November 13, 2022 / Origins / The First Sacrifice

Welcome to Walk in the Truth podcast.

Today John Metter, lead pastor of Cross City Church, brings a message in the Origins series

that helps answer the five most important questions in life.

How you live today depends on how you answer these questions.

Here's John Metter with the teaching on the five questions.

Well it's great to see you today and I want you to take your Bibles and go to Genesis

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3 today, Genesis chapter 3.

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

We're going to be talking about the very first sacrifice that ever has taken place on the

planet.

As you know the sacrifice is very important to the Christian walk, the ultimate sacrifice

being the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross when he died for our sins.

But how does that add up with everything else that we've read about in the scripture?

Genesis chapter 3 today will help us understand that.

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

We've been walking through the first three chapters of the book of Genesis and we will

complete that journey today.

We'll pick up Genesis chapter 4 in a few months after the Christmas season has come and gone

Genesis 4 · chapter mention

and we'll be back in it again soon.

Genesis chapter 3 has a great deal of theology today.

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

Today I'm going to take you in a little bit of a deep dive when it comes to theological

things that have to do with God.

The first few chapters of Genesis have taught us about who God is and what truth is.

They teach us how God deals with creation, how he deals with Adam and Eve.

Today we're going to look at how God deals with sinners which Adam and Eve now are because

Genesis chapter 3 is all about the temptation and the serpent in the Garden of Eden and

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

the fall, the first sin and what Adam and Eve have as a result of that first sin.

But we're going to answer other questions as well.

The questions about the personality of God, the reliability of God, the predictability

of God.

And all these things are going to help us as we understand just how we relate to God.

We'll stand together as we read God's word today beginning in Genesis chapter 3 and verse

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

21.

Last week we looked at the effects of the curse of sin.

This week we began to look at the cure for sin.

And in verse 21 the Bible says this, the Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his

wife and clothed them.

Now if you remember in Genesis chapter 3, Adam and Eve have sinned.

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

They've fallen from God.

They realized they're naked and now they're ashamed unlike what they were when they were

innocent, naked and not ashamed.

And so now they stand before God with this sense of guilt and this sense of shame and

they actually cover themselves with fig leaves which is that famous painting that you've

seen or cartoons of that that you've seen from time to time.

They try to cover their sin.

But in verse 21 the Bible says that what God did was God made garments of skin for Adam

and his wife and clothed them.

Then the Lord God said, Behold the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil.

And now he might stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat and

live forever.

Therefore the Lord God sent him out from the Garden of Eden to cultivate the ground from

which he was taken.

So he drove the man out and at the east of the Garden of Eden he stationed the cherubim

and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way of the tree of life.

Every unusual scene in the Garden of Eden as man and woman are driven out from paradise,

from this innocent state that they were in.

Father today my prayer is that you will speak to us from this text and help us understand

all that you did and why.

But even more than that today Father my prayer is that we will understand you.

That you will, we will know you.

That you will reveal yourself to us in greater ways today and help us to grow in our knowledge

of you and our trust of you.

We ask this in Jesus name and all God's people said amen.

Please be seated if you would.

Now these verses move us from the cure or from the curse and the consequence of sin

to the covering and the cure for sin.

Very important journey that we're going to take today.

Now this journey is going to help you not only know about what happened in the Garden

of Eden but know how God deals with you today.

How he deals with us when we have sin, when we have separation from him in our lives.

They help us know how to move from rebellion and sin to a place where we're in God's presence,

where we have his forgiveness, where we know that what we do is covered by what he's done

for us.

And I'm going to give you a thread today, a thread that will hopefully tie together

everything that you know about the scripture from Genesis to Revelation.

And by that thread I mean a common vein that you'll run all the way through the Bible with

and you'll see it pop up from time to time in the books of the Old Testament or in the

prophets or you'll see it in the gospels.

You'll see it again in the book of Revelation, often referred to in the epistles as thread

that runs through the Bible.

And it's going to be an encouraging thread.

It's going to tie things together.

It'll show you how God mends the relationship between God and man and why it's so important

for us to understand that.

So to do that, we've got to go back to the Garden of Eden for just a few moments like

our text has it there.

We've got to go back to the expulsion of Adam and Eve from that garden and understand what

God was doing.

And at the end of the time today, you're going to understand how God deals with the original

sinners, how God deals with all sinners and how he deals with you and I as sinners.

And I promise you there's encouragement and hope at the end of this message for how God

deals with all of us.

So first of all, let's look at the first consequences.

The first consequences.

Last week we looked at a message that I call truth and consequences about what happens

when Adam and Eve said.

And so we're going to rehash that just a little bit today and remind you of those first consequences

because if you don't appreciate the first consequences fully, you're not going to appreciate

the cure for those consequences.

You're not going to appreciate the reason for the sacrifice.

So the first consequences have to do with what happened as a result of sin.

And when you read Genesis chapter 3 verses 14 through 19, which we did in detail last

Genesis 3:14–19

week, you'll know five things take place.

Spiritual separation takes place.

Adversity that will be perpetual in our lives takes place.

You'll know that conflict takes place in our life.

You'll also know that hardship takes place in our lives by the sweat of our brow will

earn a living.

We also know that physical death takes place.

All that happens in the Garden of Eden as a result of sin.

And sin just keeps on giving.

By the way, if you haven't experienced this yet, sin just keeps on giving.

It gives you early consequences.

It gives you late consequences.

It gives you unexpected consequences.

It brings you eternal consequences.

Sin is not a good deal.

No matter what it looks like at the beginning, it's always, always a bad bargain.

Now, Adam and Eve have learned this already.

But now in this passage that we read today, we see it goes even further.

First I want you to notice they know and experience evil.

Notice where God says about them, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and

evil.

You know, it's one thing to observe evil.

It's another thing to know evil.

It's the one thing to look at it in the life of the serpent that was trying to tempt them.

It's another thing to experience it and to give into it and participate in sin.

So at this point, man has chosen evil and he knows good and evil from an experiential

side.

Not a good thing.

Secondly, they are forbidden from eternal life.

God says, let's say, reach out and take also the tree of life to eat and live forever.

We're going to take them out of the Garden of Eden.

You say, isn't eternal life good?

Isn't eternal life something that we like to talk about?

And the answer is yes, as long as we are not eternally in sin and eternally separated from

God.

But at this point, Adam and Eve were not connected to God.

They are separated from God.

They have no longer the innocence that God gave them and they are dark with sin, weighted

down with sin, and God said, I'm not going to let them live like that forever.

I'm not going to let them have eternal life completely separated from me, which would

be literally hell.

That's what hell is, by the way.

Hell is life eternal, separated from the God of love and the God of mercy and the God of

holiness.

God said, we're not going to let that happen.

And then thirdly, they're banished from the perfect existence.

And all these words are forceful.

He sent them out.

He drove them out.

Literally, the idea is we're going to get them out of this garden because they cannot

stand in this garden where my holy presence is because they're now sinful and I am holy.

Now, Adam and Eve, in the meantime, are doing everything they can to cover their sin.

Go back to Genesis chapter 3 and verse 7 and you see man's first attempt to cover sin.

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

It says that the eyes of both of them were opened and they knew they were naked and they

sewed thick leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.

The pictures that you see sometimes when an artist renders the Garden of Eden is that

picture of Adam and Eve and they have these leaves that are covering them.

They've made these garments.

They have this thing that they put on them so that their nakedness and their shame can't

be seen anymore.

I just want to pause for just a moment and say, what a creative way to cover sin and

what a creative idea to think that God might not be able to see their sin and their shame

if they just put these leaves over them.

But that never works.

And I want you to know that all of our attempts to cover our sin today don't work either.

Now, while we may be more complex and a little bit more sophisticated in how we try to cover

our sin, we might try to cover it with religion.

We might try to cover it with doing good works.

We might try to cover it by just letting everybody outwardly know that we are spiritual, but

deep inside we're really not too spiritual.

We try to cover it in a lot of ways.

A little bit more sophisticated than fig leaves, but the reality is we can never cover our

sin before a holy God.

He sees through us all the way.

And I hope you know that.

Now, sometimes that's an uncomfortable thought until you realize that God has also, along

with his knowledge of your sin, made provision for your sin.

And that's going to be an important part of what we talk about today.

Man's first attempt was a massive failure to hide sin.

They're still separated.

They're still ashamed.

They're still far from God.

It's important for us to pause and kind of feel that for just a few moments.

Sometimes when people talk to me about what God did with Adam and Eve and what he does

towards sinners today, those who have not been saved, who have not had forgiveness of

sins, people who try to come to God on their own righteousness or their own set of what

they believe is right.

They ask this question when I say, well, God does not accept that from them.

He does not give them favor just because they come with maybe a sincere heart, but the wrong

way to come to God.

They ask this question.

Isn't God cruel to banish men from the Garden of Eden?

Is it kind of hard on them that God would be so vindictive that he would thrust them

out of this perfect place that he created for them?

Is God without mercy for man's sin?

And is he still that way?

Does he harshly deal with all the things that we do when we're imperfect and we have shortcomings?

Just who is this God that acts this way between the man and the woman and himself?

And I think these are valid questions that come from questioning minds.

But today as we walk through this text, you're going to see something about the character

of God that helps you understand how God interacts with us.

And for the next few moments, I want to talk about what we've already learned about God's

character and who God is from the creation account.

As we go back to the creation account, we remember that in Genesis chapter 1 verse 1,

Genesis 1:1

the Bible says, in the beginning, God.

We know something about God.

We know God is eternal, first of all.

God perceives everything else that you can't imagine.

God is.

God was.

God always has been.

God is eternal.

We also learned that God was self-existent.

His existence doesn't depend on anything else or anyone else.

So we're talking about a mighty God, the almighty God.

Elohim is the word that we use in the book of Genesis describe who he is.

We know God is self-existent.

We know God is eternal.

We know God is almighty.

But as we walk through the scriptures, we also learned that God made man in his own

image, but we also know that God is clearly distinct and different from man.

For example, God is omnipotent.

God is omniscient.

God is omnipresent, and we are not.

Have you ever seen that old bumper sticker of years ago?

We know there is a God and you are not him.

Have you ever seen that before?

And when you think about the character of God, you realize that that's true.

There is a God and we are not him.

And we know that because we're not self-existent.

We're not eternal.

We know that because we're not omniscient.

We're not omnipresent.

We're not everywhere at once.

We don't know everything.

We are not God at all.

But God's character, as it's revealed in the scripture, is very helpful for us in knowing

how he deals with us.

I like this explanation because when I look at the character of God, it explains to me

why he is the creator and why I'm not, why he deserves to be worshiped and why I don't,

why he speaks and all of creation responds and why I speak and nobody really responds.

It also explains to me why God cannot be the opposite of these.

Now, think with me for just a few moments.

Because God is omnipotent, he cannot fail.

Because God is omniscient, he knows everything.

Because God is omnipresent, he will never leave and never abandon us.

And these unchangeable characteristics of God bring a very helpful predictability about

God, the best kind of predictability.

I mean, I live in a world and you live in a world that's completely unpredictable.

We have no one to rely on, no system to rely on, no truth to rely on if you leave it to

mankind, but God is eminently predictable.

He is exclusively predictable.

He is all places at all times.

He knows all things.

He knows the future, the past and the present.

And all these things about God help us know his character and he's unchanging in that

character.

By the way, there's a theological word we use to describe that, lots of theology in

today's message, but that theological word is immutability.

God is immutable.

You want to say that word with me?

Immutable.

God is immutable.

And it simply means God is unchanging.

And you're glad God is unchanging in a changing world.

You're glad God is always the same yesterday, today and forever.

That means that he can't fail so God will not fail you.

That means that he doesn't miss a detail, past, present or future so you can trust him

with counsel.

Everything he says to you is reliable.

He cannot and will not be absent so he's always everywhere you will be and everywhere you

are and you are never alone from God.

And the reason all those things are true is because that's his nature.

That's who he is.

But along with all those other characteristics of God, I want to introduce another one to

you today and that is God also reveals himself to be holy.

God is holy.

Now when we come to the issue of sin and the banishment from the garden, heaven and hell,

holiness is a big deal.

And the holiness of God is seen throughout the scripture.

The holiness of God refers to his purity, to his perfection.

That reminds us that he is distinctly God.

He alone is God.

He alone is pure and perfect in every way.

And as you read the Bible you see his holiness being introduced in a variety of places.

For example, if you were to go to Isaiah the prophet in Isaiah chapter 6 verses 1 and following,

Isaiah 6:1

you'll see a scene that's being painted for us.

And I'm going to read the words out of Isaiah chapter 6 verse 1.

Isaiah 6:1

It says, In the year of King Uzziah's death, I saw the Lord sitting on the throne lofty

and exhausted with the train of his robe filling the temple, seraphim.

Now these are flaming angels.

Seraphim stood above him, each having six wings.

With two he covered his face, this angel did.

With two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.

And one seraphim called out to another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.

The whole earth is filled with his glory.

Holy, holy, holy.

That is the seraphim in eternity, see God and see his holiness, his perfection, his

distinctiveness from every other part of creation.

In fact, Isaiah in that very scene realizes that he's a sinful man.

Do you remember his response?

He says, Woe is me, for I am a sinful man, and I live among a people of sinful lips.

Just knowing that the God of holiness was standing in that room for him and his vision

caused him to be under conviction of sin.

But you see this later on in the book of Revelation, chapter four, where the angels in heaven are

saying the same thing.

They're saying, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord.

They're talking about his future holiness, uncompromised by anything that he has done

or the world has done.

Now we like to talk about the God of love, the fact that God is also love, but it's important

for us to also say God is holy, and he will not be otherwise, or else he ceases to be

God.

Let me just remind you, if God is omniscient, he's not God.

If he's not omniscient, if he's not omnipresent, he's not God.

If he is not omnipotent, if he can't do everything, he's not God.

If he's not love, he's not God.

If he's not holy, he's not God.

So God's character plays very heavily into what happened in the Garden of Eden and what

has happened since that time in regard to us.

And I want you to understand exactly how that looked.

It's just his nature.

Later on in the Bible, in Habakkuk chapter one, we see a verse where God is spoken of

and talks about how he looks at sin and how he looks at rebellion.

The scripture says, your eyes are too pure to approve evil, and you cannot look on wickedness

with favor.

And there's God would turn his face away from sin or rebellion.

And the reason is not because he's angry, not because his wrath is being poured out,

but because he's holy.

God responds out of his holiness because sin is not holy.

And if God doesn't tolerate sin in his presence because of his holiness, he could not by his

nature tolerate man in the Garden of Eden.

And that's why he can't tolerate sinners going to heaven without their sin being covered

by God himself.

And that's why the thing that was sown out of thick leaves did not suffice for Adam and

Eve in the Garden of Eden.

So just take away this idea, this point, this truth.

It's not God's holiness or wrath that sends man out of the Garden.

I mean, it's not his anger or wrath, but it's his holiness.

It is God's love that inspires the first sacrifice for sin.

So I'm going to talk to you for about five minutes, which I have about the difficulty

of that garden situation, a few minutes about the character of God.

And now I think we may be ready for the first sacrifice that takes place in the Bible in

Genesis chapter three, verse 21.

You see, it's his character that brings him to this place of the first sacrifice.

Now jump down to verse 21.

The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.

Now you need to see how significant this is.

This is so significant because no death has taken place up to this point.

God created heaven and earth and he loved it.

He said it was good.

He created Adam and Eve and said, it is very good.

And now a few days later, most suppose, Adam and Eve have sinned.

And now God looks at his creation and allows the first death to take place.

When sin happened, a sacrifice had to be made.

And that penalty for that sin is evident.

That's why theologians call this moment in scripture the fall of mankind.

It's all falling and man is helpless to do anything about it.

But notice God's action.

God moves quickly and immediately and sacrificially to cover the sin of Adam and Eve by shedding

the blood of an innocent animal and taking his skin and creating a garment for them to

cover their shame and their nakedness.

And I happen to believe this is a big moment because God loved his creation and the uniqueness

with which he created, the beauty with which he created all the animals and all the fish

and all the birds in the air and the sky and the sea and everything else that God created.

God loved his creation just like he loved us.

And yet because of this division, this massive divide that took place because of sin, God

took the first animal that he would sacrifice and put it to death.

You do realize that before the flood, the man did not eat the animals.

He did not kill the animals.

He was vegetarian.

I don't call that paradise, but apparently it was in the Bible.

But no animal had yet died until this day.

And God slew an innocent animal because his incredible holiness required it and his incredible

love required that a sacrifice be made to pay for sin.

So he sacrificed part of his creation and ultimately his own son later on, as we know,

to cover our sin for us.

God gave up something precious because he deemed our reconciliation to be more precious

than we could imagine.

That first sacrifice began to cover sin until the ultimate sacrifice would deal with it

once for all.

And the reason we know that is because we keep reading the Bible.

Adam and Eve knew they recovered.

They were forgiven for that sin because they continued to interact with God.

They weren't in the garden anymore, but they could understand what God was saying to them.

And they began to interact and hear God.

And they passed this principle of blood sacrifice to their own children.

Look at the first two children of Adam and Eve, Cain and Nabal.

In Genesis chapter 4, we read this about them.

Genesis 4 · chapter mention

So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the Lord from

the fruit of the ground, which if you remember was cursed by sin.

Abel on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions.

And the Lord had regard for Abel and for his offering, but for Cain and his offering he

had no regard.

You see that blood sacrifice that's beginning to be something that is acceptable to God.

He accepts that animal that was given, but not the fruit of the ground.

You keep reading the Bible and you'll see the Old Testament sacrificial system as well.

Look with me in Leviticus chapter 17 verse 11.

Leviticus 17:11

It's probably one of the greatest verses in the Old Testament that explains that Old Testament

sacrificial system.

It says, for the life of the flesh is in the blood and I have given it to you on the altar

to make atonement for your sin, for your souls.

For it is by the blood, by reason of the life that makes atonement.

You know what the word atonement means?

It means payment for sin.

It means buying back our unforgiveness so that we would be forgiven.

And that principle is all the way through the Old Testament.

The New Testament book of Hebrews summarizes the entire principle of blood sacrifice from

Genesis all the way through Revelation with these words.

According to the law, one may almost say all things are cleansed with blood and without

the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

Now, theologians call this the scarlet thread of redemption that ties together everything

God did to bridge the divide, to mend the division between God and man all the way through

scripture.

And you see it everywhere.

You see it in the Garden of Eden.

You see it in the tabernacle as sacrifices were made there in that tent of meeting.

You see it in the temple later on in Jerusalem and then you see it on Calvary where Jesus

Christ died on the cross because God is distinct and because God is holy and can't look upon

sin.

Jesus died in our place so that God would give us favor through him.

Maybe you remember that great moment where Jesus died on the cross and that awful moment

where he said these words in Mark chapter 15.

Mark 15 · chapter mention

At the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, my God, my God, why have you forsaken

me?

I can't read that passage without realizing what an excruciating cry that was coming from

Jesus the son.

And the phrase that sounds so foreign coming from his lips.

But what was happening is Jesus was taking all the sin of all mankind on himself.

He's bearing the weight of the sin of the world.

It's so hard to imagine Jesus is doing what repulses him the most, letting sin be placed

upon him because he's holiness and he did not sin and yet willing to let the sin of

the world come upon him.

Theologians tell us that God turned his face from Jesus.

However, you might word that, it's difficult to grasp.

But the truth is that a holy God at that moment took all of our sin on himself.

It's hard to find that analogy.

If you might imagine today me standing in front of a huge pit on a stage above this

place that's lower and imagine this place being a pit filled with poisonous snakes.

Now you and I don't want to imagine things like that.

Occasionally a movie scene will come up where we're forced to think about it like that.

But imagine that kind of scenario.

I mean everything in me would be repulsed by the idea of being around poisonous snakes.

I know they would bite me.

I know they would ultimately put me to death.

But just besides all that, just the hideousness of snakes and I just think there is no good

snake upon the earth except a dead snake.

But imagine that with me just for a moment.

And then imagine that a child of yours would be in that snake pit having fallen in and

you have a decision to make.

And the decision is am I going to let my child be in that snake pit knowing the poison is

coming from him, knowing that death is coming from him?

Or am I going to place myself in there with every attempt to rescue them from that pit?

Now that's not a great thing to imagine, but it's about as close as I can imagine human

thinking paralleling what Jesus Christ actually did.

Because what Jesus Christ actually did was he took the curse of the sun and the serpent

on himself.

He allowed that poisonous bite of the serpent not only to let him become sin on our behalf,

but to taste death for every single one of us simply because he loved us in an ultimate

way.

He did that in spite of his holiness and his purity and the fact that he was the living

Lord of life and he went through all that so that you and I might have our sin covered.

And the picture of Genesis 3, 21 is the first picture of what ultimately happened through

the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

It's powerful.

It's permanent what Jesus Christ has done.

But the most important thing is it's personal.

He did that on the cross for you and I.

Theologians tell me this as I read about this moment on the cross.

It was a manifestation of God's hatred of sin in some unexplained way that Jesus experienced

in that terrible hour.

Martin Lloyd-Jones said this involved a separation from the face of the Father.

He willingly goes through this along with physical death in our place.

Later on in the book of Hebrews chapter 9 we read this, it is much as it is appointed

Hebrews 9 · chapter mention

for men to die once and after this comes the judgment, so Christ also, have you been offered

once to bear the sins of many will appear a second time for salvation without reference

to sin to those who eagerly wait for him.

Do you know what that verse tells me?

It tells me that Jesus came the first time to deal with sin and the second time he comes

back is not to deal with sin but to bring us to himself forever and ever.

Jesus has conquered sin.

Jesus has done everything necessary for sin to be taken care of and this scarlet thread

of redemption sews up the great divide between God and man beginning in the garden.

So those animal skins are pictures of the salvation we have in Christ and you and I

we have it all because of Jesus Christ and you have the picture of it in the book of

Genesis.

The innocent animal that is killed, the shedding of blood, the covering for sin and it mends

the rip and the fellowship between God and us in terms of our communion.

It begins as God immediate response to sin but it points to God's ultimate response

to sin by placing Jesus on the cross.

In other words, look at what Jesus has done to bridge the gap.

Look at how he mends the divide.

W.A.

Criswell many years ago wrote about this scarlet thread of redemption and I really hope this

becomes a phrase that you share from time to time that you remember from time to time

because you will see it pop up in the scriptures as I said.

W.A.

Criswell said the scarlet thread of redemption is woven throughout the scripture.

It traces God's unfolding plan of love to redeem fallen mankind.

From Genesis to Revelation this red ribbon represents our need for an innocent blood

sacrifice.

Ultimately, God sent his Son to down the cross as a sacrifice for our sin.

While sin means paradise is lost, sacrifice means paradise is found in Jesus Christ.

Jesus created the first paradise but he is Lord over the greatest paradise.

When you get to the book of Revelation you are going to read about the lamb that was

slain from before the foundation of the world and all that ties together in the scarlet

thread of redemption.

God's love for us, God's holiness satisfied by Jesus' death on the cross.

So much to grasp, so many things to pass in a day.

Here is what I want to bring you.

I want to bring you to the cross for just a few moments and I want to end there because

that is where Genesis 3 verse 21 ends.

Genesis 3:21

It really ends with Christ's perfect sacrifice.

You remember that day.

You have read about it, you have heard about it, you have heard messages by people who

share about the lamb of God that was hanging on the cross.

Remember John the Baptist said when he first saw Jesus, behold the lamb of God that takes

away the sin of the world and now Jesus is hanging on that cross.

And maybe you remember also, crucified on either side of Jesus are two thieves.

You may remember that the entirety of the religious system is also there that day.

Judaism with its legalistic adherence to the law was there.

Roman and Greece were represented there.

Their exalted humanism and their quest for higher knowledge was there but none of them

have any hope to offer.

So Jesus is there hanging on the cross and crucified with him are two thieves.

Now if you read Matthew's account you see both of these thieves mocking him.

But if you read Luke's account it says that one of them at some point ceased mocking Jesus

and begins believing.

Do you remember the scene?

It's a powerful scene.

So what he's beginning to believe is speaking to the one that's still mocking Jesus who's

hanging on that central cross.

And he says indeed we're suffering justly for we are receiving what we deserve for our

deeds but this man has done nothing wrong.

And then this thief, this repentant thief looks at Jesus and says remember me when you

come into your kingdom.

And the Bible positions this moment as a big moment because Jesus, the Bible says said

to him truly, truly today you shall be with me in paradise.

I want to remind you that thousands of years before that moment paradise was emptied of

man.

Adam and Eve were banished from the garden and God covered their sin.

But then when Jesus was on the cross paradise comes back up where he says today you shall

be with me in paradise because of the blood sacrifice fully satisfied Jesus could offer

this man paradise forever and ever.

Keep in mind this man did not keep the law.

Keep in mind this man was not a part of a religious group of any kind.

Keep in mind this man was guilty in every way.

He admitted it so.

Keep in mind this man is not seeking out higher wisdom or greater knowledge.

He's not trying to work his way into salvation.

He's not promising that he can do anything for Jesus in the future days at all because

he's about to die.

He simply throws himself at the mercy of the one who's dying on the cross and says remember

me and Jesus said today you shall be with me in paradise.

What a picture of the blood sacrifice satisfied once and for all through Jesus Christ.

The thief's sin was covered and he was saved by faith alone in Christ who died on the cross

for our sins.

And so are we.

Do you know that your salvation rests completely on the blood of Jesus that died on the cross?

Your only covering for sin is what he covers you with in forgiveness because of his payment

for sin.

There's nothing you can do to cover your own sin.

Nothing you do to earn your own salvation.

Nothing you can do to make everything you've done in the past right when all of it's been

wrong.

There's nothing you do to make yourself any more attractive to God than you are because

you and I are not attractive to God in our sinful state.

He simply loves us anyway.

There's nothing you can do religiously.

You can promise about the future.

There's nothing you can do tomorrow or the next day to earn your salvation at all.

All you can do is what the thief on the cross did.

Say Lord Jesus remember me on the basis of what you're doing right now by shedding your

blood, by satisfying God's holiness on that basis.

Remember me when you come into your kingdom, whenever that is.

And Jesus said that's today.

That's today.

Today you shall be with me in paradise.

I am so grateful that God bridged the divide, took the snake bite.

So glad that God took on death and overcame it three days after he was buried just so

that you and I could be absolved, forgiven for both sin and sinfulness of mankind.

All of that taken care of from the garden onward through Jesus Christ.

And if you're trusting anyone other than Jesus Christ, by how you have misplaced your faith.

And if you're confident in your own ways of trying to cover sin, oh how far you're missing

what Jesus offers.

But if today you come and place all your confidence in Jesus, then you're just like that thief

on the cross just like I am.

The promise of forgiveness and the promise of eternal life.

Have you done that?

And if not, will you today?

In just a few moments I'm going to close in prayer.

And what I want you to do is to consider the question, have you put your faith in Christ

and Christ alone or have you not?

And if you haven't, will you do that today?

One of the most important decisions you make in your whole life, if not the most important,

is this one right here.

And this is the moment where you can make that decision.

At the end of our service we have people behind what we call our decision stations.

As you make your way back to the back doors to exit today, you'll see those decision stations.

And all you have to do is stop and say, hey can I talk with you for just a moment because

there are people there who want to talk to you about the very subject we've been talking

about.

They want to help you know how to put your faith and trust in Christ.

It may be today God is leading you to make a different decision, a decision of rededication

or a decision to deal with some aspect of your life.

They're ready, they're prepared to talk to you about that decision today.

Stop by a decision station today.

I also invite you to come meet me in the green room.

I would love to go to the guest reception room with you and just share a few things

about our church and about what God is doing here and you make that spiritual decision

first and I would love to meet you afterwards.

I would also invite you to turn around and invite people when you leave this place to

come back to our services week by week where we're seeing people come to faith in Christ.

We're seeing people with disciples and growing in their faith.

We want to be a part of that.

We want you to be a part of that as you reach out to friends around you.

Would you stand with me tonight today as we close in prayer?

Father, today what an incredible demonstration Jesus has shown us by his act of sacrifice

on the cross.

Father, I thank you so much that you have shown us the scarlet thread of redemption

that we read in the scriptures as a reminder that you've always been for our salvation.

You've always been able to do what's necessary to cleanse us, to forgive us.

And Father, it's our responsibility to respond to you today.

I pray people will respond in faith to you.

Lord, thank you for all you've done.

Thank you for the promises you hold with an open hand.

Today Lord, let us respond to those in faith.

I ask this in Jesus' name, amen.