1 00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:03,520 Well, good morning and welcome. It is man. 2 00:00:03,520 --> 00:00:06,200 It's good to be together today. It's great to see you. 3 00:00:06,560 --> 00:00:08,600 If we haven't met, my name is Josh. 4 00:00:08,840 --> 00:00:13,600 I have the the joy of serving as pastor here at the garden and 5 00:00:14,280 --> 00:00:16,640 I'm glad to see you welcome. We're we're we're glad that 6 00:00:16,640 --> 00:00:20,160 you're here. The garden is this community of 7 00:00:20,200 --> 00:00:24,920 individuals and families and groups that are all bound 8 00:00:24,920 --> 00:00:28,560 together by this shared journey to become people who are changed 9 00:00:28,560 --> 00:00:32,880 by the love of Jesus and not just individually or for us, but 10 00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:36,080 but for the sake of our neighbors, our coworkers, our 11 00:00:36,080 --> 00:00:40,920 friends, our families, to extend that love into the world. 12 00:00:41,200 --> 00:00:44,320 I think personally, I'm, I'm biased, but I, I believe that 13 00:00:44,320 --> 00:00:46,520 that's the most important journey you could possibly 14 00:00:46,520 --> 00:00:50,280 undertake. If you would like help or 15 00:00:50,280 --> 00:00:52,880 support in that journey, that's why we exist. 16 00:00:52,880 --> 00:00:57,280 And so I would love to to meet you to help you to just have a 17 00:00:57,280 --> 00:01:00,520 conversation. If we haven't met, please come 18 00:01:00,520 --> 00:01:03,240 grab me or anybody with a lanyard in the lobby after the 19 00:01:03,240 --> 00:01:05,400 gathering. I'd love to get to know you. 20 00:01:05,519 --> 00:01:08,880 And again, just glad, glad to be together today. 21 00:01:09,720 --> 00:01:14,120 Well, as Nicole mentioned, we are continuing this series on 22 00:01:14,160 --> 00:01:16,360 the story. Over the last 10 weeks, we've 23 00:01:16,360 --> 00:01:20,160 been on this journey together, moving from the very beginning 24 00:01:20,160 --> 00:01:24,320 of Scripture in the Garden all the way to Revelation and 25 00:01:24,320 --> 00:01:29,200 tracking how this crazy story, this this library of stories 26 00:01:29,200 --> 00:01:33,720 really written across cultures and continents and centuries, 27 00:01:33,760 --> 00:01:40,080 all has this single and incredible narrative about how 28 00:01:40,080 --> 00:01:44,960 we are reconnected to God. And this morning I'm super 29 00:01:44,960 --> 00:01:48,920 excited because we have finally reached the climax. 30 00:01:49,240 --> 00:01:52,400 Like this is the peak of the story, the moment where all of 31 00:01:52,400 --> 00:01:56,480 these threads that we've been tracking finally come together 32 00:01:56,480 --> 00:02:00,840 in a single knot. This is the biggest climax, the 33 00:02:00,840 --> 00:02:03,080 biggest plot twist in all of history. 34 00:02:03,320 --> 00:02:06,640 It is the brightest moment in history and also the darkest at 35 00:02:06,640 --> 00:02:09,120 the same time. So small job for me today. 36 00:02:09,840 --> 00:02:14,800 It's also really familiar, and because of that, sometimes it's 37 00:02:14,800 --> 00:02:18,080 easy to just blow past things that we know so well. 38 00:02:18,720 --> 00:02:21,600 Of course, I'm talking this morning about the death and 39 00:02:21,600 --> 00:02:26,440 resurrection of Jesus, the very heart of the Christian story. 40 00:02:26,840 --> 00:02:30,040 So this morning I want to try to tell the story, and I also want 41 00:02:30,040 --> 00:02:34,600 to attempt to answer a few questions, questions that maybe 42 00:02:34,600 --> 00:02:38,800 you've asked at some point. Questions like why did Jesus 43 00:02:38,800 --> 00:02:42,480 have to die? Or perhaps really what you want 44 00:02:42,480 --> 00:02:46,200 to know is why do Christians talk about blood so much? 45 00:02:46,520 --> 00:02:48,320 Like does anybody else find that a little weird? 46 00:02:48,320 --> 00:02:50,920 Like the washed in the blood that sounds gross, right? 47 00:02:51,160 --> 00:02:52,920 So like, why? What is this? 48 00:02:52,920 --> 00:02:55,560 What is this blood fixation that Christians appear to have? 49 00:02:56,320 --> 00:03:00,040 Or how do all of these things, this events that transpired 50 00:03:00,120 --> 00:03:04,480 thousands of years ago, matter for you and me today? 51 00:03:05,720 --> 00:03:08,680 Our text this morning that Nicole Redsfora sets the scene 52 00:03:08,960 --> 00:03:13,560 in Jerusalem, Jesus and his disciples are sitting down for 53 00:03:13,560 --> 00:03:16,800 the Passover meal. And this is a ritual that we 54 00:03:17,200 --> 00:03:22,680 introduced earlier in this series, 1500 years earlier. 55 00:03:23,520 --> 00:03:28,160 This meal, this ritual was introduced a God on the cusp of 56 00:03:28,160 --> 00:03:31,280 delivering his people from slavery, sparing them from 57 00:03:31,280 --> 00:03:33,800 death, making them from his family. 58 00:03:34,720 --> 00:03:39,360 He gave them this meal to commemorate everything that he 59 00:03:39,360 --> 00:03:43,560 had done and was about to do. And so they sit down, they begin 60 00:03:43,560 --> 00:03:46,440 to go through this, this Passover ritual that they've 61 00:03:46,440 --> 00:03:50,080 been celebrating since childhood each year. 62 00:03:50,480 --> 00:03:53,360 And the disciples pretty quickly get the sense that something is 63 00:03:53,360 --> 00:03:58,080 up like this is this is not the usual way of going through these 64 00:03:58,080 --> 00:04:02,320 rituals because Jesus early on says, I have desired to eat this 65 00:04:02,320 --> 00:04:04,600 Passover with you before I suffer. 66 00:04:04,960 --> 00:04:07,560 I don't know if you've ever had a dinner guest like, bust 67 00:04:07,560 --> 00:04:09,880 something out like that. It sounds very ominous, right? 68 00:04:09,880 --> 00:04:12,200 They're like, what is happening here? 69 00:04:13,280 --> 00:04:17,360 And then he goes on to say, this is basically the last time I'm 70 00:04:17,360 --> 00:04:21,160 going to eat this before the Kingdom of God. 71 00:04:22,280 --> 00:04:24,920 The disciples are sitting here and trying to make sense of 72 00:04:24,920 --> 00:04:27,480 Jesus claims like, Jesus, what are you talking about? 73 00:04:27,920 --> 00:04:31,480 And that's when he makes a breathtaking claim. 74 00:04:32,320 --> 00:04:35,360 Jesus picks up the bread, the unleavened matzo bread that's 75 00:04:35,360 --> 00:04:38,400 there on the table. Of course, they know this bread 76 00:04:38,400 --> 00:04:42,520 to represent the hurried exit from Egypt, the the bread that 77 00:04:42,520 --> 00:04:47,480 didn't even have time to rise. And Jesus takes the bread and he 78 00:04:47,480 --> 00:04:51,760 says, this is my body given for you. 79 00:04:52,640 --> 00:04:56,160 He takes the wine on the table. And he says this cup is a new 80 00:04:56,160 --> 00:05:00,160 covenant for you, in my blood, poured out for you. 81 00:05:01,760 --> 00:05:06,440 Jesus is taking familiar symbols, a familiar story, and 82 00:05:06,440 --> 00:05:10,360 he is repurposing it, giving it new meaning. 83 00:05:11,040 --> 00:05:14,200 Jesus is taking Israel's history and he he's saying that 84 00:05:14,200 --> 00:05:18,840 everything that happened then on that first Passover night is 85 00:05:18,840 --> 00:05:23,280 only an echo of what is about to go down now. 86 00:05:24,560 --> 00:05:29,120 Jesus is saying that he is the Passover in person. 87 00:05:30,600 --> 00:05:34,120 If I asked you this morning what your biggest problem in life 88 00:05:34,120 --> 00:05:37,320 was, I suspect we would get some different answers. 89 00:05:37,600 --> 00:05:41,160 Maybe somebody would say, hey, I'm struggling with anxiety 90 00:05:41,160 --> 00:05:44,280 right now. Somebody might say, I'm having a 91 00:05:44,280 --> 00:05:48,160 hard time paying bills. I've got this chronic illness 92 00:05:48,160 --> 00:05:51,000 that's really been bothering me. Or, or maybe some of you would 93 00:05:51,040 --> 00:05:54,520 would zoom out and you would say like rising authoritarianism and 94 00:05:54,520 --> 00:05:58,480 lawlessness is a big problem or, or racism or, or some kind of 95 00:05:58,480 --> 00:06:01,560 environmental catastrophe, nuclear war right there. 96 00:06:01,600 --> 00:06:04,280 There are all these different concerns that we might look at 97 00:06:04,280 --> 00:06:07,360 and say this is the problem or a problem. 98 00:06:07,720 --> 00:06:12,280 And all of those would be true. But underneath all of them, 99 00:06:12,680 --> 00:06:14,760 according to Scripture, lies a single root. 100 00:06:15,680 --> 00:06:20,240 If every expression of evil that we see across our lives and our 101 00:06:20,240 --> 00:06:24,880 world is a leaf almost on a on a diseased tree. 102 00:06:25,800 --> 00:06:29,680 And at the root of that tree is something that the Bible calls 103 00:06:29,680 --> 00:06:33,760 sin. And sin is very simply, as we 104 00:06:33,760 --> 00:06:37,880 found in week two of the series, that the disordered desire to to 105 00:06:37,880 --> 00:06:42,120 go our own way, to seize control, to, to, to doggedly and 106 00:06:42,120 --> 00:06:47,080 determinedly insist that we'll structure our lives according to 107 00:06:47,080 --> 00:06:50,520 our own preferences, that we will be our own authority. 108 00:06:52,040 --> 00:06:56,800 According to Scripture, sin always ends in disconnection and 109 00:06:56,800 --> 00:06:58,960 death. It's what we've seen from the 110 00:06:58,960 --> 00:07:02,000 very beginning. Romans 623 puts it this way. 111 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:07,680 The wages of sin is death. This sin has fractured 112 00:07:07,680 --> 00:07:12,040 everything in our world, and it's fractured us in all sorts 113 00:07:12,040 --> 00:07:16,240 of ways, from God, from one another, even from creation and 114 00:07:16,240 --> 00:07:19,520 ourselves. Unfortunately, according to 115 00:07:19,520 --> 00:07:22,120 Scripture, the disease is hereditary. 116 00:07:23,120 --> 00:07:25,640 I'm infected. You are too. 117 00:07:26,280 --> 00:07:29,760 We've all come under this disease. 118 00:07:30,280 --> 00:07:34,560 Sin lives in us as individuals. It also lives in our society and 119 00:07:34,560 --> 00:07:38,520 structures. It lives in our planet, and 120 00:07:38,520 --> 00:07:43,520 surely, consistently, inevitably, it produces death 121 00:07:44,280 --> 00:07:48,640 from Adam on. The Bible imagines sin as this 122 00:07:48,680 --> 00:07:52,080 ruler. Because of our false choice to 123 00:07:52,240 --> 00:07:56,320 submit not to God in his ways, but to sin, it has taken 124 00:07:56,320 --> 00:08:00,440 dominion over us. It has enslaved us and shackled 125 00:08:00,440 --> 00:08:05,080 us and inevitably draws us away to death. 126 00:08:06,160 --> 00:08:10,600 Enter Jesus. Last week we talked about Jesus 127 00:08:10,600 --> 00:08:13,640 entering the scene. He comes into the world and 128 00:08:13,640 --> 00:08:18,400 Jesus does something startling. He challenges the dominion of 129 00:08:18,400 --> 00:08:24,480 sin and death not just in the things that he says, but also in 130 00:08:24,480 --> 00:08:27,240 what he does. Everywhere that Jesus goes, he 131 00:08:27,240 --> 00:08:29,880 proclaims that God's Kingdom is near. 132 00:08:31,080 --> 00:08:35,760 God's Kingdom is almost like an alternate dimension, right? 133 00:08:35,960 --> 00:08:39,799 It's a place where everything is as it ought to be. 134 00:08:40,600 --> 00:08:43,919 There's no sin, there's no disease, there's no racism, 135 00:08:44,080 --> 00:08:46,080 there's no death, there's no brokenness. 136 00:08:46,080 --> 00:08:52,120 In God's world, all is well. And Jesus not only talks about 137 00:08:52,120 --> 00:08:56,640 this, but he demonstrates it like almost an alien invasion. 138 00:08:56,680 --> 00:09:01,280 Right when when Jesus touches down, everything starts to 139 00:09:01,280 --> 00:09:04,760 shift. As we look around at the fruits 140 00:09:04,800 --> 00:09:08,640 of Jesus ministry, we see that the blind received sight, the 141 00:09:08,640 --> 00:09:11,600 lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf 142 00:09:11,600 --> 00:09:15,320 here the dead are raised, The good news is preached to the 143 00:09:15,320 --> 00:09:18,280 poor. In the words of Scripture and 144 00:09:18,280 --> 00:09:21,960 Jesus, God's rule and reign isn't just theoretical, it's 145 00:09:21,960 --> 00:09:25,320 actual. For the first time in human 146 00:09:25,320 --> 00:09:29,960 history, the dominion of sin and death has a real challenger. 147 00:09:31,400 --> 00:09:35,520 But of course, like any tyrant, things don't tend to roll over 148 00:09:35,760 --> 00:09:39,240 right. The bosses want to hold on to 149 00:09:39,240 --> 00:09:43,000 their power and control and so things quickly escalate. 150 00:09:44,200 --> 00:09:47,800 Sin, death and the devil are are not prepared to go down with a 151 00:09:47,800 --> 00:09:49,960 fight. And here as we reach this 152 00:09:49,960 --> 00:09:53,520 section of the story, the tension which has been building 153 00:09:53,520 --> 00:09:56,400 throughout finally reaches its crescendo. 154 00:09:57,600 --> 00:10:02,240 The religious leaders oppose Jesus, and they enroll the 155 00:10:02,240 --> 00:10:08,200 political leaders based on their self-interest to to to bring him 156 00:10:08,200 --> 00:10:12,440 on false accusations and create a sham trial. 157 00:10:12,960 --> 00:10:16,640 The mob that had cheered him only days before now jeers him, 158 00:10:16,640 --> 00:10:21,160 and there's a secret arrest, an unjucked verdict, and ultimately 159 00:10:21,960 --> 00:10:28,440 we know the empire murders God. You can almost hear at this 160 00:10:28,440 --> 00:10:33,440 point in the story the devil laughing maniacally, like if 161 00:10:33,440 --> 00:10:37,160 there was ever a darkest moment, this is it. 162 00:10:38,040 --> 00:10:41,480 I love the quote by historian Bruce Shelley who says the 163 00:10:41,480 --> 00:10:45,800 Christianity is the only major relevant religion to have as its 164 00:10:45,920 --> 00:10:49,720 central event the humiliation of its God. 165 00:10:51,720 --> 00:10:57,640 On Good Friday. Jesus is murdered, and it feels 166 00:10:57,640 --> 00:11:01,520 at this point that the shackles which have balanced humanity are 167 00:11:01,520 --> 00:11:05,880 now completely unbreakable. From the very beginning of the 168 00:11:05,880 --> 00:11:10,720 story, sin had been Satan had been attempting to convince 169 00:11:10,720 --> 00:11:15,760 humanity to go their own way, and in doing so had cut them off 170 00:11:15,760 --> 00:11:18,880 from life itself, introducing death. 171 00:11:19,680 --> 00:11:25,400 But now here life itself comes in human form, and we kill it. 172 00:11:25,400 --> 00:11:28,480 I mean, talk about some Stockholm syndrome. 173 00:11:29,920 --> 00:11:35,560 Like this is a whole mess. It feels on this dark night like 174 00:11:35,560 --> 00:11:39,240 evil has finally and decisively won. 175 00:11:40,480 --> 00:11:44,000 And yet this is incredible because none of this catches God 176 00:11:44,000 --> 00:11:47,120 off guard. What we see here, clearly in 177 00:11:47,120 --> 00:11:51,960 this text today, is that Passover always pointed here. 178 00:11:52,440 --> 00:11:55,120 So many of the threads that we've been tracing throughout 179 00:11:55,120 --> 00:11:59,120 the first six weeks of this journey have been all leading up 180 00:11:59,160 --> 00:12:03,160 to this moment. And Jesus is he's about to go to 181 00:12:03,160 --> 00:12:08,920 the cross in his final meal with his friends, not at all 182 00:12:08,920 --> 00:12:14,600 accidentally on the eve of Passover brings this imagery 183 00:12:14,920 --> 00:12:19,160 front and center. You may remember that in 184 00:12:19,160 --> 00:12:23,640 Passover, that first night, there were things that the 185 00:12:23,640 --> 00:12:26,480 Jewish people were instructed to do along with anyone who is God 186 00:12:26,480 --> 00:12:27,240 fearing. Actually. 187 00:12:27,960 --> 00:12:31,960 They were to take a a branch, a leafy branch, and dip it in a 188 00:12:31,960 --> 00:12:36,640 bowl full of blood, blood from a freshly slaughtered lamb. 189 00:12:37,680 --> 00:12:41,200 And then they were to take this, this blood and they were to use 190 00:12:41,360 --> 00:12:45,600 the leaves of this branch to paint on the door frame of their 191 00:12:45,600 --> 00:12:50,840 house. Blood on each side post on the 192 00:12:50,840 --> 00:12:54,560 door frame, all around until the blood dripped down across the 193 00:12:54,560 --> 00:12:59,800 threshold. Blood would cover this, this the 194 00:12:59,800 --> 00:13:02,560 the entry to this house. It would mark out the house. 195 00:13:02,840 --> 00:13:07,560 And and it wasn't just any lamb. Exodus specifically specified. 196 00:13:07,560 --> 00:13:12,240 Moses instructed them to select a young lamb, a lamb with no 197 00:13:12,240 --> 00:13:15,920 broken bones, a land that was perfect, unblemished. 198 00:13:16,600 --> 00:13:18,640 Have you thought about why this is? 199 00:13:19,520 --> 00:13:25,000 See, the lamb was a symbol of an uncorrupted life, a life that 200 00:13:25,000 --> 00:13:29,400 was innocent, a life that hadn't been touched in any way by sin. 201 00:13:30,120 --> 00:13:33,200 Death didn't really have any rights to this lamb. 202 00:13:33,200 --> 00:13:37,680 The lamb didn't deserve to die. But when the lamb was 203 00:13:37,680 --> 00:13:42,240 slaughtered, when it was killed as its blood was spilled, it 204 00:13:42,240 --> 00:13:49,320 became a representation of the innocent for the guilty right. 205 00:13:49,320 --> 00:13:54,240 The lamb dies so that death would pass over. 206 00:13:54,920 --> 00:13:58,640 You may remember on that same night when, when the Jewish 207 00:13:58,640 --> 00:14:01,080 families took the blood of the lamb and marked out the 208 00:14:01,080 --> 00:14:04,480 doorposts of their home, something else happened. 209 00:14:05,240 --> 00:14:09,840 That was the very night that the war between God and the evil 210 00:14:09,840 --> 00:14:13,840 Egyptian ruler who had enslaved God's people reached its 211 00:14:13,840 --> 00:14:17,480 crescendo. And on that night, God 212 00:14:17,480 --> 00:14:21,440 demonstrated his power decisively by sending an awful 213 00:14:21,440 --> 00:14:24,400 plague, the last in the line of 10 plagues. 214 00:14:25,960 --> 00:14:31,600 It was a plague of death, and it visited every home across Egypt. 215 00:14:32,480 --> 00:14:35,920 Now again, we got to think back to the beginning of the story. 216 00:14:36,520 --> 00:14:40,640 At the beginning of the story we see that because of sin, all of 217 00:14:40,640 --> 00:14:45,560 us, every person, man and woman, Jew and Gentile, are enslaved 218 00:14:45,560 --> 00:14:50,120 and shackled to death. And in Egypt, God's people were 219 00:14:50,120 --> 00:14:54,400 also in in physical slavery, being oppressed by this king, 220 00:14:54,760 --> 00:14:59,240 this evil ruler, Pharaoh. So on this night what happens? 221 00:14:59,520 --> 00:15:02,800 Death comes and it visits each house. 222 00:15:03,400 --> 00:15:08,720 Stealing life, of course, stole both Jewish life and Egyptian 223 00:15:08,720 --> 00:15:14,160 life. All that it passed, except for 224 00:15:14,160 --> 00:15:19,000 the houses where the blood marked the mantle where blood 225 00:15:19,240 --> 00:15:23,760 had been indicated. The house the blood instead 226 00:15:23,840 --> 00:15:29,440 passed over because the blood served as a cleansing, as a a 227 00:15:29,440 --> 00:15:34,520 purifying agent, almost like you would take a, a, a, a, a Clorox 228 00:15:34,520 --> 00:15:38,640 wipe and wipe down your counters right, to avoid affection or 229 00:15:38,640 --> 00:15:41,600 germs. The blood was a symbol of 230 00:15:41,600 --> 00:15:44,600 innocent life that had paid the price for sin. 231 00:15:45,640 --> 00:15:49,840 And so these houses were marked out and when death visited, the 232 00:15:49,840 --> 00:15:53,680 debt was already paid. Not only that, but these houses 233 00:15:53,680 --> 00:15:57,240 had been might marked out for identity as God's people 234 00:15:57,520 --> 00:16:00,600 reclaimed God all as we talked about several weeks ago. 235 00:16:01,880 --> 00:16:04,600 They were gods and not deaths any longer. 236 00:16:04,600 --> 00:16:09,480 Ownership had been transferred and so death passed over and 237 00:16:09,480 --> 00:16:12,360 they were spared. If you were to participate in a 238 00:16:12,360 --> 00:16:16,720 Passover Seder today, you would find that there were four cups 239 00:16:16,720 --> 00:16:19,680 of wine that are drank throughout the seder. 240 00:16:20,240 --> 00:16:25,200 And each of these has symbolism. They represents a message around 241 00:16:25,200 --> 00:16:27,760 deliverance. The first cup represents a 242 00:16:27,760 --> 00:16:32,320 promise I will bring you out of suffering in Egypt. 243 00:16:33,200 --> 00:16:36,440 The second cup represents God's promise to save from 244 00:16:36,440 --> 00:16:39,480 enslavement. The third to deliver. 245 00:16:40,120 --> 00:16:44,800 And finally, God's promise that I will take you for me as a 246 00:16:44,800 --> 00:16:47,960 nation and I will be for you as Lord. 247 00:16:49,000 --> 00:16:53,920 The blood both cleansed from sin and marked out as a symbol of 248 00:16:53,920 --> 00:16:58,360 identity, like a wedding ring, that these people are mine. 249 00:17:00,440 --> 00:17:04,760 The blood satisfied death's demand and served as a transfer 250 00:17:04,760 --> 00:17:09,440 of ownership. So Jesus comes celebrating this 251 00:17:09,440 --> 00:17:16,839 same meal, taking this same cup, and saying the Passover lamb was 252 00:17:16,839 --> 00:17:22,480 just a shadow. I am the real thing, the one 253 00:17:22,480 --> 00:17:29,280 true Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, not just 254 00:17:29,360 --> 00:17:34,280 for a while, not just temporarily, but fully and 255 00:17:34,280 --> 00:17:36,880 finally. There have been images that have 256 00:17:36,880 --> 00:17:39,720 pointed towards this throughout the story that we've been 257 00:17:39,720 --> 00:17:42,600 tracing. In the Garden, a lamb died to 258 00:17:42,600 --> 00:17:45,760 cover over Adam and Eve's nakedness. 259 00:17:46,520 --> 00:17:49,280 Right here at Passover, a lamb dies. 260 00:17:50,320 --> 00:17:55,120 With Abraham and Isaac, we find that a lamb is provided to 261 00:17:55,120 --> 00:17:58,040 rescue. Throughout the sacrificial 262 00:17:58,040 --> 00:18:02,160 system of the Old Testament, we see the innocent for the guilty, 263 00:18:02,880 --> 00:18:07,720 the blood of the innocent shed to protect and to cover over the 264 00:18:07,720 --> 00:18:13,040 ones who are bound by death. And here Jesus comes and he 265 00:18:13,040 --> 00:18:18,480 says, just like a lamb, innocent, unblemished, willing, 266 00:18:19,200 --> 00:18:26,040 I will give my life for you to cleanse you, and to buy you back 267 00:18:26,040 --> 00:18:30,800 from the slavery of sin and death, to be my people. 268 00:18:32,080 --> 00:18:34,920 Throughout the course of the story, we've seen all kinds of 269 00:18:34,920 --> 00:18:39,520 half measures, various plot twists or attempts to solve for 270 00:18:39,520 --> 00:18:44,320 this fundamental problem of sin. Perhaps a righteous family could 271 00:18:44,320 --> 00:18:48,400 chart a new courts. Perhaps a law could restrain sin 272 00:18:48,640 --> 00:18:52,240 and and keep the people in line. And maybe righteous rulers would 273 00:18:52,480 --> 00:18:55,960 curtail the impact of evil. Or perhaps the prophets could 274 00:18:56,120 --> 00:19:00,680 steer God's people towards faithfulness and over again, 275 00:19:00,680 --> 00:19:04,560 over again. In every case, these acts, while 276 00:19:04,560 --> 00:19:09,240 good, while they mitigated for the symptoms, failed to address 277 00:19:09,240 --> 00:19:13,640 the fundamental disease. They were simply stop gaps and 278 00:19:13,640 --> 00:19:16,360 short term measures that had no power to cure. 279 00:19:18,080 --> 00:19:21,080 One day Jim Monroe's leg began to hurt. 280 00:19:21,960 --> 00:19:24,160 He had some pain underneath his right knee. 281 00:19:25,280 --> 00:19:28,320 I took a couple Advil and honestly didn't think all that 282 00:19:28,320 --> 00:19:30,680 much of it. There were plenty of reasons to 283 00:19:30,680 --> 00:19:32,360 keep going. Jim was super busy. 284 00:19:32,360 --> 00:19:35,880 He had a three-year old at home, his marriage wasn't doing great 285 00:19:35,880 --> 00:19:38,920 and work was busy. But the pain didn't stop. 286 00:19:38,920 --> 00:19:42,000 It kept getting worse until one day Jim found that he couldn't 287 00:19:42,000 --> 00:19:44,960 even get out of the car and walk up to his step. 288 00:19:45,640 --> 00:19:48,440 His wife said that's it, you've got to go to the doctor. 289 00:19:48,440 --> 00:19:52,320 And so Jim finally drags himself to the hospital. 290 00:19:53,440 --> 00:19:56,480 It was there that an ER doc looked him in the eye and said, 291 00:19:57,080 --> 00:20:02,160 you have cancer, acute lymphoblastic leukemia. 292 00:20:03,640 --> 00:20:06,360 The pain that Jim had been feeling in his leg were the 293 00:20:06,360 --> 00:20:09,840 white blood cells, which had begin to attack his own body. 294 00:20:10,280 --> 00:20:12,000 They had exploded out of control. 295 00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:15,120 And we're literally breaking the bones from inside his leg. 296 00:20:16,280 --> 00:20:20,680 Two months, the doctor said. Without treatment, you've only 297 00:20:20,680 --> 00:20:24,920 got 2 months. Everything changed immediately. 298 00:20:25,400 --> 00:20:30,360 Chemo, the bone marrow registry. The treatment was absolutely 299 00:20:30,400 --> 00:20:33,560 brutal. Jim's hair fell out and his body 300 00:20:33,560 --> 00:20:38,000 began to break down. And yet, as awful as all of the 301 00:20:38,000 --> 00:20:39,880 treatment was, it it wasn't a cure. 302 00:20:40,440 --> 00:20:41,680 It couldn't solve for the problem. 303 00:20:41,680 --> 00:20:44,760 It could only slow the pace of the disease. 304 00:20:45,560 --> 00:20:48,640 Without a transplant, Jim would be dead in a matter of weeks. 305 00:20:50,040 --> 00:20:52,800 Then, on his way to another round of chemo, Jim's phone 306 00:20:52,800 --> 00:20:54,840 rang. We found someone. 307 00:20:55,440 --> 00:20:59,360 The voice on the other end of the line said out of 8 million 308 00:20:59,360 --> 00:21:03,040 people on the registry, there was just one match. 309 00:21:04,080 --> 00:21:06,480 Someone who would be perfect. And not only that, she was 310 00:21:06,480 --> 00:21:08,520 willing. Six months earlier, a young 311 00:21:08,520 --> 00:21:11,880 woman, Janelle Jenny, had signed up to be a donor at a rock 312 00:21:11,880 --> 00:21:14,280 concert. She was having fun at the 313 00:21:14,280 --> 00:21:17,040 festival and there was a booth and felt like a good thing to 314 00:21:17,040 --> 00:21:19,640 do. She put her name on the list and 315 00:21:19,640 --> 00:21:21,720 didn't honestly think all that much of it. 316 00:21:23,080 --> 00:21:25,960 But now the doctors and geneticists had identified that 317 00:21:25,960 --> 00:21:31,440 Janelle was Jim's only hope. The bone marrow transplant would 318 00:21:31,440 --> 00:21:36,040 take Janelle's healthy immune system and quite literally place 319 00:21:36,040 --> 00:21:40,720 it into Jim's body. The immune system is, of course, 320 00:21:40,720 --> 00:21:43,440 the part of us that distinguishes me from not me. 321 00:21:44,280 --> 00:21:50,920 It had to be a perfect match. For hours, the doctors extracted 322 00:21:50,920 --> 00:21:54,320 blood, bone marrow and stem cells from Jenelle. 323 00:21:55,480 --> 00:22:00,240 And then on April 23rd, nurses wheeled Jim into a procedure 324 00:22:00,240 --> 00:22:04,080 room and asked, Are you ready to put your boxing gloves on? 325 00:22:05,960 --> 00:22:08,760 They administered a cocktail of drugs that were designed to 326 00:22:09,080 --> 00:22:13,720 completely wipe out everything that remained of Jim's immune 327 00:22:13,720 --> 00:22:17,560 system. It was such a violent cocktail 328 00:22:17,560 --> 00:22:21,480 that the nurses had nicknamed it the Shake and Bake because of 329 00:22:21,480 --> 00:22:23,840 the convulsions that it was likely to trigger. 330 00:22:24,600 --> 00:22:27,280 The risk was real. Jim could sort, short circuit 331 00:22:27,560 --> 00:22:29,760 and die right there on the table. 332 00:22:31,360 --> 00:22:33,880 Moments before the transplant, the doctor explained what was 333 00:22:33,880 --> 00:22:37,160 about to happen with this transfusion. 334 00:22:37,160 --> 00:22:43,280 He said you'll be like a baby inside your mother's womb born 335 00:22:43,280 --> 00:22:50,280 again a a a new other life will come and begin to live inside of 336 00:22:50,280 --> 00:22:55,560 you and this new system of blood will literally save your life. 337 00:22:56,920 --> 00:23:02,200 The transfusion worked. Jen L cells entered Jim's marrow 338 00:23:02,200 --> 00:23:05,680 and within a couple of months Jim was cancer free. 339 00:23:07,040 --> 00:23:08,680 Real story. Let's do it on Radiolab. 340 00:23:10,640 --> 00:23:13,520 Friends. What a picture of the gospel. 341 00:23:15,160 --> 00:23:22,200 This is what Jesus does for us. We suffer from an infection, 342 00:23:22,200 --> 00:23:26,720 every one of us, an infection that we cannot cure ourselves. 343 00:23:27,760 --> 00:23:33,080 Every new habit and and willpower, every attempt that we 344 00:23:33,080 --> 00:23:37,440 make to be better. Is it best to stop gap that can 345 00:23:37,440 --> 00:23:41,320 limit the damage and delay the inevitable result? 346 00:23:42,200 --> 00:23:47,080 Without a cure, the disease continues to deform us and 347 00:23:47,080 --> 00:23:52,120 ultimately will kill us. But Jesus is our perfect match, 348 00:23:52,880 --> 00:23:59,640 the only one. He alone became one of us, and 349 00:23:59,640 --> 00:24:03,760 no tempted never became infected with sin. 350 00:24:05,280 --> 00:24:08,880 He allowed himself to be subject to the full force of the 351 00:24:08,880 --> 00:24:16,080 disease, enduring its pain and suffering, even death, it's 352 00:24:16,080 --> 00:24:19,040 fiercest blow. As Tom Wright puts it, evil did 353 00:24:19,040 --> 00:24:24,240 its worst to Jesus, and he took it meeting in it full exhausted 354 00:24:24,240 --> 00:24:27,200 meeting it in full exhausted its power. 355 00:24:28,840 --> 00:24:34,200 Jesus heals our illness, giving his very life to take up 356 00:24:34,240 --> 00:24:39,400 residence inside of us. This is what happened on the 357 00:24:39,400 --> 00:24:44,000 first night of Passover. The people who are marked out by 358 00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:46,720 the blood, we're not. The people who had lived a great 359 00:24:46,720 --> 00:24:50,720 life or were really character, they weren't even. 360 00:24:50,720 --> 00:24:52,520 We often think of it as well, it was the Jewish people. 361 00:24:52,520 --> 00:24:54,160 It wasn't just the Jewish people. 362 00:24:54,800 --> 00:24:59,600 It was anyone who trusted God and allowed themselves to be 363 00:24:59,600 --> 00:25:05,360 marked out by the blood. Those houses were spared from 364 00:25:05,360 --> 00:25:08,920 the evil of death. They were saved. 365 00:25:09,760 --> 00:25:12,600 Friends, this is the craziest plot twist of all. 366 00:25:12,600 --> 00:25:15,920 Because Jesus death, the worst moment that we've ever 367 00:25:15,920 --> 00:25:20,040 experienced in the history of the world, is not a detour. 368 00:25:20,920 --> 00:25:24,600 It's not an accident. It is the central event where 369 00:25:24,600 --> 00:25:26,720 the victory of God shines through. 370 00:25:27,600 --> 00:25:30,080 A stroke of genius, a holy ambush. 371 00:25:30,400 --> 00:25:33,920 Death swallows up life and chokes on it. 372 00:25:34,920 --> 00:25:38,240 This is like Voldemort killing Harry and destroying the 373 00:25:38,240 --> 00:25:40,960 Horcrux, right? It's like the witch slaying 374 00:25:40,960 --> 00:25:43,480 Aslan and triggering the deeper magic. 375 00:25:43,480 --> 00:25:47,480 We've told so many stories ever since and they're all saying the 376 00:25:47,480 --> 00:25:52,760 same thing. Death did its worst and at its 377 00:25:52,800 --> 00:25:58,440 moment of victory was defeated In the Passover dinner. 378 00:25:59,160 --> 00:26:01,080 There's this crazy tradition, you may know about it. 379 00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:06,320 There's a, a, a piece of matzo bread called the, the afikomen, 380 00:26:06,880 --> 00:26:10,040 the afikomen. And basically during the dinner, 381 00:26:10,040 --> 00:26:13,640 there's three pieces of matzo, the bread that are taken and 382 00:26:13,640 --> 00:26:17,200 wrapped up. And the second one in particular 383 00:26:17,800 --> 00:26:21,920 has a, a, a unique meaning and, and, and ritual that's present 384 00:26:21,920 --> 00:26:26,040 in the, in the, in the Seder. It's taken and broken and then 385 00:26:26,040 --> 00:26:30,880 it's actually wrapped in a cloth and hidden until later in the 386 00:26:30,880 --> 00:26:34,320 meal. And towards the end of the meal, 387 00:26:34,880 --> 00:26:38,720 the kids are dispatched to go in and find this afikomen, this 388 00:26:38,720 --> 00:26:41,720 piece of matzo bread, which has been broken. 389 00:26:42,800 --> 00:26:45,560 It it's brought back to the table and revealed. 390 00:26:45,960 --> 00:26:50,560 And then each person is invited to partake of the bread. 391 00:26:51,680 --> 00:26:54,480 This is crazy. This is a a contemporary Jewish 392 00:26:54,800 --> 00:26:58,640 tradition. What a picture of what Jesus 393 00:26:58,920 --> 00:27:03,920 does for us. Jesus is the bread of life, 394 00:27:04,840 --> 00:27:10,400 broken and shattered, wrapped in burial cloth and hidden away. 395 00:27:11,200 --> 00:27:13,880 And yet he does not stay defeated. 396 00:27:14,480 --> 00:27:19,520 Jesus rises from the tomb because on the cross he bore our 397 00:27:19,520 --> 00:27:24,120 sin as the spotless lamb. But when the penalty was paid, 398 00:27:24,320 --> 00:27:28,240 the powers of sin, death, and the devil were disarmed. 399 00:27:29,240 --> 00:27:33,520 The judge vindicated him. Life itself entered death and 400 00:27:33,520 --> 00:27:38,440 broke it from the inside out, and healed our mortal sin 401 00:27:38,440 --> 00:27:42,480 wounded nature, uniting it to his incorruptible life. 402 00:27:43,960 --> 00:27:48,920 Friends, this is so familiar. And yet, because of this story, 403 00:27:49,680 --> 00:27:52,880 there's hope. There's hope for you and me. 404 00:27:53,680 --> 00:27:56,320 There's hope whether you're dealing with anxiety or 405 00:27:56,320 --> 00:27:59,720 addiction, whether you're wondering where your next meal 406 00:27:59,720 --> 00:28:04,120 is going to come from, you're wrestling with the evil in the 407 00:28:04,120 --> 00:28:10,680 world or even in the church. There's hope because death did 408 00:28:10,680 --> 00:28:16,720 not have the final word. Jesus absorbed the evil of us 409 00:28:16,960 --> 00:28:22,120 and our world and still rose victorious, as Paul puts it. 410 00:28:22,120 --> 00:28:27,000 Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed, as the prophet 411 00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:30,600 Isaiah says, by his wounds. We are healed. 412 00:28:32,160 --> 00:28:36,560 Friends, I'm so thankful that Jesus has taken up residence in 413 00:28:36,560 --> 00:28:43,040 me, that his life lives in me, that that my life, that my 414 00:28:43,040 --> 00:28:47,680 household has been marked off by the blood in a way where I know 415 00:28:48,120 --> 00:28:53,080 that I belong to him. My question for you is, do you 416 00:28:53,080 --> 00:28:55,000 have that same confidence this morning? 417 00:28:56,240 --> 00:28:58,360 Is that true in your life as well? 418 00:29:00,760 --> 00:29:04,880 Are you part of the family of God in kind of more of a general 419 00:29:04,880 --> 00:29:07,920 sense, like you've grown up around church, you're Christian, 420 00:29:07,920 --> 00:29:09,960 you know the stories about Jesus? 421 00:29:11,240 --> 00:29:15,520 Or have you actually taken the moment to allow the blood to 422 00:29:15,520 --> 00:29:19,680 mark the threshold of your life to say, I will pass through, I 423 00:29:19,680 --> 00:29:23,240 will enter into the protection that he offers? 424 00:29:24,720 --> 00:29:28,840 There's a moment by faith where we have to make a call about who 425 00:29:28,840 --> 00:29:31,520 we will trust and who we will follow. 426 00:29:32,120 --> 00:29:35,520 It's not because we're good people or have the right culture 427 00:29:35,520 --> 00:29:38,960 or from the right place. Those who are spared, those who 428 00:29:38,960 --> 00:29:42,840 are saved, those who become the new people of God are the people 429 00:29:43,600 --> 00:29:47,360 who have surrendered their life to His, who have allowed what 430 00:29:47,360 --> 00:29:52,880 Jesus has done to take up residence in our life by faith. 431 00:29:52,880 --> 00:29:56,040 That is available for you. It's available for me. 432 00:29:56,040 --> 00:29:58,240 It's available for every one of us. 433 00:29:59,280 --> 00:30:01,520 Have you been marked out by the blood? 434 00:30:03,160 --> 00:30:06,160 Maybe you've never made that call. 435 00:30:06,680 --> 00:30:11,760 You've never made that decision. Today could be the day when you 436 00:30:11,760 --> 00:30:16,120 cross that threshold and say yes to Jesus, asking him for his 437 00:30:16,120 --> 00:30:19,480 rescue and redemption. Maybe this morning. 438 00:30:20,880 --> 00:30:23,040 The story that I've told this morning is familiar to you. 439 00:30:23,160 --> 00:30:27,200 You say, yeah, of course, Of course, Josh, Of course I'm part 440 00:30:27,200 --> 00:30:29,520 of God's family. My life is marked out by the 441 00:30:29,520 --> 00:30:32,800 blood. And yet when you look around 442 00:30:32,800 --> 00:30:37,240 your life, you see a bunch of evidence that there's still some 443 00:30:37,240 --> 00:30:41,520 Pharaohs running the show, there's still some bondage in 444 00:30:41,520 --> 00:30:45,480 one area or another. I wish I could talk to this 445 00:30:45,480 --> 00:30:49,800 morning about the in between moment that we live in, the fact 446 00:30:49,800 --> 00:30:54,400 that Christ has come, victory has been assured, and yet that 447 00:30:54,400 --> 00:30:56,360 victory is not yet fully present, right? 448 00:30:56,960 --> 00:31:00,280 There's a lot that's broken in my life, in our lives, and in 449 00:31:00,280 --> 00:31:03,200 the world. Things are not as they should 450 00:31:03,200 --> 00:31:09,000 be. Have you reached for Jesus? 451 00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:13,520 Have you asked Him to be your rescue in this moment? 452 00:31:13,520 --> 00:31:15,600 Maybe you did a long time ago. What about right now? 453 00:31:16,720 --> 00:31:20,000 Where are there parts of your life that have gone back into 454 00:31:20,000 --> 00:31:22,280 bondage? Where you feel the slavery? 455 00:31:23,880 --> 00:31:25,640 Jesus wants to rescue and redeem. 456 00:31:25,760 --> 00:31:27,160 He's made you part of his family. 457 00:31:27,160 --> 00:31:30,040 He wants to teach you what it means to live as part of His 458 00:31:30,040 --> 00:31:33,120 family. The shackles don't have to say 459 00:31:33,120 --> 00:31:36,680 on because of Jesus. What do you need to renounce? 460 00:31:37,080 --> 00:31:39,080 What do you need to run to this morning? 461 00:31:41,440 --> 00:31:45,280 Or maybe you're clear and this morning is just an opportunity 462 00:31:45,280 --> 00:31:48,840 to say a fresh yes, a wholehearted yes. 463 00:31:49,400 --> 00:31:52,840 It's a re ground in the identity because of what Jesus has done 464 00:31:52,840 --> 00:31:56,520 for you. Friends, as we look at this 465 00:31:56,520 --> 00:32:00,400 Passover moment, what Jesus has done in his death and 466 00:32:00,400 --> 00:32:02,920 resurrection, it changes everything. 467 00:32:04,360 --> 00:32:08,000 Isn't that the very core of our self understanding of our 468 00:32:08,000 --> 00:32:11,360 identity? Are you living free? 469 00:32:12,080 --> 00:32:16,760 Are you living like part of God's family, rescued in the joy 470 00:32:16,800 --> 00:32:20,920 of that, even in the already and not yet tension that we sang 471 00:32:20,920 --> 00:32:25,440 about earlier? Friends, if not, I want to 472 00:32:25,440 --> 00:32:30,200 invite you to take the blood to mark the doorway, to crossover 473 00:32:30,200 --> 00:32:35,080 the threshold, to say yes to the love of Jesus, his life 474 00:32:35,080 --> 00:32:40,120 willingly poured out for you so that you could have life, so 475 00:32:40,120 --> 00:32:44,680 that you could be free. Fleming Rutledge says it is the 476 00:32:44,680 --> 00:32:47,840 crucifixion that marks out Christianity as something 477 00:32:47,920 --> 00:32:52,080 definitively different. It is the crucifixion in which 478 00:32:52,080 --> 00:32:55,000 the nature of God is truly revealed. 479 00:32:56,240 --> 00:32:59,120 This is who He is. He loves you. 480 00:32:59,720 --> 00:33:02,920 He's willing to give his very life for your freedom. 481 00:33:04,000 --> 00:33:09,400 It's not just ancient history, it's an invitation into 482 00:33:09,400 --> 00:33:11,880 liberation for you today.