1 00:00:04,720 --> 00:00:08,360 This is ERC Sundays, the messages at Emmaus Rd. 2 00:00:08,360 --> 00:00:12,280 Church in DeWitt, Iowa. ERC is a Church of people 3 00:00:12,280 --> 00:00:15,320 striving to grow in Jesus and make him known to others through 4 00:00:15,320 --> 00:00:19,560 our faith, words and actions. Find out more about our church 5 00:00:19,600 --> 00:00:23,360 at emmausrdonline.org. Here's this week's message. 6 00:00:25,160 --> 00:00:26,640 Yeah. OK, so here's where we are. 7 00:00:26,640 --> 00:00:30,080 We have been walking with Moses for the last couple weeks. 8 00:00:30,840 --> 00:00:34,240 And what we've found is last week we were in Chapter 3. 9 00:00:34,240 --> 00:00:36,800 We're making a pretty substantial jump to Chapter 12 10 00:00:36,800 --> 00:00:39,320 of Exodus. And you're saying to yourself, 11 00:00:39,320 --> 00:00:42,160 man, that's a big jump. That's a lot of pages to skip. 12 00:00:42,160 --> 00:00:44,920 And you're right, it is. So let me just kind of let you 13 00:00:45,160 --> 00:00:47,320 in on what's been happening since then. 14 00:00:48,720 --> 00:00:52,160 Moses spurred on by God, even though he doesn't want to 15 00:00:52,160 --> 00:00:54,960 because he's like, Lord, I'm really not good at talking. 16 00:00:55,240 --> 00:00:57,120 I'm not good at this whole speaking thing. 17 00:00:57,360 --> 00:01:00,240 And so he he pushes back against God a few times. 18 00:01:00,240 --> 00:01:02,760 God finally gets annoyed enough and says, OK, I got you. 19 00:01:03,080 --> 00:01:06,120 Your brother Aaron is already in Egypt and he's I'm going to have 20 00:01:06,120 --> 00:01:09,640 him help you out. And so Moses somewhat kind of 21 00:01:09,640 --> 00:01:13,720 reluctantly goes and, and as they approach Egypt and as they 22 00:01:13,720 --> 00:01:16,800 get into Egypt, Moses does exactly what God wants him to. 23 00:01:16,800 --> 00:01:19,960 He goes to Pharaoh and he says these famous words, Let my 24 00:01:19,960 --> 00:01:26,400 people go, let them go. Pharaoh, having all of the 25 00:01:26,400 --> 00:01:30,280 negotiating power, laughs him out of the room the first time, 26 00:01:30,680 --> 00:01:32,880 as he should, because who are you? 27 00:01:33,320 --> 00:01:35,400 You're just a guy who fled 40 years ago. 28 00:01:35,400 --> 00:01:37,880 You are nothing to me. You are less than an Ant. 29 00:01:38,280 --> 00:01:42,400 You have nothing to offer you. There is no reason on this earth 30 00:01:42,400 --> 00:01:45,520 that I should get rid of my free workforce. 31 00:01:45,720 --> 00:01:48,480 Because think about it, that's what Pharaoh has. 32 00:01:48,720 --> 00:01:52,080 He has probably in the neighborhood of 1.2 million 33 00:01:52,080 --> 00:01:56,040 people as free labor. Now, I don't know about you, but 34 00:01:56,040 --> 00:01:58,600 if you have that many people doing free labor, you can 35 00:01:58,600 --> 00:02:00,760 probably get a lot done at very little cost. 36 00:02:01,240 --> 00:02:05,560 And So what happens from chapters basically 4 through 11 37 00:02:05,760 --> 00:02:09,680 is Moses keeps coming back and God keeps on doing these 38 00:02:09,680 --> 00:02:11,960 terrible plagues. These are the 10 plagues of the 39 00:02:11,960 --> 00:02:16,440 Bible. And so in order we turn, but God 40 00:02:16,440 --> 00:02:20,160 turns water into blood. And then there's frogs 41 00:02:20,160 --> 00:02:22,040 everywhere and then there's gnats. 42 00:02:22,280 --> 00:02:25,320 Now this is a weird thing that I'll just give you as an aside. 43 00:02:25,800 --> 00:02:29,000 I, I looked hard into this, this third one, the gnats, because 44 00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:31,800 some, some of your Bibles will say it's lice, which seems way 45 00:02:31,800 --> 00:02:35,920 grosser to me. Like everybody's just like, like 46 00:02:35,920 --> 00:02:39,240 that seems way worse. But scholars are kind of in 47 00:02:39,240 --> 00:02:42,400 disagreement on whether it's gnats or lice because the Hebrew 48 00:02:42,400 --> 00:02:44,840 word is kind of strange. Anyway, that's just a fun fact 49 00:02:44,840 --> 00:02:46,040 for you. But we're going to go with. 50 00:02:46,640 --> 00:02:50,240 And then after the gnats, we've got flies that cover everything. 51 00:02:50,240 --> 00:02:52,560 And then we've got the death of livestock. 52 00:02:52,560 --> 00:02:55,240 And then we've got boils, which is really disgusting. 53 00:02:55,240 --> 00:02:58,480 And then we've got hail coming down ruining crops and killing 54 00:02:58,480 --> 00:03:00,040 people. And then of course, we have the 55 00:03:00,040 --> 00:03:02,960 swarm of locusts. That seems super fun because I 56 00:03:02,960 --> 00:03:05,520 hate bugs. And then we have utter darkness 57 00:03:05,840 --> 00:03:09,920 for days on end. The Bible reports that without a 58 00:03:09,960 --> 00:03:13,120 fire, you couldn't see your hand in front of your own face. 59 00:03:13,120 --> 00:03:16,320 It was so dark, unnaturally dark, in fact. 60 00:03:16,840 --> 00:03:22,320 And so all of this. And each time as as Moses goes 61 00:03:22,320 --> 00:03:25,320 back to Pharaoh, he says, all right, God did this thing. 62 00:03:25,320 --> 00:03:28,400 If you want it gone, you have to let my people go. 63 00:03:29,320 --> 00:03:34,760 And every single time without fail, Pharaoh's like fine, fine, 64 00:03:34,760 --> 00:03:38,040 fine, fine, fine. I'll do it, But then as soon as 65 00:03:38,240 --> 00:03:41,040 the plague is taken away, as soon as the frogs are dead and 66 00:03:41,160 --> 00:03:43,960 they're no longer bothering his wife in bed, which I'm sure that 67 00:03:43,960 --> 00:03:48,320 was a fun conversation. Oh, honey, just move the frogs 68 00:03:48,360 --> 00:03:53,480 over. Anyway, all these times and and, 69 00:03:53,600 --> 00:03:55,880 and and eventually God is God is fed up. 70 00:03:55,880 --> 00:04:00,480 He's had enough because or Pharaoh keeps hardening his 71 00:04:00,480 --> 00:04:03,400 heart against God as soon as the pain is taken away. 72 00:04:03,640 --> 00:04:06,560 I'm sure you can relate to this Pharaoh, because sometimes we 73 00:04:06,560 --> 00:04:09,760 will just ask God for things and we're like, Lord, I need you to 74 00:04:09,760 --> 00:04:11,520 do this or I need you to take this thing away. 75 00:04:11,800 --> 00:04:14,760 And, and I and we negotiate. We negotiate with God and we're 76 00:04:14,760 --> 00:04:18,040 like, I promise I will go to church. 77 00:04:18,279 --> 00:04:20,320 I will join a group. I will do whatever. 78 00:04:20,560 --> 00:04:23,440 And then The thing is gone, or The thing is given and you're 79 00:04:23,440 --> 00:04:27,160 like, that's fine. She doesn't really need me to do 80 00:04:27,160 --> 00:04:28,160 that. I don't really have to 81 00:04:28,160 --> 00:04:30,760 participate, do I? Some days are my day to sleep 82 00:04:30,760 --> 00:04:32,360 in. I don't really need to go, do I? 83 00:04:32,960 --> 00:04:35,960 All right, here we go. So we're not so disliked, 84 00:04:35,960 --> 00:04:38,720 Pharaoh, are we? I suspect not. 85 00:04:39,080 --> 00:04:41,480 Well, anyway, so the 10th plague is coming. 86 00:04:41,480 --> 00:04:44,160 And in Chapter 11, if you read that, what you're going to see 87 00:04:44,400 --> 00:04:48,480 is you're going to see that God lays out the 10th plague and he 88 00:04:48,480 --> 00:04:51,240 tells Moses his plan for the 10th plague. 89 00:04:51,600 --> 00:04:56,120 And to say it is a doozy is a ridiculous understatement. 90 00:04:56,480 --> 00:05:01,480 What God is going to do is what Pharaoh did to God's people. 91 00:05:02,040 --> 00:05:04,840 He is going to create a genocide situation. 92 00:05:05,440 --> 00:05:09,400 He is going to bring his Angel of death, what the Bible calls 93 00:05:09,400 --> 00:05:12,160 the destroyer. He's going to bring him through 94 00:05:12,160 --> 00:05:16,640 town and he's going to kill all the male first born throughout 95 00:05:16,640 --> 00:05:20,760 all of Egypt. Just like Pharaoh created 96 00:05:20,760 --> 00:05:24,680 genocide and killed all of the male Hebrew, Hebrew born babies 97 00:05:24,960 --> 00:05:28,280 for an entire generation. God is going to treat him 98 00:05:28,280 --> 00:05:33,000 likewise and his people and it's going to get dark in a fat it 99 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:36,560 really, really fast. So it's kind of a sobering text 100 00:05:36,560 --> 00:05:37,880 that we're going to be looking at. 101 00:05:38,120 --> 00:05:40,440 It's not one of these fun like, hey, Pastor Chris is going to 102 00:05:40,440 --> 00:05:41,800 crack jokes and it's going to be great. 103 00:05:42,280 --> 00:05:44,080 I'm not really a good stand up comedian anyway. 104 00:05:44,600 --> 00:05:47,080 So just know that this is where we're going. 105 00:05:47,080 --> 00:05:51,560 We are going to the Lord's Passover and it is a heavy, 106 00:05:51,680 --> 00:05:55,400 burdensome text. But what God is going to do here 107 00:05:55,720 --> 00:06:00,960 is he is going to cast judgement on the people who sat back and 108 00:06:00,960 --> 00:06:03,560 benefited from oppression and slavery. 109 00:06:03,680 --> 00:06:07,600 He is going to cast judgement on all of the gods of Egypt who 110 00:06:07,600 --> 00:06:10,440 couldn't save a single soul. And he is going to cast 111 00:06:10,440 --> 00:06:13,880 judgement on Pharaoh himself, because that's what he's got 112 00:06:13,880 --> 00:06:16,200 coming. That's what anybody has coming 113 00:06:16,400 --> 00:06:18,440 who hardens their heart against God. 114 00:06:18,960 --> 00:06:23,960 Judgement is coming, sobering, like I said. 115 00:06:24,640 --> 00:06:27,040 So here's how we're going to view this today. 116 00:06:27,280 --> 00:06:29,320 We're going to look at the scapegoat. 117 00:06:29,320 --> 00:06:31,800 We're going to kind of see the a little bit of the history of 118 00:06:31,800 --> 00:06:33,160 that. We can't do the full thing 119 00:06:33,160 --> 00:06:35,920 because that's an entire 2 hour class that I would have to 120 00:06:35,920 --> 00:06:37,520 teach. So we're just going to touch it 121 00:06:37,520 --> 00:06:39,040 real quick. And then we're going to see 122 00:06:39,200 --> 00:06:41,680 God's provision for life and we're going to meet the real 123 00:06:41,680 --> 00:06:46,080 Lamb of God, not simply the white fluffy Passover lamb that 124 00:06:46,080 --> 00:06:50,640 we'll read about today. So with that in mind, we're 125 00:06:50,640 --> 00:06:54,720 going to read Exodus chapter 12 verses one through 14. 126 00:06:55,800 --> 00:07:02,920 And we read this in Jesus name. The Lord said to Moses and Aaron 127 00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:05,760 in the land of Egypt. This month shall be for you the 128 00:07:05,760 --> 00:07:09,000 beginning of all months. It shall be the first month of 129 00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:11,560 the year for you. Tell all the congregation of 130 00:07:11,560 --> 00:07:14,960 Israel that on the 10th day of this month every man shall take 131 00:07:14,960 --> 00:07:18,480 a lamb according to their father's houses, a lamb for a 132 00:07:18,480 --> 00:07:20,880 household. And if the household is too 133 00:07:20,880 --> 00:07:25,280 small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take 134 00:07:25,280 --> 00:07:30,920 accordingly to the number of persons, according to what each 135 00:07:30,920 --> 00:07:33,920 can eat, and you shall make account for the lamb. 136 00:07:34,400 --> 00:07:38,160 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male one year old. 137 00:07:38,680 --> 00:07:40,680 You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 138 00:07:40,680 --> 00:07:43,960 You shall keep it until the 14th day of this month, when the 139 00:07:43,960 --> 00:07:46,600 whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall 140 00:07:46,600 --> 00:07:51,120 kill their lambs at twilight. Then they shall take some of the 141 00:07:51,120 --> 00:07:55,240 blood and put it on the doorpost and the lentil of the houses in 142 00:07:55,240 --> 00:07:58,080 which they eat it. They shall eat the flesh that 143 00:07:58,080 --> 00:08:01,480 night, roasted on the fire with unleavened bread and bitter 144 00:08:01,480 --> 00:08:02,760 herbs. They shall eat it. 145 00:08:03,400 --> 00:08:07,280 Do not eat any of its raw or boiled in water, but roasted 146 00:08:07,280 --> 00:08:09,960 with its head, its legs, and its inner parts. 147 00:08:10,880 --> 00:08:13,320 And you shall let none of it remain until morning. 148 00:08:13,400 --> 00:08:17,440 Anything that remains until morning, you shall burn in this 149 00:08:17,440 --> 00:08:19,280 manner. You shall eat it with your belt 150 00:08:19,280 --> 00:08:22,960 fastened and your sandals on your feet and your staff in your 151 00:08:22,960 --> 00:08:25,680 hand, and you shall eat it in haste. 152 00:08:26,400 --> 00:08:30,320 It is the Lord's Passover. For I will pass through the land 153 00:08:30,320 --> 00:08:33,400 of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the first born in the 154 00:08:33,400 --> 00:08:37,240 land of Egypt, both man and beast, on and on all of the gods 155 00:08:37,240 --> 00:08:39,799 of Egypt. I will execute my judgements. 156 00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:43,640 I am the Lord. The blood shall be assigned for 157 00:08:43,640 --> 00:08:46,920 you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will 158 00:08:47,120 --> 00:08:51,440 Passover you, and no plague will befall to destroy you when I 159 00:08:51,440 --> 00:08:54,760 strike the land of Egypt. This day shall be for you a 160 00:08:54,760 --> 00:08:58,600 Memorial Day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord 161 00:08:58,800 --> 00:09:01,800 throughout your generations as the statute forever. 162 00:09:02,080 --> 00:09:06,480 You shall keep it as a feast here in the reading of God's 163 00:09:06,640 --> 00:09:11,960 Word. So where does all this begin? 164 00:09:12,080 --> 00:09:17,440 Because this idea is not necessarily original to this 165 00:09:17,440 --> 00:09:21,680 moment. If we go back to Genesis 22, let 166 00:09:21,680 --> 00:09:24,280 me go back to Genesis 22. Hey, there it is. 167 00:09:24,560 --> 00:09:27,920 If we go back to Genesis 22, we have a couple people named 168 00:09:28,000 --> 00:09:30,440 Abraham and Sarah. You probably know a little bit 169 00:09:30,440 --> 00:09:32,600 about them, and if you don't, that's OK because I'll just tell 170 00:09:32,600 --> 00:09:34,720 you. So Abraham and Sarah are very 171 00:09:34,720 --> 00:09:37,400 old and it takes them a long time to finally have a child. 172 00:09:37,680 --> 00:09:39,120 But this child is really special. 173 00:09:39,120 --> 00:09:42,520 This child is really unique because it is the child that God 174 00:09:42,520 --> 00:09:45,400 had promised this couple that is far too old to be having 175 00:09:45,400 --> 00:09:50,280 children anymore. And in that, you know, God 176 00:09:50,280 --> 00:09:52,680 tells, I will make your descendants as numerous as the 177 00:09:52,680 --> 00:09:55,680 stars through your sun. That's an incredible promise. 178 00:09:56,360 --> 00:10:00,120 We're talking about populating the world through your sun. 179 00:10:00,800 --> 00:10:03,560 That's pretty specific and pretty spectacular. 180 00:10:03,800 --> 00:10:07,800 But then something really strange happens in in Genesis 22 181 00:10:07,800 --> 00:10:09,320 and I'll and I'll kind of read it to you. 182 00:10:10,120 --> 00:10:13,920 God looks at Abraham and he says, take your son, your only 183 00:10:13,920 --> 00:10:18,680 son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah and offer 184 00:10:18,680 --> 00:10:22,680 him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains so that I 185 00:10:22,680 --> 00:10:24,440 will tell you. Are you kidding me? 186 00:10:25,120 --> 00:10:29,200 Did you hear that? Hey, I promised you a son and I 187 00:10:29,200 --> 00:10:32,160 gave you a son, now I need you to go sacrifice him. 188 00:10:32,160 --> 00:10:35,680 What kind of a God is this? I think that's a fair question. 189 00:10:36,800 --> 00:10:40,200 What kind of God makes a promise and then looks at the very thing 190 00:10:40,360 --> 00:10:42,800 that the promise is and says, now go ahead and go kill it? 191 00:10:44,040 --> 00:10:47,160 How would he do that? It's a strange thing. 192 00:10:47,760 --> 00:10:49,440 Well, let me keep reading on a little bit. 193 00:10:49,720 --> 00:10:52,360 And Isaac said to his father Abraham, my father. 194 00:10:52,360 --> 00:10:53,960 And he said, Yep, here I am, my son. 195 00:10:53,960 --> 00:10:56,360 And he said, behold, here's the fire in the wood, but where's 196 00:10:56,360 --> 00:11:00,000 the lamb for the burnt offering? Abraham said God will provide 197 00:11:00,000 --> 00:11:03,040 for himself a lamb for a burnt offering. 198 00:11:03,040 --> 00:11:05,840 My son. Really. 199 00:11:08,320 --> 00:11:11,080 Is he just straight up lying? Because that's what it feels 200 00:11:11,080 --> 00:11:14,960 like, and I know that feelings aren't always true, but that's 201 00:11:14,960 --> 00:11:18,160 what it feels like. It feels like Abraham just is 202 00:11:18,160 --> 00:11:19,920 just putting off the inevitable insane. 203 00:11:20,840 --> 00:11:24,800 I can't tell you that God has told me to sacrifice you. 204 00:11:25,120 --> 00:11:28,640 So we're just going to push that conversation down the road a 205 00:11:28,640 --> 00:11:31,000 little bit. I think we do that with our 206 00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:33,600 kids, don't we? We have something that will 207 00:11:33,600 --> 00:11:36,120 probably tell them at some point because they are on a need to 208 00:11:36,120 --> 00:11:38,720 know basis for information. Kids, I'm sorry, that's true. 209 00:11:40,200 --> 00:11:42,840 But it is we. But we push that out, that 210 00:11:42,840 --> 00:11:45,200 information, that conversation off because we really don't want 211 00:11:45,200 --> 00:11:48,600 to have the conversation or because it's just, it's too 212 00:11:48,600 --> 00:11:51,840 painful to talk about just yet. So we have to wait till that 213 00:11:51,840 --> 00:11:54,040 inevitable moment when it finally strikes. 214 00:11:54,760 --> 00:11:58,280 Well, Fast forward a little bit and Abraham does exactly what 215 00:11:58,280 --> 00:12:01,440 God tells him to do. They get to the top of the 216 00:12:01,440 --> 00:12:05,480 mountain and you can imagine what Isaac must be thinking when 217 00:12:05,480 --> 00:12:11,120 Abraham, probably by force, takes his son, ties him up, sets 218 00:12:11,120 --> 00:12:13,400 him on the wood, pulls out the knife. 219 00:12:15,320 --> 00:12:17,000 I can't imagine what this kid is feeling. 220 00:12:17,200 --> 00:12:20,720 More so as a parent. I can't imagine what Abraham is 221 00:12:20,720 --> 00:12:23,960 feeling right now. This is breaking him. 222 00:12:24,360 --> 00:12:27,760 It is crushing his soul to do this to his son. 223 00:12:28,520 --> 00:12:32,080 But then something happens. An Angel comes and says, do not 224 00:12:32,080 --> 00:12:35,200 lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him for now. 225 00:12:35,200 --> 00:12:39,240 I know that you fear God seeing that you have not withheld your 226 00:12:39,240 --> 00:12:43,160 son, your only son, from me. Do you see it? 227 00:12:44,120 --> 00:12:45,600 Because it's right there on the surface. 228 00:12:47,480 --> 00:12:49,640 God looks at Abraham and honors him. 229 00:12:49,960 --> 00:12:51,720 You have not withheld your son from me. 230 00:12:52,440 --> 00:12:55,320 But we all know if you've read the back half of the book, 231 00:12:55,880 --> 00:12:57,480 that's exactly what God's going to do. 232 00:12:58,720 --> 00:13:02,800 He's he's going to give his son away for people who rebel and 233 00:13:02,800 --> 00:13:05,840 hate him. But this is where this kind of 234 00:13:06,040 --> 00:13:09,160 sacrificial system starts. And so we have to ask the 235 00:13:09,160 --> 00:13:12,280 question, why can't God just forgive sins? 236 00:13:12,440 --> 00:13:16,680 Why the why the blood? Why the need for sacrifice and 237 00:13:16,680 --> 00:13:18,920 judgement? Well, I want you to think about 238 00:13:18,920 --> 00:13:21,840 it this way. Going even further back in 239 00:13:21,840 --> 00:13:24,280 Genesis with Adam and Eve, they sin. 240 00:13:24,440 --> 00:13:26,200 What happens? They hide because they're all 241 00:13:26,200 --> 00:13:29,480 naked and they're like, oh, this is awkward. 242 00:13:30,880 --> 00:13:33,360 And so they hide. And God asked them, hey, where, 243 00:13:33,560 --> 00:13:34,880 what's up? Where you guys at? 244 00:13:36,120 --> 00:13:38,240 All the confessions come out. All the things happen. 245 00:13:38,240 --> 00:13:42,800 Adam blames his wife. Good job, Adam, it's that woman 246 00:13:42,800 --> 00:13:44,320 you gave me. It's her fault. 247 00:13:45,480 --> 00:13:49,080 Husbands, be careful. Be careful. 248 00:13:49,120 --> 00:13:55,000 That probably started a fight, but but so you know, it goes on. 249 00:13:55,240 --> 00:14:00,120 And what happens is God seeks to cover up their shame because 250 00:14:00,120 --> 00:14:01,600 they're ashamed. They're naked and they know 251 00:14:01,600 --> 00:14:03,280 that's weird and it's awkward now. 252 00:14:03,560 --> 00:14:05,360 And so how does he cover them up? 253 00:14:05,520 --> 00:14:09,800 He covers them up by the first death on the planet Earth. 254 00:14:09,880 --> 00:14:13,920 He kills an animal and he makes skins to cover them up. 255 00:14:14,520 --> 00:14:17,400 And so what's happening here and what we need to recognize is 256 00:14:17,400 --> 00:14:21,160 that the Bible tells us that life is in our blood. 257 00:14:21,600 --> 00:14:26,280 So therefore, in order to cover sin, in order to cover the thing 258 00:14:26,480 --> 00:14:30,160 that takes our life away, because that's sin and our in 259 00:14:30,160 --> 00:14:32,520 our in our payment for sin is death. 260 00:14:33,240 --> 00:14:39,880 So God takes life out of a creature to cover sin. 261 00:14:40,440 --> 00:14:42,520 That is the first death in the Bible. 262 00:14:44,560 --> 00:14:49,360 Now you say to me still, but yeah, come on, He's all 263 00:14:49,360 --> 00:14:51,800 powerful. If he is God, if he's all 264 00:14:51,800 --> 00:14:55,240 powerful and he's all loving, can't he just let the thing go? 265 00:14:55,680 --> 00:14:58,040 I mean, like, you know, we do that sometimes with our kids 266 00:14:58,040 --> 00:15:01,360 and, and, you know, spouses or friends or whatever, like they 267 00:15:01,360 --> 00:15:03,280 do something stupid, they sin against us. 268 00:15:03,280 --> 00:15:06,000 And we're like, you know what? We don't even say I forgive you. 269 00:15:06,000 --> 00:15:07,240 No, you know what you usually say? 270 00:15:07,240 --> 00:15:11,560 What do you usually say? It's fine, it's fine, whatever. 271 00:15:11,560 --> 00:15:13,040 It's fine. Don't even worry about it. 272 00:15:13,400 --> 00:15:15,280 That's what we do. We don't forgive. 273 00:15:15,280 --> 00:15:18,520 We're like, Nah, it's fine. And so we expect God to do the 274 00:15:18,520 --> 00:15:20,880 same. We expect God not to be a God of 275 00:15:20,880 --> 00:15:22,680 justice, but a God of no, that's fine. 276 00:15:22,680 --> 00:15:25,320 Don't even worry about it. But that's not how that works. 277 00:15:25,560 --> 00:15:29,120 Let me give you an example because there always has to be a 278 00:15:29,120 --> 00:15:31,000 payment. Kristen, I love what you said. 279 00:15:31,560 --> 00:15:33,040 I love what you said about the pies. 280 00:15:33,040 --> 00:15:37,720 I thought, man, you are spot on. Let me make a slight theological 281 00:15:37,720 --> 00:15:42,560 correction without without, like, being mean to you, 282 00:15:46,960 --> 00:15:52,960 theology guy. Sorry, this young man in the 283 00:15:52,960 --> 00:15:55,080 front row just called me a nerd. That's fine. 284 00:15:55,320 --> 00:15:57,080 That's fine. That's fine. 285 00:15:57,320 --> 00:15:59,640 It's OK. I I agree with you. 286 00:16:00,160 --> 00:16:02,000 Slight theological correction. Here's the thing. 287 00:16:02,160 --> 00:16:06,880 As ERC went yesterday and gave away 500 pies, who paid for the 288 00:16:06,880 --> 00:16:11,280 ingredients? No, no, all of you did. 289 00:16:12,200 --> 00:16:15,440 If you give to the Mansfield Church, you guys paid for that. 290 00:16:15,880 --> 00:16:18,640 There was a payment made for the free thing. 291 00:16:18,960 --> 00:16:22,200 There is always a payment made. Think about this too. 292 00:16:22,400 --> 00:16:26,000 If you loan your friend your car and they go and they wreck it, 293 00:16:26,640 --> 00:16:30,040 you have a couple options. You can say, you know what I'm 294 00:16:30,040 --> 00:16:31,760 going to take on? I'm going to take that on 295 00:16:31,760 --> 00:16:33,560 myself. I'll pay for a new car because I 296 00:16:33,560 --> 00:16:35,800 need a car, so I'll pay for the new one. 297 00:16:35,800 --> 00:16:38,240 You're you're free and clear. The payment has been made for 298 00:16:38,240 --> 00:16:40,000 you. Or you can look at them and say, 299 00:16:40,000 --> 00:16:43,880 hey, you wrecked the car, you're going to pay for it. 300 00:16:43,880 --> 00:16:47,600 Or third option insurance, you can say, well, I'll just file it 301 00:16:47,600 --> 00:16:48,800 with my insurance. But guess what? 302 00:16:48,800 --> 00:16:51,320 There's a payment there too. The insurance company is paying 303 00:16:51,320 --> 00:16:53,480 for it, which means you're paying higher premiums. 304 00:16:53,480 --> 00:16:57,560 There's always a payer. There's always someone who has 305 00:16:57,560 --> 00:17:00,400 to pay. The only thing free in this 306 00:17:00,400 --> 00:17:02,920 world is the love of God. And I'm telling you, that is the 307 00:17:03,040 --> 00:17:06,440 only free thing in this entire planet, friends. 308 00:17:06,440 --> 00:17:10,839 And some of you are like, oh, the air is free, whatever. 309 00:17:11,680 --> 00:17:14,720 Let me just make the point. So you see, I argue with myself 310 00:17:14,720 --> 00:17:17,160 in my head all the time. That's why I say those things 311 00:17:17,160 --> 00:17:19,240 because I'm arguing against myself right now. 312 00:17:20,480 --> 00:17:24,520 But anyway, the, the, the idea that that anything is free is 313 00:17:24,520 --> 00:17:26,920 just false. There always has to be a pair, 314 00:17:26,920 --> 00:17:30,760 and that goes for sins too. So if we can follow along with 315 00:17:30,760 --> 00:17:34,280 the narrative, we're seeing that God can't just simply be like, 316 00:17:34,280 --> 00:17:36,320 it's fine. He can't do that because there's 317 00:17:36,320 --> 00:17:38,760 always a pair. Now, how does this work? 318 00:17:38,760 --> 00:17:40,160 What does God's provision look like? 319 00:17:40,480 --> 00:17:44,960 He tells the people of Israel you are going to need a lamb 320 00:17:45,120 --> 00:17:48,880 without spot or blemish, something that is seemingly 321 00:17:49,080 --> 00:17:54,320 perfect and innocent. And I think part of that, part 322 00:17:54,320 --> 00:17:57,080 of the reason for that is God doesn't want your leftovers. 323 00:17:59,680 --> 00:18:01,440 God wants your first and your best. 324 00:18:02,360 --> 00:18:06,360 He doesn't want your leftovers. Oh well, and this is going to 325 00:18:06,360 --> 00:18:08,040 sound, this is going to sound mean, but I'm going to say it 326 00:18:08,040 --> 00:18:11,400 anyway because it's true. Well, you know, I got to the end 327 00:18:11,400 --> 00:18:14,040 of my paycheck and I have $6.00 left that I don't need. 328 00:18:14,040 --> 00:18:15,440 So I guess I'll give that to God. 329 00:18:18,120 --> 00:18:20,280 Guess what? If you don't care about that 330 00:18:20,280 --> 00:18:22,080 amount of money, neither does He. 331 00:18:22,760 --> 00:18:25,160 And it's not about the amount, it's about your heart. 332 00:18:26,240 --> 00:18:28,840 It's about does this cost me something? 333 00:18:28,840 --> 00:18:32,080 Does this feel heavy? Is this my first and my best? 334 00:18:32,320 --> 00:18:35,400 And that doesn't just go for money, that goes for our entire 335 00:18:35,400 --> 00:18:38,280 lives. If I'm not giving God my first 336 00:18:38,280 --> 00:18:41,240 and my best, why does He want it? 337 00:18:41,840 --> 00:18:44,000 He deserves it. He created me. 338 00:18:44,120 --> 00:18:47,720 He sustains my life. He should get my first and my 339 00:18:47,720 --> 00:18:49,720 best. Whether that's my time, that's 340 00:18:49,720 --> 00:18:52,040 my attention, that's my money, it doesn't matter. 341 00:18:52,240 --> 00:18:54,280 He deserves my first and my best. 342 00:18:57,120 --> 00:18:58,440 Well, let's keep thinking through this. 343 00:18:58,920 --> 00:19:02,160 I also want you to notice that in this text that faith is not a 344 00:19:02,160 --> 00:19:05,520 thing of individuality. And I've said this before, and 345 00:19:05,520 --> 00:19:07,960 I'm just going to keep on saying it until it's tattooed on your 346 00:19:07,960 --> 00:19:10,840 brains. That faith is personal, but it 347 00:19:10,840 --> 00:19:13,920 is not private. Your Christian faith is not 348 00:19:13,920 --> 00:19:17,200 meant to be something that you go and you, you hide and you do 349 00:19:17,200 --> 00:19:19,280 your little Bible studies by yourself and you're never in 350 00:19:19,280 --> 00:19:21,040 community. That's not how this works. 351 00:19:21,040 --> 00:19:22,800 How do we know that from this text? 352 00:19:23,000 --> 00:19:28,080 We know that because entire households shared the lamb. 353 00:19:28,720 --> 00:19:30,920 And when there wasn't enough people in the household, you 354 00:19:30,920 --> 00:19:32,520 know what they did? They went over their neighbor 355 00:19:32,520 --> 00:19:35,600 just, hey, we don't have enough people for a lamb. 356 00:19:35,600 --> 00:19:38,760 Let's do this together. Do you see how God wants faith 357 00:19:38,880 --> 00:19:41,040 inside of community? And this is not an 358 00:19:41,040 --> 00:19:43,640 individualistic thing. So I'll make a push for you 359 00:19:43,640 --> 00:19:45,840 right now. Very practically speaking, if 360 00:19:45,840 --> 00:19:49,560 you are not meeting with other Christians outside of Sunday 361 00:19:49,560 --> 00:19:51,080 morning, you are doing something wrong. 362 00:19:52,000 --> 00:19:54,920 You're doing something wrong. Now I feel like I'm just hitting 363 00:19:54,920 --> 00:19:56,240 you guys left and right this morning. 364 00:19:56,240 --> 00:19:59,360 I'm sorry, but this is just where the text is taking us. 365 00:19:59,680 --> 00:20:02,400 So we're going to live in that for a little bit. 366 00:20:03,360 --> 00:20:06,720 Now let's go a different direction for a moment. 367 00:20:08,320 --> 00:20:10,040 I really love animals. I do. 368 00:20:11,120 --> 00:20:13,760 Yeah. I got this tiny little dog at 369 00:20:13,760 --> 00:20:16,600 home. It's like, it's like 10 lbs of 370 00:20:16,600 --> 00:20:20,800 fluff and attitude and it's annoying, but I'm like, I love 371 00:20:20,800 --> 00:20:22,880 you. I just, I just, I'll pick you up 372 00:20:22,880 --> 00:20:25,520 and I'll just, you know, there's these old Bugs Bunny cartoons 373 00:20:25,520 --> 00:20:27,440 where, like, I can't remember the little girl's name. 374 00:20:27,440 --> 00:20:29,640 I think it's Elvira. She takes the animal and she's 375 00:20:29,640 --> 00:20:31,320 like, I'm going to love you and hold you and squeeze you. 376 00:20:31,320 --> 00:20:34,800 And the animal's like me. That's how I I do. 377 00:20:34,800 --> 00:20:37,160 I feel that way about animals, and I suspect a lot of you do, 378 00:20:37,160 --> 00:20:38,800 too. So then we look at this 379 00:20:38,800 --> 00:20:41,880 situation. We say that poor little fluffy 380 00:20:41,880 --> 00:20:46,960 lamb, What are we doing that doesn't feel right? 381 00:20:47,560 --> 00:20:52,160 What what did that innocent, fluffy, cute lamb do anything to 382 00:20:52,160 --> 00:20:57,920 deserve this? Friends, imagine you're a 383 00:20:57,920 --> 00:21:01,560 Hebrew. Imagine you are in that scenario 384 00:21:01,560 --> 00:21:05,360 and God has said, all right, I need you to sacrifice the 385 00:21:05,360 --> 00:21:08,040 spotless blemish, blemishless lamb. 386 00:21:09,520 --> 00:21:11,560 And you're like, I don't know. I really love that thing and 387 00:21:11,560 --> 00:21:14,320 it's my best one because God wants my first and my best. 388 00:21:16,240 --> 00:21:25,800 But then you look down at your son and all of a sudden the 389 00:21:25,800 --> 00:21:30,240 decision becomes really easy. It's really easy. 390 00:21:32,880 --> 00:21:36,880 So the lamb is slaughtered and the blood is spread across the 391 00:21:36,880 --> 00:21:39,720 doorposts and the lentils. And what happens is if you were 392 00:21:39,720 --> 00:21:41,920 to do that today, you know what you would see? 393 00:21:41,920 --> 00:21:47,400 You would see a cross. You would see a cross across 394 00:21:47,400 --> 00:21:52,040 your door, and what happens is the destroyer, the Angel of 395 00:21:52,040 --> 00:21:53,600 death. He comes through Egypt that 396 00:21:53,600 --> 00:21:58,960 night and as he sees the cross, he passes over because the blood 397 00:21:58,960 --> 00:22:01,920 of an innocent one has already been shed. 398 00:22:02,120 --> 00:22:04,960 The sacrifice for sins is already done. 399 00:22:05,120 --> 00:22:08,600 There needs to be no more death where there is the cross. 400 00:22:17,780 --> 00:22:23,860 But the cries, the cries that night in Egypt and into the 401 00:22:23,860 --> 00:22:33,520 early morning, parents finding their son dead, wailing, 402 00:22:34,120 --> 00:22:40,800 weeping, screaming. This is a nightmare. 403 00:22:43,600 --> 00:22:45,840 You wouldn't wish that on your worst enemy. 404 00:22:51,460 --> 00:22:56,180 But this is the cost of sin. This is the cost of judgement. 405 00:22:57,200 --> 00:23:00,960 This is the cost of hardening our hearts against God. 406 00:23:01,160 --> 00:23:02,960 But it doesn't have to be that way, does it? 407 00:23:03,600 --> 00:23:08,800 Because there is a first born, there is a Son, there is a Lamb 408 00:23:08,800 --> 00:23:11,920 who was slain for all of our sins, and that is Jesus Christ, 409 00:23:11,920 --> 00:23:13,400 is it not? Amen. 410 00:23:14,200 --> 00:23:19,000 It doesn't have to be that way. So let's explore the Lamb of 411 00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:21,440 God. You see, The thing is, moving 412 00:23:21,440 --> 00:23:24,760 forward from this moment, the Israelites were called to 413 00:23:24,760 --> 00:23:27,680 celebrate the Passover. From that year forward, every 414 00:23:27,680 --> 00:23:31,240 single year, a slain lamb unleavened bread to atone for 415 00:23:31,240 --> 00:23:34,960 the sins and remind all of the people what God had done in 416 00:23:34,960 --> 00:23:37,560 order to bring them out of slavery, in order to bring them 417 00:23:37,560 --> 00:23:40,240 out of oppression, in order to keep them out of oppression and 418 00:23:40,240 --> 00:23:45,320 to keep their sins off of them. A slain lamb, year in and year 419 00:23:45,320 --> 00:23:47,600 out. And yet I think we can see that 420 00:23:47,600 --> 00:23:50,080 something is very broken in that system, is it not? 421 00:23:53,040 --> 00:23:54,400 Now I'm going to teach you something that I've been 422 00:23:54,400 --> 00:23:56,600 teaching my confirmation kids the last two weeks. 423 00:23:58,040 --> 00:24:01,480 The problem with this system is it is an old covenant. 424 00:24:02,760 --> 00:24:05,680 Now we have the Old and New Testament in the Bible, right? 425 00:24:05,880 --> 00:24:07,880 OK, Old New Testament. Well, what does that word 426 00:24:07,880 --> 00:24:09,760 Testament mean? My confirmation kids ought to 427 00:24:09,760 --> 00:24:12,800 know that word Testament also means covenant, which means an 428 00:24:12,800 --> 00:24:15,680 agreement. So see, under God's old 429 00:24:15,680 --> 00:24:18,720 agreement with all of his people, what happens is there 430 00:24:18,720 --> 00:24:22,080 needs to be this non-stop continuous sacrifice of blood 431 00:24:22,320 --> 00:24:26,680 over and over again. And the other thing about this 432 00:24:26,680 --> 00:24:30,760 agreement that's really kind of broken is the agreement is based 433 00:24:30,760 --> 00:24:33,920 on the law. The agreement's based on the 434 00:24:33,920 --> 00:24:35,920 law. It's based on the do's and 435 00:24:35,920 --> 00:24:39,920 don'ts of life. Now how about you? 436 00:24:41,040 --> 00:24:42,840 I'm not doing great with that agreement. 437 00:24:44,120 --> 00:24:49,000 Like honestly, every single day and thought and word and deed, I 438 00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:51,840 am breaking that agreement. I'm breaking that covenant with 439 00:24:51,840 --> 00:24:53,520 God. I mean, I'm doing this thing 440 00:24:53,520 --> 00:24:56,040 constantly. Even if I had some fluffy little 441 00:24:56,040 --> 00:24:58,800 sheep in my yard, guess what? There wouldn't be enough of 442 00:24:58,800 --> 00:25:00,240 them. Not for me. 443 00:25:01,960 --> 00:25:07,280 And besides, that is a temporary solution to a permanent sin 444 00:25:07,280 --> 00:25:13,440 problem. It doesn't work and therefore we 445 00:25:13,440 --> 00:25:15,400 need a new agreement. We need a new covenant. 446 00:25:15,600 --> 00:25:17,160 We need to have a new arrangement. 447 00:25:17,160 --> 00:25:20,200 So what does God do? Let me tell you what God does. 448 00:25:20,360 --> 00:25:22,800 I'm going to flip over here because I want to make sure I 449 00:25:22,800 --> 00:25:29,160 get this correct. I'm going to John chapter 1. 450 00:25:30,120 --> 00:25:33,320 I haven't marked, so I should be fast, but I'm going to John 451 00:25:33,320 --> 00:25:37,760 chapter one, verse 29, and here's the new agreement. 452 00:25:37,760 --> 00:25:43,360 Here's what it sounds like the next day, he which is John the 453 00:25:43,360 --> 00:25:47,720 Baptist, the next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and 454 00:25:47,720 --> 00:25:52,440 said, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. 455 00:25:54,200 --> 00:25:57,400 Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. 456 00:25:57,400 --> 00:26:00,320 Did you hear it? Did you hear the new covenant? 457 00:26:00,800 --> 00:26:02,560 Because it's right there on the surface. 458 00:26:02,960 --> 00:26:06,320 You see, here's the thing. In the old covenant, God covers 459 00:26:06,320 --> 00:26:09,240 sins. There's the sacrifice of blood, 460 00:26:09,240 --> 00:26:12,720 which is life, and God covers sins just like he did with Adam 461 00:26:12,720 --> 00:26:17,840 and Eve. Now when I was a little kid, and 462 00:26:17,920 --> 00:26:19,920 probably all you guys did this to, and when I was a little kid, 463 00:26:19,920 --> 00:26:23,440 here's what happened. Sometimes you like take your 464 00:26:23,440 --> 00:26:26,240 blankets and you cover up your whole body and you're like, I'm 465 00:26:26,240 --> 00:26:29,920 invisible. That's fun, isn't it? 466 00:26:30,400 --> 00:26:34,320 Modern day I still do that, but it's because my dear sweet 467 00:26:34,320 --> 00:26:36,880 loving wife freezes me out of the bedroom. 468 00:26:37,560 --> 00:26:42,080 So I cover up and I'm like, I'm invisible and I'm still cold. 469 00:26:43,880 --> 00:26:48,960 I love you. Here's the thing, take off the 470 00:26:48,960 --> 00:26:50,200 covers. I'm still there. 471 00:26:51,480 --> 00:26:53,600 I'm gone anywhere. I just hid. 472 00:26:57,160 --> 00:27:04,880 Jesus is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. 473 00:27:07,440 --> 00:27:10,680 There's a big difference between covering something up and taking 474 00:27:10,680 --> 00:27:12,680 it away completely, is there not? 475 00:27:13,720 --> 00:27:18,360 All right, so here's the problem with covering, and I think most 476 00:27:18,360 --> 00:27:24,480 of us do it most of the time. We cover our sins, we hide. 477 00:27:24,840 --> 00:27:27,240 We're in shame. Because if anybody ever found 478 00:27:27,240 --> 00:27:29,960 out how bad I really was or the thoughts I had or the things I 479 00:27:29,960 --> 00:27:32,800 said behind that person's back, boom, boom, boom, name a million 480 00:27:32,800 --> 00:27:34,680 things. We're just like waiting to be 481 00:27:34,680 --> 00:27:36,640 uncovered, waiting to be found out. 482 00:27:37,840 --> 00:27:40,440 Well, friends, guess what? You will be found out. 483 00:27:41,280 --> 00:27:44,040 There is not a sin that will not be brought to light. 484 00:27:44,840 --> 00:27:49,200 And that is a sobering thought. That is an incredibly sobering 485 00:27:49,200 --> 00:27:52,320 thought because if I had to confess everything I've done 486 00:27:52,320 --> 00:27:56,000 just in the last week to you, you'd be like, that guy's fired. 487 00:27:58,280 --> 00:28:00,720 See ya. We're going to get a pastor 488 00:28:00,720 --> 00:28:09,800 who's more holy than this guy. You can't just cover your sins 489 00:28:09,800 --> 00:28:12,720 and expect to be OK. You can't. 490 00:28:13,960 --> 00:28:16,200 Here's the thing, and I heard this recently. 491 00:28:16,200 --> 00:28:18,160 This is not mine, somebody else's. 492 00:28:18,520 --> 00:28:21,000 But when you cover, you know what you're doing, the fake you, 493 00:28:22,000 --> 00:28:26,440 the fake me is doing so good. You realize that when I walk 494 00:28:26,440 --> 00:28:29,160 through this atrium, when I walk into this church, when I walk 495 00:28:29,160 --> 00:28:31,080 into any business and do it, how you doing? 496 00:28:31,080 --> 00:28:33,720 I'm doing great. I'm killing it. 497 00:28:34,480 --> 00:28:37,440 The fake me is doing awesome. But you know what? 498 00:28:37,440 --> 00:28:40,640 The real need me. The real me needs the real me, 499 00:28:40,880 --> 00:28:44,240 needs the real blood of Jesus. Not to just cover the things so 500 00:28:44,240 --> 00:28:47,000 I'm afraid of being exposed, but to actually fully take them 501 00:28:47,000 --> 00:28:50,400 away. So that way I am now free. 502 00:28:51,040 --> 00:28:53,240 Friends, the reason why I'm such a weirdo, and I've said it 503 00:28:53,240 --> 00:28:56,440 before, is because I'm free. This is what free looks like. 504 00:28:56,440 --> 00:28:59,280 Sometimes it looks like the weirdo standing on stage saying 505 00:28:59,280 --> 00:29:01,680 far too many things with far too much enthusiasm. 506 00:29:02,160 --> 00:29:05,720 But that's freedom. We say it around here. 507 00:29:05,720 --> 00:29:09,240 We want you to be weird because free people are weird. 508 00:29:09,400 --> 00:29:11,800 They don't make sense because the most of the world, what 509 00:29:11,800 --> 00:29:14,200 they're doing is they're putting on the mask and they're covering 510 00:29:14,200 --> 00:29:16,800 things up all the time, and that's the norm. 511 00:29:18,080 --> 00:29:22,560 I don't want to be like that. I refuse to be like that because 512 00:29:22,560 --> 00:29:25,840 my sins aren't just covered up, they're fully taken away. 513 00:29:27,240 --> 00:29:29,040 That's right. That's right. 514 00:29:29,040 --> 00:29:35,400 They're fully taken away now after all that you say to me. 515 00:29:35,400 --> 00:29:38,720 But Pastor Chris, how do we really know? 516 00:29:40,440 --> 00:29:46,480 How do we really know that Jesus doesn't just cover sins, but he 517 00:29:46,720 --> 00:29:50,720 fully takes them away? How can I trust that I can walk 518 00:29:50,720 --> 00:29:54,600 out of here and complete freedom without any hiding, without any 519 00:29:54,600 --> 00:29:56,200 shame? How can I possibly know that? 520 00:29:57,120 --> 00:30:01,720 Well, I want to, before we close, I want to take you to 521 00:30:01,760 --> 00:30:05,280 Jesus's Passover meal with his friends. 522 00:30:05,280 --> 00:30:09,520 And we're going to explore that momentarily because it really 523 00:30:09,600 --> 00:30:15,520 shows us what's happening here. Now, the Passover meal being 524 00:30:15,520 --> 00:30:18,520 celebrated by Jewish people for in perpetuity for all times. 525 00:30:18,880 --> 00:30:21,920 What happens is during that meal, you have a rabbi, you have 526 00:30:21,920 --> 00:30:24,240 a household leader, usually a father rabbi, whatever. 527 00:30:24,520 --> 00:30:26,640 And what they're doing is they're leading the service. 528 00:30:26,640 --> 00:30:30,920 They're walking you through the Exodus story and they're walking 529 00:30:30,920 --> 00:30:32,960 you through the steps, and they're reminding because that's 530 00:30:32,960 --> 00:30:35,280 what God says. Remind the people of what I did 531 00:30:35,600 --> 00:30:39,040 in order to give you freedom. And so they're walking through 532 00:30:39,040 --> 00:30:42,640 the story and they're reminding, but Jesus is doing it all wrong. 533 00:30:43,160 --> 00:30:45,520 Where's the lamb? Where's the meat? 534 00:30:46,600 --> 00:30:48,880 I mean, the disciples, they're probably kind of disappointed. 535 00:30:48,880 --> 00:30:52,440 They're like, dude, this is not enough food for me, and you're 536 00:30:52,440 --> 00:30:54,920 saying all the wrong words. Well, what are the wrong words 537 00:30:54,920 --> 00:30:57,520 that Jesus says? Now, as they were eating, Jesus 538 00:30:57,520 --> 00:31:00,720 took bread and after blessing it, he broke it and gave it to 539 00:31:00,720 --> 00:31:03,280 his disciples and said take and eat. 540 00:31:03,280 --> 00:31:06,760 This is my body. This is my body. 541 00:31:07,320 --> 00:31:09,160 Now, if you're one of the disciples, this is kind of a 542 00:31:09,160 --> 00:31:13,640 weird moment because you've seen Jesus heal the blind, you see 543 00:31:13,640 --> 00:31:16,040 him made the lame walk, you've seen him cast out demons, you've 544 00:31:16,040 --> 00:31:17,720 seen him bring dead people to life. 545 00:31:17,960 --> 00:31:26,400 And when he says this is my body, you're like, oh, I'm, I'm 546 00:31:26,400 --> 00:31:29,000 so full, Jesus, I'm so full. I can't even believe it. 547 00:31:29,400 --> 00:31:33,440 I'm so full. But then he does another weird 548 00:31:33,440 --> 00:31:36,800 thing and he took a cup and we'd give him thanks. 549 00:31:37,360 --> 00:31:39,280 He gave it to them saying drink of it, all of you. 550 00:31:39,520 --> 00:31:43,480 For this is my blood of the covenant, the new agreement. 551 00:31:43,840 --> 00:31:47,920 My blood is the new agreement which is poured out for many for 552 00:31:47,920 --> 00:31:53,800 the forgiveness of sins. That's how you know, because 553 00:31:53,840 --> 00:31:59,120 Jesus gave his life, He gave his body, He gave his blood, and as 554 00:31:59,120 --> 00:32:04,480 we believe in Him, we consume that, we take that in. 555 00:32:04,600 --> 00:32:09,440 He is the spotless lamb. There is not another on the 556 00:32:09,440 --> 00:32:12,920 planet earth who can, who can not just cover sins, but take 557 00:32:12,920 --> 00:32:15,680 them away forever. That is Jesus Christ. 558 00:32:15,680 --> 00:32:20,160 He's the only one, and he's proving it time and time again. 559 00:32:28,840 --> 00:32:36,040 Some of you are hearing this for the first time and you don't 560 00:32:36,040 --> 00:32:39,320 know what to think about it. I know we're in church and 561 00:32:39,320 --> 00:32:41,200 everybody goes to church already believes. 562 00:32:41,200 --> 00:32:44,520 No, I disagree. I went to church for a long time 563 00:32:44,520 --> 00:32:50,240 without believing anything. Here we are. 564 00:32:51,640 --> 00:32:56,160 We have a choice. Do you want your sins, which 565 00:32:56,160 --> 00:33:01,640 require judgment to be covered, or do you want them taken away? 566 00:33:02,640 --> 00:33:06,120 Your choice. Nobody else can choose that for 567 00:33:06,120 --> 00:33:11,080 you. I know what I choose. 568 00:33:12,040 --> 00:33:15,160 I choose Jesus because I will never do it on my own. 569 00:33:19,680 --> 00:33:24,840 Maybe you're the kind of person who you believe in the 570 00:33:24,840 --> 00:33:29,280 background of your life. So when somebody presses you, 571 00:33:29,480 --> 00:33:31,480 here's what happens. You say, yeah, I believe that 572 00:33:31,480 --> 00:33:35,120 there's God, it's fine, and nobody can tell. 573 00:33:35,600 --> 00:33:39,320 There's nothing about your life that shows people that you 574 00:33:39,320 --> 00:33:42,120 believe in Jesus Christ, that you are free because just like 575 00:33:42,120 --> 00:33:44,440 everybody else around you, you're wearing this stupid mask 576 00:33:44,920 --> 00:33:46,400 with all these things covered up. 577 00:33:49,160 --> 00:33:53,520 There's a better way. There's a better way to freedom. 578 00:33:54,760 --> 00:33:58,640 Here's the only way to freedom. So here's what we're going to do 579 00:34:00,280 --> 00:34:01,800 in a moment. I'm going to have you bow your 580 00:34:01,800 --> 00:34:07,880 heads. I'm going to pray with you that 581 00:34:07,880 --> 00:34:14,199 if you were the person who for the first time wants to be free, 582 00:34:16,480 --> 00:34:18,080 I'm going to pray with you through that. 583 00:34:18,920 --> 00:34:23,400 And if you're the person who has strayed so far from your faith 584 00:34:24,040 --> 00:34:26,760 that you don't even know if you're a Christian, I'm going to 585 00:34:26,760 --> 00:34:31,719 pray with you too. Let's do that. 586 00:34:34,679 --> 00:34:42,560 Our Father in Heaven, for those who want to be free for the 587 00:34:42,560 --> 00:34:46,840 first time. Lord, I pray the power of your 588 00:34:46,840 --> 00:34:50,480 Holy Spirit comes upon them in such a way that they are 589 00:34:50,480 --> 00:34:53,840 convicted. They are cut to the heart, the 590 00:34:53,840 --> 00:34:56,600 Lord, that they are instantaneously healed because 591 00:34:56,600 --> 00:35:01,520 they understand that faith in You is the only thing that sets 592 00:35:01,520 --> 00:35:03,560 them free. It's the only thing that brings 593 00:35:03,560 --> 00:35:10,760 them from life to better life. Father, for those amongst us 594 00:35:10,760 --> 00:35:13,560 right now, let them not be ashamed. 595 00:35:13,560 --> 00:35:17,200 Let them not be awkward. Let them rejoice in the 596 00:35:17,200 --> 00:35:20,520 salvation that they have found in You today. 597 00:35:21,440 --> 00:35:24,400 All praise be to you for changed hearts. 598 00:35:25,240 --> 00:35:28,880 And Father, for those who have strayed, for those who have let 599 00:35:28,880 --> 00:35:32,640 Christianity just become a background noise in their head, 600 00:35:32,640 --> 00:35:36,520 Lord, bring them home. Bring them back to the fold, to 601 00:35:36,520 --> 00:35:40,440 bring them back to the place where they're only leaning on 602 00:35:40,440 --> 00:35:44,000 you, where they call out to you, where they cry out to you, not 603 00:35:44,000 --> 00:35:46,920 just because they need something, but because they love 604 00:35:47,200 --> 00:35:53,120 you. Father, for those of us who are 605 00:35:53,120 --> 00:35:57,960 found amongst your flock, who are buried deep inside Your 606 00:35:57,960 --> 00:36:01,240 grace, and we live in that freedom every day, for those 607 00:36:01,920 --> 00:36:06,560 Lord bless us, keep us on the straight and narrow path of the 608 00:36:06,560 --> 00:36:11,360 gospel. Give us courage and boldness to 609 00:36:11,400 --> 00:36:16,520 speak your truth, to speak your love over the lives of those who 610 00:36:16,520 --> 00:36:21,560 we know. Father, you are good and you are 611 00:36:21,560 --> 00:36:23,920 gracious. You have taken away the sins of 612 00:36:23,920 --> 00:36:25,800 the world through your Son, Jesus Christ. 613 00:36:26,160 --> 00:36:29,080 May you be glorified in all of this. 614 00:36:29,600 --> 00:36:32,760 And we pray all this in Jesus name, Amen. 615 00:36:33,760 --> 00:36:34,960 Friends, I'm going to tell you something. 616 00:36:37,560 --> 00:36:40,680 If you prayed either of those first two prayers with me today, 617 00:36:40,680 --> 00:36:43,280 here's what I'm going to ask you to do. 618 00:36:44,480 --> 00:36:47,480 Just stick around. Just stick around for a few 619 00:36:47,480 --> 00:36:48,720 minutes. Don't leave this room. 620 00:36:49,680 --> 00:36:53,360 I'm going to stay in this room. Pastor Matt's going to stay in 621 00:36:53,360 --> 00:36:56,680 this room. We'd love to pray with you. 622 00:36:56,840 --> 00:37:02,040 We'd love to encourage you. We'd love to make sure that you 623 00:37:02,040 --> 00:37:04,880 are free before you walk out of these doors. 624 00:37:08,520 --> 00:37:11,680 And if you're in that second group and you're just giving 625 00:37:11,680 --> 00:37:14,400 your life back to God, you're getting back on the bike. 626 00:37:15,160 --> 00:37:19,000 You can stick around too. I'd love to pray that God would 627 00:37:19,000 --> 00:37:24,120 strengthen you. Doesn't have to be awkward, 628 00:37:24,120 --> 00:37:25,720 friends. It should be joyful. 629 00:37:26,160 --> 00:37:30,760 Make a joyous noise to the Lord. We get to do that when we find 630 00:37:30,760 --> 00:37:31,920 freedom. Amen. 631 00:37:32,680 --> 00:37:39,000 All right, let's worship. Thanks for listening to ERC 632 00:37:39,000 --> 00:37:41,440 Sundays. To support the work God is doing 633 00:37:41,440 --> 00:37:43,080 at Emmaus Rd. Church, visit 634 00:37:43,080 --> 00:37:46,040 emmausrdonline.org/giving.