Confronted by Grace

All right, good morning, church. Today we'll be reading from Numbers chapter 15, and if you're reading with us with the church Bible, it'll be on page 115.

Numbers 15 · chapter mention

Here then, God's word to us today. Numbers chapter 15, verse 1.

Numbers 15:1

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 an ephah of fine flour mixed with a quarter of heen of oil.

And you shall offer with a burnt offering or for the sacrifice a quarter of a heen of wine for the drink offering for each lamb.

Or for a ram you shall offer for a grain offering two tenths of an ephah of a fine flour mixed with a third of a heen of oil.

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

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

then one shall offer with the bowl a grain offering of three tenths of an ephah of a fine flour mixed with half a heen of oil.

And you shall offer for the drink offering half a heen of wine as a food offering, a pleasing aroma to the Lord.

Thus it shall be done for each bowl or ram or for each lamb or young goat as many as you offer.

So you shall do one do with each one as many as there are.

Every native Israelite shall do these things in this way in offering a food, 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 statue for you and one for the stranger who sojourns with you,

a statue forever throughout your generations.

You and the sojourner shall be a light before the Lord.

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

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?

So 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 spoken to Moses,

all that the Lord has commanded you by Moses from the day that the Lord gave commandment and onward throughout your generations,

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

all the congregation shall offer one bowl from the herd for a burnt offering,

a pleasing aroma to the Lord with its grain offering and its drink offering according to the rule,

and one male goat for a 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.

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 lamb,

whether he is a native or a 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 he has broken his commandment.

That person shall be utterly cut off,

his iniquity shall be on him.

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 over.

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.

Let us believe and respond to God's true and living word.

Thanks.

Great.

Thank you, Lydia.

Let me pray for us.

Difficult reading,

but thank you, Lydia,

for reading that for us.

Lord Jesus,

we come to your word.

We want to not just know or analyze the words and phrases and sentences,

the details.

We want to see the big picture.

We want to see what you have to say to us.

And so speak to us,

God,

from this challenging passage.

Come and draw us to yourself.

In your great name,

I pray.

Amen.

Let's see if you know these words.

Grace.

She takes the blame.

She covers the shame.

Removes the stain.

It could be her name.

Grace.

It's the name for a girl.

It's also a thought that changed the world.

And when she walks on the streets,

you can hear the strings.

Grace finds goodness in everything.

Grace.

She's got the walk,

not on a ramp or on chalk.

She's got the time to talk.

She travels outside of karma.

She travels outside of karma.

Grace.

She carries the world on her hips.

No champagne flute for her lips.

No twirls or skips between her fingertips.

What once was hurt.

What once was friction.

What left a mark no longer stings.

Because grace makes beauty out of ugly things.

Grace finds beauty in everything.

Grace finds goodness in everything.

So sang the Irish rock band U2 once upon a time.

Friends, ours is a world which is starved of grace,

and we are poorer for it.

In a world which has increasingly become digital and moved online,

social scientists have warned us that one of the consequences of social isolation

is that not only this increased polarization and political polarization and division within families,

but within society, we have much less empathy than any generation before us.

We are far less trusting.

We know how to handle differences less graciously than any other generation before us.

Friends, how many of us have grown up at homes where sharp comments,

cutting remarks, always being put down or made to feel small was the norm?

How many of us saw our fathers ridiculing our mothers,

siblings getting preferential treatment,

or parents' love and affection being earned through good grades and filial piety?

Friends, how many of us walk into the office each day

feeling that we're walking into a gladiator ring of office politics,

where every mistake is turned into a weapon against you,

where any error is made, you made to feel,

I was publicly exposed and you made to feel silly?

And what about the lack of grace towards ourselves?

How many of us are our own worst enemies,

always accusing ourselves,

the negative self-talk in our own voice,

telling ourselves that we're stupid?

In a world in which everyone keeps the score,

where mistakes are seldom forgotten,

where any prospect of future depends on current success,

success, we live in a world in which relationships are transactional,

calculated, cultivated for what they can give us,

rather than how they can serve us,

we live in a world that is starved of grace.

Paul Hewson writes this,

It's clear to me that karma is at the very heart of the universe.

And yet, along comes this idea of grace to upend all of that.

Grace defies reason, it defies logic.

Love interrupts, if you like,

the natural consequences of our actions.

Grace makes beauty out of ugly things.

The passage of scripture we're looking at today,

Numbers 15, is not an easy passage,

but it's a passage that is all about grace.

It is all about grace.

It's about the unfathomable grace of God towards undeserving sinners.

It's about the way that God does not give us what we deserve.

If you're new to Watermark,

we're working through the book of Numbers,

the fourth book of the Old Testament.

And it's the story of how God's people leave Egypt,

and He takes them through the wilderness towards the promised land.

The promised land is a land of flourishing and thriving life.

But as they go from Egypt to the promised land,

they've got to go through the wilderness,

and they've got to live by faith.

They've got to trust God in the wilderness.

And we've been saying this is an apt analogy for the Christian life.

Those of us that are Christians know that we too have been saved

from a terrible, terrible past,

a slavery from which we could not save ourselves.

We were under God's wrath and judgment in hell.

And God has saved us,

and He's bringing us through to the new creation,

the new heavens and earth.

Heaven, you could say.

But on the journey between our salvation and heaven,

we've got to travel through this wilderness,

this life, this wilderness of faith.

And on this journey of faith, we must trust Him.

And so the book of Numbers is about how God's people are called to trust Him

and hold on to Him and live by faith on the journey through the wilderness.

But if living by faith and trusting the sovereign God is the one thing they call to do,

it's the one thing that they do not do.

And so remember how chapter 14 ends.

Neil spoke to us last week.

In chapter 13 and 14, God sends our 12 spies to go into the promised land and to check it out

and to say, tell us which way we should go.

What is the land like?

Should we go this way or that way?

How should we enter the promised land?

And the spies come back and they say,

it's a good land, but we should not go.

It's dangerous.

God will not be with us.

The people are unkind.

We should not go.

Let's not listen to God.

Let's rather go back to Egypt.

And they treat God's promises and His presence with doubt, disdain, and disobedience.

And so how does the chapter end?

Well, chapter 14, verse 22.

God says,

None of the men that have seen my glory, what I did in Egypt,

and have put me to the test these ten times,

none of them shall see the land that I swore to give to their fathers.

Verse 28.

As I live, declares the Lord,

what you have said in my hearing I will do to you.

Your dead bodies will fall in the wilderness,

and all of your number listed in the census from 20 years old and upward,

who have grumbled against me,

not one shall come into the land that I swore to make you dwell in,

except Caleb and Joshua.

And so the book of Numbers starts so hopeful.

God is with these people.

He's bringing them through.

Just hold on to me.

Just trust me.

I will bring you to glory.

And they're full of doubt and disdain and disobedience,

and judgment comes upon them.

And the story at this point is a flood of casualties.

Friends, in the midst of all the darkness and the doubt of Numbers 11 to 14,

and all the mess of Numbers 16 onwards,

a rich vein of gold is Numbers 15 that we're going to look at today.

It's like this beautiful rich vein of gold in a dark, dank mine.

And we're going to see something of God's grace.

So let's dive in and look at it.

Firstly, encountering God's grace.

Encountering grace.

I don't know if you've ever done anything really stupid in your life.

I'm sure you've never done anything like that.

I've done that many, many times.

And you've done something silly or stupid,

and it's going to make you look really bad.

And you know the other person knows,

but they haven't said anything yet.

Could be a couple of seconds where you're waiting,

what are they going to say?

Or it could be a couple of days.

I remember many times like that with my dad, right?

I'd done something dumb,

and he knew, or I knew that he knew,

and I was just waiting.

What is he going to say?

What are the first words that are going to come out of his mouth?

I could tell you many stories, but we'll move on, right?

How are they going to react?

In light of Israel's ongoing unbelief, mistrust, incessant rebellion,

look at what comes out of God's mouth here.

15 verse 1.

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

Speak to the people of Israel and say to them,

When you come into the land that you are to inhabit,

the land which I am giving you,

then this is how you shall worship me.

God does not say,

If you guys can get your act together,

and if you guys can sort yourselves out,

and by some miracle that's unfathomable,

you manage to get yourselves into the promised land,

well, then we can talk about things.

That's not what he says.

He says,

I, I am going to bring you into the land.

I am going to go before you.

I'm going to drive out your enemies.

I'm going to bring you to the land of milk and honey and favor and goodness,

the land which you don't deserve,

but I am going to do it for you.

I am still going to bring you through.

God is looking at these people now,

and he's saying,

I am not done with you.

I'm not finished with you.

You and I still have a future together.

And when you come in,

this is how you shall worship.

Friends, you see God's amazing grace here?

After all their complaining,

and their moaning,

and their accusing,

and their shaking their fists at God,

God says,

I am not done with you.

I'm still going to bring you in.

A couple of years ago,

friends of ours in K-Town,

a very, very good friend of mine,

he was one of the pastors at the church that I served at,

one night,

they've got,

he and his wife have two kids,

one years old and four years old.

One night,

his wife puts the kids to bed,

and comes through and says to him,

we need to talk about something.

I've got something to tell you.

And the room suddenly goes very,

very ice cold,

and very quiet.

And over the next couple of hours,

she says to him,

honey,

I need to tell you something.

I've been keeping a secret from you for the last seven or eight years,

and I swore that I would never tell you.

I would go to my grave with a secret,

but I've been convicted by God,

and I need to tell you this.

I need to come clean.

And so,

over the next few hours,

through a waterfall of tears,

she tells him that seven or eight years ago,

she had a two-year affair

with someone that she'd met at the sports club.

He wasn't a pastor at that stage.

He was working and traveling a lot for work,

and while he was traveling,

she engaged in a two-year affair with this person.

And it had ended long ago,

but she had swore she was never going to tell him

it was a secret that she was going to take to her grave.

But,

over a couple of weeks before,

God had been speaking to her,

and she felt like she needed to come clean.

And so,

she tells him,

and my friend,

her husband,

goes into complete state of shock and meltdown

as he tries to process what he's just heard.

That not only has his wife betrayed him

in the most unbelievable way,

but also that the last five or six years of their marriage

has not been what he thought it was.

He thought they'd had a great marriage,

but actually there's this whole dark secret

that has been going on.

And in some ways,

their marriage is not what he thought it was.

And so,

my friend just collapses,

and he breaks down

as he's trying to process wave after wave of grief

and anger and questions and doubts

and all sorts of things.

And then after a couple of hours,

he says,

listen,

I need to go for a walk.

And so,

he gets up,

and he goes to the front door,

and as he does that,

he turns around,

and he looks at her,

and he says,

Laura,

I need to tell you two things.

One,

I still love you.

Two,

we are going to get through this together.

And then he goes outside

into a long walk into the night.

And today,

if you ask them,

their marriage is better than it's ever been.

He says,

the trust in their marriage

is greater than it's ever been.

They're doing really well.

He's back in ministry and pastoring again.

We will get through this together.

We still have a future together.

Friends,

that's what God is saying to his people here.

Despite their betrayal,

and their unfaithfulness,

and their rejection of him,

God looks them in the eye,

and says,

we have a future together.

I know it looks dark and messy now.

I know your life is a mess,

but as Ray Orton says,

you're my mess,

and I'm going to deal with it,

and I'm not giving up on you.

We are going to get through.

When I bring you into the land

that I am giving you,

when I've driven out the enemies before you,

when I've gone before you,

and parted the Red Sea,

and provided food for you,

and done everything that you can't do,

you will worship me,

and we will be one again together.

And so look at what God says here

about their worship.

Lydia read it,

all these details about bulls,

and goats,

and wine,

and olive oil,

and all sorts of things.

But look at what God is saying here.

Two things I want you to notice

about their worship.

First,

notice the abundance of their possessions.

All these animals,

and this produce,

these are things that belong

to a prosperous society.

At the moment,

these guys are no bandits

in the wilderness.

They don't have any food.

They don't have any produce.

God's got to bring meat to them.

God's got to bring manna from heaven.

They are as poor as anything.

And God says,

when you go into the land,

you're going to have so many flocks,

and goats,

and bulls,

and so much food,

you're not going to know

what to do with it.

And come and bring it to me

and offer it as an offering.

The abundance of their possessions.

God is promising that

he will give them

what they don't deserve.

What they deserve

is to bear the guilt

for their sin.

But God is going to

lavishly bless them.

Though their sins,

they are many.

His mercy is more.

But look at what else here.

In the Old Testament,

look at what kinds of offerings

they're going to offer here.

It's a bit hard to see,

but in the Old Testament,

there's typically

three main kinds of offerings.

There's more,

but three kind of main categories.

There's the sin offering,

burnt offering,

fellowship offering.

A sin offering

is you bring an offering to God

when you've done something

tragically wrong.

You've sinned,

and you need to pay

the penalty for your sin.

And so you bring an animal,

and the animal dies,

and it's burnt,

and it's offered to God,

and it's kind of like saying,

my sin is put on the animal,

they will bear the sin for me.

I deserve to die,

but they will die in my place.

But that's not the kind of offering

that God is talking about here.

There's different procedures for that.

The second offering

is a burnt offering.

It's when someone brings an animal,

and the whole animal is burnt up

as an offering to God.

And it's a way of saying,

God, all that I am,

I'm not keeping anything from me,

I give my entire life to you.

It's the picture of a subject

to the overlord.

There's an overlord,

and the subject says,

I belong to you,

everything that I have is yours.

And so you bring a burnt offering

as a kind of part of your worship,

your devotion.

You say, God,

everything I have belongs to you.

But that also has other things.

That's not what they're talking about here.

Here what they're talking about

is a fellowship offering.

And a fellowship offering

is when you bring an animal to the priest,

and some of it is burnt

and offered to God,

some of it is given to the priest to eat,

but some of it you eat

with the priest and with God.

And the picture here

is you are hosting a meal.

And there's meat,

and there's carbohydrates,

and there's oil,

and there's wine,

and the picture is

here is a banquet table,

and we are sitting down together.

God and the priest and me,

I am hosting a meal,

and we're having fellowship together.

You know how in the Bible,

a meal is always a picture

of relationship, right?

When you host someone for a meal,

you're not just opening your home,

you're opening your heart.

You're saying you are welcome here.

God says when you go

into the promised land,

despite all your sin,

I am going to sit down

and have a meal with you.

I'm going to open up my home.

I'm not just wiping away your sin.

I'm giving you a seat at the table.

I'm including you.

Though,

he says,

though,

all this mess,

we will get through this together.

We still have a future together.

Friends,

grace,

it takes the blame,

covers the shame,

removes the stain.

It travels outside of karma.

Karma says,

you get what you deserve.

Grace says,

you get what you don't deserve,

and you do get what you,

you don't get what you do deserve,

and you do get what you don't deserve.

If God,

grace makes beauty out of ugly things.

Now,

what does this tell us?

It tells us that the heart of Christianity

is relationship.

The heart of Christianity is relationship.

God,

grace is not just an idea,

or a concept,

or a free pass to skip cosmic detention.

It's not just a crutch to get through life.

Christian faith is profoundly personal,

intimate relationship.

It's why,

when someone says,

well,

if God is so gracious,

why can't I just sin,

and do what I want,

and then at the end of my life,

I'll just ask for forgiveness?

And Jesus says,

you don't understand the first thing about grace.

Because grace is not just wiping the slate clean,

so you can carry on,

and do whatever you wanted.

Grace is the seat at the table.

It's saying,

come into my family.

It's saying,

we're going to do life together.

It's saying,

I will be your father,

you will be my child.

But,

grace is God not giving us what we do deserve,

eternal separation from him,

so that we can get what we don't deserve,

which is intimacy,

personal enjoyment of the living God forever.

So friends,

what does this grace look like?

What does it look like?

Well,

it looks like Jesus coming to Zacchaeus.

You remember Zacchaeus?

He's a tax collector.

He's an outcast.

He is a pariah of society.

He is rejected,

unloved,

and Jesus says,

Zacchaeus,

open up your home.

I want to come and have lunch with you today.

Grace looks like Jesus coming to the woman at the well,

social outcast,

morally despised,

unloved,

and rejected,

and Jesus comes to her and says,

I know everything about you.

I know all the skeletons in your closet.

There is nothing that I don't know,

and I love you still.

Friends,

grace is Jesus coming to the lady who is trafficked into sex work,

and everyone despises her and says,

what is she doing in here?

And Jesus is welcome.

I love you.

Friends,

grace is Psalm 103.

That says,

as far as the east is from the west,

so far will God remove our sins from us.

As a father has compassion on his children,

so has the Lord had compassion on us.

Friends,

grace looks like the father of the prodigal son,

saying,

sacrifice the fattened calf.

My son is home.

My son was lost,

but now is found.

My son was dead,

but is now alive.

Friends,

grace,

this is what God does.

And God says,

yes,

Israel is a mess,

but I am not done with you.

We will get through this together.

Two things I need you to know.

I love you,

and we will get through this together.

Isn't that amazing?

This is the God that we've come to worship this morning,

friends.

This is the God of grace.

So now,

how do we find this grace?

How do we access this grace?

How do we come into this gracious relationship?

Well,

it's not automatic,

and it's not found by just simply attending church.

Grace isn't just something that,

by osmosis,

it just happens by attending a church service.

Grace is something that you've got to pursue,

or you've got to find.

Friends,

some of us here today,

will leave this place,

having never encountered the God of grace,

and we will die in our sins.

But God does not want that.

But the God of the Bible longs for us to encounter His grace,

and so be transformed.

And so look at what happens here.

If you've got your Bible,

look at verse 22 to 31.

In this passage here,

Moses talks about the sins of the people,

and he talks about two different kinds of sin.

He kind of contrasts and compares two kinds of sin.

Look at verse 22.

He says,

Verse 27.

If one sins unintentionally,

he shall offer a female God,

a year old for a sin offering.

But then look at verse 30.

Here's a different scenario.

But,

the person who does anything with a high hand,

whether he is a native or sojourner,

reviles the Lord.

That person shall be cut off from amongst his people.

Because he has despised the word of the Lord,

broken his commandments,

that person shall be cut off,

and his sin shall remain upon him.

Such a great picture, right?

If anyone does anything with a high hand,

it's like a picture of somebody

who's shaking their fists in defiance, right?

I love this picture.

Go ahead.

Call the cops.

See if I care.

It's a picture of somebody saying,

Stuff you, God.

I'm going to do things my way,

and see if you care.

See if I care what you think about it.

Do you remember last week,

we asked the question in the catechism,

What is sin?

Sin is rejecting or ignoring God

and the world that he's created,

not doing or being what he's commanded in his law.

But scripture tells us

that sin is far more nuanced

than just saying,

Do this, don't do this.

The condition of our hearts,

the motives of our hearts,

the mixed motivations,

the self-awareness,

the lack of self-awareness,

all these things make it a complex

and multifaceted issue.

And so scripture here

differentiates between unintentional sins

and intentional sins.

Okay?

Or our actions,

our motives,

our thoughts,

our attitudes

that do not honor God,

but the unintentional ones are

ones that we're either not aware of

or we kind of like,

we're suddenly made aware of it

without realizing that we're going into it.

But on the other hand

is what they call

the sin of intentionality

or high-handed

or deliberate sin.

This is kind of a willful rejection

where you know what you're doing

and you pursue it nonetheless.

And the Bible says

that both of these things are sin.

Both of them are deadly serious.

Both of them,

there's a problem,

but the consequences

are maybe slightly different.

Okay?

So think about it this way.

In marriage,

if you married,

you probably sin most days,

right?

There's the bickering.

There's the little comment.

There's the lack of thoughtfulness.

There's the lack of appreciation.

The lack of care

or graciousness towards one another.

And there's kind of like

just these things that you say,

friends,

this is a sin.

We should not do that.

We should love our wives

like Christ has loved the church.

Okay?

But that's very different

from somebody that says,

I'm going to go and have an affair.

I'm going to go and look for pornography.

I'm going to go and flirt

with that person at the office.

There's one that is,

they both sin,

they both wrong,

but one is kind of,

you don't really realize it

or suddenly you awaken to it

and it looks terrible.

The other one looks appealing.

You think,

I'm going to pursue this.

Or maybe another way

of thinking about it

is like this.

Think about how we handle money.

It's one thing to be very careful,

maybe overly careful,

overly planning,

maybe not very generous

because we are so particular.

Actually,

if we're honest,

that's probably greed.

It's a form of greed.

That's not good.

We should run from that.

But that's very different

from saying,

hey,

let me go to Macau

and gamble away

everything I have

or I'm going to go to the races

after church this afternoon

or I'm going to go

and hand in an expense receipt

at my office

that was from a personal expense.

That's a very different thing,

right?

And so the problem here

is that both involve

rejecting and ignoring God.

Both are not doing

what he's asked in his word.

But the problem is

that the second one

by its very nature

is cutting ourselves off

from the grace that we need.

This one says,

oh,

I'm a sinner.

I need grace.

God,

forgive me.

This one says,

God,

take your grace somewhere else.

I'm doing what I want

and no one's going to stop me.

It's not that one is wrong

and the other is fine.

They're both wrong.

They both need mercy.

But this one is shaking

its fist at God

and saying,

God,

I will do things my way

and you're not going to tell me

what to do.

And so the issue here

is not is sin serious.

They're both serious.

The issue is upon realizing

and seeing our sin

and recognizing it

for what it is.

What is our attitude?

Do we hate it

or do we persist in it?

Do we fight it

or do we defend it?

Mark Devers says this,

the Christian stands

with God

against his sin.

The secular person

stands with their sin

against God.

And that's the difference here.

And Moses says

that we're going to sin.

We are people of sin.

None of us are perfect.

But what do we do

with our sin?

Do we stand with our sin

against God

or do we stand with God

against our sin?

And that's what the story

is about

in the story of the Sabbath,

right?

Verse 32,

there's the story

of this guy

and he goes out

into the field

on the Sabbath day

and he's picking up sticks

and he's going to go

and make a meal

and everything

and he gets in deep trouble.

And we may think,

what?

This guy's just picking up sticks.

What's wrong with that?

Just give him a break, right?

But actually,

what is he doing here?

Just a few weeks before,

God has given them

the Ten Commandments

and he knows the commandments.

On the Sabbath day,

set your day aside for God.

Devote yourself to him.

He is the Lord

that brought you out of Egypt.

He saved you

and rescued you.

You belong to him

one day a week.

Devote yourself to him.

Don't work.

Let,

trust God to provide for you.

And this guy says,

take that rule somewhere else.

I'm going to go do my thing.

And he goes out

in the open defiance of God,

shaking his fist at God,

saying,

no one's going to tell me

what to do.

And how does it end?

It ends terribly.

A terrible death.

Friends,

you may be familiar

with Jesus' teaching

about the unforgivable sin.

It's kind of somewhat similar,

right?

It's a little bit different,

but it's similar.

Some people say,

what's the unforgivable sin?

Is it like,

if I do this,

or if I do this?

Actually,

what Jesus says,

there's any sin

in the whole world

that is able to be covered

by his grace,

except there's one that can't.

The one that you refuse

to bring to him.

The one that you refuse

to come to his only means

of grace and say,

God,

I need you.

It's the one where

our hearts are hard

and callous and say,

God,

I'll judge you.

Who are you to judge me?

That's the only sin

that they cannot be graced from

because you're not

bringing yourself

towards him.

If you're familiar

with Jesus' parable,

the two prodigal sons,

we see something similar here,

don't we,

right?

The younger brother,

he's clearly

the more immoral one.

He takes his dad's money,

he goes off

into wild country,

living it up on drinking

and prostitutes

and living however he wants.

And he's far more

immoral than his brother,

but he comes to his senses

and he says,

what am I doing?

And he realizes

what he's done

and he goes home

and he says,

Father,

I've sinned before heaven

and against you.

Father,

I'm so sorry,

I'm not worthy

to be called your son.

And the father says,

slaughter the fattened calf.

My son is home.

He's welcome.

Bring the ring,

bring the robe.

Let's celebrate.

But the other son,

the older brother,

he's sinister,

he's brooding,

he's angry,

he's jealous.

And the father says,

come,

come inside,

you brother's home.

He says,

get lost.

Why should I come inside?

That son of yours

wasted all my inheritance.

And he's brooding

and he's angry

and he will not reconcile.

And Jesus leaves

the parable open

and he's asking us

the question,

which one are you?

Which one are you?

Are you going to receive grace

or are you going to stay far away?

Friends,

how do we find grace?

How do we come

into this amazing relationship

with the amazing God

of the Bible?

We come to him

in our hands

and say,

Jesus,

I need you.

God,

I need you.

I don't have what it takes.

We come to the one

who stands with arms wide open,

ready to welcome

and forgive

with healing grace

and say,

Jesus,

I need you.

Well,

friends,

as we come to the last section here,

look at verse 37

and onwards,

remembering grace,

remembering grace.

As we come to a close,

how should we,

what should we do?

What does this mean for our lives?

Well,

in scripture,

the way to grow

in spiritual maturity

and therefore the way

to attain the spiritual blessings

that God promises,

grace and peace

and all these things,

is not by telling yourself,

I'm a Christian now.

I better do what good Christians do.

Okay?

That's not the way

to grow in grace.

The way to grow in grace,

that's the worst thing you can do.

The way to grow as a Christian

is to remember

what Christ has done,

is to remember

the depths

from where he saved us.

Remember the grace of God

to never,

ever forget

what God has done.

Remember the grace

in which you stand.

Remember how you're saved

by grace alone.

Remember that you were dead

in your sins,

but God in his great love

raised you up

and saved you.

Remember the grace of God

and run to it

and let it infiltrate

every aspect of your life.

Friends, as Christians,

the way that Christians

change deeply

is when the grace of God

intersects

with a very real problem

in our lives.

When the real everyday

stuff of life

intersects

with the grace of God,

that's how our hearts

change deeply.

And in this final section,

God wants his people

to remember the grace of God

every single day

and so be changed by it.

And so what does he do?

He tells them to

make some tassels,

some kind of like

long threads

to put blue material

or thread in them

and to tie them

to the hems

of their cloaks.

Now why should they do that?

Well, two reasons.

The one,

the hem of the cloak

in the ancient world

is kind of an extension

of your identity.

It is who you are.

Remember when

David is in the cave

and Saul comes

and he cuts off

the hem of Saul's cloak.

Why is that so offensive?

It's not just that he ruined

his designer jacket.

It's that it's a way

of saying you're dead to me.

Right?

He's cutting off his identity.

So the hems of your cloak

there's this analogy

there's this kind of extension

of who you are.

Many people in the ancient world

had their initials

or signature

kind of sewed

into the hem

of their cloak.

But the other thing

is there's this blue thread.

The blue thread

is the veil

between the holy place

and the most holy place

is made of blue material.

And God wants them

to every single day

with the clothing

up there

as they're walking

the streets

as these tussles

are shaking

and maybe shining

in the sun

every day to remember

we stand by God's grace alone.

Who am I?

Who is my identity?

My identity

is not my work

or my job

or whether I have

a boyfriend

or a girlfriend

or my kids

or my parenting.

My identity

is the fact

that I'm saved by grace.

That I was dead in hell

destined for an eternity

without God.

But God

in his rich mercy

Jesus went to the cross

for me

and saved me

and brought me

into the family

and given me

a seat at the table.

Friends,

many, many years later

Jesus Christ

was sitting

at the

celebrating

the Passover meal

with his friends

his disciples.

The Passover meal

was a covenant meal

and they're remembering

the way that God

had rescued his people

from Egypt

by the blood of the Lamb.

And at that table

Jesus takes some bread

and he breaks it

and he says

tomorrow

my body

the real

the Passover lamb

is going to be broken

for you.

And then he says

whenever you gather

break bread

in remembrance of me.

In remembrance of me.

Jesus takes a glass

of wine

and he says

tomorrow

my blood

is going to be shed

for you

for the forgiveness

of sins.

Whenever you gather

do so

and drink

in remembrance

of me.

Remember my grace.

I think you've got

communion elements

with you

don't you?

Friends,

if you follow Jesus

we're going to take

communion together now.

Why don't you open

that up?

If you're not a follower

of Jesus

this is us remembering.

This is us having a meal.

I'm sorry

this is a pretty pathetic meal

compared to a bull

and goats

and lambs

and oil

and everything else.

But this is meant

to be a meal.

Every week we gather

every second week

we gather

we have a meal

and God is with us

and he looks us

in the eye

and he says two things

I love you

I'm not done with you

my grace is sufficient.

Friends,

are you a follower

of Jesus?

Christ's body

broken for you.

Remember what he's done.

Friends,

this week

when you go to the office

there are going to be

a thousand reasons

why you think

that your identity

is built on meritocracy

and how good you are

how well you perform.

Friends,

in the journey of life

through the wilderness

there are a thousand voices

Justin reminded us

this morning

there are a thousand voices

in our lives

and the voices

are all saying

you're not good enough

you suck

if only you were better

or they say

look how good you are

you must be amazing

you're better

than everybody else.

Friends,

your identity

is built on shaky ground

but if you want to

make it through

the wilderness

if you want to get

to the promised land

if you want to get

out of Egypt

and make it all the way

to glory

remember

remember the grace

of Christ.

Friends,

Christ's body

broken for you

on the cross

your sins

covered

your shame

done away with

Jesus died for you

let's eat

and remember

what Jesus did for us.

at the end of the meal

Jesus takes a glass of wine

he says

my blood

shed for you

for the forgiveness

of sins

grace

covers the shame

takes the stain

travels outside of karma

it swallows karma

grace

Christ's blood

shed for us

drink and remember

what Jesus did for us.

Jesus today

we drink of your grace

remember what you did

for us

thank you Christ

for dying on the cross

thank you God

the ultimate

lamb of God

thank you Jesus

for rising again

you didn't just die

as an example

you didn't just die

to show us

how to be sacrificial

and selfless

and loving

you died for our sins

and you rose again

and now you

sit in the throne

of heaven

and you

intercede for us

and you welcome us

and you pray for us

and you apply the blood

of your death

for us

and you welcome us

home

God we love you

we need you

we thank you

remind us

day by day

God I pray

that Lord I pray

for anybody here

today that feels

unworthy

pray God for anybody

here that

the voice of their

mind is telling

them you're not

good enough

I pray God

for those that

have grown up

with parents

that

maybe life

worked on the

basis of

meritocracy

that love was

given to us

on the basis

of good grades

or filial piety

oh God

by your power

break that over

our hearts

and our lives

remind us

that God

you are a

different kind

of parent

that your

kingdom operates

on a different

ethic completely

by your spirit

God set us

free

Jesus

I pray that

the grace

of the living

God

will intersect

with the very

real issues

of our lives

in such a way

that changes

us

oh spirit

of God

do that

do that

in our midst

do that

even now

help us

to walk

out of here

differently

because we've

encountered

the God

of grace

we're going to

sing a song

that we've been

singing the last

few weeks

faithful he has

been

faithful he will

be

gracious he has

been

gracious he will

be

worthy he has

been

worthy he will

be

why don't you

stand and let's

sing this together

and if you would

like prayer for

anything there are

going to be

prayer stewards

around the

room

that can be

related to

sermon or

anything else

once you come

to a prayer

student we'd

love to pray

with you

let's for the

rest of us

let's worship

and sing

now

let's pray

let's pray

let's pray

let's pray

let's pray