Luke, The Orderly Account of Truth - Jesus Really Did Die - Luke 23:44-56

You grab your bibles. We are finishing Luke chapter twenty

three today. If you need a Bible, we have a

bunch of them at the resource desk in the lobby.

Please grab on. We want you to keep it. It's

our gift to you because it's important that we have

God's word, that we have his word. But we're in

Luke chapter twenty three, and we're in a series called

Luke the Orderly Account of Truth. Luke the Orderly Account

of Truth, where Luke did a careful investigation of the

life and ministry of Jesus. He compiled an orderly account

of everything that had been accomplished among them so that

they offerl us and also so that us we could

know a certainty the truth about who Jesus is and

what he taught. And that's a pretty good blessing to

have from a book in the Bible, to know this

with certainty, the truth about who Jesus is and what

he taught. And last week was a pretty heavy week.

We're at the end of the book some of the

darkest parts of the Gospel, and it even feels weird

saying that the darkest parts of the Gospel. But there

is some dark stuff that happens in them. But we

saw the people get their wish. That pilot handed Jesus

over to the people to be crucified, and he was beaten,

he was mocked, he was reviled, he was stripped, naked,

he was nailed to a cross, and all the while,

the whole time that people are mocking him, saying save yourself,

they're looking at Jesus hanging on the cross and saying

save yourself. But Jesus' answer was no. His answer was no.

He had the power to save himself, but he willingly

chose to give up his life to save his people.

That's what we saw Jesus do. And this was fulfill

God's plan of redemption. This was all according to God's

purpose and God's plans. And not only that, but God

had been prophesying about this through all the prophets. So

this wasn't actually a new idea for the people. And

in fact, it shouldn't even have been a surprise. Yet

it was. People were surprised by what was going on.

And today what we're going to be doing is, now

that Jesus has gone through all this brutality, he's here

hanging on the cross and it's at this point that

some really crazy stuff starts to happen. Jesus is about

to breed his last and as he does, the people

don't react the way that you'd expect them to. In fact,

they actually react kind of in the exact opposite way

then you would expect them to. The very people who

were there mocking and mistreating Jesus telling him to save himself,

they didn't react in the way we'd expect seeing all

these crazy signs, actually seeing Jesus die in front of them,

something clicked for them that this wasn't just some man,

this wasn't a regular thing that was happening. No, there

was something different going on. But among all the uncertainty

of what was going on in the moment, among all

these things that they didn't understand, there is one thing

they knew for certain. And this one thing Luke is

making abundantly clear. So what we're talking about today, and

what I think Luke really needs us to see, is

that Jesus really did die. Jesus really did die. And

this may sound like a pretty basic idea. You're like, no, Doug,

greg I've read the Bible. Jesus died. But there's some

really big theological implications that come with knowing that Jesus died.

Jesus death wasn't a metaphorical thing. It wasn't some allegory

or an illustration. The god man Jesus Christ literally and

physically died, and he was buried. And we're in Luke

chapter twenty three, reading through verses forty four through fifty six.

So let's read our text today and then we'll pray.

Starting verse forty four, it was now about the sixth hour,

and there was darkness over the whole land until the

ninth hour, while the sun's light fail failed and the

curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus,

calling out with a loud voice, said Father, into your hands,

I commit my spirit. And having said this, he breathed

his last. Now, when the centurion saw what had taken place,

he praised God, saying, certainly this man was innocent. And

all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle, when

they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts.

And all his acquaintances, and the women who had followed

him from Galilee stood at a distance watching these things.

Now there was a man named Joseph from the Jewish

tount of Arimathea. He was a member of the council,

a good and righteous man who had not consented to

their decision and action, and he was looking for the

Kingdom of God. This man went to Pilate and asked

for the body of Jesus. Then he took it down

and wrapped it in a linen shroud and laid him

in a tomb cut in stone where no one had

ever yet and laid. It was the day of preparation,

and the Sabbath was beginning. The women who had come

with him from Galilee followed and saw the tomb and

how his body was laid. Then they returned and prepared

spices and ointments. On the Sabbath, they rested according to

the commandments. Let's pray, God, we thank you for this moment.

We thank you for your word. We thank you that

you've given it to us for us to study and

learn more about who you are and your truth. So God,

let us hear your truth clearly today, let us understand it.

Let us know how it would affect, how you would

have it affect us. And God, I just think you

that we get this opportunity to do it all together,

and Gee's name, everybody said a men. I had a

job a long time ago working for a company, and

we used to have our staff meetings in the conference room,

which makes sense. And the way the conference room was

set up was we had these like square tables. You

put a bunch of them together and you have a

really long conference table. Well, we had a really large staff,

so not all of us could fit around this conference table.

So they had chairs all around the conference table, and

then they had chairs lining the room around the room.

And usually what would happen is all the department heads

would sit at the center table and then everyone else,

people in like the multimedia department, would sit on the

outside of the room. Well, there was a point where

I started saying, you know, I'm gonna take myself a

little more seriously. I'm going to try to show a

little more initiative. So I had decided to start wearing

suits to work. So instead of wearing just a button

up shirt and some slacks, I would full on wear

a suit to work. And I'd known that all the

department heads had already worn suits to work, like they

took themselves very seriously, so they would wear suits to work,

and I was like, why not do the same thing.

Why don't I try to start taking myself seriously and

wearing a suit to work. Well, my very first staff

meeting after I decided to start wearing suits to work,

I sit down on my chair against the wall like

I always do with the rest of my department, and

one of the other department heads walks in the room,

looks over and sees me and like, whh Greg, looking good?

Why don't you come and sit with me up here

at the table? Me? Same old Greg, same old Greg

who sits in the chair against the wall every staff meeting.

I didn't change. It's the same old me, same job.

I didn't change my jobs. So what changed? What happened?

What was different that all of a sudden I got

invited to this table, I got to sit at the table. Well,

what had changed is that now I was covered in

something that gave me access to the table. I was

covered in something that let me into the presence of

the table. There was a barrier between me and getting

to sit at the table that had been removed. And

just like the barrier that kept me from sitting at

the table, there is a barrier between God and man.

And it seems like a really cheesy example, but as

I was studying this week, this is the best I

could do. Guys, welcome. There is a barrier that's kept

us between or between us and God, and that barrier

is righteousness or holiness. You can't stand in the presence

of God and live unless you're holy or you're clothed

in righteousness. This barrier keeps us from having direct access

to the presence of God. And right there in Jerusalem,

in the Temple, very close to where Jesus is hanging

on the cross, there's a curtain hanging. And this curtain

was to remind the people of the barrier that's between

man and God. God's presence was in the Holy of

Holies in the innermost part of the temple, and no

one could enter unless they were righteous and clean. But

here's the thing God made away. God made away for

us unholy and us unrighteous people to be able to

stand in his presence. He made a way to literally

tear the curtain of separation so that we would have

direct access to His presence, so we could stand before

Him without fear of falling down dead instantly. Like historically speaking,

you're not gonna find this in your Bible. But they

would tie ropes with bells around the ankles of the

priest when they'd walk into the inner courts. And if

those bells stop ringing, they're like, oh, he dropped dead.

Drag him out. Send it in the next guy, so

we can stand in his presence without fear of dropping dead.

But this amazing reality, this amazing truth that we know

to be true because scripture tells us came at a cost,

It costs something. The one thing that makes all this

possible is the death of Jesus. This is the only

way for us to be clothed in righteousness, to wear

the suit that gets you invited to the staff table.

See the light bulls are going off. See it's not

that bad of an illustration. But this is the important

theological implication that I'm talking about that I think that

Luke's trying to get at by the point he's making,

he really wants the awful to know with certainty that

Jesus really did die. Jesus actually died. And it all

started at noon, verse forty four, and now it was

about the sixth or it was now about the sixth hour,

and there was darkness over the whole land until the

ninth hour while the sun's light failed. The Jewish day

started at six am, so you're like, well, how do

you know it's noon? Well, six hours after six is noon,

so it's in the middle of the day. And this

is what starts to make this something crazy. That's happening

is it's noon, when the sun is the highest in

the sky, it's at its apex, and there was darkness

over the whole land. There's darkness because the sun's light

failed for three full hours. Darkness. That's not normal. That

is not a normal thing to happen. Think about it

for a second. I understand it's fall right now, so

it gets dark a little earlier, and we just had

our daylight saving time. But from noon to three, in

the middle of the day dark, it's just dark. The

sun was out, but it's light failed. As if the

sun is in the sky but you can't it's not bright.

Something weird is going on. And in Jewish custom, I

was reading this this past week. When God brings darkness,

it's almost always a sign of judgment, which makes sense

because of what's happening right now. They literally killed the

innocent God Man Jesus. So if you just imagine what's

going through their heads, everything going dark in the middle

of the day. It isn't the only weird thing that happened, though,

because you remember this, I keep bringing up this curtain

in the temple, right the second part of verse forty five,

and the curtain of the temple was torn into still dark.

Something crazy happens at the temple. The curtain in the

temple was torn into. And this might not actually seem

like that big of a deal. It's like, well, who

cares a curtain is torn, But it is a big deal.

And just practically speaking, I don't know how much you

know about the size, the sheer grandeur of things that

were in the temple, Like things were big, how they

built everything was big. This curtain is huge. It was

about sixty feet tall and thirty feet wide according to

Jewish historical resources. That's a big curtain. I want you

to do me a favor. Look up at the ceiling.

You guys, see these beams. Those are twenty feet above

your head. Do you see the peak of the boycamp?

The lights are kind of bright. The peak of this building,

it's about thirty feet I know this because I asked Hayden,

the guy who's up there a lot thirty feet these

curtains were as wide as this building is tall, and

twice as tall. That's how big these curtains are. They're enormous,

these giant curtains. And they're not just big curtains. They're

also thick with the amount of different yarns and things.

They were woven together with bunches of layers of wool

and linen whenever they had to be moved or cleaned,

or they would make more of them every year to

replace them. It took three hundred priests to move it.

Three hundred people. We're talking tons of weight, like actual

literal tones. That's how big these curtains are. This enormous

and heavy curtain was torn, extremely thick curtain torn. And

if you read Matthew's account of this in Matthew twenty seven,

the earth shakes, the rock split, and the curtains torn

from top to bottom. How tall is this thing? Sixty

feet from top to bottom, as if God himself reached

down to tear it. No one else is going sixty

feet up in the air to tear that thing. But

the most I think the most significant thing about this

curtain being torn isn't the practical impossibility of it all.

That's not the most significant piece. The most significant part

is what the curtain stood for. Like what was the

point of this curtain? I know, it's like, Greg, what

a youre talk about? We're talking about death, gees, why

are you talking about the curtains so much? Because of

the implications of Christ's death and what tearing this curtain

really meant. This curtain stood for the separation between man

and the presence of God. Because what was in the

Holy of Holies, That's where God's presence was. It's where

man went to meet with God, where once a year

the high priest would go in first doing a big

ritual cleansing process just to make himself pure and clean.

Then he would go in and sprinkle blood on the

day of Atonement for the sins of the people every year.

The physical barrier of this curtain meant to separate man

from the presence of God, meant to remind behind the

people that God is holy and they are not. That's

what was torn by God. So this is kind of

a big deal. Things were changing. The sun's light failed,

the curtain in the temple was torn, the earth shook.

Something not normal is taking place. There was something different

about this crucifixion than all the other crucifixions that had

happened in Rome. There's something different happening at this crucifixion,

and everything that was happening was building up to something.

There's this tension rising, all rising to this next moment.

What was going to happen next? In verse forty six,

then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said Father,

into your hands, I commit my spirit. And having said this,

he breathed his last. Jesus had finally finished what he

came to do. He'd finally finished his mission on earth.

He had submitted himself to the Father's will. He suffered,

He received the wrath of God for sin on himself.

He received the wrath of God on sin or for

sin on himself. And now anyone, and I'm going to

say that again, anyone who believes in Him, who repents

of their sin and puts faith in him, their sin

is paid for because He paid for it, Because Jesus

paid for it. He willingly laid down his life as

a ransom for many. And it's also at this point

where Jesus says, if you read the other gospel accounts,

he says, it is finished, the work is complete. He

did it because he had done what needed to be done.

And then he calls out in a loud voice, using

all the strength that his physical body has left, to say, Father,

into your hands, I commit my spirit. Because he's laying

his life down, no one's taking it from him. And

then he breathed his last Jesus died, He really died,

And how the people reacted shows that this was no

ordinary death. This was something different. Remember, it's dark in

the middle of the day, sun's light is failing, the

earth is shaking, the curtain is torn. Then Jesus died.

In verse forty seven, Now when the Centurions saw what

had taken place, Centurions are the soldiers there executing Jesus,

carrying out the will of the people. When he saw

what had taken place, he praised God, saying, certainly this

man was innocent. The centurion knew he saw all that

had happened, and he knew that Jesus was innocent. And

Matthew and Mark both the centurion saying, truly, this was

the son of God. This is no ordinary crucifixion and

death Verse forty eight. And all the crowds that had

assembled for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place,

returned home, beating their breasts, and all his acquaintances, and

the women who had followed him from Galilee stood at

a distance watching these things. Wait a minute, you mean

the crowds who were shouting to crucify Jesus, they said,

crucify him, crucify him, give us Barabus, but crucify Jesus.

The ones who are demanding his blood. They finally get

what they want. They see him die, and they aren't cheering.

They're not cheering. You ever gotten what you asked for?

And it wasn't what you expected. This is like that

time's a million. It wasn't until after. It wasn't until

after they realized what had just happened. They just killed

the son of God. They had killed their Messiah, the

innocent and spotless Lamb of God. And now they weren't cheering.

They weren't rejoicing. They weren't happy and overjoyed. They walked

home beating their breasts in anguish and guilt. They were mourning,

they were full of grief. And then we see that

all the people who stood with Jesus watched all of

this take place, not knowing what's going to happen next.

Wasn't he supposed to save his people. He can't die now,

what's going to happen? But there they stood Jesus hanging

on the cross before them dead. Jesus really did die.

Wasn't a metaphor or some made up story. He really lived,

He really died, and he really was buried Verse fifty.

Now there's a man named Joseph from the Jewish town

of Arimathea. He was a member of the council, and

that means he was a council of the Sanhedrin, the

people who were like the keepers of the temple, a

good and righteous man, that says, who had not consented

to their decision and action. And he was looking for

the Kingdom of God. This man went to Pilot and

asked for the body of Jesus. Then he took it

down and wrapped it in a linen shroud and laid

it in a tomb cut in stone where no one

had ever yet been laid. So this guy is brave

at this moment. This guy, Joseph asked pilot for Jesus' body,

but he actually wasn't alone. Nicodemus was with him. If

you read that in John chapter nineteen. Nicodemus is the

guy who went to Jesus at night and had a

conversation with him. In John chapter three, he was there

with Joseph helping him. When he got Jesus' body together.

They wrapped Jesus's body in linens and spices and aloes.

They were following the Jewish burial customs, which is a

really brave thing to do. Everyone just was at odds

with Jesus, especially from for who the people these guys

ran with. They're the ones who just insided the mobs

to crucify Jesus, and now they're caring for Jesus's body.

But after they follow these burial customs, they put jesus

body in a tomb that had never been used before.

Jesus really did die, and they really did bury his

body in a tomb, and people saw where verse fifty four.

It was the day of preparation and the Sabbath was beginning.

The women who had come with him from Galilee followed

and saw the tomb and how his body was laid.

Then they returned and prepared spices and ointments. On the

Sabbath day they rested according to the commandment. The women

who traveled with Jesus from Galilee, they saw where Jesus

was laid, but because the Sabbath was beginning, they went

home in obedience to the law. And it was there

that they prepared all the stuff so they could come

back and take care of jesus body in case it

wasn't taken care of. But they rested in obedience. But

I think, Luke, it really is saying here is that

there were witnesses. There were actually people who saw and

if I have the worship team come up, that'd be great, please.

There were witnesses who actually saw the tomb where Jesus

was put, where his body was laid. And it wasn't

people just saying, oh, yeah, he was totally buried there.

That's not what people were saying. People saw with their

own eyes where he was buried. And this is important

because there's people who to this day deny the resurrection

of Jesus. And one of the ways they tried to

deny the resurrection of Jesus by denying the death of Jesus.

But they all saw him die. They all saw Jesus die,

and they saw where he was buried. It really happened.

So Luke is telling us here that Jesus really did die.

But why why does any of this matter? Why does

this actually matter? Reason it matters is because if he

didn't die, then there was no sacrifice for sin. If

he didn't die, then we should still be sacrificing animals.

If he didn't die, then we're still in our sins.

If he didn't die, then God's wrath on sin hasn't

been satisfied. If he didn't die, then we still owe

a debt to God for our own sin. If he

didn't die, then we are still unrighteous and cannot stand

in his presence. And if he didn't die, then there

is no resurrection. But he did die. Jesus did die,

and his death tore the curtain of separation between God

and man. There's only one way to God and us,

through Jesus. John fourteen says this, Jesus said to him,

I am the Way and the Truth and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through who me.

It's Jesus talking. No one comes to the Father except

through me. If you want to get to the Father,

you've got to go through the Son. If you want

to get to the Father, you've got to go through

the Son. There is no other way into the presence

of God. There is no other way to peace with God,

our creator. So only through Jesus you must repent of

your sin and believe in Jesus. You put faith in him,

and for those who do, his death paid the penalty

owed for your sin. And that is really, really good news.

Anyone who believes in Jesus is seen as righteous in

God's sight. And I love that because if I look

in the mirror, I do not see righteousness. If any

of us look in the mirror just because we're born,

I'd say it all the time. Kids are in here,

they're doing great. You don't have to teach them to lie.

You don't have to teach them to steal a toy

from another kid. You don't have to teach them to

hit in response to their toy being taken. When we

look in the mirror, we don't see righteousness. But if

we put faith in Jesus, in God's sight, we are righteous.

He sees Christ's blood on us and sees us as righteous,

and those who are righteous can stand before God boldly

in his presence. There is no more separation between man

and the presence of our God. We can walk right in.

Thank you Jesus. Look at Hebrews ten, starting in verse nineteen. Therefore, brothers,

since we have confidence to enter the holy places by

the blood of Jesus, how 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 priest over the house of God,

let us draw near with a true heart and full

assurance of faith. With our hearts sprinkled clean from an

evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let

us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering,

for he who promised is faithful man. That's a good verse,

our good few verses right there. Through Jesus' death that

we can confidently enter the holy places. It's through his

blood that we can stand in the presence of God.

And I want you to listen here to all that

the death of Jesus accomplished for those who believe in him.

This is I'm gonna go through this quick. I don't

even know if the verses were put in there, but

I'm gonna read him to you, so they may not

be on the screen. But Jesus death accomplished our atonement.

That's our forgiveness for sins. Matthew twenty six, twenty eight says,

for this is my blood of the Covenant, which has

poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do

we have them or no? No? Okay, that's totally fine.

I didn't mean to put him up there, so I'm

just gonna read kind of fast Romans three twenty three.

For all have sin and fall short of the glory

of God and are justified by His grace as a

gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom

God put forward as a propitiation for his blood to

be sived by faith. Propitiation is just a satisfaction or

a appeasing of God's demands. Ephesians one seven says in

him Jesus, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness

of our trespasses. That's our sins according to the riches

of his grace. That's amazing. But Jesus death also accomplishes

our justification before God, that means to be declared righteous

in right standing. Romans five to eight says, but God

shows his love for us, and that while we were

still sinners, say, still sinners. While we were still sinners,

Christ died for us. Since therefore you have now been

justified by His blood, how much more shall we be

saved by him from the wrath of God? Thank you

Jesus two Corinthians five twenty one. For our sake. He

made him to be sin who knew no sin. Talking

about Jesus, so that in him we might become the

righteousness of God. We are justified because of the death

of Jesus. Jesus death reconciled us to God. It brought

peace between us and God Romans five to one. Therefore,

since we have been justified by faith, we have peace

with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Just a few

verses later in Romans five and verse ten, for if

while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by

the death of his son, much more now that we

are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life? More

than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord

Jesus Christ. Through whom we have now received reconciliation, you guys,

seeing a theme here Colossians one nineteen through twenty two.

For in him all the fullness of God was pleased

to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things,

whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the

blood of his cross. And you, who were once alienated

and hostile in mind doing evil deeds, he is now

reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in

order to present you wholly and blameless and above reproach

before him and Ephesians two thirteen. But now in Christ Jesus,

you who once were far off, have been brought near

by the blood of Jesus. His death reconciled us. And

like we've already talked about, Jesus death gives us access

to God the Father. One of the lines in the

song who else? What's the line about call us father else?

Who else invites us to call him father man? That

line gets me every time we get access to God

through Jesus death. Ephesians three eleven and twelve. This was

according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ,

Jesus our Lord in whom we have boldness and access

with confidence through our faith in him. Guys, it's a

big deal that Jesus died. It's a big deal that

Jesus died. This is a key thing for us to

know in order to properly understand the fullness of the Gospel.

Jesus had to die in order to fulfill all of

God's requirement for sinful humanity. And we now have peace

with God and can confidently stand in his presence as

his children. That's amazing. And this is all because of

what Jesus did. It's all because Jesus died. But I

have a question. This is all true. We just read

it in the Bible, and the Bible is true. God

is faithful. Where are we tempted to try to enter

into God's presence by some other means. Where are we

tempted to try to enter into God's presence by some

other means? Where are we living like Jesus didn't die.

Where are we living like the curtain is still up,

or like there's even a temple at all. Our bodies

are the temples of God the Holy Spirit. Our bodies are.

We don't have to travel somewhere in order to be

in the presence of God. And this might be a

pro tip here. You don't have to wait for Sunday

to be in the presence of God either. We don't

have to perform any cleansing rituals to be in the

presence of God. We don't have to sacrifice any animals.

We don't have to say enough Hail Mary's. We don't

have to make sure that our good deeds outweigh the

bad ones for the day. Now, if you've put faith

in Jesus, then you are already righteous in God's sight.

You are already righteous in God's sight. Just walk into

his presence boldly. Our pursuit of holiness is always a

response to our salvation, not a requirement for it. This

is really important for us to understand. So I'm going

to say that again. Our pursuit of holiness is always

a response to our salvation. It's not a requirement for it.

It's not by works so that no man may boast salvation.

It's by grace alone, through faith alonet alone. So when

you sin, what's your instinct? What's the first thing you

go to do when you sin? Do you run and

hide from God? Like Adam and Eve did do you

feel shame and try to hide from God. That's living

like the curtains still up, that's living like the temple

still a thing like we don't have access to the

presence of God. Corinthian seven to ten says for godly

grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret,

whereas worldly grief produces death. Our sin brings godly grief

or godly sorrow, and that leads to repentance when we

sin and we feel conviction from God the Holy Spirit.

The reason you sin and feel understanding and what happened,

the line that was crossed between you and God, is

because God's making you feel that God the Holy Spirit

is convicting you of your sin, and that conviction needs

to drive us to God, not away from him. That

feeling that conviction, knowing that what I did cross one

of his boundaries, should drive me to the foot of

the cross, not drive me away from him. Should drive

me into his presence, not away from him. We're already forgiven.

If you've put faith in Jesus all sins, past, present

and future. Because I hate to be the bearer of

bad news, you're going to screw up tomorrow, probably later tonight.

Every single one of those sins was dealt with if

you've put faith in Jesus, because he paid for it

on the cross. His death paid for that. So don't

run from the presence of God when you sin. Run

to the presence of God because you're already forgiven. And

our sin isn't a secret to him. He saw you

do it because he sees everything. He's all knowing. It

wasn't a surprise. He knew you would sin and still

died for you anyway while we were still sinners. Christ

died for us. I mean you read the rest of that.

What Paul's saying there is like someone might possibly dare

to die for someone if they're a good person. But

what's on repeat is we are not good. We say

this at the office all the time. Man bad, God good.

We're not good in our flesh. God is good. So

don't run from God, run to him. I want you

to look at Hebrews chapter four, verse sixteen. I found

a ton of comfort in this verse this week, and

so my hope is that you guys have just as

much comfort in it. Says let us, then with confidence, say,

with confidence, draw near to the Throne of Grace, that

we may receive mercy and find grace to help in

time of need. Where does this say our mercy and

grace comes from. It's the throne of grace, comes from

the Throne of grace. That's where our Lord is sitting

right now. And we're told to draw near with confidence.

That doesn't mean timidly or bashfully when okay, anyone with

kids in here, are they ever timid or bashful when

they ask for something? No, he's our father, So be

a child a little bit. I'm not like saying we

should be children in general, but I'm saying, when it

comes to God, boldly go in to his throne, room

of grace. Confidently draw near the throne because that's where

God is, and that's where mercy and grace are found

in his presence. To boldly go into his presence. This

mercy and grace, these things are meant to help us.

And what does it say it will help us? What

does it say? Somebody say loud when we need it,

that's when we're giving it when we need it in

our time of need. And I can't think of a

time we're more in need than when we fall into sin.

I mean, just think about it for a second. When

you fall into sin, how do you feel? Well? Here

I am again God. You feel helpless, you feel like

you're in need of grace and mercy. Yes, and that's

found in the presence of God. We need to stop

living like Jesus didn't die. Because he did. We need

to stop living like the curtain is still hanging in

the temple. It's through his death, because Jesus really did die,

and is through his death that all who put faith

in him are made righteous. That doesn't say is on

the path to being made righteous, scrape our knees along

the way we are made righteous. We are put in

right standing with God. That he doesn't on us and

say there's still a problem that needs to be fixed

between us. Because the problem was fixed and we can

boldly walk into the presence of God. There is no

more separation between us and God because of what Jesus did.

So let's start living like we have access to the

presence of Almighty God. Amen. Can you guys stand your

feet