. And sacrifices were offered, thousands of sacrifices were offered, in such a way that in some of them, a worshipper would bring a sacrifice to the, to the tent of meeting or the tabernacle and eventually the temple, and he would place this sand on a perfect, holy, sacrificial animal as a symbol that, it was a substitute that guilt, was transferred to that animal, and that death would come to that animal as a substitute, as a payment by which God would say, "I will now give temporary covering to sin." And all of those sacrifices, and the ram that God provided, in place as a substitute for Isaac, all of these pointed to a greater sacrifice to come. And that's why we have to ask the question today, why? Why is this the case? And how would this sacrifice do something for us? And that's why we're landing today, on this unshakeable truth, this essential of Christ's atonement, what was it that he did? All of that pointed to him. Well, forgiveness was finally made possible. And in order to take a look, I want you to take your Bibles out, I want you to go to Ephesians chapter two, and I want you to locate verse one. You can use your electronic Bible, you can take a look at the Bible in front of you, it's page 976, locate Ephesians chapter two verse one, grab your notes and a pen as we, dive right into this passage today, and take a look at Christ's atonement. The last couple of weeks, we've looked at his incarnation, we started with God, we learned who He was, we saw that we were created in His image, we saw how sin has separated us from Him, and then we took a look at His word and how it conveys truth to us, on how we can have a relationship. And it reveals to us, that God the Son, fully God and fully man, came to earth, to do what we could never do. And that's what we'll learn today, to take a look at that substitute, his Atonement. So let me read the 10 verses will come back, and I'll make a few comments. Paul is speaking to followers of Christ, He's speaking to individuals that go to a church in Ephesus, but they have said, "I'm a follower of Christ, I trust in him as my Savior and Lord." And so Paul is unpacking what that looks like. He says, and you were dead, in the trespasses and sins, in which you once walked. Following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived, in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body, and the mind, and we're by nature, children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead, in our trespasses made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved, and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages, he might show the unmeasurable riches of his grace, and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace, you've been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing, it is a gift of God, not a result of work, so that no one may boast, for we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Paul says this, "We were dead in our trespasses and sins." we were dead that means you can't come to life, okay, by yourself, all right? Something has to intervene if you're dead, you can't do anything cause you're dead, right? You're six feet under spiritually speaking, the idea means separation, you're separated from God. And he says that we were separated from God, because of sin. And when he uses the word we were dead in or because of the trespasses and sins in our life, it doesn't mean that we just committed at one time , it means we keep on doing it. We're constantly in this state, of separation from God. That's why we're dead. And we didn't have the freedom to do what was right. Paul then uses all these adjectives to describe, what this looks like. And he's describing original sin. He finally gets to this section where he says, "You were children of wrath, "like the rest of mankind, "that was you before you trusted Christ, "you were subject to the penalty, "and the power of sin, "the wages of sin is death." And at various degrees, we were sinners. Now, for some of you, you're thinking, well, what's a sinner? Or maybe, was I really a sinner? Or I'm kind of a good person. So let's talk about that a little bit. When I used the word, you are a sinner and I am a sinner, it simply means this, you're not perfect, and neither am I. We cannot be perfect enough, to match God's or please God's perfect holy standard, we miss His mark of a perfect standard, every single time, all the time. That's what that word means, okay? Now, some will say, "Well, but I thought I was a pretty good person." Well, you might be a really good person, I don't know, you're probably a whole lot better than me, guaranteed that, that doesn't mean you're good enough, to meet God's perfect holy standard. So let me unpack it a little bit further. If you travel around the world and you find somebody, regardless of where they are, I don't care if it's China, India, Papa New Guinea, Nepal, doesn't matter to me, and you find that person, and they are committed to Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, whatever that might be, you could find an atheist, but for those that are involved in religion, and by the way, whether they're involved in religion of some sort, or atheism itself, they still have the same Genesis that I'm talking about here. That's what I'm unpacking. And so, what happens so whether it's a Hindu, Buddhist, you're involved in Islam, Mormon, you could be a Jehovah's Witness, you know what they are, right, they've showed up, they don't come to my house anymore, I must be on the blacklist or something I don't know but, the genesis, of those individuals, let's say you find somebody in the Park, that is involved in Buddhism or Hinduism, what's the Genesis behind that? Do you know what really the impetus behind that is? Whether they are able to identify it or not, they feel that there is something wrong with them, and therefore they have to do something, to appease this universal force, this spirit, this God, as they've been raised to believe whatever that might be, even an atheist, wants to do something right to what? Make up for him and I put in these words but to make up for those things he does wrong, so he can be a contributor to a society. What is that? You know what that is? That's the conscious telling you, you're a sinner. That's the point. And what happens when they start, they say, "I gotta somehow undo all the bad things I do," and that's why in Hinduism, reincarnation is such a big deal, because reincarnation says, If I am good here, then I'll move from a bug to a lion, okay? And then from a lion to, I don't know, maybe something else, some other animal form, That's the point. The point is, I've got to do something, and that's where people go wrong. Because they think that somehow, they can do something to appease this force that is out there, and Paul comes in, to this group quite frankly, of Ephesians, I mean, they're worshipping everything under the sun, okay? They're involved in all kinds of stuff. And he says to them, "Before you knew the hope "that was found through Christ, you were lost, "you were dead, and that's the rest of mankind. "They're caught up, and they can't get out of sin." So the Bible is really clear, that sin has come to all of us. Your physical death proves the fact that, sin has done its work in your heart. And what we learned when we were looking at the unshakable truth of original sin is that, the sin of Adam and Eve was transferred to you, and to me and that God saw me in them, I'm guilty, and I'm also guilty because of the things that I do, and the things that I say, and that's why he says, "By nature, "you are a child deserving God's wrath, "or judgment or condemnation." In Romans chapter five, fabulous chapter, Paul says that, through Adam's act, sin came to all of us, deserving condemnation, and then he says, "Because of my disobedience," and he actually uses the word, he says, "You're a sinner, just disobedient, "you were from the get go, folks." We all know that to be true. Let me illustrate this right, now for those of you that are animal rights activists, it's okay, all right, just relax, and I love animals, I really, really do, there's one animal I don't really really love, though, and that's a skunk, okay? Now, when Lynette's parents were, Lynette is my wonderful wife, for those of you that aren't aware, she usually sits right down here with me, her parents were farmers in Nebraska. And we had a situation one time while I was there, there was a skunk living under the deck, connected to the house. Now that's, you don't want that, okay? So trust me, you do not want a skunk near you, near your house, skunks do what? They what, they stink, right? So we don't want that at all. So on a farm, you always have a garbage dump. And the garbage dump is a big huge pit, you dig it, and you throw your garbage in there, and at this point in time, who's got little kids? Little grandkids, okay, typically what you like to feed kids is what? Yogurt, right, and so that's what we did. We're going to be grandparents, and I'm just gonna give candy and ice cream, whatever my grand son or daughter wants. It's yes all the time. I said no, as a parent, I'm never seen that again, It's yes to everything. So our kids would like, Yoplait yogurt. And Yoplait yogurt comes in this fascinating container, with a small top, and it's like a cone, right? You know what it looks like, and this is true story, you can dial one up on the internet, I've seen him on YouTube, but this is true, this actually happened, I had not seen that before, we would throw everything into the dump and this skunk, because skunks stink, they like stinky things, okay? And he went out to the dump, and decided he was gonna eat stinky garbage, and he got out one of these, Yoplait yogurt containers, and all of a sudden, I looked out the front picture window of the farmhouse, and I looked out into the field, and there was this skunk, out in the field about 100 yards from the house, going like this, with this Yoplait yogurt cup, stuck to his head. No key it was just wandering all over the place, endlessly, he didn't know where he was going. He was totally blind. And then I warned you, animal rights activists or whatever, if you love animals, I love animals too, okay? But on the farm, it's a bit different value system, okay? So we needed to get rid of this skunk, and we were so grateful that he was away from the house, and so my father-in-law went and got the 22, and you know what he did. So, skunk is gone, and I thought, that is a great illustration of sin. Because quite frankly, you and I are stinky because of sin. It's a part of our nature, it's who we are, and we produce stinky things, and we seek after stinky garbage, and the unfortunate thing is, we think those things are actually gonna feed our soul, they're counterfeits, it's like looking for love in all the wrong places, and it never satisfies you, and all of a sudden what you thought, would bring satisfaction, actually traps you and kills you, and that is sin. And that's what Paul is saying here. You were in bondage, He created you to be in relationship with Him, but now because of sin, we are subject to God's wrath but that's where Paul turns to some hope. So let's jump in verse four, he says, but God who's the subject of everything here, being rich in mercy, which mercy means don't be scared by that term, it means undeserved kindness, okay? So, God based on his character, wants to give you undeserved kindness and goodness, but there is a problem, you have offended Him by your sin. Even the little things of life, we're in violation, we're not perfect, we've missed his mark. But because He wants to bestow His kindness which is undeserved, He wants you to experience, who He is, because of His, it says great love, and we've seen it's unconditional love. Because of his love, He made us alive, it says, together with Christ, and it's by grace, He says, that means it's unmerited favor. And so, His mercy is undeserved kindness, and then his grace is unmerited favor, it's something you don't deserve. And Paul is saying right here we are made alive, because of and here it is, the grace or the perfect sacrifice, or the gift of Jesus Christ because I was dead, I couldn't do anything about my sin, and so God who's rich in undeserved kindness, out of his great love, put together this incredible plan, to save you and forgive you, and it has absolutely nothing to do with you. Your salvation, your freedom, your forgiveness, is based on what Christ has done, and not what you have done, and therefore he says really three things, he says you've been made alive, because of his love motivated Him, you were made alive with Christ, you now have new spiritual life, you can have a relationship with God, you were raised up, so that now you can walk, in newness of life, you can live out this, new life in Jesus Christ's death, and the power and the penalty of sin, no longer is your master. You can walk away from that life, with the very power of Jesus Christ. One day we're gonna be given a physical resurrected body, and then I love this, he says at the end of verse six, he says, "And seated us with Him, "in the heavenly places in Christ." Seated us with Him, that means the work is finished. In the Old Testament, whenever a priest was on duty, he couldn't sit down because he was still working. However, when they would sit down, it meant that the sacrifices and the work was done. Okay, he was off his shift, and somebody else took his shift that's the idea here, and so when it says that, when Jesus sat down, I sat down with him, indicating that the work that he came to do as the incarnate Son of God was accomplished, done, finished, sin paid for. He gave his life as a gift. However, before we can unpack that, perhaps you're here today, perhaps you know somebody though in your life, where you would say, "Okay, I'm kind of getting that," or you have a spiritual conversation with them, and Jesus comes up, okay? And they're saying, "Well, how do I know Jesus is is the one?" A couple weeks ago, Pastor Seth did a great job, pointing to who Jesus Christ really was, and whether or not he was a liar, or lunatic or Lord, and he really is Lord, there's no other logical option, but now let's talk about some more specifics. And so let me put it this way. There are approximately, because there's two numbers that I found, 333 and then I saw another, another piece of research that indicates 332 prophecies given of who the Messiah would be, okay? Now most of those, have already been fulfilled. There are some that are coming, but when you look at the Bible, there are 300, and the list I've seen probably more often is 333 specific prophecies, giving regarding Christ. Now there are also 29 of them, that are mentioned in one day. Most of them revolve around passages like Isaiah 53, where it talks about the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, or Psalm 22, which actually speaks of the crucifixion, before Rome came to power and even invented crucifixion which is pretty powerful stuff. Okay, so when you add that up, 29 of them now, let me ask you this question, out of the 29 out of the 333, what is the chance that eight of them, just eight, let's just take eight, eight were actually fulfilled by one person, in one lifetime, okay? Now, here's some stuff that I had learned years ago, okay? What are the chances that one person, in one lifetime would fulfill eight? Well, here's the number, one in 10 to the 17th power. That's the number of zeros, that are in that number. Now, that's huge, okay? So to wrap your mind around that, cause maybe you're not good at math and, that's the first time you've ever seen 17 after 10, I don't know, let me let me illustrate it this way, and again, it's an illustration that I heard several years ago. Let's just say that I give you a bunch of silver dollars, and I give you enough silver dollars, to go down to the State of Texas. And to and to take all of those silver dollars, and spread them across the entire, State of Texas, two feet high. So I've given you enough silver dollars, to spread across Texas, two feet high, and then I give you another silver dollar, and I say I want you to take that silver dollar, and I want you to put a red X, on the back of that silver dollar and then I want you to give that to a friend, and you cannot look where they're going, you got to put a blindfold on, you cannot watch them, and your friend can travel with a free Delta pass or wherever they want to go to any part of Texas they wanna go, and then their job is to take that silver dollar with an X on the back, and put it somewhere, in that two foot high pile of silver dollars, in the state of Texas but not tell you. And then I give you the opportunity which I've never had, to ride in a helicopter. And you're placed in that helicopter and you get to fly it all over the State of Texas, okay? Amarillo, Dallas, San Antonio, Texarkana, or wherever you wanna go, and you end up in this helicopter, but you get to say, "Land the helicopter," and so you decide to land it right outside of Dallas, you step out of the helicopter, and you get one chance. You get one chance in that moment to reach down in that two foot high pile of silver dollars across State Texas, reached out one chance, to grab the silver dollar, with the red X on the back. What's your chance in doing that? One in 10 to the 17th power. That's what the mathematicians tell us. Do you realize that that is totally non nonsensical? Okay, you can't even get to that number. So that's why Jesus is either liar, lunatic or Lord, all the prophecies coincide in one person, Jesus Christ fulfilled all of them that were fulfilled up until this point, and now, why did this happen? Because our atonement or forgiveness, motivated by God's love to send His Son is based on his finished work, not mine. Not mine, it's his work. Here's what Hebrews says in chapter 10, verses three through four, he says, but in these sacrifices, there is a reminder of sins, every year, so in other words, all of the Old Testament sacrifices started there, in the Old Testament, we've been through a couple of illustrations there're thousands and thousands of them, they were a reminder of sins every year because since we're committed every year. For it is impossible, he says, though, for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin, why? Because it was a temporary atonement. It was a temporary covering, but they had to Keep being offered, over and over, they pointed to something greater. And so when Jesus Christ came, that's why when he was hanging on the cross in John chapter 19, verse 30, he declared this, he said, "It is finished." Okay, and that Greek word that was used there that John translates it is finished, it's actually the Greek word, it's a very important word, I don't do this very often, but this one's really important, it's the Greek word to tell us die. And it means paid in full. He paid in full, he was the perfect sacrifice for your sin, because you are dead. You cannot get out of it. It doesn't matter what system of religion you buy into, there's absolutely nothing you can do, to get forgiveness from being a sinner and being deserving of God's wrath, Paul says. Peter says it this way, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. Did you notice how many times even in Ephesians, when we turn to God, Jesus Christ is mentioned, and when I'm with him, I'm forgiven, that's because he was not a lamb, that needed to be offered over and over, and over, and over again, he was the final perfect lamb, without blemish or spot, and it was by his blood, that my sin is not just temporarily covered, it is washed away, because he's the final sacrifice. And he said, "It is finished." And he says here that you were ransomed. The word actually means to pay a price, to set you free. What was the price? His life, his death so you could find life. His blood was shed and life is in the blood, because sin had permeated, you, me, everybody, the entire human race, and a perfect sacrifice, a substitute needed to come, and then he as your substitute, that's why we sometimes here's a big word, you may hear it periodically in church, it's called the Substitutionary Atonement of Christ. What is that big word? It is a big word that has big meaning. It means Jesus paid for your sin, because you were going to receive the judgment of God, and hell itself for all eternity. You had no hope, apart from his work. Salvation is his work, not yours. That's why you are with him, because he finished it, he did it all. I love this, second Corinthians 5:21 says, for our sake, He made him, Jesus to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in him, we might become the righteousness of God. My sin, those sacrifices when they the worshippers there and put their hand on the sacrifice, so that the sin was transferred, my sin transferred to Jesus Christ and it's the great exchange, he gave me because he died in my place, as the payment and substitute for my sin, he gave me his righteousness or right standing before God. Now is it just for those of you that are good? Is it just for a few? No, for Christ also suffered once for our sins, New American Standard actually says, once for all, for Christ also suffered once for sins, for all of us, the righteous for the unrighteous that he might bring us to God being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, the opportunity is for all of us, and sin wasn't just dismissed, it was justly dealt with by Jesus paying the price with his life. Now, I'm gonna not go down that road cause we'll be for another hour, that's after Christmas, okay? So we're gonna come back to the subject of what it means to be justified, or justice if I had never sinned before God. Powerful, powerful time, don't miss that, when we begin it in January. Now, in the Old Testament, there was one time a year though, where just the high priest, on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement would go into the holiest place in the temple, and he would take blood from a sacrifice that was offered, I'm really condensing this down, and he would sprinkle it on the top of the Ark of the Covenant, which is called the Mercy Seat, that means the place that would satisfy God's wrath, that's what that means. And it was the blood that would be sprinkled on there, so that the blood would be a covering over the people, so that God would give his wrath or rest his wrath upon the death of that sacrifice, and not you and me, that was the idea. So it was a temporary covering of sin. Well, Jesus Christ was the final perfect sacrifice, but he was also our high priest. And that's the image, And so I wanted to set this up, it is behind Hebrews chapter nine, where it says, but when Christ appeared as a high priest. So he's doing the intercession with God, based on his sacrifice now, cause I can't, I'm dead. Of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent, not made with hands, that is not of his creation, he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption, eternally forgiven. And then, one chapter later, same book, he says, when Christ, had offered for all time, a single sacrifice for sins, notice this, he sat down at the right hand of God, the work was finished. That's why I wanted you to see in verse five, where when we have trusted Christ as Savior, we are with Christ, we are seated, my sin paid for, I don't have to keep working it off, it's done. It's paid for now, does this come to everybody? No, you have to receive it, but I want you to understand, it's by grace through faith. He died for you, you have faith, trusting that his death on that cross, paid for your sin, and he rose from the grave, it is a gift given to you, that's why it's unmerited favor, his sacrifice for your sin, and now you have a decision, right? You can receive it, or reject it, based on everything that I've said. Now, when I say you have to receive it by grace, what I'm after there is that you get it, okay? And what I mean is you have to get it. Now, unless you get it, you don't get it, and I can't help you get it, other than tell you the truth, but you got to get it, does that make sense? Friday night, we had a worship service here, if you missed it, you really missed out. I mean, that's part of the life of a church coming together. It was an awesome opportunity, Pastor Doug and the team did a fantastic job, make sure when it's on the calendar show up, it'll bless you in big ways. We talked about grace at the worship night. And Doug, he said there was a point in time in his life where he just got it. Let me ask you a question, have you ever gotten it? Cause if you have you know exactly what I'm talking about, if you don't understand what I'm talking about, I'm not so sure you got it yet. Because when you get it, it's because God's Holy Spirit that is moving right now in this place, God is everywhere, has worked on your heart, and has convicted you that you are a sinner based on what we've said and perhaps what others have told you in the past, that you're not perfect, that you've missed a holy standard, and when the Holy Spirit works on your heart and begins to move in your heart and life, then that brings a sense of conviction, and the answer for that conviction, is not to turn to yourself or other religion. It's to repent and turn to Jesus. And it was Jesus who paid the price for your sin, and when you get it, it means I get it. I believe he died for me, and rose from the grave, and I'm gonna totally trust him as a person, that he paid the price for my sin, that he's the only one that can forgive me, and take me to heaven based on, his perfect sacrifice. And you rest in it, you rest in it. Because once you accept it then, he says we are made in to be alive, to live differently and love radically, we're his workmanship, and we now live, not to gain eternal life, not to gain his love. We live from his love, not for his love. And that's what Pastor Kevin is gonna pick it up, next week. But for some of you, you need to stop believing the lies, because you have trusted Christ, and yet you sin again, and then you start thinking, well, am I really forgiven? And will He forgive me with all of the stuff in the future? And I really wasn't that bad when I was nine or 10, and now I've really done some bad stuff, but I did put my faith, and as long as it was real and true, you're saved. You can rest in it. That's why we have first John 1:9, it says if we confess our sin, he is, and there's two key words here, faithful and just, to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Two key words bring about the forgiveness, God is faithful to His promise, He loved us, He brought a redeemer, to die on a cross, He gave the promise to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob throughout the Old Testament, you see it, and he brought this Redeemer, which is culminated on the cross, in the perfect work of Jesus Christ, and therefore God was just by punishing him, and not punishing us. His wrath was on him, not us. As I said, we'll come back to that in a couple of weeks. And therefore we finally find cleansing to live a new life. So here's how I'm wrapping it up, I want you to watch this video by the Bible project, I'll be right back up, I'll pull it together, and I think this is really gonna help with the topic that we talked about today.

- [Narrator] We all long for the world to be good, for people to live in peace, act with love and justice, but there's a problem. Something compels us humans to constantly wreak havoc in destruction instead, and we call this evil. And from the Bible's point of view, evil ruins things in at least two ways. There's a direct effect of our evil, like when someone steals from another person, they've created injustice, and therefore, they owe something, to make it right. But there's another indirect effect of evil. Cause they've also ruined the environment of the relationship creating a lack of trust, there's emotional damage, it's like vandalism. And they need to make that right too. Now many people believe, hey, God is good, he should be the one to just get rid of all the evil in the world. But let's be honest, I mean the evil, that I see everywhere out there, it's the same evil that's inside of me. We have all contributed, and we keep doing it. And so this kind of puts us in a bind, if God's gonna rid the world of evil, you have to get rid of us. And this is what's so remarkable, about the story of the Bible. This God is so good, that not only is He going to rid the world of evil, He's going to do it, without destroying humanity. So how is He gonna do that? Well, early in the story of the Bible, we're introduced to this practice of animal sacrifice, which I know it seems weird to us, but for the Israelites, it was a very powerful symbol of God's justice and of His grace. So remember, I'm a contributor, to the evil that's in the world, I should be removed. But God is allowing this animal's life, to be a substitute. It's symbolically dying in my place. And the biblical word for this is atonement, which means to cover over someone's death. But there's a second part to this ritual. Remember, evil also causes this relational vandalism. And then the Bible this idea is described as polluting or defiling the land and making it unclean. So the priests would symbolically wash away the vandalism, by sprinkling the animals' blood in different parts of the temple. So the animals blood is cleaning things? Well, remember, this is a symbol, and it's a symbol that we're not used to. The blood represents life, and the sprinkling of the blood is this representation of how God is cleaning away these indirect consequences of evil in their community. In the Bible, this process is called purification. And so the temple and the land now become a clean space, where God and His people can live together in peace. So this ritual makes things right between Israel and God. And more than that, the Israelites experienced God's love, and His grace through these symbols. And by being forgiven, ideally, this would compel them to become people of love and grace too. Right that's the ideal, but it wasn't always happening, right, so the prophet Isaiah, for example, he talks a lot about this. He opens his book by saying that the continual sacrifices of the Israelites had become meaningless, because they were also allowing great evil, in their midst ignoring the poor and the oppressed, even the Israelite kings were distorting justice. But Isaiah looked forward to a day when a new king from the line of David would come, and deal with evil. But in a surprising way, the king would become a servant. And not just serve, but also suffer and die, for the evil committed by his own people, and his life would be offered as a sacrifice. And this is the promise, Jesus believed he was fulfilling, He's the king of Israel, suffering and dying on the cross. In fact, Jesus himself used Isaiah his words, when he said that he came to serve, and give his life as a ransom for many. And that word ransom refers to a sacrifice of atonement. And so all over the New Testament, we hear about how Jesus's death, was an atoning sacrifice for us. It covered the debt that humans owe God, for contributing to all of the evil and death in this world. But the New Testament authors also talk about Jesus' death as providing purification. And so we hear about Jesus' blood as a symbol of his life, having this ability to wash away the vandalism that evil has caused in us, and around us, so we can now live at peace with God. So that's the meaning behind Jesus' death. But there's more to the story. Yeah, the New Testament, makes this powerful claim, that Jesus' death was not final. He rose from the dead. And so he's the sacrifice who broke the power of death and evil, which means that he lives on, to offer his life to anyone who will accept it. He is the perfect sacrifice, to which all the previous sacrifices, were pointing all along. So because of Jesus, the early Christians, stopped participating in the ritual of animal sacrifice, but they were given new rituals. There are two, that Jesus taught his followers to perform. The first is called baptism. Just as Jesus died, so going into the water, becomes this personal connection, you and I have to his death. And then coming out of the water you, so to speak, come back to life with Jesus. So baptism is the sacred ritual that joins your story, to Jesus' death and his resurrection. The second ritual is called the Lord's Supper, which is a reenactment of Jesus' last meal with his disciples and he used bread and wine, to portray his coming death as a sacrifice. And so now followers of Jesus, they take the bread and the cup regularly, to remember and to participate, in the power of Jesus' death, and in his life. So these rituals, they remind us of God's love, and encourage us to live a life of love and grace. But they do more than that. They connect us to a new life source. The very power that brought Jesus back from the dead, is the same power that can deal with the evil in our own lives, and transform us into people who lead lives of love, and peace.

- [Pastor] Would you close your eyes, and just we move into a time here, of just quiet reflection and then I'll pray for us. It won't take a long time here. But no one looking around, it's just between you and God, based on what you've heard today, have you accepted the grace, and the gift of Jesus Christ, as payment for your sin? Do you trust in him? Now your works, not the things you've done, Have you come to that point in your life, and everybody needs to come to some point, some moment where they, they do get it? Where you're acknowledging your sin, you sense in your heart. You know you're a sinner, and you believe the truth that you are. Now you're ready to receive that gift of grace. It happens when you finally admit your sin to God, "God, I'm a sinner." And then you turn, there's a turning, that's the repentance. It's the turning to Jesus Christ. And saying, "God, I believe you sent your son Jesus "to die for me, "and to rise from the grave, "and I trust in Jesus Christ alone, "as my Savior, and my Lord." And for those of us Lord that have received that gift, may we leave this place, resting in the peace that comes from knowing you, and committed to living out a new life found only in you. And it's in Christ's name we pray, amen.