April 7, 2025 • 35 mins
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Awesome.
Just a couple of quickannouncements.
Easter is in just a couple ofweeks.
We're going to do threeservices because we're filling
this place up, which is exciting, and it's going to be packed
because we've got, right now,over 60 people that are going to
get baptized during Easterservice.
So we're going to becelebrating.
So if you have invited someone,then come to whichever service
(00:24):
is most comfortable for them.
We're going to make space here.
We're going to fill this placeup and we want you to come be a
part of it.
We're wrapping up this almostfour-year journey through the
gospel, according to Matthew, socome to that one.
If you're not bringing someonewith you, if you could maybe
think about getting up reallyearly and coming to the 7 am
(00:45):
service to make room for thosewho are invited.
And, by the way, if you haven'tinvited anyone, statistics tell
us that 82% of people areactually just waiting for an
invitation and it's usually ourhesitancy of like they'll let me
know if they want to come, butjust put it out there.
You can invite somebody.
So that's happening.
Also, the week before, we'regoing to be doing a prayer room
(01:06):
experience here up on campus.
It's going to be open 24 hoursa day for seven days.
That's a place where you cancome by yourself, you can come
with a community or a family andthere's all kinds of cool
expressions that you can dothrough that prayer process,
whether it be journaling,there's going to be places to
like, draw, there'll be someprompts, so that way you can
(01:30):
kind of be guided through thatexperience.
We have the ability for you tosign up for a certain hours and
again, it's just going to beopen 24 hours a day.
People will be here on campusdoing that as well, and then get
this that following week afterEaster, we are wrapping up this
journey through the gospelaccording to Matthew, which is
mind-blowing for those of youwho have aged in that process
(01:50):
just all of these years.
So I want you to put on acalendar, I want to invite you
to actually, you know, comethrough the rest of this stuff.
We are coming down to onlyweeks left in this.
It's been a beautiful journeyand we're going to celebrate it
in a couple like exciting,special ways.
But one of those ways we'regoing to celebrate it on April
27th, which is that last daywe're going to do a picnic with
a view we're calling it or acommunity picnic.
(02:11):
We have this great campus uphere.
You have the ability to goahead and reserve a parking spot
.
We've set that up for you soyou can invite friends or family
and just make food barbecue.
Bring something that I can begfrom you to eat or I don't know.
I'm walking around checking itall out.
Whatever it is, once you buildit's like from one to four we're
going to have like bouncehouses If that's your thing, you
(02:33):
can bounce or an obstaclecourse.
I'm not going to race you, butit's going to be fun.
We just want to be in communitytogether and celebrate that
stuff.
All of those things from givingto signing up for the prayer, to
signing up for a spot orbaptisms.
If you want to sign up to bebaptized would love that
opportunity.
I'm going to be in some trunks.
I'm going to be in thebaptismal pool, if that's
(02:55):
something you want to do.
There's like a little tap herething in front of you.
You can just tap your phone toit and it'll take you to those
places where you can sign up.
In fact, one of you.
If you tap there, you will seethat you get a free coffee today
or a drink of your choice fromthe Bayview Cafe.
It's like a Easter egg beforeEaster, if you know what I'm
saying.
So we're gonna hop in to today.
(03:17):
We're gonna talk a lot aboutJesus, which is good, right, but
this moment is also and youjust heard this scripture is
also hugely about us and likehow we identify with it and how
we go through pain and sufferingin our life, how we face that.
You know that, where is God?
Like why won't he answer me,why won't he speak to me?
(03:38):
Have you ever felt like that inyour life?
Or maybe even you find yourselfhere today with some of those
feelings?
But also there is, mostimportantly, atonement that's
taking place here, and sothere's two things to chew on in
this passage that I feel likewe can gain insight from that I
want to highlight specifically.
One is what do you do about amoment where you're fearful that
(04:01):
something tragic has happenedand what can you do about it?
Two, then what are you going todo about the sin that so easily
entangles your life and thefact that it offends a holy God
and there is an eternalexpression of it or consequence
of a decision that weparticipate in making?
(04:22):
So what are you going to doabout those things.
And see, I think this is reallythe tension of all of life,
like that.
What are we going to do withthat?
What are we going to do withthose types of things?
Verse 45 says from noon untilthree in the afternoon, darkness
came over all of the land, andabout three in the afternoon,
jesus cried out in a largeexcuse me, in a loud voice my
(04:44):
God, my God, why have youforsaken me?
This quote is actually from ascripture in the Old Testament,
from Psalm 22.
Of all the things that couldhave been said that Jesus could
have said here, he quotes thisPsalm.
Charles Spurgeon says aboutPsalm 22,.
We should read this reverently,putting off our shoes from our
(05:08):
feet, as Moses did at theburning bush.
If there be holy groundanywhere in the scriptures, it
is in this song.
And so we begin to ask thesequestions that I propose to you,
both doctrinally andpractically.
So first, doctrinally, some ofyou may not know that there is
some deep theological thingthat's happening in this moment
(05:29):
at the cross that sometimes wedon't talk about, and it's this
that Jesus Christ himself wasabandoned by God, where he says
my God, my God, why have youforsaken me?
Well, it's because you'regreedy, it's because you and I
were narcissistic.
We're sinful, we're lustful,we're materialistic.
(05:53):
The list goes on and there'snothing that you and I could do
about it.
And so Jesus had to go throughthis moment.
These are the last words ofJesus.
And here's what's fascinating.
If you go read the narrative inthe gospel and you go all
throughout the four differentgospels that talk about these
crucifixion scenes, jesus isalways talking to other people.
(06:15):
So there's this woman thatcomes up and she's crying while
he's on the cross and he goeshey, hey, don't weep for me.
Then he looks out and he saysto the people he says, father,
forgive them, don't weep for me.
Then he looks out and he saysto the people he says, father,
forgive them, for they do notknow what they do.
He looks at the guy beside himand he says today you will join
me in paradise.
He looks down at his disciple,the one he loved the most, john,
(06:39):
and his mother, mary, who wasalso there observing the
crucifixion.
He says this is now your sonand son, this is now your mother
.
He's constantly talking aboutother people.
He's constantly caring for thebillions of people who will
trust in him throughout historythat he's dying on this cross,
(07:01):
for I'm suffering the pain andthe agony so I can forgive sin.
I'm doing all of that for them.
And he's constantly thinkingabout other people.
I mean, if you think about it,what an amazing person that
would ever decide to dosomething like this.
And then all of this is trueuntil this moment when, for the
first time, he talks abouthimself and he says my God, my
(07:25):
God, why have you forsaken me?
And it goes dark from noonuntil three.
Why?
Because in this moment, god isactually forsaking the son.
This moment, I mean, forgetabout the physical pain that he
is enduring and has endured upto this point.
(07:46):
You know what the emotional,the psychological, the spiritual
pain would have been like forJesus to have gone through.
In that moment You're forsaken,like distance has been put
there.
Counselors and psychologiststell us that the deepest pain
that anyone can go through isthe loss of a loved one that you
(08:07):
loved, and it was lost and it'sgone.
And all of a sudden, in thismoment, there's this separation
where Jesus loses the father.
Like that's what's going onhere and frankly, it's a
doctrine a lot of people don'treally like.
They call it divine child abuse, the fact that God would
somehow reject the son, but Ithink it holds up biblically.
(08:30):
I'll throw a couple of passagesat you.
In 2 Corinthians, paul says Godmade him, who had no sin, to be
sin for us, so that in him wemight become the righteousness
of God.
And Isaiah says so that in himwe might become the
righteousness of God.
And Isaiah says Surely, he tookup our pain and he bore our
suffering.
(08:51):
Yet we considered him punishedby God, stricken by him and
afflicted.
But he was pierced for ourtransgressions, he was crushed
for our inequities.
The punishment that brought uspeace was on him, and by his
wounds we are healed.
In Galatians, christ redeemedus from the curse of the law by
(09:13):
becoming the curse for us.
For it is written cursed iseveryone who is hung on a tree.
There's this detachment thattakes place, where God in some
sense is literally throwing yoursin, your guilt, your
materialism, your gossip, yourpride, your arrogance, the
(09:35):
secret stuff that nobody knowsabout.
And where is it going?
Well, it has to go on theperson of Jesus, and then God
can't look upon it.
That's the theological imagethat's taking place here, that
the Father is actually lookingaway.
The wrath of God is now fallingon the one whom he loves more
(09:55):
than all others, and this is thepain that's literally taking
place at the center of theTrinity, which is a mystery, of
course, but we have tounderstand that this is the
solution to our problem, becausewe could not bridge this gap
ourselves.
And so Jesus Christ is the onewho gets deserted.
(10:16):
He actually gets deserted byGod.
Why, so that you and I, in ourlife, we only feel like we get
deserted once in a while?
And you know this life islife's hard.
Sometimes this stinks Like myGod, my God, why have you
(10:37):
forsaken me?
Like, why are you so far fromsaving me from my words, of my
grooming?
Like I'm struggling here.
Like, like life is not easy,right?
Like you feel this.
I know you feel this.
You feel your marriagestruggling or beginning to
dissolve.
You feel the tension of tryingto raise kids, or the sickness
or the diagnosis of yourself ora loved one, and life just beats
(10:59):
up on us.
You feel this and, frankly,friends, this is actually what I
love about Christianity that itdoesn't pretend that life is
perfect.
It's not trying to paint thislike picture of rainbows and
butterflies, right, and ifyou've ever been pitched this
version where you believe inChrist and when that happens,
like your best life just showsup and all pain is gone, there's
no more tears.
(11:20):
Here's the problem.
You know this Life is sick andit is messed up and then you're
sitting there, going.
But this is a savior, like therighteous one, and in the midst
of these trying times that weexperience, when you begin to
doubt whether God is there,heaven feels like brass and you
don't know where to go or whatto say.
(11:40):
What do you think?
Right, my God?
My God, why have you forsakenme?
Like what's the deal?
Why haven't you shown up?
You haven't spoken, you're notmoving.
Why aren't you intervening?
Like what am I going to do?
How do I have perspective inthe midst of this?
Like what do I draw on?
And here's what religion willtell you, the religion of the
(12:03):
world.
Try to find something that'sgoing to give you a bunch of
good ideas and teachings.
You know so believe these kindof like esoteric teachings and
you'll get to this higher stateof enlightenment and just
believe these laws and basicallycompare this religion's great
ideas to this religion's greatideas and then the way that
(12:24):
you're going to get through lifeand suffering and pain and
tragedy, like Christianity nowcomes along and goes like don't
do that, like I got somethingbetter for you and it's this.
The only way that you're goingto know that God is for you,
that he's with you in the midstof suffering and agony, is
(12:46):
actually to draw on the past andthen what is in history, what
has already been done, and drawthat out now to who you are, and
then that promise of a futureto take it with you.
I mean, listen, it's describedin Psalm 22.
Listen to Psalm 22.
It says my God, this is theDavid, king David, writing this.
(13:09):
My God, my God, why have youforsaken me?
You feel so distant.
Why are you so far from savingme, so far from my cries of
anguish?
My God?
I cry out by day but you do notanswer.
By night I do not find rest yet.
Maybe we just need to pause inthat moment, right there, like
life's gonna life.
(13:29):
Yet you are enthroned as theHoly One.
You are the one Israel praisesIn you.
Our ancestors in the past puttheir trust.
They trusted and you deliveredthem To you.
They cried and were saved.
(13:51):
In you, they trusted and werenot put to shame.
You see, I'm going to base myfuture on what God has done in
the past, because that's thebest indicator, right?
What's the best indicator offuture performance?
Well, it's usually pastperformance.
That's it Like how do you knowGod is going to get me out of my
(14:11):
pain and suffering and agony?
Like by good ideas and goodreligion?
No, it's because history tellsus what he's done, like it's
already been done.
This is what's been done in thepast.
He did it in the work of Jesus.
He did it in the story ofIsrael, Like he freed them from
their slavery.
He did it in the story ofIsrael, like he freed them from
(14:32):
their slavery.
He did it and he's going to doit again.
We see this over and over, andhere is this great hymn that
speaks to this, by John Newton.
Here's what he says His love intime.
Past forbids me to think.
He'll leave me at last introuble, to sink by prayer.
Let me wrestle, then he willperform with Christ in the
vessel.
I smile at the storm.
(14:54):
It's only because of what hedid in the past, only because of
what he's done through Jesus,where we get to see Jesus as
this unbelievable example ofsuffering and pain.
And if you're exploringChristianity right now.
I want you to know that this isthe God that we follow.
It's not a distant God who'sgoing to like throw down some
(15:19):
laws and rules for you to justfigure out.
He's the one, friends, whoactually entered in and suffered
himself from the very beginning.
He was born into poverty, hehad to run from people who were
trying to murder him.
He fought temptation by Satan,he fought pain of the crowds and
rejection, and the Jews werekilling him and the Romans were
(15:41):
literally killing everyone.
And he's saying don't go forand I'll say this to you, don't
go for a God who's far off,distant and moralistic, and just
hope that maybe you could begood enough, be smart enough,
that then someone will love you.
That's just not reality.
That's in Jesus and what he didfor you.
(16:04):
At the end of the day, that'sall that matters.
That he suffered for you andthat this is the right God to
choose out of the day.
That's all that matters, thathe suffered for you and that
this is the right God to chooseout of the marketplace of ideas.
And I'll tell you why.
There's a pastor, his name's TimKeller.
He actually passed away notthat long ago and he pastored a
church in New York City and theSunday after 9-11 occurred, his
(16:30):
church is packed.
In fact, many churches werepacked following that because
there had just been these planesand thousands of people had
been killed, and all of thesepeople, specifically in
Manhattan, stormed to thechurches because they wanted
answers, they were looking forsomething, and what Pastor Tim
Keller preached on was Lazarus'stomb and how Jesus walked up to
(16:54):
this tomb, and the wording andthe phrasing in the Greek talks
about how he came up to it andhe like snorted at it like a
bull, like how much he hatesdeath, and then it says the
shortest verse in the Bible then, that Jesus wept.
It's the shortest verse inScripture.
He points out the fact thatJesus wept and it's fascinating,
(17:15):
really, because like 10 minutesafter this, he's going to raise
Lazarus from the dead.
And so you're like what are youweeping for?
Like you know what you're aboutto do, and Tim Keller says that
he wept because he wanted toenter into the pain.
And that's the God thatChristianity offers you.
(17:35):
It's not a God of ideas, a Godthat makes you storm up the
mountain and hope that you canperform and be good enough and
show off.
No friends, it's the God, whocame down the mountain and he
enters in and walks alongside ofyou in your pain.
My God, my God, why have youforsaken me?
(17:57):
And how do you think that hecan identify with you right now
in your pain and your agony?
Because he went through it,he's going through it and he
wasn't just an example of it.
It actually accomplished athing that will allow you to
both get through it, empower youand go to a destination where
(18:22):
you will never see it orexperience it again Heaven on
earth.
I hear about people's pain andagony on a regular basis, or I
get emails about it, and I'mtrying to encourage you and tell
you that Jesus Christ is theone that gets you through it,
because Jesus Christ is the onewho went through it.
(18:44):
No other religion gives youthat.
No other religion gives youthat.
No other religion gives youthat.
There was a guy years ago.
His name's David Watson.
He was a Christian leader andhe was dying of cancer and
reflecting on this reality aboutJesus in the midst of the other
options, he said someone oncesaid to me that there cannot be
a God of love because if therewas, he would look upon the
(19:08):
world and his heart would break.
And Watson said but the gospelthen points to the cross and
says yes, god's heart did break.
Someone said to me but it isGod who made the world.
It is he who should bear theload.
And the gospel points to thecross and says he did bear the
load.
God weeps with those who weep.
(19:31):
He feels our pain.
He enters into our sorrows withhis compassionate love.
I may just encourage you don'trun from God in the midst of
these moments.
Run from suffering.
Yes, I get it, friends, but wedon't run from God in the midst
(19:52):
of suffering.
It's very important that weunderstand that.
So why can Jesus say this fromthe cross and still be on
mission?
It's because he knows what hewas sent to earth to do.
It's because he knows what hewas sent to earth to do.
The book of Hebrews says forthe joy set before him he
(20:13):
endured the cross.
That's reality.
John, one of the disciples whomhe loved the most, who was
there as an eyewitness in thismoment, dozens of years later,
writes this my dear children, Iwrite to you so that you will
not sin, but if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the
(20:35):
Father.
Jesus Christ, the righteous one.
He is the atoning sacrifice forour sins, and not only for ours
, but for the sins of the wholeworld.
Now, friends, here's thecrowning statement in this
paragraph the death of Jesus, bywhich we were forgiven, is the
(20:55):
atoning sacrifice for our sins.
So some of you may ask well,what does atone mean?
Or atonement?
Well, really, the bestdefinition I can give you, even
from the dictionary, isatonement is to make at-one-ment
, break the word up at-one-ment,to make right, to reconcile.
(21:16):
What the English word means isthat you have, you know, two
people, two parties, and they'reat odds with one another.
There's been some sort of wrong, one person has vandalized
another's property or life insome way, there's been
wrongdoing and now there's amess and there's this conflict.
There's this tension in therelationship, and what our
(21:38):
English word atonement refers tois the means or the way in
which that damage or harm isactually dealt with so that the
two can be made at one minute.
It's about relational repair,reconciliation between two
people who are now sufferingfrom something that one person
(21:59):
actually did to another.
The biblical concept ofatonement is actually to cover
for someone else's failure.
Cover for someone else'sfailure and the concept of
covering someone, or erasing ortaking responsibility for
consequences of wrongdoing, likecovering a debt, like I got you
covered.
Let me explain.
(22:21):
It actually does more than this.
So just a quick illustration.
Let's say this week you and Iwe're going to go to Sandoval's
for lunch downtown Great chipsand salsa, by the way, best in
town.
So we're going to Sandoval'sand we're hanging out, we're
having a great meal, we get doneand the server walks over to us
and is getting ready to give usour check and all of a sudden I
(22:42):
realize, oh my gosh, I forgotmy debit card.
I don't have any money.
And you do a little freak outand you're like I don't have any
.
I'm oh my gosh, I can't believeI did this.
I don't.
I'm sorry, I don't haveanything on me.
So have I failed?
Did I know I was going to goout and eat some delicious chips
and salsa and enjoy this meal?
(23:02):
Yes, it is the worst failure ofmy day.
No, but have I failed?
Yes, what I've done is I failedto remember to bring money or
to be prepared to pay for thisfood.
So now you could be this reallynice person.
You could not say what you'rereally thinking is like you did
this on purpose, right?
Or like what an idiot Like youknew we were going to eat.
Like what are you playing?
Like some little game, right?
Or you could just actually bereally gracious and be like I've
(23:26):
done this, I've totally donethis too, like it's all good, no
worries, and you could forgiveme.
You know, you could say it'stotally fine, I forgive you,
it's okay.
But then the server's going tocome with a check, right?
And you can tell the server oh,my friend Lawrence over here,
he totally messed it up, heforgot his wallet, but I told
him no big deal, I forgive you,I forgive you for doing that.
(23:48):
And then the server is going tosay to you like, oh, you must
be a really nice person, buthere's the check.
Who's going to pay?
Right?
So even forgiveness itself is anact that requires absorbing a
cost.
You can say you forgive me, butwhat that failure has produced
(24:08):
in this world is this debt thatis now outstanding and it can't
be overlooked.
It has to be dealt with in someway.
And so if you're actually goingto forgive me, you actually
have to cover me, like you haveto absorb the cost of what this
failure has produced.
And the server, frankly,doesn't care if you like me or
don't like me after I forgot mywallet.
(24:30):
What the server cares about iswho's going to pay for this meal
.
Because it's not me, that'satonement.
It's covering for someone.
Now atonement does more thanthat because, let's say, we go
out to lunch every week for amonth to Sandoval's.
It's our new spot, it's our jam, right?
(24:52):
And then I start to do thisevery time we go to lunch.
You're going to start to resentme, right?
Like it's as if I'm makingtoxic the air and the atmosphere
of our relationship, that myperpetual failure starts to make
you think that I don't careabout you, that I don't respect
(25:14):
you, that I'm just going tomooch everything I can off of
you, like, oh, I did it again,you forgive me, right?
So atonement both has to coverthe hard cost of my failure, but
then it also needs someresolution of this relational
tension and damage that I'm nowdoing to you because of how I'm
(25:38):
treating you Jesus' life anddeath.
It deals with the hard cost, itcovers the debt, but it does
more.
It actually restores thedamaged relationship.
That's what's going on here inthis concept of atonement.
And so what are these?
(25:58):
You know rituals.
Was there originals that werein place or symbols.
Well, they had something thatthey could do and we see this in
the Old Testament that theyactually had something where
they can continue to write therelationship, and a cost could
be covered in their relationshipwith God, and that was through
killing animals.
So if you read in the book ofLeviticus which will put you to
bed the first seven chapters aretaken up with just these
(26:22):
rituals of sacrifice that theIsraelites there was, these
priests were to perform these,and there was five different
kinds that they could do.
Two of them just happened on aregular basis, were just to say
thank you and giving back, as asymbolic token, just a little
bit of what God has given to meas a way to say thank you.
And there was two lambs thatwere sacrificed every single day
(26:43):
.
They were done daily, one inthe morning around 9 am, the
third hour, and the other in theafternoon around 3 pm, the
ninth hour.
Three then other types ofofferings that you read about in
Leviticus are ways of sayinglike I'm sorry, and there was
different rituals that attach tothis, like the net effect then
(27:05):
is that you take an animal, youhad cheated your neighbor, you
hurt someone you'd stolen, etcetera.
You don't love your neighbor asyourself and you realize what
you've done and you're like,okay, I can make it right with
that person, I can repay themfor the things that I've done.
Or I can say I forgive them, orwill you forgive me, but the
(27:25):
server still is going to comeand say, now, who's gonna pay?
The server still is going tocome and say now, who's going to
pay?
And the God of Israel comes andis like Lawrence, you're my
people, like you're supposed tolive as priests to the nations,
a light to the nations.
And this is how you're going tobehave, like you haven't just
(27:47):
offended your neighbor, you'veoffended God.
And so what you do then is youtake this animal and you go in
and you consult with the priestand you know this is what I've
done and here's my offering.
And then they go through thiswhole set of rituals and that
animal, ultimately, is going todie and its throat is going to
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be slit in front of you and it'sgoing to be drained.
This blood is going to bedrained into a bowl, and then
they're going to cut up theanimal and then some of it's
going to be burnt on the altarand part of that that's taking
place here.
And here's what's sointeresting is there's different
places that the blood of ananimal would get sprinkled or
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like flicked out, depending onwhat type of offense and who
committed the offense.
Like it would get closer andcloser to the presence of God,
the larger the offense.
And I mean, can you justimagine with me for a second,
like what a mess.
I guess it's gross this bloodthat's being like kind of thrown
all over the temple and thisaltar area and you're sitting
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there and you come to thisrealization that we're
vandalizing his space by ouractions.
So why blood?
Like?
Why is this so gruesome?
Like?
What's the symbolism?
What does it mean and what is?
How does this atoning sacrificework?
How does it actually cover evil?
Well, the key line is from thebook of Leviticus that unpacks
(29:12):
this symbolism is in chapter 17.
It says for the life of acreature is in the blood, and I
have given it to you to makeatonement for yourselves on the
altar.
It is the blood that makesatonement for one's life, it's
the blood that symbolizes life,that covers your life, it's the
(29:35):
life that's covering for anotherlife.
And as they go and they offerthat animal.
There's two main things if youstudy Leviticus, that emerges
out of it that the sacrament,the symbolism, tells us
something about our sin and thesymbolism tells us something
(29:55):
about God that when we vandalizemy neighbor, when we strip them
of their dignity as a human whoreflects the image of God and I
don't love them as myself I amintroducing death into the world
.
It's a visual symbol.
It says that my moral actionsactually have real consequences
(30:18):
and the stakes are very high thebrokenness and the distortion
of my human heart that humanscreate death in God's good good
world.
And this animal dies to tell methat the stakes are really high
and that my moral choicesactually matter and that my sin
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fractures relationships.
It's the death of healthyrelationships.
It ruins God's good good worldin its very high stakes.
That's why this symbolism oflife in the blood takes place.
Life covers a life, but the factthat it's covering my life also
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tells me not just somethingabout my sin and the
consequences of that.
It tells me actually somethingabout God that if God, in his
disappointment with us, wantedto walk out on Israel, he could
have Like.
It is not his nature.
That's what it's actuallytelling us about God that we're
not getting something that wedeserve.
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And so, for the Israelites,every time you would go and you
would offer this animal, youwould be reminded not that God
is angry with you, no, it's theexact opposite, it's.
He's given me this elaboratesymbolism here to sink into the
psyche of the people of Israeland everyone who had
participated in this, to remindme that he loves me, he doesn't
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want to kill me, because Godcould do just that if he wanted
to, that God loves us and he'snot going to give up on us, and
that our moral choices have realconsequences and the stakes are
high because of our failureactually creates death in God's
good world.
And so, then, he's given usthis life to cover my failure
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and my sin.
Friends, jesus covered for you,he covered for you, and odds
are in your moments of deepestfailure.
It's very hard for you tobelieve that, but that's why.
That's why we eat the symbolsof this story with communion
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earlier, that we pause, wereflect and we remember that
life covered a life, thatatonement take place.
We don't do those ritualsanymore because of Jesus on the
cross, but he left us with thesetwo new rituals, one which we
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already did today, which wascommunion as a stop and a
reflection of a life covering alife.
The other ritual he left withus and many of you, actually
tons of you, are participatingin two weeks, is baptism, this
new ritual as a reminder thatdeath happens and we are buried
(33:16):
then in the water to be raisedto do life.
So my question, challenge,encouragement what needs to die
today on the cross with Jesus?
Do you remember what I told youabout the sacrifice of lambs?
(33:37):
That there was two thathappened every day.
This was every day, daily Onein the morning around 9 am, the
third hour, and the other in theafternoon around 3 pm, the
ninth hour.
Have you connected it?
Jesus was crucified on thecross, the gospel tells us, at
(34:01):
the third hour, lamb of God.
Jesus said, as we read today inthe scriptures, it is finished,
and gave up his spirit at theninth hour.
Lamb of God, friends, you havebeen atoned, we have been atoned
(34:23):
, and so what needs to die in usfor our new life to begin?
Take up your cross, leave itall there and say goodbye to
fear, goodbye to guilt, goodbyeshame, goodbye pain and goodbye
grief.
Would you stand with me andrespond in worship?
Awesome.
Just a couple of quickannouncements.
Easter is in just a couple ofweeks.
We're going to do threeservices because we're filling
this place up, which is exciting, and it's going to be packed
because we've got, right now,over 60 people that are going to
get baptized during Easterservice.
So we're going to becelebrating.
So if you have invited someone,then come to whichever service
(00:24):
is most comfortable for them.
We're going to make space here.
We're going to fill this placeup and we want you to come be a
part of it.
We're wrapping up this almostfour-year journey through the
gospel, according to Matthew, socome to that one.
If you're not bringing someonewith you, if you could maybe
think about getting up reallyearly and coming to the 7 am
(00:45):
service to make room for thosewho are invited.
And, by the way, if you haven'tinvited anyone, statistics tell
us that 82% of people areactually just waiting for an
invitation and it's usually ourhesitancy of like they'll let me
know if they want to come, butjust put it out there.
You can invite somebody.
So that's happening.
Also, the week before, we'regoing to be doing a prayer room
(01:06):
experience here up on campus.
It's going to be open 24 hoursa day for seven days.
That's a place where you cancome by yourself, you can come
with a community or a family andthere's all kinds of cool
expressions that you can dothrough that prayer process,
whether it be journaling,there's going to be places to
like, draw, there'll be someprompts, so that way you can
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kind of be guided through thatexperience.
We have the ability for you tosign up for a certain hours and
again, it's just going to beopen 24 hours a day.
People will be here on campusdoing that as well, and then get
this that following week afterEaster, we are wrapping up this
journey through the gospelaccording to Matthew, which is
mind-blowing for those of youwho have aged in that process
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just all of these years.
So I want you to put on acalendar, I want to invite you
to actually, you know, comethrough the rest of this stuff.
We are coming down to onlyweeks left in this.
It's been a beautiful journeyand we're going to celebrate it
in a couple like exciting,special ways.
But one of those ways we'regoing to celebrate it on April
27th, which is that last daywe're going to do a picnic with
a view we're calling it or acommunity picnic.
(02:11):
We have this great campus uphere.
You have the ability to goahead and reserve a parking spot
.
We've set that up for you soyou can invite friends or family
and just make food barbecue.
Bring something that I can begfrom you to eat or I don't know.
I'm walking around checking itall out.
Whatever it is, once you buildit's like from one to four we're
going to have like bouncehouses If that's your thing, you
(02:33):
can bounce or an obstaclecourse.
I'm not going to race you, butit's going to be fun.
We just want to be in communitytogether and celebrate that
stuff.
All of those things from givingto signing up for the prayer, to
signing up for a spot orbaptisms.
If you want to sign up to bebaptized would love that
opportunity.
I'm going to be in some trunks.
I'm going to be in thebaptismal pool, if that's
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something you want to do.
There's like a little tap herething in front of you.
You can just tap your phone toit and it'll take you to those
places where you can sign up.
In fact, one of you.
If you tap there, you will seethat you get a free coffee today
or a drink of your choice fromthe Bayview Cafe.
It's like a Easter egg beforeEaster, if you know what I'm
saying.
So we're gonna hop in to today.
(03:17):
We're gonna talk a lot aboutJesus, which is good, right, but
this moment is also and youjust heard this scripture is
also hugely about us and likehow we identify with it and how
we go through pain and sufferingin our life, how we face that.
You know that, where is God?
Like why won't he answer me,why won't he speak to me?
(03:38):
Have you ever felt like that inyour life?
Or maybe even you find yourselfhere today with some of those
feelings?
But also there is, mostimportantly, atonement that's
taking place here, and sothere's two things to chew on in
this passage that I feel likewe can gain insight from that I
want to highlight specifically.
One is what do you do about amoment where you're fearful that
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something tragic has happenedand what can you do about it?
Two, then what are you going todo about the sin that so easily
entangles your life and thefact that it offends a holy God
and there is an eternalexpression of it or consequence
of a decision that weparticipate in making?
(04:22):
So what are you going to doabout those things.
And see, I think this is reallythe tension of all of life,
like that.
What are we going to do withthat?
What are we going to do withthose types of things?
Verse 45 says from noon untilthree in the afternoon, darkness
came over all of the land, andabout three in the afternoon,
jesus cried out in a largeexcuse me, in a loud voice my
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God, my God, why have youforsaken me?
This quote is actually from ascripture in the Old Testament,
from Psalm 22.
Of all the things that couldhave been said that Jesus could
have said here, he quotes thisPsalm.
Charles Spurgeon says aboutPsalm 22,.
We should read this reverently,putting off our shoes from our
(05:08):
feet, as Moses did at theburning bush.
If there be holy groundanywhere in the scriptures, it
is in this song.
And so we begin to ask thesequestions that I propose to you,
both doctrinally andpractically.
So first, doctrinally, some ofyou may not know that there is
some deep theological thingthat's happening in this moment
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at the cross that sometimes wedon't talk about, and it's this
that Jesus Christ himself wasabandoned by God, where he says
my God, my God, why have youforsaken me?
Well, it's because you'regreedy, it's because you and I
were narcissistic.
We're sinful, we're lustful,we're materialistic.
(05:53):
The list goes on and there'snothing that you and I could do
about it.
And so Jesus had to go throughthis moment.
These are the last words ofJesus.
And here's what's fascinating.
If you go read the narrative inthe gospel and you go all
throughout the four differentgospels that talk about these
crucifixion scenes, jesus isalways talking to other people.
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So there's this woman thatcomes up and she's crying while
he's on the cross and he goeshey, hey, don't weep for me.
Then he looks out and he saysto the people he says, father,
forgive them, don't weep for me.
Then he looks out and he saysto the people he says, father,
forgive them, for they do notknow what they do.
He looks at the guy beside himand he says today you will join
me in paradise.
He looks down at his disciple,the one he loved the most, john,
(06:39):
and his mother, mary, who wasalso there observing the
crucifixion.
He says this is now your sonand son, this is now your mother
.
He's constantly talking aboutother people.
He's constantly caring for thebillions of people who will
trust in him throughout historythat he's dying on this cross,
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for I'm suffering the pain andthe agony so I can forgive sin.
I'm doing all of that for them.
And he's constantly thinkingabout other people.
I mean, if you think about it,what an amazing person that
would ever decide to dosomething like this.
And then all of this is trueuntil this moment when, for the
first time, he talks abouthimself and he says my God, my
(07:25):
God, why have you forsaken me?
And it goes dark from noonuntil three.
Why?
Because in this moment, god isactually forsaking the son.
This moment, I mean, forgetabout the physical pain that he
is enduring and has endured upto this point.
(07:46):
You know what the emotional,the psychological, the spiritual
pain would have been like forJesus to have gone through.
In that moment You're forsaken,like distance has been put
there.
Counselors and psychologiststell us that the deepest pain
that anyone can go through isthe loss of a loved one that you
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loved, and it was lost and it'sgone.
And all of a sudden, in thismoment, there's this separation
where Jesus loses the father.
Like that's what's going onhere and frankly, it's a
doctrine a lot of people don'treally like.
They call it divine child abuse, the fact that God would
somehow reject the son, but Ithink it holds up biblically.
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I'll throw a couple of passagesat you.
In 2 Corinthians, paul says Godmade him, who had no sin, to be
sin for us, so that in him wemight become the righteousness
of God.
And Isaiah says so that in himwe might become the
righteousness of God.
And Isaiah says Surely, he tookup our pain and he bore our
suffering.
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Yet we considered him punishedby God, stricken by him and
afflicted.
But he was pierced for ourtransgressions, he was crushed
for our inequities.
The punishment that brought uspeace was on him, and by his
wounds we are healed.
In Galatians, christ redeemedus from the curse of the law by
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becoming the curse for us.
For it is written cursed iseveryone who is hung on a tree.
There's this detachment thattakes place, where God in some
sense is literally throwing yoursin, your guilt, your
materialism, your gossip, yourpride, your arrogance, the
(09:35):
secret stuff that nobody knowsabout.
And where is it going?
Well, it has to go on theperson of Jesus, and then God
can't look upon it.
That's the theological imagethat's taking place here, that
the Father is actually lookingaway.
The wrath of God is now fallingon the one whom he loves more
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than all others, and this is thepain that's literally taking
place at the center of theTrinity, which is a mystery, of
course, but we have tounderstand that this is the
solution to our problem, becausewe could not bridge this gap
ourselves.
And so Jesus Christ is the onewho gets deserted.
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He actually gets deserted byGod.
Why, so that you and I, in ourlife, we only feel like we get
deserted once in a while?
And you know this life islife's hard.
Sometimes this stinks Like myGod, my God, why have you
(10:37):
forsaken me?
Like, why are you so far fromsaving me from my words, of my
grooming?
Like I'm struggling here.
Like, like life is not easy,right?
Like you feel this.
I know you feel this.
You feel your marriagestruggling or beginning to
dissolve.
You feel the tension of tryingto raise kids, or the sickness
or the diagnosis of yourself ora loved one, and life just beats
(10:59):
up on us.
You feel this and, frankly,friends, this is actually what I
love about Christianity that itdoesn't pretend that life is
perfect.
It's not trying to paint thislike picture of rainbows and
butterflies, right, and ifyou've ever been pitched this
version where you believe inChrist and when that happens,
like your best life just showsup and all pain is gone, there's
no more tears.
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Here's the problem.
You know this Life is sick andit is messed up and then you're
sitting there, going.
But this is a savior, like therighteous one, and in the midst
of these trying times that weexperience, when you begin to
doubt whether God is there,heaven feels like brass and you
don't know where to go or whatto say.
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What do you think?
Right, my God?
My God, why have you forsakenme?
Like what's the deal?
Why haven't you shown up?
You haven't spoken, you're notmoving.
Why aren't you intervening?
Like what am I going to do?
How do I have perspective inthe midst of this?
Like what do I draw on?
And here's what religion willtell you, the religion of the
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world.
Try to find something that'sgoing to give you a bunch of
good ideas and teachings.
You know so believe these kindof like esoteric teachings and
you'll get to this higher stateof enlightenment and just
believe these laws and basicallycompare this religion's great
ideas to this religion's greatideas and then the way that
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you're going to get through lifeand suffering and pain and
tragedy, like Christianity nowcomes along and goes like don't
do that, like I got somethingbetter for you and it's this.
The only way that you're goingto know that God is for you,
that he's with you in the midstof suffering and agony, is
(12:46):
actually to draw on the past andthen what is in history, what
has already been done, and drawthat out now to who you are, and
then that promise of a futureto take it with you.
I mean, listen, it's describedin Psalm 22.
Listen to Psalm 22.
It says my God, this is theDavid, king David, writing this.
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My God, my God, why have youforsaken me?
You feel so distant.
Why are you so far from savingme, so far from my cries of
anguish?
My God?
I cry out by day but you do notanswer.
By night I do not find rest yet.
Maybe we just need to pause inthat moment, right there, like
life's gonna life.
(13:29):
Yet you are enthroned as theHoly One.
You are the one Israel praisesIn you.
Our ancestors in the past puttheir trust.
They trusted and you deliveredthem To you.
They cried and were saved.
(13:51):
In you, they trusted and werenot put to shame.
You see, I'm going to base myfuture on what God has done in
the past, because that's thebest indicator, right?
What's the best indicator offuture performance?
Well, it's usually pastperformance.
That's it Like how do you knowGod is going to get me out of my
(14:11):
pain and suffering and agony?
Like by good ideas and goodreligion?
No, it's because history tellsus what he's done, like it's
already been done.
This is what's been done in thepast.
He did it in the work of Jesus.
He did it in the story ofIsrael, Like he freed them from
their slavery.
He did it in the story ofIsrael, like he freed them from
(14:32):
their slavery.
He did it and he's going to doit again.
We see this over and over, andhere is this great hymn that
speaks to this, by John Newton.
Here's what he says His love intime.
Past forbids me to think.
He'll leave me at last introuble, to sink by prayer.
Let me wrestle, then he willperform with Christ in the
vessel.
I smile at the storm.
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It's only because of what hedid in the past, only because of
what he's done through Jesus,where we get to see Jesus as
this unbelievable example ofsuffering and pain.
And if you're exploringChristianity right now.
I want you to know that this isthe God that we follow.
It's not a distant God who'sgoing to like throw down some
(15:19):
laws and rules for you to justfigure out.
He's the one, friends, whoactually entered in and suffered
himself from the very beginning.
He was born into poverty, hehad to run from people who were
trying to murder him.
He fought temptation by Satan,he fought pain of the crowds and
rejection, and the Jews werekilling him and the Romans were
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literally killing everyone.
And he's saying don't go forand I'll say this to you, don't
go for a God who's far off,distant and moralistic, and just
hope that maybe you could begood enough, be smart enough,
that then someone will love you.
That's just not reality.
That's in Jesus and what he didfor you.
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At the end of the day, that'sall that matters.
That he suffered for you andthat this is the right God to
choose out of the day.
That's all that matters, thathe suffered for you and that
this is the right God to chooseout of the marketplace of ideas.
And I'll tell you why.
There's a pastor, his name's TimKeller.
He actually passed away notthat long ago and he pastored a
church in New York City and theSunday after 9-11 occurred, his
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church is packed.
In fact, many churches werepacked following that because
there had just been these planesand thousands of people had
been killed, and all of thesepeople, specifically in
Manhattan, stormed to thechurches because they wanted
answers, they were looking forsomething, and what Pastor Tim
Keller preached on was Lazarus'stomb and how Jesus walked up to
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this tomb, and the wording andthe phrasing in the Greek talks
about how he came up to it andhe like snorted at it like a
bull, like how much he hatesdeath, and then it says the
shortest verse in the Bible then, that Jesus wept.
It's the shortest verse inScripture.
He points out the fact thatJesus wept and it's fascinating,
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really, because like 10 minutesafter this, he's going to raise
Lazarus from the dead.
And so you're like what are youweeping for?
Like you know what you're aboutto do, and Tim Keller says that
he wept because he wanted toenter into the pain.
And that's the God thatChristianity offers you.
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It's not a God of ideas, a Godthat makes you storm up the
mountain and hope that you canperform and be good enough and
show off.
No friends, it's the God, whocame down the mountain and he
enters in and walks alongside ofyou in your pain.
My God, my God, why have youforsaken me?
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And how do you think that hecan identify with you right now
in your pain and your agony?
Because he went through it,he's going through it and he
wasn't just an example of it.
It actually accomplished athing that will allow you to
both get through it, empower youand go to a destination where
(18:22):
you will never see it orexperience it again Heaven on
earth.
I hear about people's pain andagony on a regular basis, or I
get emails about it, and I'mtrying to encourage you and tell
you that Jesus Christ is theone that gets you through it,
because Jesus Christ is the onewho went through it.
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No other religion gives youthat.
No other religion gives youthat.
No other religion gives youthat.
There was a guy years ago.
His name's David Watson.
He was a Christian leader andhe was dying of cancer and
reflecting on this reality aboutJesus in the midst of the other
options, he said someone oncesaid to me that there cannot be
a God of love because if therewas, he would look upon the
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world and his heart would break.
And Watson said but the gospelthen points to the cross and
says yes, god's heart did break.
Someone said to me but it isGod who made the world.
It is he who should bear theload.
And the gospel points to thecross and says he did bear the
load.
God weeps with those who weep.
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He feels our pain.
He enters into our sorrows withhis compassionate love.
I may just encourage you don'trun from God in the midst of
these moments.
Run from suffering.
Yes, I get it, friends, but wedon't run from God in the midst
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of suffering.
It's very important that weunderstand that.
So why can Jesus say this fromthe cross and still be on
mission?
It's because he knows what hewas sent to earth to do.
It's because he knows what hewas sent to earth to do.
The book of Hebrews says forthe joy set before him he
(20:13):
endured the cross.
That's reality.
John, one of the disciples whomhe loved the most, who was
there as an eyewitness in thismoment, dozens of years later,
writes this my dear children, Iwrite to you so that you will
not sin, but if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the
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Father.
Jesus Christ, the righteous one.
He is the atoning sacrifice forour sins, and not only for ours
, but for the sins of the wholeworld.
Now, friends, here's thecrowning statement in this
paragraph the death of Jesus, bywhich we were forgiven, is the
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atoning sacrifice for our sins.
So some of you may ask well,what does atone mean?
Or atonement?
Well, really, the bestdefinition I can give you, even
from the dictionary, isatonement is to make at-one-ment
, break the word up at-one-ment,to make right, to reconcile.
(21:16):
What the English word means isthat you have, you know, two
people, two parties, and they'reat odds with one another.
There's been some sort of wrong, one person has vandalized
another's property or life insome way, there's been
wrongdoing and now there's amess and there's this conflict.
There's this tension in therelationship, and what our
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English word atonement refers tois the means or the way in
which that damage or harm isactually dealt with so that the
two can be made at one minute.
It's about relational repair,reconciliation between two
people who are now sufferingfrom something that one person
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actually did to another.
The biblical concept ofatonement is actually to cover
for someone else's failure.
Cover for someone else'sfailure and the concept of
covering someone, or erasing ortaking responsibility for
consequences of wrongdoing, likecovering a debt, like I got you
covered.
Let me explain.
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It actually does more than this.
So just a quick illustration.
Let's say this week you and Iwe're going to go to Sandoval's
for lunch downtown Great chipsand salsa, by the way, best in
town.
So we're going to Sandoval'sand we're hanging out, we're
having a great meal, we get doneand the server walks over to us
and is getting ready to give usour check and all of a sudden I
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realize, oh my gosh, I forgotmy debit card.
I don't have any money.
And you do a little freak outand you're like I don't have any
.
I'm oh my gosh, I can't believeI did this.
I don't.
I'm sorry, I don't haveanything on me.
So have I failed?
Did I know I was going to goout and eat some delicious chips
and salsa and enjoy this meal?
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Yes, it is the worst failure ofmy day.
No, but have I failed?
Yes, what I've done is I failedto remember to bring money or
to be prepared to pay for thisfood.
So now you could be this reallynice person.
You could not say what you'rereally thinking is like you did
this on purpose, right?
Or like what an idiot Like youknew we were going to eat.
Like what are you playing?
Like some little game, right?
Or you could just actually bereally gracious and be like I've
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done this, I've totally donethis too, like it's all good, no
worries, and you could forgiveme.
You know, you could say it'stotally fine, I forgive you,
it's okay.
But then the server's going tocome with a check, right?
And you can tell the server oh,my friend Lawrence over here,
he totally messed it up, heforgot his wallet, but I told
him no big deal, I forgive you,I forgive you for doing that.
(23:48):
And then the server is going tosay to you like, oh, you must
be a really nice person, buthere's the check.
Who's going to pay?
Right?
So even forgiveness itself is anact that requires absorbing a
cost.
You can say you forgive me, butwhat that failure has produced
(24:08):
in this world is this debt thatis now outstanding and it can't
be overlooked.
It has to be dealt with in someway.
And so if you're actually goingto forgive me, you actually
have to cover me, like you haveto absorb the cost of what this
failure has produced.
And the server, frankly,doesn't care if you like me or
don't like me after I forgot mywallet.
(24:30):
What the server cares about iswho's going to pay for this meal
.
Because it's not me, that'satonement.
It's covering for someone.
Now atonement does more thanthat because, let's say, we go
out to lunch every week for amonth to Sandoval's.
It's our new spot, it's our jam, right?
(24:52):
And then I start to do thisevery time we go to lunch.
You're going to start to resentme, right?
Like it's as if I'm makingtoxic the air and the atmosphere
of our relationship, that myperpetual failure starts to make
you think that I don't careabout you, that I don't respect
(25:14):
you, that I'm just going tomooch everything I can off of
you, like, oh, I did it again,you forgive me, right?
So atonement both has to coverthe hard cost of my failure, but
then it also needs someresolution of this relational
tension and damage that I'm nowdoing to you because of how I'm
(25:38):
treating you Jesus' life anddeath.
It deals with the hard cost, itcovers the debt, but it does
more.
It actually restores thedamaged relationship.
That's what's going on here inthis concept of atonement.
And so what are these?
(25:58):
You know rituals.
Was there originals that werein place or symbols.
Well, they had something thatthey could do and we see this in
the Old Testament that theyactually had something where
they can continue to write therelationship, and a cost could
be covered in their relationshipwith God, and that was through
killing animals.
So if you read in the book ofLeviticus which will put you to
bed the first seven chapters aretaken up with just these
(26:22):
rituals of sacrifice that theIsraelites there was, these
priests were to perform these,and there was five different
kinds that they could do.
Two of them just happened on aregular basis, were just to say
thank you and giving back, as asymbolic token, just a little
bit of what God has given to meas a way to say thank you.
And there was two lambs thatwere sacrificed every single day
(26:43):
.
They were done daily, one inthe morning around 9 am, the
third hour, and the other in theafternoon around 3 pm, the
ninth hour.
Three then other types ofofferings that you read about in
Leviticus are ways of sayinglike I'm sorry, and there was
different rituals that attach tothis, like the net effect then
(27:05):
is that you take an animal, youhad cheated your neighbor, you
hurt someone you'd stolen, etcetera.
You don't love your neighbor asyourself and you realize what
you've done and you're like,okay, I can make it right with
that person, I can repay themfor the things that I've done.
Or I can say I forgive them, orwill you forgive me, but the
(27:25):
server still is going to comeand say, now, who's gonna pay?
The server still is going tocome and say now, who's going to
pay?
And the God of Israel comes andis like Lawrence, you're my
people, like you're supposed tolive as priests to the nations,
a light to the nations.
And this is how you're going tobehave, like you haven't just
(27:47):
offended your neighbor, you'veoffended God.
And so what you do then is youtake this animal and you go in
and you consult with the priestand you know this is what I've
done and here's my offering.
And then they go through thiswhole set of rituals and that
animal, ultimately, is going todie and its throat is going to
(28:07):
be slit in front of you and it'sgoing to be drained.
This blood is going to bedrained into a bowl, and then
they're going to cut up theanimal and then some of it's
going to be burnt on the altarand part of that that's taking
place here.
And here's what's sointeresting is there's different
places that the blood of ananimal would get sprinkled or
(28:27):
like flicked out, depending onwhat type of offense and who
committed the offense.
Like it would get closer andcloser to the presence of God,
the larger the offense.
And I mean, can you justimagine with me for a second,
like what a mess.
I guess it's gross this bloodthat's being like kind of thrown
all over the temple and thisaltar area and you're sitting
(28:49):
there and you come to thisrealization that we're
vandalizing his space by ouractions.
So why blood?
Like?
Why is this so gruesome?
Like?
What's the symbolism?
What does it mean and what is?
How does this atoning sacrificework?
How does it actually cover evil?
Well, the key line is from thebook of Leviticus that unpacks
(29:12):
this symbolism is in chapter 17.
It says for the life of acreature is in the blood, and I
have given it to you to makeatonement for yourselves on the
altar.
It is the blood that makesatonement for one's life, it's
the blood that symbolizes life,that covers your life, it's the
(29:35):
life that's covering for anotherlife.
And as they go and they offerthat animal.
There's two main things if youstudy Leviticus, that emerges
out of it that the sacrament,the symbolism, tells us
something about our sin and thesymbolism tells us something
(29:55):
about God that when we vandalizemy neighbor, when we strip them
of their dignity as a human whoreflects the image of God and I
don't love them as myself I amintroducing death into the world
.
It's a visual symbol.
It says that my moral actionsactually have real consequences
(30:18):
and the stakes are very high thebrokenness and the distortion
of my human heart that humanscreate death in God's good good
world.
And this animal dies to tell methat the stakes are really high
and that my moral choicesactually matter and that my sin
(30:39):
fractures relationships.
It's the death of healthyrelationships.
It ruins God's good good worldin its very high stakes.
That's why this symbolism oflife in the blood takes place.
Life covers a life, but the factthat it's covering my life also
(31:00):
tells me not just somethingabout my sin and the
consequences of that.
It tells me actually somethingabout God that if God, in his
disappointment with us, wantedto walk out on Israel, he could
have Like.
It is not his nature.
That's what it's actuallytelling us about God that we're
not getting something that wedeserve.
(31:20):
And so, for the Israelites,every time you would go and you
would offer this animal, youwould be reminded not that God
is angry with you, no, it's theexact opposite, it's.
He's given me this elaboratesymbolism here to sink into the
psyche of the people of Israeland everyone who had
participated in this, to remindme that he loves me, he doesn't
(31:45):
want to kill me, because Godcould do just that if he wanted
to, that God loves us and he'snot going to give up on us, and
that our moral choices have realconsequences and the stakes are
high because of our failureactually creates death in God's
good world.
And so, then, he's given usthis life to cover my failure
(32:10):
and my sin.
Friends, jesus covered for you,he covered for you, and odds
are in your moments of deepestfailure.
It's very hard for you tobelieve that, but that's why.
That's why we eat the symbolsof this story with communion
(32:32):
earlier, that we pause, wereflect and we remember that
life covered a life, thatatonement take place.
We don't do those ritualsanymore because of Jesus on the
cross, but he left us with thesetwo new rituals, one which we
(32:54):
already did today, which wascommunion as a stop and a
reflection of a life covering alife.
The other ritual he left withus and many of you, actually
tons of you, are participatingin two weeks, is baptism, this
new ritual as a reminder thatdeath happens and we are buried
(33:16):
then in the water to be raisedto do life.
So my question, challenge,encouragement what needs to die
today on the cross with Jesus?
Do you remember what I told youabout the sacrifice of lambs?
(33:37):
That there was two thathappened every day.
This was every day, daily Onein the morning around 9 am, the
third hour, and the other in theafternoon around 3 pm, the
ninth hour.
Have you connected it?
Jesus was crucified on thecross, the gospel tells us, at
(34:01):
the third hour, lamb of God.
Jesus said, as we read today inthe scriptures, it is finished,
and gave up his spirit at theninth hour.
Lamb of God, friends, you havebeen atoned, we have been atoned
(34:23):
, and so what needs to die in usfor our new life to begin?
Take up your cross, leave itall there and say goodbye to
fear, goodbye to guilt, goodbyeshame, goodbye pain and goodbye
grief.
Would you stand with me andrespond in worship?
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