The Cost of Forgiveness | Tyler McKenzie

Crossing family, it is so good to be with you as we've been

going through this sermon series, Decisions in the Desert,

because the decisions you make in the desert will define you.

They will determine your destiny.

And I want to welcome those of you joining at all of our

different locations, those of you watching online, and those

of you who are part of our Crossing Inside family.

And to those of you who are here for the first time or the first

time in a long time, we are so incredibly glad that you are

here. I'm excited about this weekend

because we have one of the, in our movement, I believe one of

the most gifted thinkers and communicators come in to preach

to us. So crossing family, you've seen

it before. Would you put your hands

together, Tyler McKenzie? You're too kind.

Too kind. All right, all right.

Well, hey. Cross and fan welcome.

I would like to say. Welcome today to.

Those of you who are here. Welcome to all the campuses,

Welcome to those online, welcome to those watching in the future

on playback. I listen to my sermons.

I'm preaching on Sundays. I listen to my sermons on

podcast in the car on playback. So welcome to y'all in the

future. It's always weird to think about

how is the future. Are kids still wearing Crocs?

Who won the election? You know, like, I'm just

kidding. Why are you watching in the

future rather than here in person at a crossing campus on

the weekend? All right.

But we'll ask those questions and answer those questions

later. Welcome, everybody.

Welcome to all the places, the people.

Again, my name is Tyler. I'm at Northeast Christian

Church in Louisville, KY, and this is my third year last year.

It's my third year in a row coming back to the crossing.

I hope to not screw. That up.

Tonight I would like. For it to be a fourth year

because I love this church I have.

Not met all of you. But for the.

People that I have met 100% of the crossing people I've met are

awesome. Now about. 30% of y'all weird

but 100%? Of y'all are awesome and.

The person who? I love the most in your

congregation and I love everybody because.

Jesus says it has to, but I love your pastor.

Clayton, I mean. This guy can preach First off,

so he is a great. Preacher, and you know him as

Clayton the preacher. You, you may know him as Clayton

the leader. I get an opportunity to know him

as Clayton the friend though, and he is an incredible ministry

friend and in ministry. Especially.

It's good to have some friends you could lean on so.

As the kids do it. Heart hands love you, Clayton

and bromance aside, let's get to the sermon.

Right? Decisions in the desert I love.

This. I love that.

Y'all are tracking Moses story? It is an epic story.

You started in Egypt, you've worked through the wilderness.

You're eventually going to get to the edge of the promised land

in the. You know, leadership.

Transition and all that. But Moses's story is.

About as epic as it. Gets in the scriptures like he's

Egyptian royalty but also comes from scrappy roots he met so

closely. With God, his face glowed, but

also he killed the. Guy once.

CEO level leadership gift. But also had a speech.

Impediment loved his people. So much that he.

Told God I'm willing. To have my legacy removed from

the history books. But also got sowed annoyed with

his people once he ground up a gold idol into dust, put it in

their water and made them drink it.

You think your? Boss is hard on you.

This is Moses now when I looked at the grand.

Scope of your series. Right now you're actually in a

little mini series within the series.

Because the last two weeks, this will be the third week.

Y'all have been looking at the old covenant system of

atonement. That's what we'd call it in

theological terms. And the reason why y'all are

looking at that is because it's one of the most important things

that Moses received from God and 15. 100 years early, it

prefigures Jesus. Like perhaps nothing else in the

Old Covenant or the Old Old Testament.

Maybe the most important thing, Moses.

Received from God is this. System of atonement and the

Israelites people needed it. I don't.

Know if you. Ever thought about this?

But when they came out of Egypt, this was a baby nation.

They had lived in slavery for for many generations.

They didn't know how to run themselves as a people.

So when they get out into into the wilderness, you're a widow

baby and like if. You ever had babies here?

Had young kids? You got to guide them.

You got to give them some guidelines.

You got to give them some rules. If you don't give them rules,

they're eating ice cream every night for dinner.

You know what I'm saying? So they need some rules, and

that's what they get in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and

Deuteronomy. They get the guidelines, the

covenant, the will and the way. Of God.

And a part of that. Law is this.

System of atonement, that. Instructed the people how to fix

their relationship. With God when they sinned and

that's important now it. Had three parts.

First, there was the person. Which is the priest you looked

at that last week? Second, there was the place

which was the temple you looked at.

That two weeks ago today. We're going to look.

At the last aspect. Of this system, that's the.

Sacrifice. All of which, as you know, were

fulfilled in Jesus. He's the highest of high

priests. His body was.

The temple torn down and. Raised back up.

And John the Baptist. Calls Jesus.

The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, and

that'll all. Preach so today.

To complete this little mini series on atonement.

We need to talk about sacrifice and I believe.

This topic is monumental. You will not understand the

Bible if you don't understand the theme of sacrifice.

It's a central theme in Scripture.

It's the foundation of many of the key.

Stories. It's the.

Solution to the human problem. If you don't understand

sacrifice, you won't understand crucifixion, you won't

understand Christian love, you won't understand forgiveness,

you won't understand justice and so much more.

So today I want to help you understand.

So here's where we're going. OK, there's going to be 3

questions that I'm going to answer today.

All right, this is the outline for those of y'all who are note

takers. All right, one, we're going to

talk about the problem that requires the sacrifice

throughout the biblical Canon. 2 We're going to talk.

About the result. Of that sacrifice and then to

end, we're going to talk about the method, the method.

Of the sacrifice you ready, ready cross.

And fam, let's get down to it. First, the problem.

The problem that requires. Sacrifice Quick sidebar if you

read Leviticus. There are several different

kinds of sacrifices and so I want to be clear not.

All the types of sacrifices. Were an answer.

To the problems that they had, I would say that there are two

categories of sacrifices for the Israelites.

There were what I call thank you sacrifices.

And I'm sorry, sacrifices. The thank you sacrifices there

was no problem. These were the.

Peace offerings, the grain offerings and basically.

They were offered to God. Just out of Thanksgiving and.

Gratitude for who he is. And.

What they what He called. Them.

His people. Now, on the flip side though,

there were the, I'm sorry, sacrifices.

Which we're going. To focus on today and the I'm

sorry sacrifices. Dealt with a very specific.

Thing. What did it deal?

With church. There's sin, there's sin, and

that's the problem. That's.

The problem that requires sacrifice, the sin that breaks

the. People's relationship with God

it's interesting if you open your.

Bibles to Leviticus chapter one verse one it talks about Moses

meeting with God and in that verse.

It says that. God spoke to Moses from the

tent, but Moses did not go in the tent.

Now you know why Moses didn't go in the tent.

It's because if you read Exodus, the Israelite people were full

of. Sin.

Tragic. Sin.

And so throughout the book of Leviticus.

It lays out for Moses. This sacrificial.

System and he institute's it. And here's what's crazy.

Moved from Leviticus 11 to Numbers 11, and you know what

Numbers 11 says? It says that God spoke to Moses

in the tent. See, once he instituted the

system of sacrifice, and it took care of the sin of the people.

The. Relationship between he, the

people of God, and God was reconciled.

It's fascinating. Now, if you've done any reading

at all on the Old Testament sacrificial system, you know

it's crazy. Like, it's kind of crazy.

Now it wasn't crazy if you were an ancient person.

In fact, in the ancient world, it would have been crazy for you

and your people not to. Have a sacrificial.

System to manage your relationship.

With the gods, but for us. Today in the enlightened States

of America, anything that seems old we automatically call

regressive and outdated. So the whole sacrificial.

System just seems a bit much to us.

Let me try and explain it to you all right.

For the I'm sorry sacrifices, they followed a certain order

of. Operations first, the Sinner

would. Bring a sacrifice to the temple

next. They would lay a.

Hand on the sacrifice. Do you know what the laying of

hand on the sacrifice symbolized?

The transferral of sin onto the animal Third.

The Sinner, the worshipper would.

Be the one who? Slaughtered the sacrifice.

There, it wasn't a priest. Y'all.

Thought it was the priest, didn't you?

Could you imagine the? Experience of having to

slaughter. An animal for your sin, then

forth. The priest would then proceed.

To collect the blood. Of the animal, sprinkle it on

the altar and then butcher the animal and take pieces of the

meat and fat and burn it there. Now sorry for those of you.

With weak stomachs in the room, but.

Unless. You're a butcher, or maybe a

hunter. That's.

Kind of a lot slaughter. Little fluffy sprinkle his

blood. Then burn them like it feels

extreme. So I want to acknowledge today.

That if you think the sacrificial.

System was extreme it's because. You're right, it was.

Extreme. And it was dealing with an even

more extreme problem. Our sin now pet.

Peeve. Alert to hear Tyler's going to

go off on one of his. Pet peeves for a second.

OK, I just. Let this is one of my pet

peeves. Y'all the reason why this sermon

on the severity of sin and the sacrificial system.

Is so vital for us is because I believe.

That one of the generational. Schemes of the Devil look up

here. One of the generational schemes.

Of the devil is to. Trivialize and erase sin from

our conversations and he's quite successful.

At it. He has many.

Strategies, perhaps his most. Prominent strategy today is to

convince US1 that sin is just too emotionally harmful for us

to talk about anymore. Especially with our kids.

I believe it is the evil one who has convinced an entire

generation of parents it is. It's just too emotionally

harmful that we live in a cultural moment right now that

says that. Young people are so fragile.

It'll crush them to say, hey, there's such a thing as evil in

the world. It's what's destroying the

world. It's in you, it's in me, and

something needs to be done about it.

So let's just protect them. Let's tell them they're special

and that they can accomplish anything they set their mind to.

Now I'll tell you like this. This parenting approach is a

little. Bit of a different approach than

the way I was. Raised 30 years ago.

If I had to explain how my parents and my daddy.

Was a preacher. So I explained how my parents

approached the topic of my sinfulness.

I could do it in a picture. Can you throw it up there?

The spoon. And who is having a trauma

response right now? Are you OK?

You see? Kids, back in the 1900s, wooden

spoons weren't actually used for stirring chili.

That was just a way to disguise. Them from the cops.

They were actually used for beating the devil out your kids.

I. Grew up in a town where anybody

could whip you. Your Mama could whip you.

Your friend's Mama could. Whip you.

Your teacher could give you a whip and your coach could give

you a whip. The old man who you didn't know

and aisle 3 at the food line could say come here boy, I'm

about to teach you some respect. It's just.

It was a different time, and that was probably a bit much,

but young people today listen. Apparently any message at all

about your personal evil is just too offensive.

For your delicate egos. Don't tell the teenagers they're

sinners. It might hurt them and so no one

talks about it anymore. Which is tragic because.

Sin is the problem that Jesus came to to.

Defeat. So look, I respect.

Y'all too much emerging generation and I know y'all are

way tougher than people give you credit.

For so I drove 7 hours from. Kentucky to tell you today that

I'm a Sinner, you're a Sinner, and we need a.

Sacrifice and I got good. News.

We have one and I'll tell. You if you have pastors that

talk regularly with you about your.

Sin both gently yet honestly. Then you should be grateful for

that. Today there are many ministries.

That preach what I would. Call self esteemism, and that's

only half the gospel. God accepts you just the way you

are. Well, true, but he doesn't leave

you that way. You don't have.

To hate yourself. Well, true.

But you also have to deny yourself, take up your cross,

and follow Him. We're all children of God.

OK, that's totally not true. Did you know that we're not all

children of God? It's interesting.

Today we like to confuse the doctrine of the image of God

with the doctrine of adoption. And they're two different

things. The doctrine of the image.

Of God says everybody is. Inherently.

Valuable because God has. Stamped his image on every human

being but the doctrine of adoption and these are.

The words of Jesus. John 112 says to all who believe

and accept him, Jesus gives the right to become children of God,

so even. Jesus had a theology of.

Sin and he talked about it he didn't think he.

Of us were too soft. To hear about our sin.

And yet this is one of the strategies of the devil to

convince us that it's just too emotionally harmful.

He has other strategies he tries.

To get us to change the language around sin.

Oh, it's just a mistake. It was a little white lie.

No big. Deal.

What's the HR terminology? It's a growth opportunity, and

all that serves to do is trivialize what's.

Killing us. Another one of his strategies is

to convince us. Just deny it.

Deny the unpopular. Stuff.

There are some popular. Sins that everybody calls sins,

right? Racism is bad and.

Racism is terrible. I hate racism.

It is a sin, but it's not. Hard to say that today.

But then there are some sins that it is.

Hard to say you. Know you're not supposed to

bring that into. Popular discussion.

So what a lot of people do is they just don't talk about it,

or they're even convinced themselves that the Bible

doesn't actually. Say that like if.

You turn the Bible upside down and read it like this and watch

this one minute TikTok theology video.

Then what you'll see is that 2000 years of Christian history

got it wrong. Another strategy is to blame it

all. Away we are.

Living in the most victimized. Culture, everyone.

Wants to blame sin off on their childhood, or on their parents,

or on their government, or on the church.

It's anybody's fault but mine. But in the.

Words of the great prophet Doctor Phil.

You got. One finger pointed at them.

But three pointed. Right back at you.

All right, so. We can't just be blaming.

It away. And then, of course, another

strategy. If all else fails, just.

Threaten God I. Hear people say say this.

All the time they'll say, well, I couldn't believe in a God.

Who would say or who would require this or that?

So here's the thing. You know, when we accept these

depersonalized explanations of sin, guess what?

Sin never gets dealt with. Sin never gets healed.

It locks us into bad actions, and those bad actions turn into

bad habits, and those bad habits turn into bad.

Lives we got to deal. With our sin.

I once heard a theologian say this.

He said sin is an unwillingness to trust God's vision.

For what's best for us. He's the designer, after all.

Or or let me secularize. That for you, for those.

Of you who are not Christian, let me secularize this into a

universal law, because this is a universal.

Law, Christian or not? I think you would agree with me

when you. Violate the way.

Things are designed, chaos ensues is what Christians will

call sin. I'll give you an example.

Ladies and gentlemen, do you know what this is right here?

This is is what This is a toaster.

Very good. And do you know what?

Toasters. Are designed to do toast.

It's a toaster. I think I got this toaster from

the staff lounge backstage. The Black and Decker toaster.

It's not in good. Shape you should take better

care of your staff. Anyhow, all right, let me ask

you a question if I were to take.

A piece of of raw. Hamburger meat and put it

together in a Patty and put it in this toaster and turn it on.

How would that toaster? Do at cooking burgers, not.

Good. We'd pull it out.

It'd be baked a little bit half baked, but the.

Burger would still be moving and some of y'all.

Like your burgers like that? Which is disgusting, but that's

your your own choice. Let me ask you this question.

And this toaster is live, so. Let's just let's just see what

how would the toaster? Respond If we turned it into a

water filtration system, I'm just kidding.

It's not plugged in, but. How would how would it respond?

Not good. It would destroy me.

Probably catch a couple people in the front row complete,

create complete and total destruction around us.

Now listen to me preach here for a second.

Listen to me preach. You.

Are a cosmic toaster and. No wonder.

No wonder your. Life feels half baked.

You're a toaster. Trying to cook burgers?

That ain't what you're made to do.

No wonder your life is. Short.

Circuiting and it's destroying you and everyone.

Around you, you're a toaster. Trying to filter water?

That ain't what you. Were created to do.

Do you see? Do you see?

This is the concept of sin. So the the Christian obsession

with naming sin it it isn't about making.

People feel bad. Why you?

Got to talk about sin all the time.

Makes me feel it's. Not about that it's.

About making the most of your life, whatever your problems are

sins underneath it. And that's the problem that God

gave us the method of. Sacrifice to deal with.

And it's an extreme problem. Now that brings us to the second

point about sacrifice. We've established the problem.

It's sin. God gave us the method.

It's sacrifice. What's the result?

Second, what's the result of the sacrifice?

Well, it's what we would. Call forgiveness or

reconciliation in our relationship.

With God or? Atonement.

A restored relationship now for those of you.

Who are skeptics? Like me, you may be thinking to

yourself. OK, but how to sacrifice?

How does put my hand on an animal or whatever like forgive

me or maybe you might even say. Like why?

Why does God? Even need a.

Sacrifice. Why can't God just.

Sort of, I don't know, forgive. Snap his fingers and forgive us?

Why do we have to slaughter an animal?

Well, let me give you another law of the universe here and

again, Christian or not. You just have to agree with this

because this is the way things are.

Another law of the universe. I have I have observed that.

Every wrong done must be paid for by someone.

Have you observed this everyone? And the bigger the wrong done.

The costlier, the priced, It's just how life.

Works. There's no such thing as just

snapping your fingers and forgiving.

OK. I'll give you a couple examples.

Again, let's do. Let's do an economic one, let's

say. You know, next week.

You have some friends over for a football game and your buddy's

watching his team and your buddy's got a little bit of a

fiery temper and his team is getting their rear ends kicked.

All over the field so. So in a moment.

Of rage your buddy grabs. Your remote control.

I would never do this by the way, because I'm a Bengals fan

and they always win so. He grabs your remote control.

And he spikes it on the floor. And it just explodes everywhere.

In that moment, a wrong has been done and you have two choices. 1

You can make him pay. $20.00 please I'm going to need to get

a new remote bro. Then mow me or two.

Two. You can forgive him, but if you

forgive him, who has to pay? You pay you.

Either got to fork out the 20 bucks for a new remote.

Or you have to suffer. From living without a functional

remote on your television. But either way, someone has to

pay. Are you following me?

Let me give you another example. I'll give you a social example.

Let's say in your community there's a serial murderer.

Serious. And they get caught and.

Drug before the judge and the judge.

Looks at him and says we know. Yeah, I look sorry.

To me. Is that how it works?

You're forgiven. Forgiven, you can go free.

Now, if a judge did. That to a serial murderer.

There would be total communal. Outrage.

And the reason why is because the community understands that

if he doesn't pay, then we all pay.

The victims must pay because they receive no justice.

The community will pay because this psychopath.

Has been let loose on the streets and there's no

meaningful deterrence in your law or justice system to keep

others from doing the exact same thing.

So you see. At the end of the day.

Somebody's got to pay. You see how this works?

This is the law of the universe y'all Every.

Wrong done must be paid for by someone, and the bigger the

wrong. The costlier, the price.

You can't just snap your fingers and forgive.

Forgiveness is. Never without a price.

When you choose to forgive someone, you know what you're

choosing. You're choosing voluntary

suffering. You're choosing to.

Step in and substitute yourself and pay for their debt.

Which brings us to. The third aspect of sacrifice.

And scripture the method. You know what?

The method. Of the sacrifice is.

Substitution. Voluntary substitution.

Voluntary suffering. This method was established.

On Passover during the 10th plague, when we see the blood of

the lamb spread on the doorposts, the lamb was

substituted for the first born. Of Israel, we see this.

This method codified into the law in.

Leviticus through the sacrificial.

System and we see this method exemplified for us by.

Jesus. On the cross, John the Baptist

calls Jesus the Lamb of. God, why?

The Lamb of God who takes. Away the sins of the world.

Because he is our substitute. So the idea here is that we're

rebels. You and I are rebels.

We're guilty. We're.

Standing in the divine courtroom of God and we have no.

Way to justify our. Sin No.

Way to pay our debt. The debt is too big.

There's too many of us. We're in trouble and right.

About as we're about. To be sentenced.

Jesus stands and he says, you know what?

I'll. Pay.

I'll pay the debt. And only I can afford it

anyways. An eternal life for an eternal

debt. An innocent God for a sinful

humanity. All.

Pay for their sins. Is it starting to make sense?

For you. OK, so the theologian who I feel

like. Explained this best in history

was an 11th century Italian named Anselm.

Have you heard of Anselm? He argued.

That when you add up the sin debt of all of humankind.

The price to be paid is so. Large that no man or woman can

pay it, only God himself has the infinite resources to.

Pay a debt so big. But on the flip side.

He also argued that while God is.

The only one who can afford it, humanity is the only one who.

Ought to pay it. Because it's our sin.

So if only God can afford it, but if only we.

Ought to pay it. The logic is.

We need someone. A substitute who is.

God enough to have the infinite resources, but also human

enough. To.

Pay for our sin and stand in our stead.

And that is exactly. How the scriptures describe

Jesus the God man, Hebrews. Chapter 10 verse one says this.

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

The author of Hebrews writes. The old system under the Law of

Moses. That's the Leviticus sacrificial

system. It was only a shadow, a dim

preview of the good things to come.

But it was not the good things themselves, the sacrifices under

that system. Were repeated.

Again and again, year after year.

But they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for

those who came to worship. If they could have provided.

Perfect cleansing. The sacrifices would have

stopped for. The worshippers would have been

purified once for all time and their feelings of.

Guilt would have disappeared. But instead, those sacrifices

actually reminded them of their sins year after year.

For it is not. Possible for the blood of.

Bulls and goats to take away sins, so you see.

The text here actually highlights.

The perpetual insufficiency of the Old Covenant sacrificial

system. For some reason there was

something. About those sacrifices.

That couldn't quite make the. Sinner Perfect.

There was something incomplete, temporary, about this

sacrificial system. Or basically the author of.

Hebrews is saying you needed a better lamb and Jesus the God

man is the better lamb, Hebrews 10 verse 10 goes on it says.

Hebrews 10:10

For God's will. Pay attention to this.

This is so important. For God's will for us.

To be made holy excuse. Me for God's will.

Was for us to be made holy. By the sacrifice of the body of

Jesus. Christ once for all time.

Once once for all time. Under the Old Covenant, the

priest stands and ministers. Before the altar, day after day.

Offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never

take away sins. But.

Our high priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for

sins good for all time, and then he sat down in the place of

honor at God's right hand. There he waits until his enemies

are humbled and made a footstool under.

His feet for by that. One offering he forever made.

Perfect those. Who are being made holy?

Beautiful. Now I want you to notice in this

passage. That the scriptures go out their

way to. Explain that Jesus did not go to

the cross in weakness. Being sacrificed feels weak,

doesn't it? But the scriptures go out their

way to say that Jesus. Was not arrested against his own

goodwill. He was not cuffed and drugged to

the cross, kicking and screaming in fact.

If you watch the last 24 hours of his life.

As he's sacrificing himself. You see the life of Jesus spark

with. Tremors of supernatural fury and

glory and power in the Garden of Gethsemane.

He's praying and Judas brings. What could be?

Hundreds of Roman soldiers armed to the hilt to arrest him.

They ask the disciples. Where is Jesus?

And do you know what Jesus says back to them?

According to the Gospel of John, He says the name.

Of God, he says I. AM.

And when those words explode in the air, the Gospel of John says

that Judas and all the soldiers fall on their backs.

They just fall over. It's incredible.

And it's to show us that Jesus. Has the power.

He has the power. So what?

Does he do next with his enemies on their back?

He gives them his hands and they cuff him.

As they're about to drag. Him away.

Peter says it's it's go. Time and he pulls out his sword

and draws first blood. In that same scene in Matthew,

Jesus actually says. Did you know that just out of

your sight? Right now there are legions of

angels that I could call upon, and they would.

Wreck these fools. But what does Jesus do in this

moment where he could win the fight?

He picks Malchus. 'S ear up.

Off the ground, heals him and then continues.

To walk towards the. Voluntary sacrifice the.

Voluntary substitution later at his trial with Pilate a Pilate.

Looks at him, he's. Trying to get Jesus to.

Give him anything so that he can let him go.

It's interesting that Jesus has this moment with with.

Pilate where he says look. The only reason you have any

authority over me at all. Is because it was.

Given to you from above. What Pilate doesn't know is that

Jesus is the king of the above. This is like the worst.

Episode of Undercover Boss ever. Because what Jesus knows.

Is that Pilate is like. 100 rungs removed from him on the

org. Chart his under servant.

And yet. What does Jesus do?

He. Allows his under servant to

sentence him. He goes to the.

Cross in power. Even on the cross he adjudicates

a soul offers. Eternal salvation.

You remember the criminal next to him on the cross looks to him

and he says, I think you're the dude, man.

Will you forgive me and like? Jesus looks at me, he says.

You me paradise. Today.

Wow. Think about that.

He's the adjudicator. Of souls and in a.

Breath, he sets this soul. Free and then in his last.

Breath. He sets us all free.

Praise God in Matthew. 'S gospel, he tells.

That when Jesus died, at that moment the curtain in the temple

was torn from top to bottom, signifying that the temple

system was done, a better lamb had been sacrificed once, and.

For all. Now I want you to understand.

This whole idea of of God. Being crucified, sacrificed,

this was unthinkable. For the Israelites, God was holy

other the idea that he would. Come down and become our sin and

pay our debt. The crucifixion was was totally

unexpected. And I'll tell you what.

If you think that animal. Sacrifice was brutal.

Let me tell you about. Crucifixion.

It was brutal. It's fascinating how crosses has

they've become ornamentation for us.

Every time I see a cross anymore, it's pretty sunlit in

stained glass, backlit on a stage, candlelit at an altar.

We've turned them into tattoos and jewelry and wall hangings,

and I believe too much of this actually anesthetizes the cross.

It makes it. Difficult to be shocked by the

cruelty. Of the nails in the flesh, and

the blood, and the wood, and the death.

First they flogged Jesus. You know what flogging was?

Basically they would take a a. Whip with 9 leather strands on

it that had rock and animal bone and glass and pottery Shard

embedded into the leather. And then they would take the

criminal who was Jesus in this situation.

They would tie his arms to a post so that the skin on the

back was. Tight.

And then a soldier would stand on each side of the criminal and

from shoulder down to opposite calf.

They would. Take turns whipping, creating an

X on the back, filleting the skin so that often times the

criminal's. Body would just fall apart

after. They flogged him.

They mocked him. The Roman soldiers were only

asked to do 2 things to Jesus, flog him and crucify him.

Mocking was not what Pilot asked, but they went above and

beyond the calling in Matthew chapter 27.

Matthew 27 · chapter mention

It says that Pilate. Released Barabbas to them and

then he ordered Jesus. Flogged with a lead tipped.

Whip then turned over to the Roman.

Soldiers to be crucified and. Check this out.

It says some of the governor's soldiers took Jesus into their

headquarters. They.

Didn't have to do this. They called out the entire

regiment. They stripped him, put a scarlet

robe on him. Think of the cruelty of this.

Then they wove a a crown of thorn put it on his head.

Placed a Reed. Stick in his hand.

As a scepter. And then they knelt before him

in mockery and taunted Hail King of the Jews, and then they spit

on him, and they grabbed the stick and struck him on the head

with it. And then they were finally tired

of mocking him. They took.

Off the robe put. His own clothes on him again and

took him away. To be crucified.

And crucify him they did. After the flogging Jesus body

would have been in shock from a night without sleep, food and

water. All the pain and.

Blood he's already lost. No wonder he only.

Lasts 6 hours up there. Many people believe that

crucifixion was the most cruel method of execution, because it

was. Death by torture.

They would literally draw. Out the dying process as long as

they could, and as Jesus is up. There being tortured I want.

You to imagine what is Jesus thinking?

What is he seeing as he hangs there on the cross?

Well, one artist imagined it for us.

I want to show you a painting. It's a favorite painting of

mine. It was done by a 17th century

Dutch artist known as Rembrandt. The piece is called.

Raising the cross. And if you look at the whole

picture at. First glance, the painting looks

like many works done from the Renaissance period.

The cross is being lifted. The scene's.

Dark, the faces are lost. In the dimness of the shadows.

But what makes Rembrandt's painting stand out?

Is if you look. Closely, right there in the

middle, there's a man at the foot.

Of the cross. Clearly dressed in 17th century.

Clothing with his little little. Hat and what?

Light blue pinstripes and what's?

He doing? What's he doing?

He's pulling the cross. With the the the soldiers.

Into place. He's crucifying Jesus.

Or in other words, Rembrandt. Painted himself into the cross,

right? There at the feet of Jesus,

where there could be no. Doubt of his guilt and

complicity, Rembrandt painted himself into the cross.

Right there at the feet of Jesus, where there could be no

doubt that he received the grace.

And forgiveness of it. Rembrandt painted himself in To

the cross. And I might.

Ask you today, have you? You see, you know what I think

Jesus saw as he hung there? What he didn't see.

Were angels or the Father my God?

My God, why have you abandoned me?

What he didn't see was any rescue insight.

He saw his mother weeping. He saw the soldiers gambling.

He saw the religious leaders. Taunting him.

And perhaps, just perhaps. I believe he saw you.

And he saw me, Hebrews 12/1 tells us.

After all it. Says let us run with endurance

the race. That is set before us.

Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfector of faith.

Who for the joy set before him for the what for the joy set?

Before him endured the cross, despising the shame for the.

Sake of the joy set before him. He endured the cross.

What was the Joy set? Before him, your forgiveness, my

forgiveness, it was you and me, our freedom.

The Apostle Paul. Writes this in Colossians 213.

He. Says you were dead.

Because of your sins, and because your sinful nature was

not yet cut away, then God made you alive.

With Christ, for he forgave. All our sins he cancelled the

record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it

to. The Cross.

Fascinating. Or in other words.

Through the eyes of. Scripture we see between Jesus's

hand and the wood of the. Cross a list?

A list. Longer than we'd like to admit.

A list that perhaps? We'd all like to hide, but it's

a record of. Our sins, and we see them

disappearing, fading away as they're covered.

By the blood, so look. You have a great problem.

It's your sin. You need a great solution.

Need forgiveness and I have good news today.

You have a great substitute. It's Jesus.

Behold the Lamb of God who takes away.

The sins of the world. So I don't know what.

The debt is. You've been unable to pay.

I don't know what the regret or the shame is that you've been

unable to shake. I don't know what the.

Guilt is. That you've been unable to

forget. I don't know what the addiction

is that you've been unable to kick.

I don't know what the emptiness is that you've been unable to

feel. I don't know what the wrong is

that you've been unable to make right.

I don't know your sin. I don't need to know your sin

because I know your Savior. Do you know Him?

I pray today that you would. I pray today.

That you would nail. That list to the cross as we

hand it over to our campus pastors for a time of decision.

And I just want to be very, very clear in this moment.

I want to lay it out as clear as, as as possible.

Every single one of us in this room, including myself,

including those who are watching online, we have a problem that

requires a sacrifice, we have a problem that requires a

cleansing, and we have a problem that requires a substitution.

Romans is very clear that all have sinned and fall short of

the glory of God, and that includes me.

Listen, and that includes you. And if you are living your life

right now in this current moment without trusting Jesus as your

personal Lord and Savior, you have no coverage.

You have no sacrifice that covers you.

You have no substitution. When you come face to face with

God, which every single one of us, we're going to face it when

this life is up or when He comes and He encounters us before

that. You will come face to face and

you will be judged by your own merit.

I don't know about you, but that's scary for me.

Your imperfections, what you have accomplished and it's not

going to matter. I mean how good you are, how

good a dad you are, what family you came from, how much money

you have, how much time you you, you use to serve others and be

this great citizen. It won't be sufficient.

Your sacrifice will not cover the bill when you trust in the

name of Jesus and you believe in his work on the cross and His

power over the grave and in his resurrection, and you trust Him

as your personal Lord and Savior.

His sacrifice on the cross is what we will be judged upon.

No longer will the Father see your merit, your sin.

He will see his perfect Son, His perfection, his perfect

sacrifice. And so if you've never started

it, if you never heard before how loved you are and cared for

you are, that you are created in the image of God, but you want

to claim, hey, I want to be his son.

I want to be his daughter. You want to walk inside that

relationship with him in just a little bit.

We're going to stand, every single one of us in this room.

We're going to stand and we're going to worship our great high

priest. We're going to praise him for

all that he's done and all that he is and his love that endures

forever. And if that's you, you've never

started a relationship, but you want to today.

You can walk out of here in freedom as a new child of God.

I'm going to be right over there by the baptistry if you're like,

I have questions. I don't have this all figured

out. Some of this doesn't make sense

to me. All this sacrificial system was

was confusing and but now I'm starting to understand it and I

want to walk in the freedom of Jesus.

Tonight is a night you can walk out in freedom and if you're

online right now, there's a chat host that would love to do the

same thing with you. They would walk with you and and

help you take that next step in Jesus Christ.

I would encourage you. That is the very best thing you

can do before you leave this moment.

You're a follower of Jesus if you've been walking with him for

a while. One of the things I heard as a

Christian tonight through this message, through the passage in

Hebrews, is that we have been made holy once and for all time

through Christ, through Jesus. And you walked in this room

tonight and you're like, I don't feel holy.

I don't feel set apart. Maybe you're entangled in some

sin. Maybe you're walking, oh, like

he was talking about with some shame and some guilt and some

fear. And you're just like, I don't

feel it. I want you to be reminded that

because of Christ, you were made holy once and for all time

through His sacrifice and during this time of worship for us as

Christians. If you feel like you've just

walked away, come back to Him tonight.

Get on your knees and cry out and humble yourself before the

Lord. Thank Him for His sacrifice, for

His covering, for His blood shed on that cross.

I don't know about you, but when we were walked through what

Jesus endured for US1. I feel sadness, but on the other

hand, I feel, I feel victory. I feel, I feel excitement

because my Savior laid His life down for me.

And maybe tonight as we worship, maybe we just give Him all

praise, all glory. King Jesus, you, my friends,

have been redeemed. You, my friends, have been

forgiven, and you, my friends, are loved.

So let's encounter this Savior. Let's come to Him with an

attitude of just thankfulness for all that He has given us and

all that He offers us through His sacrifice.

Would you stand with me? Let's respond in this moment of

worship. Heavenly Father, thank you so

much for the opportunity to give you glory, to give you praise.

Thank you, Jesus, for being the perfect sacrifice.

We couldn't do it. We don't do it.

We don't measure up our merit could never pay the penalty,

could never cover what we have done, but it's only through the

power and the blood of Jesus that we are covered.

God, I pray right now if we feel far from you, we don't feel set

apart, that we would run right back to you in your arms and we

would humble ourself. And in your word, it says when

we come close to you, you come close to us.

So God, I pray that we draw near to you in this moment of

response, this moment of worship.

We pray all this in the name of Jesus, Amen.