"Sacrifice"

Well, good morning. It's good to see you all here.

When we fail in a relationship, we wonder what happens next.

!

What happens next with your teacher?

If you ignored your coach's instructions, ran your own play, and lost the game, what happens next?

If you proudly insisted on your own plan and lost the client, what happens with you and your boss going forward?

In these circumstances, we may feel all sorts of different reactions and feelings.

We may want to deny that we did wrong or try to cover it up or minimize how bad it was.

We may want to run away, just give up on the relationship altogether in guilt and shame.

Sometimes we say, well, tell me what I can do to make it right.

How can I atone for this?

Punish me somehow so that then we can somehow move forward.

Whatever it is, we expect that there will be consequences, but deep down, the question that we ask ourselves is,

what will our relationship look like going forward?

This, maybe surprisingly, is the question that Numbers 15 is going to answer for us today.

If you're visiting, we are in a series this summer in the book of Numbers,

and the people of God as they journey from Mount Sinai to the edge of the promised land.

And as we have seen in the last couple of weeks, the launch out from Sinai has not gone well.

Rebellion in the hearts of God's people has been the theme of the day.

Grumbling and complaining about God's provision.

Envy and jealousy about God's sovereignty and his roles that he's determined.

Distrusting God and not obeying him to go in and to take the land that God had promised that he would give to them.

They had sinned against God over and over again.

And if you remember last week, they had received a consequence.

There was a judgment.

The generation of those above the age of 20, at the present time, as they're launching out from Sinai,

they would not enter into the promised land.

And the people are asking, where do we go from here?

And so God gives us a chapter of laws, which is surprising.

Why laws?

Because in these laws, in this chapter, God is instructing his people on how they will go forward together.

And that's what we're going to see in this chapter.

So we'll see God speaking to his people back then, and probably to us, too,

as we recognize that we also, like them, sin and rebel and ask the question, how do we go forward together?

So with that, let me invite you to turn to Numbers 15, if you haven't done so already.

I forgot the page number.

It's like 112, 115.

There you go.

115 in most of the Pew Bibles.

And what I'm going to do is read the whole chapter.

It's a little long, but I'm going to pull themes and threads out rather than walking through it.

So we're going to read the whole chapter together.

And you know what?

It's really hot.

I'm going to say this.

If you're able to do this, why don't we stand for the reading of God's Word just to give you something to do,

keep you awake, and then we'll sit down again as we…

If you're not able to stand, that's fine.

But Numbers 15.

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

Speak to the people of Israel and say to them,

When you come into the land you are to inhabit, which I am giving you,

and you offer to the Lord from the herd or from the flock a food offering or a burnt offering or a sacrifice

to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering or at your appointed feast to make a pleasing aroma to the Lord,

then he who brings his offering shall offer to the Lord a grain offering of a tenth of ephah of fine flour mixed with a quarter of a hin of oil,

and you shall offer with the burnt offering or for the sacrifice a quarter of a hin of wine for the drink offering for each lamb or for a ram.

You shall offer a grain offering, two-tenths of an ephah for fine flour mixed with a third of a hin of oil,

and for the drink offering you shall offer a third of a hin of wine, a pleasing aroma to the Lord.

And when you offer a bull as a burnt offering or sacrifice to fulfill a vow or for peace offerings to the Lord,

then one shall offer with the bull a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a hin of oil,

and you shall offer for the drink offering half a hin of wine as a food offering a pleasing aroma to the Lord.

Thus it shall be done for each bull or ram or each lamb or young goat,

as many as you offer, and so shall you do with each one as many as there are.

Every native Israelite shall do these things in this way,

in offering a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord.

And if a stranger is sojourning with you or anyone is living permanently among you

and he wishes to offer a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord,

he shall do as you do.

For the assembly there shall be one statute for you and for the stranger who sojourns with you,

a statute forever throughout your generations.

You and the sojourner shall be alike before the Lord.

One law and one rule shall be for you and for the stranger who sojourns with you.

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

Speak to the people of Israel and say to them,

When you come into the land to which I bring you,

and when you eat of the bread of the land,

you shall present a contribution to the Lord.

Of the first of your dough you shall present a loaf as a contribution.

Like a contribution from the threshing floor, so shall you present it.

Some of the first of your dough you shall give to the Lord

as a contribution throughout your generations.

But if you sin unintentionally and do not observe all these commandments

that the Lord has given to Moses,

all that the Lord has commanded you by Moses,

from the day that the Lord gave commandments and onward throughout your generations,

then if it was done unintentionally without the knowledge of the congregation,

all the congregation shall offer one bull from the herd

for a burnt offering, a pleasing aroma to the Lord.

And with its grain offering and its drink offering,

according to the rule, one male goat for sin offering.

And the priest shall make atonement for all the congregation of the people of Israel,

and they shall be forgiven because it was a mistake.

And they have brought their offering,

a food offering to the Lord and their sin offering before the Lord for their mistake.

And all the congregation of the people of Israel shall be forgiven,

and the stranger who sojourns among them,

because the whole population was involved in the mistake.

And if one person sins unintentionally,

he shall offer a female goat a year old for a sin offering,

and the priest shall make atonement before the Lord

for the person who makes a mistake

when he sins unintentionally to make atonement for him,

and he shall be forgiven.

You shall have one law for him who does anything unintentionally,

for him who is native among the people of Israel,

and for the stranger who sojourns among them.

But the person who does anything with a high hand,

whether he is native or sojourner, reviles the Lord,

and that person shall be cut off from among his people.

Because he has despised the word of the Lord

and has broken his commandment,

that person shall be utterly cut off.

His iniquity shall be on him.

Now while the people of Israel were in the wilderness,

they found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day.

And those who found him gathering sticks

brought him to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation.

They put him in custody,

because it had not been made clear what should be done to him.

And the Lord said to Moses,

The man shall be put to death.

All the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp.

And all the congregation brought him outside the camp

and stoned him to death with stones,

as the Lord commanded Moses.

The Lord said to Moses,

Speak to the people of Israel

and tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments

throughout their generations,

and to put a cord of blue on the tassel of each corner.

And it shall be a tassel for you to look at

and remember all the commandments of the Lord,

to do them,

not to follow after your own heart and your own eyes,

which you are inclined to whore after.

So you shall remember and do all my commandments

and be holy to your God.

I am the Lord your God,

who brought you out of the land of Egypt

to be your God.

I am the Lord your God.

This is God's word.

Go ahead and take a seat.

So friends, I want to be clear.

I have two goals this morning.

One is to help you as you're reading a book

like the book of Numbers

to figure out what the heck.

Like, what does this mean?

What does this chapter in this part in the book,

why is it there and how does it fit?

And then to see that

in all of the richness of the Old Testament,

it points us to the glorious work of God

in the redemption of Christ that we have

and to see that.

So that's what we're going to see.

Break it down into four things.

We're going to see four things

that God says to his people

after they've blown it.

They've done the worst that they could do

and they've borne consequences for it

and now they're wondering,

how do we move forward?

God says to them in this chapter four things.

First, he confirms his promise with his people.

Secondly, he calls his people to wholehearted worship.

Thirdly, he warns his people of his holiness

and his righteous judgment.

And finally, he reaffirms his plan of redemption

for his people in Christ.

So those are our four points.

If you're taking your outline, there it is.

God confirms first.

God confirms his promises with his people.

Did you notice in verse one?

Sorry, the wind is getting my pages here.

We'll figure this out.

All right.

In verse one.

Nope.

In verse two.

Speak to the people of Israel

and say to them,

when you come into the land.

Friends, you have to get this in context of the story

to see how momentous this is.

Because God is not saying,

if you will continue to obey me,

then you're going to come into my land.

He says, when I fulfill my promise to you,

the promise that he gave back in Exodus chapter three,

Sam, if we can put it up,

Exodus chapter three,

when God came to Moses and he said this,

I have surely seen the affliction of my people

who are in Egypt

and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters.

I know their sufferings

and I have come down to deliver them

out of the hand of the Egyptians

and to bring them up out of that land

to a good and broad land,

a land flowing with milk and honey.

The first thing that God says to his people is,

I have not forsaken my promises to you.

I will accomplish this plan.

And this isn't new

because Nick talked about it last week.

The next generation, God said,

I will take them in.

But he reaffirms it here.

He says, when you enter into the land.

And then says, when you enter the land,

this is how you want to live.

And he gives all these laws

and all these very particular instructions

about how they're to be his people

because he is their God.

But the most important part is that

he's saying, this will happen.

I have not forsaken you.

My relationship with you is not broken forever.

We will go ahead.

And this is reaffirmed in all sorts of little cool details

throughout this.

When God says, hey, when you bring these offerings,

like a peace offering or a free will offering,

you should add to it grain with oil and wine.

Now, do you know what?

Grain and oil and wine are all fruit of agriculture,

of settled societies, not nomadic people, right?

And so part of what God is saying is,

I'm leading you into a place flowing with milk and honey.

It will be a place of abundance.

And you will have all of these things,

crops to harvest, grapes to harvest,

olives to press to have oil.

You will have all of this to worship me with

because I'm going to take you into the promised land.

He says, you will have bread.

Remember in the wilderness, they're eating unleavened bread.

This is kind of the pattern.

They're eating basically unleavened bread

because they don't have time to sit around

and wait for the yeast to rise.

But when you come into the land, you will have this.

And remarkably, remember how God provided for food

for the people in the desert?

He gave them manna from heaven.

But you know what?

When they enter the land,

the land will produce fruit that will provide for God

just as miraculously as the manna in some ways,

and yet much more normally.

Reminding the people of this is the abundance

that you have to look forward to

because of my faithfulness to my promises,

says God to his people.

What a remarkable thing.

Imagine if your grandpa promised you on your 16th birthday

that he would give you a car when you turned 21.

But then in high school, you drove foolishly

and you wrecked his car.

And then he comes to you on your 18th birthday,

and do you know what he gives you?

He gives you a keychain,

and he gives you a cell phone holder,

and he gives you a car wash kit.

Now, you don't have the car yet,

but what has grandpa said to you?

I'm going to fulfill that promise to you.

You're going to get the car.

God says,

I'm going to fulfill my promises to you.

I will bring you in to a land of abundance.

I will bring you in to a land flowing with milk and honey.

Even though you have been rebellious,

even though you have blown it,

this is who I am,

and I will continue to be so.

So that's the first thing that God says to his people.

I will be faithful.

I will confirm that my promises to you,

I will fulfill.

Then the second thing that he says is,

flowing from this,

therefore, I call you to a wholehearted worship.

Why do I say this?

Well, because the whole sacrificial system

is a key.

It's actually a language,

and we don't speak sacrifice very well, do we?

There's actually a great article on desiringgod.org

called The Syntax of Sacrifice.

I highly recommend it.

It'll just give you a good breakdown

of the sacrificial system in the Old Testament

and what it's actually speaking to.

And I will confess to you

that I don't even know

if I have it completely clear,

because I'm not sure that it's always

as precise as we want it to be,

that this always means this,

and these words are always meaning this.

I think God, throughout the Old Testament,

uses it sometimes in overlapping categories.

But what we can say is

that there is a call to wholehearted worship

that has caught up in all of the instructions

for them to offer things to God, right?

And so when God commands them

with food sacrifices and peace offerings

to bring grain and wine and oil with it,

this is all meant to be not a ritual

in order to make sure things are right with God,

but a joyful worship that God has provided for them.

So every time they bring these sacrifices to God,

the intent is that they would come

with a heart of thanksgiving and of gratitude

to exalt God and to say,

God, you are the one who's provided

and you are a great God for us.

What a beautiful thing that is.

And notice that in these instructions,

God gives all sorts of particularities.

And you know what?

I don't have a good answer for you

on why it's one hen or two hens

or a half a hen or a third of a hen.

You can see that there's a graduated system.

And what it might be,

this is my speculation,

what it might be is that

the wholehearted worship we give

is related to our capacity.

If we have lots of things,

if I have lots of bulls,

then I have lots of things to offer

and I'm going to give all of those things to you.

If I have very little,

then I'm going to give all that I have to you,

but it might be little.

But God graciously says,

all of us can come to Him

in a wholehearted worship through this.

And that's what we see

through these food offerings.

Through the burnt offerings,

we recognize that wholehearted worship

includes a regular confession

of our sinfulness and our need for atonement.

Right?

By offering these burnt offerings,

we are recognizing that our sin must be judged.

Right?

And it's this picture that God gives us

of these offerings which are burnt up.

That means they're not eaten by other people.

The other offerings,

they get offered to the Lord,

but then they get shared.

The priests get to eat some

and people get to eat some

and it's great.

But the burnt offerings,

they're burnt up completely.

But as they're burnt up completely,

there's an aroma that's lifted up to the Lord

that is pleasing to God.

Why is that?

Because this picture of sin being atoned for

by death being enacted in this burnt offering

is this picture of how God has promised

that He will redeem His people.

And so in our wholehearted worship,

we continue to do this over and over again.

Right?

We recognize, God, we are sinful,

but You are a merciful and a gracious God.

And we want to please You.

And so in our pleasing,

it doesn't mean we have to be perfect

in order to please Him.

And part of the perfection is our recognition

that we sin,

that we confess our sins,

and He is faithful and just

to forgive us of our sins

and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

So that's the second part

of wholehearted worship we see.

The dough offering is a firstfruits offering.

And again, this is one of the themes

that we see in the Old Testament.

Firstfruits, right?

It's the firstborn children.

It's the first oil pressing, right?

It's the first of the harvest.

And God constantly reminds us to say,

take the firstfruits of our lives

and offer them to God.

Dedicate them.

Consecrate them.

Set them aside to recognize

that all that we have has come from God.

And all that we have,

we are merely stewards of it

to use for His glory

and for His kingdom in the world.

So these are the ways

that the sacrifices picture

this wholehearted worship.

And then at the end,

did you notice what happened?

God says, oh yeah,

and one more thing.

Because I know that you're

a forgetful people

and because you don't worship me every day,

I'm going to give you this command.

And you know what?

I live in a neighborhood in New Haven

where we have a lot of Orthodox Jews

in our community.

And do you know what?

I can always recognize them.

You know why?

Because they have tassels

sticking out of their shirts,

under the bottom of their shirts.

Right?

God says, I know that you're

a forgetful people,

so I'm going to graciously

give you this sign.

Put this on all your clothing.

These tassels with a blue thread.

Blue being a very precious,

a very precious and rare color.

And therefore, there was a sense

in which you were putting

something valuable

into this reminder.

And these tassels are meant

to remind you.

And do you remember what he said?

To remind you what?

To do all my commands

and be holy to your God.

That is, be set apart.

That is, orient your whole life

not around what the world

says is important

or what you want to do,

but around who God is

and what he wants for your life.

This is the picture

of wholehearted worship

that God is saying,

though you've blown it,

return and keep going.

Keep going in this pattern.

And this is what I want for you.

How do we today do this?

Well, the Apostle Paul

reminds us in Romans 12

of what are the sacrifices today?

Because we know that

in the Old Testament,

there are all these sacrifices,

but those systems

were finished in Christ.

And we'll return to that again

at the end of the sermon,

but we read it earlier as well.

Felicia read about

how the sacrifices

were never fully sufficient

to accomplish redemption,

but there were pictures, right?

And the fulfillment is in Christ.

And so, Paul says this

in Romans 12, 1.

I appeal to you, therefore,

brothers and sisters,

by the mercy of God,

to present your bodies

as a living sacrifice,

holy and acceptable to God,

which is your spiritual worship.

Do not be conformed to this world,

but be transformed

by the renewal of your mind,

that by testing,

you may discern

what is the will of God

and what is good

and acceptable and perfect.

Friends, the sacrifices

we offer to God

are not little things,

but it's everything.

Everything we do,

all of our lives,

we are meant to come to God

daily and say,

God, here's my life.

May it be to your glory.

May I worship you wholeheartedly.

And this does mean things, right?

It means that we value

our regular gatherings

of worship together

because we need to be reminded,

like the tassels,

of the goodness of God, right?

This is why we celebrate

the Lord's Supper

because that's God's reminder

in the new covenant

of the thing

that we most need to remember,

which is Christ's sacrifice for us.

But it's also the daily practice

of offering ourselves up to the Lord.

It may be daily dying

to our selfish and sinful desires.

It may be daily seeking Him.

It means daily thinking about

what are the firstfruits,

the firstfruits of our time,

the firstfruits of our love,

the firstfruits of our affection,

the firstfruits of our money,

small and large choices

of putting God first

in our lives in worship.

As God is instructing Himself

to do this,

He not only assures

His people of this call,

but He also does warn them, right?

This is what we see

in verses 22 through 31,

or actually 22 through 36, right?

He has this whole section

on unintentional and intentional sins.

And we're like,

what is this all about?

Well, here's the thing.

God cares.

God doesn't just care

are we externally performing properly,

but God cares about our hearts.

What is our motivation

as we do things, right?

And one part is about the community.

If someone in the community sins

and the whole community

is affected by it,

how do we respond?

And then verses 27 through 29

is about an individual sin,

one person who makes a mistake, right?

And what we are reminded of

is that all of these sins

require atonement,

but forgiveness is possible, right?

That God knows that we may sin,

but He's provided a way for us.

But then the warning

has a sting at the end, doesn't it?

Because in 30 and 31,

He uses these words,

but when there is intentional,

high-handed sin,

when we look God in,

and if you're a parent,

you've known it

when your child has done this,

when you look God in the face

and say,

I don't care what you think.

I don't want to do

what you want me to do.

I'm going to do it my way.

That kind of high-handed sin,

that kind of rebellion against God,

that rejection of His sovereign,

fatherly authority in our lives,

asserting ourselves,

we're going to do it our way,

He says,

this is a very, very serious thing.

He then goes on and tells an example

about this man who went out

and picked up sticks on the Sabbath.

And we think,

what is the big deal?

In the Old Testament,

keeping the Sabbath

was such a clear command

on how the people of God

would be set apart,

would be the wholehearted people

who would worship Him alone

by simply obeying the commands.

Don't do work on Sunday.

For Him to go out

and pick up sticks

was saying,

God, I don't really care

what you think.

I need fire today,

and I'm going to go get sticks.

Right?

He simply wanted to do life His way.

And maybe He wasn't consciously thinking,

I'm going to just, you know,

flip God the finger

and go and do what I want.

Right?

It may just be that

He was thinking of Himself

and not living a daily life

of worship to God.

But in doing so,

it was an act of severe rebellion.

And in that moment,

there was consequence.

There was no repentance

on behalf of the man.

There was no sign

of recognition

that he had done wrong.

No seeking the Lord.

And there was judgment.

And friends,

I wonder,

I wonder if we drift

into high-handed sin

far more often.

When we know

that something's wrong,

but we do it anyway.

Or when we wonder

if something's wrong,

we don't want to know

what God says,

so we just ignore Him

because I'd rather

just not know

than to know

and maybe

not get to do

what I want.

Maybe we look

at God's Word

and we just say,

I don't like it.

I don't like

what that says.

And so we do

our own thing.

Set ourselves up

as the ultimate decider

of what is good and bad.

This is the spirit

of intentional

and high-handed sin

and the consequences

are great.

The people are saying,

how do we go forward?

God says,

this is the one thing.

If you do this,

you will be cut off.

Now,

this probably sounds harsh.

We're trying to mix this

with what we just learned

in Galatians

for the last six months

about the gracious God

who saves us apart

from any of our works

and all of those things.

But we need to recognize,

first and foremost,

that this message

is a reminder

that sin against

an infinitely holy

and glorious

and majestic God

is infinitely horrible.

And it deserves

a judgment

that we just don't like

and we want to avoid.

We like to think of sins

as slip-ups,

as foibles,

as oops.

But it's not.

It's rebellion.

It's rejection.

It's a heart

to live independently

from God.

Now,

some of you are now,

particularly those of you

with tender consciences,

are thinking,

oh no,

that's me.

I'm outside the camp.

I'm done for.

There is nothing.

There's nothing more for me.

Friends,

the reality is

that the Bible

as a whole

tells us

that the wages of sin

is truly death

and it is truly great

and we need to reckon that

and to own that.

But our individual sins,

there is always

a chance

while you are living

for repentance.

Right?

And if you're sitting here

and you're thinking,

oh no,

I sinned against God

this morning

because I didn't have

my quiet time

because I overslept,

be of good cheer.

The fact that you

even think that thought

means that God

is at work in you

and recognize it

and repent of it.

Say,

God,

I don't want to do that.

God,

I want to honor you today.

But then receive

forgiveness from him.

God,

this high-handedness,

I believe in the Bible

is not a category.

Which side of the line

are you on

and you sin once

and you get on the bad side

and then you confess your sin

and you get back

on the good side.

It's about a trajectory.

It's about which direction

are we going.

Right?

And when we're heading

towards God,

we may sin along the way

and there's forgiveness

for that

and we pursue God.

And when we don't,

and as this continues,

as the trajectory

goes further and further,

our hearts become

more hardened,

our trajectory

becomes clear,

and our high-handed sin

increases.

So it's not about

where are we right now,

today,

but it's about

where are we headed

and what is it

that fills our hearts

and our minds.

Right?

So,

when we're facing this sin,

how do we think about it?

Do we have a heart

to repent of our sin

or do we choose

to justify or excuse

or minimize it?

Do we have a heart

to please God

or is it to,

ultimately,

to please ourselves?

Do we want to worship God

and make Him

the greatest treasure

of our lives

or do we make

our own pleasures

and our own treasures

the things that we

prioritize the most?

Do we think about

the honor of God

in our everyday life

or do we seek

to honor ourselves

and others

and what they want us

to honor?

we need to sit

with this warning

because it's real

and we need to recognize

that if you are

under the mistaken idea

that the Old Testament God

is a fierce

and judgmental

and harsh God

and the New Testament God

is a God of mercy,

recognize that

that is just

completely wrong

because the God

of the Old Testament

is a God of justice

and mercy

and the God

of the New Testament

is a God of justice

and mercy

and we need to hear

the warning.

Here's Hebrews 10, 26

and following.

This was written

to the church

after Christ

ascended into heaven.

It says,

For if we go on

sinning deliberately

after receiving

the knowledge

of the truth,

there no longer remains

a sacrifice for sin

but a fearful expectation

of judgment

and a fury of fire

that will consume

the adversaries.

anyone who has set aside

the law of Moses

dies without mercy

on the evidence

of two or three witnesses.

How much worse punishment

do you think

will be deserved

by the one

who has trampled

underfoot the Son of God

and has profaned

the blood of the covenant

by which he was sanctified

and has outraged

the Spirit of grace?

For we know him

who said,

Vengeance is mine,

I will repay.

And again,

the Lord will judge

his people.

It is a fearful thing

to fall into the hands

of the living God.

Friends,

to move ahead

as God's people

is to recognize

how bad sin is.

To recognize

that our sin

is a trampling

of the blood

of Jesus Christ.

It is an ignoring of it.

It is a rejecting of it.

It is devaluing it.

And friends,

when we've broken faith

with God,

it is a serious matter.

But this passage

reminds us

that in that moment,

while we still have breath,

we can turn to him.

Because this passage

closes with a reaffirmation

of God's redemptive purposes

for his people

in Christ.

There is still

a way forward

if you're like,

I've sinned.

That's where I am at.

I'm living a life

that rejects God.

It is high-handed

and I'm in a terrible place

right now.

I want you to hear

God's call and invitation.

You are not done

because you are here today

listening to this message

so you can respond to it.

Respond in faith

to the God

who has rescued

his people.

When you're reading

a narrative like Numbers,

the very beginnings

and the very ends

of these chapters

are often very important.

If you have the Bible open,

look with me

at the very end

of chapter 15.

What does he remind

his people again?

Verse 41.

I am the Lord your God

who brought you

out of the land of Egypt

to be your God.

I am the Lord your God.

Again,

this is the promise.

But it's specifically

about the fact

that God has redeemed

his people.

Right?

Remember the Exodus story.

They were enslaved

and oppressed

by the Egyptian people

and God worked

with a mighty hand

doing miraculous things

through Moses.

Right?

Including judgment

on Egypt

for its sin.

Breaking their power

so that his people

might be free.

And he delivered them

from the army

and he delivered them

through the Red Sea.

This is the God

who delivered his people

from Egypt.

And friends,

the good news

of the gospel

is that Jesus

is a second

and a greater

Exodus story

where God

has redeemed

his people

not from human oppressors

but from the oppression

of sin and death

that has been our lot

since the very beginning,

since Adam and Eve

fell in the garden.

And Christ came

and said,

I will be a sacrifice

for you.

I will be cut off

from the camp.

You who sin

heinously

and high-handedly

against me,

I will take that sin

upon myself

and be counted

among the transgressors.

And I will hang

on the cross

for you.

I will be the sacrifice

that is truly needed

because by my blood,

your sins

are now atoned for.

By my death,

justice is now satisfied.

By my resurrection,

there is now hope

and life for you.

this is why

Christ came.

To rescue

sinners

like you

and me.

To redeem us

out of our

former ways of life

and to be

his people.

And so,

friends,

when we have

blown it,

and some of us

here today

feel that

very poignantly

this morning,

that we've

blown it

yesterday,

the day before,

some of us

may be thinking,

I've blown it

for years.

Some of you

may be thinking,

I've never done

anything but blow it.

God calls you

to come to Christ,

to remember

what God

has done for you,

that he who is

faithful and said,

I will fulfill

my promises,

this is the way

that he calls us

to do it,

by trusting

in what Christ

has done for us.

And so,

the writer of

Hebrews tells us

this great good news.

Therefore,

brothers and sisters,

since we have

confidence to enter

the holy places

by the blood of Jesus,

by the new

and living way

that he opened

for us

through the curtain

that is through

his flesh,

and since we have

a great high priest

over the house of God,

let us draw near

with a true heart

in full assurance

of faith,

with our hearts

sprinkled clean

from an evil conscience

and our bodies

washed with pure waters,

let us hold fast

to the confession

of our hope

without wavering,

for he who promised

is faithful.

Friends,

this is what God

says to us

when we've blown

it that badly.

He who promised

is faithful.

Look to the cross,

be renewed,

and follow him.

Let's pray.

Lord,

thank you for this word.

Thank you for

the richness of it.

Lord,

thank you that

you reveal yourself,

even in some of the

most unlikely places.

Lord,

we pray that we

would worship you

this morning.

I pray for those

who may be

feeling now

a burden

of conviction,

Lord,

or of guilt

or shame.

Lord,

I pray that

by your spirit

you would

remind them

that Jesus

has borne

their guilt

and shame

and that

by repentance

and faith,

Lord,

they,

they can come

to you

with full assurance.

Know your

embrace

and be your people.

I pray this

in Jesus' name.

Amen.