Redemption from Sin and Death.

Steve Gentry

[0:00] If you have your Bibles, go ahead and turn to Hebrews chapter 10. [0:04] That’s where we’re going to spend a portion of this morning. [0:06] If you’ve been with us over the past few weeks, we’ve been unraveling this story that God [0:13] is writing about Himself to His people, His creation on the earth. [0:18] And we started and we took a look at just how amazing the creation of God is, how amazing [0:25] His hand was in the fact that He simply spoke and things came into being.

[0:32] He spoke and the universe existed. [0:34] He spoke and He created the earth. [0:36] He spoke and then thing after thing after thing, creation after creation began to just [0:43] exist. [0:45] And then finally He creates man, which is really the highlight of His creation. [0:50] And man exists and man lives in order to bring glory to the Creator.

[1:00] And man does this through reflecting the image of God onto creation. [1:05] There was only one thing that God created that He actually used His breath to breathe [1:11] life into it, and that is man. [1:14] And so what man was supposed to do, what our purpose was, is we were supposed to have [1:19] dominion over the whole earth and we were supposed to subdue it and we were supposed [1:24] to be stewards of it and we were supposed to do it in a way that brings God glory because

[1:30] what we were doing is we are living in communion with God and through this communion, God works [1:37] through us and we are the stewards and we are responsible for the care and the caretaking [1:44] of creation.

[1:47] And what we see happen very early on is man is quickly tempted to believe that he can [1:55] exist apart from God. [1:59] That we are not beings who are dependent on Him, but rather we can be independent in the [2:05] way that we act. [2:06] And what man does is Satan comes and tempts man because God has given one directive of [2:12] what we are not supposed to do.

[2:14] He has said, everything in the garden you may eat, off of every tree, every plant, [2:20] but there is one that you need to not eat of and that was the tree of the knowledge [2:25] of good and evil. [2:27] And we see Satan come and what Satan does in the form of a serpent is that he looks [2:32] to man and goes through his wife, his helpmate, the person that is united with him there of [2:39] one flesh, is that he looks to them and he doesn’t tempt them with the taste of it,

[2:46] he doesn’t tempt them simply with the beauty of it, what he tempts them with is to distrust [2:52] what God has said because God has told them if you eat it you will die.

[2:59] And Satan says, you will not die. [3:03] On one hand he is calling God a liar and on the other hand he is saying since God is [3:10] keeping you from something you can’t completely trust Him.

[3:16] And Adam and Eve fall for this and what they do is she takes and she eats and then she [3:23] passes it off to Adam, one of the big misconceptions there being that he was off somewhere else [3:27] in the garden. [3:28] We have nothing to say that from all I know he was standing right there silently not [3:34] leading his wife the way that he should have been. [3:38] And so they believe a lie and what happens in believing this lie is that they create

[3:44] and excuse me that they have this first step of disobedience. [3:50] And in this disobedience what happens is they disconnect themselves from God because what [3:55] Satan says is that if you eat it you will be as great as God. [4:01] You will have as much knowledge as he has. [4:04] You do not need God. [4:07] And so they take, they eat and what happens is now they of course have the knowledge

[4:12] of evil. [4:13] They’ve had the knowledge of good but what Eve wants is this knowledge of evil. [4:17] What is evil and what is evil? [4:19] So evil is disconnecting yourself from God and disobeying him. [4:24] And what does disobedience bring? [4:26] Even in our relationships here when we are disobedient to authority what happens is we

[4:32] immediately begin to distance ourselves because we do not want the authority to know that [4:37] we have been disobedient. [4:39] So disobedience necessarily breeds distance. [4:43] And so Adam and Eve immediately try to put distance between themselves and God. [4:49] They immediately look at each other and now they have to create distance between each [4:53] other because now impurity has come into their lives and now they look at each other and

[4:57] go, oh my goodness you are naked, oh my goodness so are you, cover yourself. [5:00] Okay I will cover myself with a couple of fig leaves. [5:02] I am going to put some distance between you and I because now we are not purely innocent [5:06] beings. [5:07] Now we see our nakedness. [5:09] And now even that is impure.

[5:12] So this great distance, this sin comes into their lives and what this sin does is it [5:18] is the same thing that happens when I cut a limb off of a tree. [5:21] What happens is that limb has no life source anymore. [5:25] So what is it going to do? [5:26] It is going to wither and it is going to die. [5:29] And immediately God comes and he says where are you?

[5:35] He knows where they are. [5:38] There is really nowhere you can go on the creator’s creation where he doesn’t know [5:42] where you are because it is all his.

[5:46] But what he is doing is he is already revealing to them there is distance between us. [5:52] A distance that has never been.

[5:56] And now he looks to Adam and Eve and they reveal themselves and they are wearing fig [6:01] leaves, clothes, the first fashion. [6:05] And he says who told you you were naked?

[6:09] And immediately they know. [6:11] He knows. [6:12] So they cop to it. [6:14] And he looks to them and he says you are going to die. [6:19] More than that you are already dead. [6:21] Vanishes them from the garden.

[6:24] Curses come upon them. [6:26] Judgment falls squarely on top of them because of their actions because they live and breathe [6:33] with dependence on a holy God who is completely righteous, who doesn’t sin. [6:40] 2 Corinthians 5 kind of gives us the idea that he doesn’t even know sin because it [6:45] can’t be allowed anywhere near his realm. [6:48] Isaiah 6 gives us that picture as well.

[6:53] So what happens is he judges. [6:56] And so now we see that man and woman live in this isolation from God and each other. [7:03] That we are already the walking dead. [7:07] We will eventually physically die but we are now the walking dead because instead of walking [7:13] in step with God, in step with the very being that we are necessarily dependent upon, we [7:21] walk to our own two.

[7:25] Life source totally disconnected from us. [7:29] And so every day is just a walk into death because we don’t even know what life is. [7:38] Romans chapter 5 gives us this idea that when Adam and Eve sinned, what happens now is their [7:45] disconnection from God breeds every generation’s disconnection from God because Romans 5 says [7:51] that through Adam came disobedience, through disobedience came death, and death is now [7:58] passed on to everyone that lives.

[8:02] And last week what we did was we took a look at God and what he has done. [8:09] Is there hope from this place that we live in where sin and death reigns over us every [8:16] day? [8:16] It doesn’t take long to look out into the lives of others and into the news to say [8:21] there’s something that’s not going right here. [8:26] There’s something drastically wrong in our society.

[8:30] And very quickly you have to come to the realization that what is wrong is not the things that [8:36] God has created other than us. [8:38] What is wrong, what is driving creation into a plummeting abyss is us.

[8:46] We’re doing it and we have done it. [8:50] Because of sin now, work’s not enjoyable. [8:53] Because of sin now, marriage is not perfect.

[8:59] You may meet a married couple and say, man, they’ve got it made. [9:03] They just seem to have this perfect unity. [9:06] They just seem to have this perfect marriage. [9:08] They just seem to be the people that should teach everybody else to be married. [9:11] But what you don’t see is what happens when they turn the deadbolt at night.

[9:17] There is no perfect marriage. [9:19] I thought I would be a perfect husband, but very quickly on my honeymoon I found differently.

[9:27] I didn’t even think I had to make it to Mexico. [9:29] I think that right in the reception I figured something out. [9:32] I have no idea what I’m doing.

[9:36] I dated her and it was great. [9:37] I’m not going to live with her.

[9:41] Why doesn’t she understand laundry is only done once a month?

[9:47] Vacuum? [9:47] Who does that?

[9:52] But I’ve been married for about five and a half years now and I have a child and I look [9:56] back on those five and a half years and I see something that has not been perfect.

[10:02] There’s been turmoil. [10:03] There have been arguments. [10:05] There have been times when she cries and I have no idea why.

[10:10] There have been times when I cry and she’s like, what’s wrong with you, aren’t you a [10:13] man? [10:13] I don’t know.

[10:16] I had just watched Steel Magnolias. [10:18] It was a long night.

[10:21] I just thought it was going to have a better ending than that. [10:23] Very sad. [10:25] It reminded me of Old Yeller.

[10:29] But we look out into creation and we say, man, just the way that we relate with one [10:39] another shows that something’s not right. [10:43] Something’s wrong. [10:45] But what we don’t often look to is that while God is showing man in Genesis 3 the repercussions [10:58] for their disobedience and what sin is going to breed in their lives. [11:05] What we don’t look at, right inside of there in Genesis 3.15, what we find is that God,

[11:12] while he’s showing what’s wrong, he says, I’m going to make it right.

[11:19] You’re not going to be able to do this, but I’m going to make a promise. [11:23] And right there, right after sin has entered into the world, God makes this astounding [11:29] promise that Satan has attempted to thwart the plan of God by using the highlight of [11:38] his creation. [11:39] He’s come into creation through man, bringing sin through man, bringing temptation to man. [11:46] And God looks to Satan and he says, you’ve got to understand one thing.

[11:50] You have kind of bruised his heel. [11:54] And that’s annoying, isn’t it? [11:54] You ever bruise your heel? [11:56] It’s hard to walk. [11:58] But what’s way worse than a bruised heel is a crushed head. [12:02] God looks to Satan and says, you are going to bruise his heel, but understand that through

[12:08] the very avenue that you have brought sin and death, I will bring life, because I’m [12:16] going to crush sin. [12:18] I’m going to crush death. [12:21] And then the isolation and the pain that comes because of sin and death, God’s going to crush [12:25] that. [12:26] And he makes that promise, third chapter of Scripture, right after sin comes.

[12:31] So this week, what we’re going to spend some time on is we’re going to look at how has [12:36] God redeemed man from sin and death. [12:39] And then next week, we’re going to see how has God redeemed man from isolation and pain. [12:44] Those four things that we saw sin, the disobedience of man bring, we’re going to look in these [12:49] next two weeks as to how God has redeemed us from that. [12:53] And last week, what we did was we looked throughout the Old Testament and we looked at the power

[12:57] of God to fulfill His purpose. [13:00] We looked through the Old Testament, even a little bit in the New Testament, as how [13:03] God does unnatural, miraculous things in order to fulfill His promise in Genesis chapter [13:10] 3. [13:10] We see very early on then in Genesis chapter 12, God inserts Himself back into the story [13:15] of man, because between Genesis 3 and Genesis 12, man has been exceedingly sinful.

[13:21] There has just been sin after sin after sin. [13:25] And what God does in Genesis chapter 12 is He comes into creation. [13:29] He inserts Himself back in and He says, I’m going to use you, Abraham, to bless the nations. [13:39] And Abraham looks back and says, who are you? [13:43] Because Abraham was not a follower of God. [13:46] I think that’s a huge misconception.

[13:48] Abraham was a pagan. [13:50] We read the book of Genesis and we see Abraham had many gods. [13:55] And when God shows up, He’s the one He’s never met before. [14:00] And so God shows up and says, hey, Abraham, I’m going to use you to bless the nations. [14:05] I’m going to use you to bless the entire world. [14:08] And what we see through Genesis chapter 12 is we see God beginning to unravel the promise

[14:15] from Genesis chapter 3 just a little bit more. [14:20] Because first He said, it’s going to be a man.

[14:24] Now He says, it’s going to come from the descendants of this man. [14:30] And then throughout the Old Testament, He unravels it a little more. [14:33] From Abraham comes the nation of Israel. [14:36] And God throughout the Old Testament shows Himself mightily on behalf of the nation of [14:39] Israel time and time and time again. [14:42] And then we look that every time God shows Himself as a promise keeper, man shows Himself

[14:47] as a promise breaker. [14:49] As soon as God does a miracle, man sins against the very God that did the miracle. [14:54] He drops the walls at Jericho. [14:56] Man steals some stuff from Jericho because he doesn’t trust that God’s going to take [14:59] care of him. [15:01] We see time and time again, Elijah, he calls down fire from heaven because God wants to

[15:07] show that He’s the real God. [15:08] Baal is the fake God. [15:09] And the next day, after calling down fire from heaven, Abraham, excuse me, Elijah is [15:17] scared to death by a queen who says she’s going to kill him. [15:20] So he goes and hides in a cave and says, God, just kill me. [15:23] I’m scared.

[15:24] A guy that just called down fire from heaven. [15:26] Jesus is revealed as the Son of God by doing signs and wonders. [15:30] A voice comes from heaven while He’s in the temple preaching to the people of Israel and [15:35] says, when Jesus prays, God, glorify yourself through me, the voice of the Father comes [15:40] from heaven and says, I have glorified it and I will glorify it again. [15:44] Then Jesus heals people, raises people from the dead.

[15:46] And the text says, but the people of Israel didn’t believe Him.

[15:51] And what we see is this disobedience that is extended time and time again, completely [15:57] disconnects man from God to the extent that man doesn’t even recognize His voice when [16:05] it comes from the sky. [16:06] They’re just looking to see where the PA system is. [16:09] Who’s that talking?

[16:13] And the very Son of God is right before them.

[16:19] They don’t believe Him.

[16:22] But God continues to be faithful to His promise. [16:30] He is going to kill sin and death.

[16:36] After He makes this promise to Abraham and the nation of Israel is established, what [16:42] we begin to see unfold is God begins to direct and He begins to set these people apart to [16:50] fulfill His promise that He has made. [16:54] And the biggest step that He does in that is He delivers them from the nation of Egypt [16:59] where they were slaves. [17:01] Where God had actually taken them into slavery to kind of protect them.

[17:07] And then He raises up Moses to lead them out. [17:10] And Moses leads them into the wilderness. [17:12] He parts the Red Sea. [17:13] God does another amazing miracle through Him. [17:16] And then what we see is the nation of Israel is driven. [17:18] And now there’s a nation and God says, I’m going to give them a standard to live by that

[17:25] will separate them from the nations so that the nations will look at Israel and see these [17:31] are the people of God they have heard from God. [17:35] And what He gives them is this law that we see as the Ten Commandments. [17:40] There’s actually way more than ten. [17:41] There are 639 of them. [17:43] But we see them most significantly in the Ten Commandments.

[17:47] And what He does is that through these Ten Commandments He reveals Himself to Moses. [17:51] Moses comes down. [17:52] He says, you must live by this. [17:54] And then if you break this, understand that disobedience breeds distance. [18:00] There must be a sacrifice because the penalty for sin is death. [18:06] So what must happen is that when you sin, something has to die to appease the wrath of God as a picture for us to see the seriousness of sin.

[18:19] But what we misunderstand is, is we look at the Ten Commandments and we say, if I want to be connected to God, I must obey these commandments. [18:28] But when we look at the New Testament, remember, throughout the scripture, throughout this story, [18:33] God is making the scope wider and wider so that we can understand that first promise in Genesis, Chapter three. [18:42] And Galatians, Chapter three shows us that when God gave the Ten Commandments, [18:47] when God gave this great law that is absolutely impossible for any of us to be completely obedient to,

[18:56] alright, most of you are wearing two different fabrics.

[19:00] You’re going to hell.

[19:03] Alright, that’s how serious the law is. [19:05] Galatians, Chapter three, God unfolds it a little bit more. [19:09] And he says, the point of the law was never to connect you to God. [19:15] The point of the law was to show you how disconnected you are from God. [19:19] The law serves as a mirror just to reveal to us the truth about it.

[19:26] But then we step back and we say, alright, alright, I got that. [19:30] I know it’s obvious, I’ve lied. [19:33] I broke the Ten Commandments.

[19:36] And what’s the point of all the killing of animals?

[19:39] What’s the purpose here? [19:42] Well, Hebrews, Chapter ten begins to unravel why in the book of Leviticus, [19:47] God set up all of these procedures to bring forgiveness to the nation of Israel. [19:53] Why in the world would he possibly require them to go get a spotless lamb or a bull or two turtle doves, [20:01] all these different types of animals, and then all of a sudden they’re filling up these cups with blood [20:06] and they’re splashing it here, splashing it there, putting it behind someone’s ear, putting it on their big toe.

[20:12] What in the world? [20:12] Why are these people bathing themselves in blood? [20:15] It’s like blood was the baby wipe of 5000 BC. [20:21] Hebrews, Chapter ten unravels it because what we see as a completely disconnected part of the story [20:27] is actually something that stands to help us understand the story in its totality. [20:32] Because in our culture, most of us think that in the book of Matthew, God just suddenly changed his mind and said,

[20:39] OK, I guess I’ve got to send Jesus now since you people are so sinful. [20:44] That’s not it at all. [20:46] In Hebrews, Chapter ten, verse one, I don’t think this is going to be up there. [20:49] It says, for since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, [20:59] it can never by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year make perfect those who draw near. [21:08] Otherwise, there would be an end.

[21:11] What the point is, is that the law has come and it has revealed to us we are very, very sinful people. [21:19] But what the law was not intended to do was to show us that we could be obedient people. [21:24] And the sacrifices that accompany the law were never meant to bring the forgiveness of sins, [21:31] because if those sacrifices could actually bring forgiveness of sins, then they would have ended.

[21:39] But if you read the Old Testament, God says, do this 24 hours a day, light this candle 24 hours a day. [21:45] The priest every year has to offer this sacrifice. [21:48] Then he must offer this sacrifice every single day. [21:51] And God says, logically, by the fact that those sacrifices could never end, [21:58] shows that they were never sufficient to bring the forgiveness of your sins.

[22:05] And what we see is that God never meant in Genesis three to give us the idea that we would be the source of redemption. [22:16] When he says, man will crush your head, he doesn’t mean to let us think that we’re going to be the source of redemption. [22:21] God is the source of redemption.

[22:24] In the New Testament, in Galatians three, when he says it’s not through the law, [22:28] in Hebrews 10, when he says it’s not through the sacrifices, [22:30] what he’s trying to get us to understand throughout the Old Testament is that we are not the point. [22:39] If we were the point, wouldn’t we have gotten a little bit better over time? [22:44] But guess what? We have not.

[22:48] Even as intelligent as we are in the things about creation that we have figured out, [22:53] the technology that we have today, we have found that it is not making our lives any easier. [22:59] I can now fit a computer in my pocket. [23:02] And guess what? It has actually served to make my life more complicated.

[23:08] Nothing is making this life any easier. [23:12] It’s getting harder. People are getting worse.

[23:18] God says it’s because you’ve never been the point. [23:22] The point has been for you to look and see me move in a mighty way and understand [23:27] there’s something that I need from God that I cannot get from myself.

[23:34] Your morality is nothing compared to His righteousness. [23:41] And so we see that He is the source of this beautiful redemption that He Himself is going to bring. [23:48] And what He says is that the law and the sacrifices that accompany the law, [23:53] they are a shadow of what God is trying to lead us to. [24:00] If you go through the book of Isaiah, you begin to understand that God did not even mean for Israel [24:07] to actually redeem the nations because when He raises up the people of Israel,

[24:12] He says, I knew you were going to be an unfaithful servant to me.

[24:19] In the book of Hosea, He tells a prophet to go marry a prostitute. [24:22] And He lets him know, hey, guess what? That prostitute is going to be unfaithful to you. [24:26] Look at her career. [24:28] But He says, you keep going and you keep forgiving her because she’s an example of what Israel is. [24:35] Throughout the Old Testament, we just keep getting this picture after picture after picture of how terrible we are.

[24:43] And all we care about is, well, I just want to feel better about myself. [24:46] That’s very hard to do in the Scriptures.

[24:49] Because it’s not God’s chief concern. [24:52] God’s chief concern is how you feel about Him.

[24:57] This is to understand, I’m faithful, you are not. [25:00] You cannot be independent because independence for me is death. [25:04] And all the sacrifices, the blood of bulls, the blood of goats, the blood of everything that you have had to shed to bring forgiveness of sin, [25:14] it has simply served to show you how disgusting sin is in my eyes.

[25:20] But then He keeps going. [25:23] In order to defeat sin, God uses history. [25:27] He inserts Himself throughout history and He does all these things. [25:31] But what we’re going to see today is that through this great sin that man has committed, [25:39] God is going to turn that sin on its head and through the greatest sin of history, God is going to redeem man.

[25:49] And in order to redeem us from death, God’s actually going to bring His own death about to redeem us from death. [25:58] Everything that Satan tried to use to thwart God, God is going to look and show us that He’s still the God over those things. [26:07] Because He says, I can use them to bring my glory. [26:12] You want to make man sin? I’ll use sin to bring myself glory. [26:15] You want to kill man? I’ll use my own death to bring glory. [26:19] Look in Hebrews chapter 4 again.

[26:22] Go down to verse 11.

[26:26] And every priest stands daily at his service offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. [26:35] But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God. [26:44] See that?

[26:46] Priests in the temple, in the tabernacle, day after day, after day, hours on end, toiling, making sacrifices. [26:57] And God says, that can never appease me. They keep going. [27:03] But then it says, what they were pointing you towards was the fact that there was going to be a greater sacrifice. [27:11] Where did they make sacrifices? If you go back to the end of the book of Exodus and into Leviticus, what you see is that God says, [27:18] Okay, when you break the law, build a tabernacle, and in that tabernacle, my presence will constantly dwell, [27:25] and you will come into my presence, and in my presence you must make an offering for your sin.

[27:32] Then go to John 1.14. [27:35] In the book of John, the very beginning, the author there, John, what he does is he takes us back to the original creation account, [27:43] where it says, in the beginning, God, and he says, in the beginning was the Word. [27:48] And we know that that Word was Jesus, but then in verse 14 it says, [27:52] And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory. [27:55] Glory is of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

[27:58] But what we don’t see is the very terminology that he uses when he says the Word became flesh, talking about Jesus Christ. [28:06] Jesus is the Word. He is the revelation of God to man. [28:10] When it says dwelt, it’s the same Word that those people would have used to say tabernacle. [28:18] When you’re reading the Old Testament and you see the word tabernacle, it’s a shadow of the tabernacle of Jesus. [28:27] Because the tabernacle was the place that the glory of God dwelt. [28:31] John 1 shows us that Jesus is the place that the glory of God dwells.

[28:36] The tabernacle was a temporary place, a substitute, to where God would through it continue to show man this great redemption. [28:47] And at the proper time when God says, alright, it’s ready, from eternity past, God has made this decision. [28:52] And at the proper time, he says, now I’ll show you the real tabernacle of God. [28:59] Through the God man, Jesus Christ.

[29:03] And Jesus comes and He dwells among us. [29:06] And then in Hebrews chapter 10, what do we see? [29:11] We see it say that through those sacrifices, now we’ve seen the greatest sacrifice. [29:18] Those sacrifices had to keep going and going and going, but Jesus, He gives one sacrifice for all time. [29:28] And how does that happen? How do we see that sacrifice begin to unravel itself? [29:33] What is that sacrifice? Well, if Jesus is the tabernacle, then the cross is that great sacrifice.

[29:39] Because what did they have to do in the tabernacle? They had to bring the animals in. [29:42] They had to throw them up on the altar. What does God do? [29:45] Jesus is the dwelling place of the glory of God. [29:48] He is dragged up and thrown on top of the cross.

[29:54] When way back in the book of Exodus, when God tells Abraham, your people are dying because they’ve been bit by serpents. [30:02] Raise up a cross and when they see it, they’ll be healed. [30:09] Jesus says, just like that snake on that cross, that represented sin being lifted up. [30:16] Understand that when I am lifted up before men in John chapter 12, Jesus says, it will bring redemption to all who believe. [30:26] And Jesus is lifted up. [30:30] The greatest sin in the history of man is the murder and execution of Jesus Christ.

[30:40] God Himself steps down into history and what do we do? We kill Him.

[30:46] But it was all planned by Jesus Himself. [30:51] Because He says, you sinned and it disconnected you from Me. [30:58] Well now I’m going to bring about a sin against Me, but I’m going to absorb that sin. [31:04] I’m going to take it off of you and take it onto myself. What do I mean? [31:07] 2 Corinthians 5, 21. It’s a verse that we go to a lot. [31:11] In 2 Corinthians 5, 21.

[31:22] What is Jesus up on that cross? [31:25] He is the greatest picture of sin that you’ve ever seen.

[31:29] Because on that cross, He who knew no sin, Jesus who had never sinned, Jesus who lived a perfect life, [31:35] Jesus who has always existed, Jesus who spoke the world into existence according to the book of Colossians, [31:40] all sin is laid onto Him. [31:44] And through that He says, I’m not just going to give you a free check. [31:48] I’m not just going to give you a free out. [31:50] What I’m going to do is I’m going to absorb the very sin that you commit against Me.

[31:57] And when I absorb it, I will be lifted up before all men to show you, [32:02] Number one, how grotesque and disgusting your sin is because our sin leads to the very death of the Creator Himself. [32:11] But secondly, what it shows is that God is greater than a sin could ever be. [32:17] Because what He does is that when He absorbs our sin, He says, you can have My righteousness, [32:25] and in Him we might become the righteousness of God. [32:30] So it’s this story that is being unraveled right before us.

[32:34] The dots are becoming connected. [32:37] Time after time again we see that throughout the Old Testament what God is doing is He is just laying out the red carpet [32:45] so that He Himself can step into human history and say, your sin is no more. [32:49] I take it to Myself, you’re forgiven. Go, sin no more.

[32:54] So what does that mean? [32:56] Does that mean that sin is just dealt with?

[33:02] We get to go to heaven when we die. [33:04] It’s all good. Death is not to be feared. [33:07] Because now we can step into the afterlife our sin has been dealt with.

[33:13] No. That’s not it. [33:15] If that was it, that would be the end of the story. [33:18] But there’s more. [33:20] What God says is, is when I deal with sin, everything else begins to be redeemed. [33:32] So Jesus brings redemption from sin. [33:37] But through that, Jesus also redeems us from death.

[33:45] Romans chapter 6 verse 23. [33:48] This is one of those Sunday school Bible verses. [33:52] For the wages of sin is what? Death.

[33:57] Pretty clear. We understand that. [34:00] We’ve all had someone die. We’ve all watched a dog or a cat die. [34:04] So it’s like, man, sin has really wrecked things. [34:06] We’re not immortals anymore. We’re not Highlanders, I guess you could say. [34:10] There is no immortality for us. We’re going to die.

[34:15] But look at what’s next. [34:17] But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. [34:22] So an easy way to read that, and what we typically do is we say, fantastic, I don’t have to go to hell.

[34:31] Well, what about the next 30 years? [34:33] What about until we die? [34:35] Are there any implications in the fact that we no longer have to fear death? [34:41] Because there’s something that we have to understand about this great death that has come to us through our own sin. [34:48] Look at Romans chapter 5 verse 12. [34:51] Romans 5 unravels how sin goes to everyone.

[34:54] It says, 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. [35:05] So we see this great reality that death comes through sin. [35:11] But what about when sin is not a problem anymore? [35:16] Has Jesus dealt with it totally? [35:19] Because Ephesians chapter 2 verse 1 shows that death is not something that happens to me when I stop breathing and my heart stops beating. [35:27] In Ephesians chapter 2 in verse 1 what it shows us is this picture, and you were dead in your trespasses and sins.

[35:39] Notice that that does not have the future tense, you grammar geniuses out there. [35:45] Notice that it’s written in past tense.

[35:49] Were dead? [35:51] What is Ephesians 2 drawing us towards? [35:54] It’s drawing us towards the reality that when we are born death sets in immediately.

[36:05] We were dead in our trespasses and sins. [36:07] And it goes even further and says that in that death you walked like the rest of mankind, children reserved for the wrath of God. [36:17] And then in verse 4 it says, But God, being rich in mercy.

[36:23] Gave us Jesus. [36:27] Turning your Bibles real quick to Colossians chapter 3.

[36:31] Colossians chapter 3 is this great text that shows us what the death of sin actually looks like. [36:38] In Colossians chapter 3 starting in verse 13. [36:42] And you who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh. [36:46] Boom, notice that. [36:47] You who were dead. [36:49] What is that past tense pointing us to?

[36:54] It’s pointing us to what life was like without the cross. [36:59] What life was like before we knew Jesus.

[37:03] Notice it says that we were dead, but through Jesus, God made us alive together with him. [37:10] Having forgiven us all our trespasses.

[37:15] By canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. [37:20] This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. [37:23] He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him. [37:30] Galatians chapter 2 verse 15 underline it. [37:34] And then what I want you to do is I want you to take a pen and write Genesis 3.15. [37:39] That is saying that through the cross of Jesus Christ, who are the authorities, who are the powers?

[37:47] He’s talking about Satan and his demons. [37:50] He’s not talking about the governor.

[37:54] What he’s saying is through the cross he has crushed the head of Satan. [37:59] Through the cross we no longer have to walk in death. [38:03] Through the cross we no longer have to be the walking dead who have no connection to God. [38:10] But what the cross does is Jesus has this record of our sins and what we have done against God. [38:16] Every single one of us born into sin and he says I’m putting it on the cross. [38:21] You can just go ahead and reckon that it is not on you anymore because he’s taken it and he’s put it on Jesus.

[38:27] And he says now you are alive through death I bring you life. [38:40] Just trust in the sacrifice of Jesus.

[38:46] And most of us we walk through our lives saying I wish I could obey God. [38:56] I wish I could be better than I am. [39:00] I wish I could be a husband, a good husband. [39:02] I wish I could be a good father. [39:04] I wish I could be a good friend. [39:06] I wish I didn’t struggle with sin the great way that I do.

[39:10] I wish I didn’t have this baggage on me. [39:13] I would do more for Jesus if I just could. [39:17] And what the scriptures are pointing us to is the fact that you are believing a lie from Satan himself. [39:25] Because what did Satan tempt us with in the garden? [39:29] He said if you eat of that fruit you will not die. [39:34] And what he tempts us with now is if you don’t believe in the cross you won’t have to live.

[39:40] But if you believe the cross what the cross stands as is this great testament that you must come to life if you believe Jesus. [39:53] Because if you walk through life in the same sins with the same baggage, with the same guilt, with the same I can’t, with the same I won’t, with the same I’m just going to sit here through life and I’ll get heaven in the end. [40:08] What the testimony against you is is when Jesus says but look I took the record of debt that you owed God and I nailed it to the cross. [40:17] It’s dealt with stop acting dead. You’re alive.

[40:24] How do we react? [40:27] Well I’ve got 500 channels.

[40:30] Tired. [40:32] Just going to sit here. [40:34] Watch a bunch of 20 year olds throw a ball back and forth. [40:38] And the rest of the world is going to hell. [40:41] Got a nice 401k.

[40:44] Got air conditioning. [40:45] Got a pretty family.

[40:50] But what else is there?

[40:53] Nothing wrong with those things. [40:55] I’ve got them.

[40:59] Here’s my question.

[41:02] What else is there?

[41:06] What points to you being alive?

[41:13] Because there’s a bunch of dead people in their sins that have all that stuff.

[41:23] [41:24] And when we’re redeemed from sin and death what this story is unfolding is that this redemption brings a new life of mission. [41:33] In John chapter 10 verse 14 Jesus looks to the people and says I have come to bring life and bring it in abundance.

[41:45] I have come to give you a brand new life. [41:50] And then notice at the end of 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 21 that he didn’t just take our sin but he gave us life. [42:00] And then notice back in Hebrews chapter 10. [42:03] Turn back there really quick. [42:05] Hebrews chapter 10 and we’ll be done. [42:08] You see how big the story of God is.

[42:10] Down there in verse 14. [42:11] It’s up on the screens. [42:13] For by a single offering he has perfected. [42:18] Notice this. [42:18] He has perfected for all time those who are what? [42:25] Being sanctified.

[42:26] What did he do to the nation of Israel? [42:28] He gave them a law and he said I’m going to use this and I’m going to set you apart from the rest of the world because through you I’m going to bring my great salvation. [42:37] Who is that salvation? [42:39] That salvation is Jesus. [42:40] So he brings salvation through the son of God Jesus Christ. [42:43] But then what happens to all those who believe?

[42:46] Notice he’s saying you are now perfected by your acts? [42:52] No. [42:52] By the acts of Jesus. [42:54] But what is he doing? [42:55] How is he bringing that perfection into your life? [42:57] How is he applying it?

[42:59] Look it’s this tense that continues to go, continues to grow. [43:03] You’re being sanctified. [43:05] What does that mean?

[43:08] It’s one of those Sunday school words. [43:10] If you ever wanted to sound really smart in Sunday school sanctification.

[43:16] Justification. [43:17] Glorification. [43:19] Alright. [43:20] And then everybody around you is like that’s a really big word. [43:23] We didn’t have that in spelling class. [43:26] But what does that mean to be sanctified?

[43:29] It means being set apart for the purposes of God.

[43:39] Jesus says through my death I give you life. [43:42] This is what it looks like.

[43:45] You’re not dead in your sins. [43:47] You’re alive. [43:49] I’ve redeemed you from sin and death. [43:51] So what do we do? [43:52] Well what was Jesus’ mission? [43:54] He says in Luke chapter 18, he says I came to seek and to save that which was lost.

[43:59] What does he say in Matthew chapter 28 to the disciples who he has just redeemed because he’s died and he’s risen from the dead. [44:05] Showing his victory over death. [44:07] Showing his power over death. [44:08] What does he do? [44:09] He says go make disciples. [44:13] And every one of us we sit and we say I just don’t know what the will of God for my life is.

[44:19] What do I do?

[44:22] That. [44:23] Will of God revealed. [44:25] Stop praying for it. [44:28] Stop praying that God would show you his will. [44:30] He already has. [44:33] You’re wasting your time.

[44:36] Because he says I have delivered everyone from death. [44:40] Go tell them.

[44:43] No one has to die in their sins anymore. [44:46] It can’t be that easy. [44:47] It is. [44:49] That’s the whole point of the story.

[44:54] God’s not saying you have to go to Morocco. [44:56] God’s saying you have to go to Midlothian.

[45:01] People here are dying in their sins. [45:03] Live for them. [45:04] So how do you live this out?

[45:09] Every volunteer opportunity, number one. [45:11] This is number one how you live this out. [45:12] Every volunteer opportunity at the village is set for you to go and make disciples. [45:20] Every single one. [45:22] And you say the sound guy, you couldn’t hear me without him could you? [45:27] The screens, couldn’t read scripture without it could you?

[45:32] The lights, it’s dark back there.

[45:39] Did somebody welcome you when you walked up the sidewalk today? [45:42] If not, just keep your mouth shut.

[45:47] Somebody made your coffee for you. [45:48] That was me. [45:51] We need somebody.

[45:55] Think a guitar plays itself? [45:58] You say how is that making disciples?

[46:05] Because when people come in here they hear about Jesus.

[46:10] When you drop your kids off, they’re hearing about Jesus. [46:14] When you welcome somebody, you could be the first person that’s ever smiled to them in their lives.

[46:21] You’re getting them ready. [46:23] You’re making them comfortable to hear the most uncomfortable message they’ll ever hear. [46:28] And that’s the message that they’re dead in their sins.

[46:33] Sometimes it’s as easy as inviting a friend to church. [46:36] When was the last time you did that?

[46:40] When was the last time you showed somebody that you’re not dead?

[46:44] When was the last time you had the joy of the Lord? [46:47] When was the last time you read the scriptures? [46:50] See, the problem isn’t that we’re dead. [46:53] The problem is we don’t want to be alive. [46:56] So we’re stuck in this middle ground. [46:58] But understand one thing.

[47:00] If there is nothing in you that says I’m experiencing life in Jesus, [47:05] I’m not judging you, I’m just telling you straight up, you don’t know him. [47:10] There are thousands of people in this area that have been lied to [47:13] and have been convinced of a false gospel that does not bring them life [47:18] but just gives them a false ticket to heaven. [47:22] You are going to hell if you don’t have life in Jesus.

[47:29] I don’t want to volunteer.

[47:33] I don’t want to go to community group. [47:36] I don’t want to. [47:37] I don’t want to. [47:39] I don’t want to. [47:40] What do you want to do?

[47:44] Is it any different than people that are dead in their sin?

[47:50] If it’s not, you’re dead in your sin.

[47:55] You need the cross because you don’t have to die and go to hell.

[48:01] You need Jesus.

[48:04] I want you to know something. [48:05] Some of you are sitting out there and you are fighting it. [48:11] You’re saying, I don’t understand. I’ve never heard anything like this before. [48:14] What if I die and go to hell? [48:16] Stop fighting it.

[48:19] You know the truth. [48:22] You know where you are in your life.

[48:26] Trust in Jesus for the redemption of your sins.

[48:31] Right now the band is going to come up.

[48:36] We’re going to go into a time where we worship God through communion.

[48:44] Because in 2 Corinthians 5 what we see is that Jesus took our sins but then He gave us life. [48:52] When He took our sins and gave us life, what happened is that He broke His body and shed His blood the same way Old Testament sacrifices took place. [49:01] This bread and this juice up here, what they represent is the broken body and the shed blood of Jesus. [49:08] What Jesus says to us is that everyone who believes this table is open, do this in remembrance of Me.

[49:18] As you come forward, understand. [49:21] What you’re doing is you’re looking at everybody else when you take the bread and you take the cup. [49:26] When you take it and you eat it, understand what you’re doing is you’re looking at the person beside you and you are through your actions saying, [49:33] I believe the gospel. [49:36] I believe that Jesus died for me. [49:38] I believe that He shed His blood for me.

[49:41] I believe that He lives again. [49:43] I believe that I’m not dead anymore. [49:44] I believe that through His life I have life. [49:47] I believe. [49:49] That’s what you’re saying to each other. [49:51] And if you’re sitting here right now and you don’t believe or you’re struggling to say, I don’t know if I believe.

[49:57] I don’t know. I’ve never experienced life. [49:59] I just want to live life and have a comfort and have leisure and I want to have a nice family and I want to die. [50:04] But I’m hearing a message that that is not what salvation looks like.

[50:10] I’ll be right down here. [50:12] There’s people right back there. [50:14] Step out. [50:16] Come and talk to me. [50:18] And then you can come and you can commune with God. [50:23] Maybe for the very first time.