Core Strength Workout: Joy - Part 5

I'm live.

Okay.

All right, you guys, we'll start now.

So we'll continue with our series on core strength.

We were talking about core strength as being joy, but before that a few quick announcements.

One, there's a baby shower for Prashant and Yetu's baby, and that's on October 26th.

The ladies will receive an email with regard to what else they need to know, so that's

on the 26th.

Just wanted to announce that.

And then if you see Shiloh, it was Shiloh's birthday yesterday, so make sure he knows

that you know.

Yeah, I think he's off to the Sunday school already, so if you see him, make sure you

let him know.

And Nick is going to New York after the service, and Shireen is going to India and Dubai, so

they will be missing for a little while.

Thanks, man.

And we've been talking about core strength, core strength, and how joy is supposed to

be one of the core strengths that every believer has, so this is part five of it.

And today we'll talk about the joy of hide and seek with God, the joy of hide and seek

with God.

We've been talking about how, unlike David, we do not know what it is to long for, to

to long for, to yearn for God.

And we've been talking about that, so if you listen to the messages in the past, you'll

get an idea of that.

Am I good, Brandon?

Okay.

So if you read Deuteronomy 33-12, it's about Benjamin, eh?

And here's what it says about Benjamin.

It says,

Let the beloved of the Lord, let the beloved of the Lord rest secure in him, let the beloved

of the Lord rest secure in him, for he shields him day and night or all day long.

And I love the next part.

And the one the Lord loves and the one the Lord loves rests between his shoulders.

Crazy, eh?

You wonder whether John knew about the scripture, because that's where you find John.

John would literally live out the scripture, where he would rest between Jesus' shoulders.

You wonder whether he got the idea from Deuteronomy 33-12, where it says that Benjamin was the

beloved of the Lord, and then John takes the same language, eh?

And he calls himself the beloved of the Lord, the one that the Lord loves most.

You'd almost think that the guy copied and pasted from Deuteronomy 33-12.

And so, let the beloved of the Lord rest secure in him, for he shields him all day long, and

the one that the Lord loves, the one that the Lord loves rests between his shoulders.

It's the idea of someone putting his head on your chest and just resting there.

Sometimes like a baby, sometimes like one who is a...

This is where the word bosom friend comes from, like John was with Jesus, or someone

who's a lover.

We've been talking about that, eh?

That intimacy with God is not possible if you don't see God in his personhood.

And his personhood is either displayed in his fatherhood or in Christ being your friend,

because that's what he says about you.

He says, hey, Mark, you're not my servant, you're my friend.

If you were a servant, you wouldn't know what I was doing.

But because you're a friend, I let you in.

Or you can go to the Holy Spirit, and now the Holy Spirit is someone who sticks closer

than a brother, and you can interchange.

Why do you want God to be a father, a lover, a friend?

But unless we deal with the personhood of God, it is impossible for us to get intimate with

him.

And when we do, our language changes, because the language of intimacy is far, far beyond,

hallelujah, praise the Lord, worthy, holy.

Try that with your wife.

Doesn't work.

It has to go beyond that.

The language of intimacy has to go beyond that, and it only happens when I begin to

treat God as a person.

We talked about that.

And then we come to this, where we see public expressions or displays of God and people

in love.

So it was this with Benjamin, and then we see an actual portrayal of it in the Song

of Songs, where it's Christ and the bride, and then we see it between Christ and John.

Why can't we have the same?

That's been the intent of the last five teachings.

It's not so much joy, it is enjoying God.

It's enjoying God.

Enjoying God.

Or in this case, we could change the title to Enjoying, Hide and Seek with God.

Enjoying, hide and seek with God.

Any questions before we go on?

I don't know if there's a question, but is there a hierarchy between the two worlds?

Is there a hierarchy to the relationships?

No.

There's depth to relationships with God, but there is no hierarchy.

Like if you take John, he was the youngest of them all.

So I meant more like...

Oh, in terms of the triune God.

Yeah.

No.

Because like it or not, if you go to the Holy Spirit, eventually his intent is to point

you to Jesus.

If you go to Jesus, his intent is to point you to the Father.

I have come to show you the Father.

The Holy Spirit says, I have come to reveal Christ to you.

And if you go to the Father, he'll say, if you want to know me, I am the invisible God.

Let me point you to the visible Christ.

And when you look at Christ, he says, if you want to know me, let me point you to the Holy

Spirit because I didn't leave you orphans.

I put myself in you so that you may live with me.

So there's this amazing harmony between the triune God and yet we can connect with him

in his personhood.

This is a brilliant God, eh?

Who had everything set up.

And now he's saying, guys, please enter in.

Please don't leave me at holy, hallelujah, worthy and praise the Lord.

It has to be more than that.

The angels can't have this relationship, guys.

So let them do the holy, holy for a while.

Let's change to something a little more intimate.

I'm not saying we shouldn't say that, but please try and understand where we want to go.

Yeah, I would say that it doesn't matter who you seek in the three-person triune God.

They all have the same will, the same intent, a kind of unity that we can't even imagine.

So it doesn't matter who you seek direction from.

Just...

What I'm trying to say is if I go seek directions from God, I'll go ask the Father, or I'll

ask the Holy Spirit, or I'll ask Jesus the Son.

It doesn't matter because at the end of the day, at different times in my life, I'm relating

to God sometimes as a father, sometimes as savior and messiah and Christ and master,

sometimes as one who sticks closer than a brother, sometimes all three at three different

times during the day.

And so I wouldn't clinically divide him that way because in a sense, the Lord our God,

the Lord is one.

So one of the things that happens to us guys, and this is not to pick on Mark, but we suffer

from something called the paralysis of analysis where we begin to analyze it so deeply that

we just get totally messed up.

This is at the end of the day, remember who God is primarily, and I've said this before

and it's worth repeating, that at the end of the day, the one distinguishing factor

about the Christian God is that he is a father.

You take that away, you don't have a Christian God.

He is referred to in Luke as the, Adam is referred to as the son of God.

When he talks about being a God, he talks about being the God of Abraham, Isaac and

Jacob, it's a generational pattern of fathers and sons.

In Ephesians 3, 16 to 18, you hear him saying, I bow my knee before the father from whom

all families take their names.

The first thing that happens when the Holy Spirit comes into your heart is what?

The Abba cry, taken out of slavery into adoption so that the first cry that comes out from

a believer's heart is that of father.

When he rises from the grave, the first words he speaks to Mary is, go tell my brothers

that I'm going to their father and my father.

At the end of the day, you take away the fatherhood of God, you do not have a Christian God.

He is so father that it's a one thing that if we don't wrap our heads around, regardless

of the fact that we may have had abusive fathers or absentee fathers, regardless of that, know

this for certain that God has put in every man an understanding of what a good father

looks like.

It is so deep that because we don't know it, all of us are born orphans, some of us

are orphans that have been abused and have a hatred towards our physical fathers or mothers,

but the fact remains that every person knows, boy, girl, everyone knows what it is to have

an ideal father.

That will never be taken away from us.

Because when he made us, he made us his children.

How many since Christ he restores us as children.

To everyone who called upon him, he gave them the right to be called the children of God,

John 1.

One of the things God really wants us to do is he wants to say to us, listen, I created

you so that you can enjoy what my son, Jesus, has with me.

That's one of his intents.

I was created to enjoy what Jesus has with the father.

I was created to enjoy what Jesus has with the father.

What does he have most?

It's not the riches according to the glory of Christ in Philippians 4.19.

What are the three distinguishing marks of Jesus that Jesus always has had with the father?

One, affection.

Two, intimacy.

Three, trust.

These are three things that he has had since eternity and will always have till the end

of time.

And so, I mean, you don't have the end of time because eternity is forever.

But at the end of the day, these are three things that Jesus has with the father.

He's always had this with the father.

When he says, take my yoke upon you, this is the yoke he's talking about.

This yoke is easy and light.

This is the only yoke that he's been wearing since the beginning of time.

He says, my yoke is easy and light.

Come, let me teach you.

Walk with me.

I'll teach you how to walk under this.

Christians have been so scared of the yoke that Jesus is going to put on you.

But he says it's easy and light.

What has he been wearing since the beginning of time that only his father has given him?

Throughout scriptures and into the book of Hebrews, the one thing you find continuously

about Jesus is that there's great affection between him and the father.

You can hear it in the father's speech at different times during baptism just before

going to the cross.

And isn't it so sad if I am not able to capture this at least five times during a regular

day?

Affection, intimacy, trust.

Great affection like you have for your spouse or your child.

Great intimacy like you have with your spouse or your child.

Great trust that you have towards your spouse and that your child has towards you to be

experienced on a daily basis many times during the day.

And it is a habit.

It must be created.

How do you create a habit?

Every time you forget it, you start again.

That's the only way to create a habit.

How do you create a habit?

Every time you realize as shucks forgot all about it, you start again.

That's how you create a habit.

And some of us will run faster than the others just because the habit is now creating desire.

Delight creates a habit which creates a desire.

Delight creates a habit which creates a desire.

Delight creates a habit which creates a desire.

Once these three come together, gosh man, you got it made.

And remember, Jesus had to learn this through.

He didn't automatically come saying, I love the Father, I love the Father.

No, he had to learn this through.

He grew in wisdom, stature, favor with God and man.

He had to learn it.

By the time he was 12, he was so fluent in it.

So it is available for all of us, including your kids.

This is just nuts.

It is your daily portion.

I don't know how far we'll get today.

It is your daily portion.

It is your daily portion, as in the Breakfast of Champions.

It is your daily portion to have or to experience the love of God poured out on you by the Holy Spirit.

Romans 5, 5.

It is your daily portion.

Everybody sitting here, it is your daily portion to have the love of God poured out on you.

Not a dribble, poured out on you.

Which means then tomorrow waits for me.

Tomorrow waits for me.

It waits for me to wake up so that I can be saturated, drenched once again in what I was saturated and drenched today.

And you can go in for as many refills.

Refills are free.

It is my daily portion.

It's what sustains the child.

And we come back to the same dilemma we always have.

We do not have time.

But time can be created.

How do we create time?

By prioritizing something.

How do we prioritize something?

By liking it enough.

How do we like something enough?

By tasting it.

God is a God who is interested in experiences.

He wants to give you an experience of Him.

Faith gets you to the experience.

Experience is supposed to now cause you to catapult in faith or have faith gather such momentum.

But if you do not taste, you will not know.

And the church is avoiding the taste of God.

I know it feels so alien, right, when we talk about this?

One of the things that's happening all across the earth, doesn't matter how good a church it is or how lousy a church it is.

Churches are becoming functional before they become intimate.

What would you prefer?

Would you prefer a wife who is highly functional or would you prefer a wife who is highly intimate?

The answer is both.

But which comes first?

Intimacy must come first.

Functionality comes after.

To have a functional wife who is not intimate is a pits man.

And to have an intimate wife who is not functional, you'll want to rent a hotel room every night because you don't want to come home.

But when both work together, it must be intimacy first and then functional.

God desires this and it's the same desire that He has of you.

What good are you, Jacob, if you preach well, if you do not know what it is to be intimate with me?

Because you're being highly functional but you have no intimacy.

At some point you will run out of oxygen.

It's the same in a marriage, right?

You can fill your head with a whole lot of academic Hebrew and Greek and it means nothing if you can't say, I love you in Greek.

I mean it passionately in Hebrew.

Neither of which I know.

Here's a question.

Are you consciously resting between His shoulders?

Are you consciously resting between His shoulders?

Are you consciously resting between His shoulders?

Is it possible for me, as I'm teaching right now, to consciously rest between His shoulders?

Do you know what that can do to what I'm teaching right now?

Do you know what that can do to you?

If I'm consciously resting between His shoulders and teaching right now.

What does that even mean?

Take it in human terms.

What does it mean when you rest your head on your spouse's chest?

What does it mean?

I've seen my mum and dad, when my dad was alive, occasionally my mum would go and put her head on my dad's chest.

They're quite old by now and it usually used to happen when I used to cause trouble.

It would be amazing how whenever I'd cause a stir they'd be deeply in love.

And so I would see her resting her head on my dad's chest.

I'm telling you man, it was the sweetest thing to watch.

And then they would try and they would cry a little and try to make me change my mind,

which would never work.

But it was such a sweet thing to watch.

What happens then?

There's safety, there's warmth, there's assurance.

One of the things God loves doing is assuring us.

Never think that because He's told you something yesterday that He won't say it again today.

Which parent doesn't?

Which parent doesn't?

Reassuring is so much a part of Him.

So don't be surprised if you receive a word yesterday from God, another prophetic word tomorrow

and three days from now another dream reassuring you.

It's not God thinking that you haven't gotten it through your skull.

It's God saying, but this is what I do.

I reassure you.

It's my favorite thing to do.

What else happens when a spouse is resting on her husband's chest?

What else happens?

She hears his heartbeat.

She knows what he's going through.

There's safety in his arms.

She doesn't care about whether the washing machine has stopped or the oven's overcooked.

She doesn't care about what needs to happen tomorrow.

Why?

Because there's a place of safety.

Why do you want to know the future?

I'll tell you why you want to know the future.

The only reason you and I want to know the future is because we want to feel safe about tomorrow.

And now what happens when you're resting in the arms of the one who is safety?

It has to be tasted, guys.

For those who are still single, may you find someone like this?

For those who are married, you've already found that.

Are you consciously resting between his shoulders?

Again, what does it need?

How much time?

A minute?

To reconnect?

Have you seen spouses where they'll be busy washing dishes or the guy is doing the laundry

and the wife is just walking past and they stop and they, and then keep walking?

Why?

Why do they do that?

Or they're in the same room and they're hardly two meters apart, but oh my God,

they've got to hug each other and kiss each other.

And you think to yourself, where should I look right now?

Why do they do that?

It's not because if they don't do that, things will collapse.

There is a need to stay connected.

At the end of the day, that's what we are talking about.

Father, I just forgot you for the last eight hours, but I come to reconnect.

I feel like I'm using you, but you have no problem with that.

Let me once again rest my head on your shoulders like John used to.

It's not physical, but Father, I just know that my spirit can connect with you.

As a father connects to a son, as a friend connects to a friend, and a lover connects to a lover,

it is absolutely possible and I do that right now.

When you do that, even if it lasts for two minutes, those are the best two minutes of your life.

And you have to try it.

Song of Songs is being written by two people who are not near each other.

They're quite far apart.

It's being written by two people who are at a distance.

She says, behold, I see you coming over the mountains.

The winter has passed, the springtime has come.

She's seeing things at a distance and reacting.

Don't you long for someone when they are away?

Does invisibility and the absence of presence mean that the person is not loved?

Absolutely not.

We don't think of God like this.

I know I've been saying it every week, but guys, we're in this together.

I long for it.

I want to write Psalm 63.

Don't you?

It's become my favorite verse in the Bible.

Oh, Lord, you are my God.

Early will I seek you.

My soul longs for you.

My body thirsts for you in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

I want that man.

If a guy in the Old Testament can have it, we can have it.

You know, the thing that God has done is the presence of God is no longer your responsibility.

Why?

Because he's moved into you.

No longer is the presence of God your responsibility anymore.

There's nothing you can do about it.

Therefore, the distance you feel from God has nothing to do with actual proximity.

It just has to do with your intimacy.

Hear me again.

The distance you feel between God and you, the distance that I feel between God and me, has nothing to do with actual proximity.

It has everything to do with intimacy.

Why?

Because the responsibility of the presence of God being with you is no longer yours.

You have to do nothing.

He moved in.

His presence is permanent.

And now he's not some kind of, you know, those plants you touch and they wither away?

I think it's called mimosa samosa or something.

That's a genetic name.

And so you touch it and it withers away.

And so I think it's something like that.

I remember my classes from Botany in 1986.

And so God is not like that.

You know, we think the Holy Spirit is so sensitive that if you say a wrong word, he just flies away.

No.

The crap that he takes from both believers and unbelievers is just so much.

Is it mimosa and?

Oh, she's a botanist.

Okay.

Guys, seek him out.

Seek him out.

Seek him out.

Tomorrow morning, seek him out.

Psalm 27, verse 8.

Psalms 27:8

Let's quickly turn to the scriptures.

Psalm 27, verse 8.

Psalms 27:8

Psalm 27, verse 8.

Psalms 27:8

You know what, guys?

I'll show you this works.

I've made it an aim in life for the next few years.

Can I everywhere I go show the world?

Show the world that this is possible.

You know, nothing is learned unless it's modeled.

Once it's modeled, people can imitate.

Rise up to it, man.

Show them that this works.

Because when people don't see, what can they believe?

He came down so that they could see what the father looks like.

Well, then show them what it is to be intimate with the father.

You rise up.

Because if it's not modeled, it cannot be taught.

This is why children who grow up without parents find it very hard to understand parenthood.

They even promise themselves that when they grow up, they'll be good parents.

But they mess up big time because they haven't known what it is to live like that.

It has to be modeled.

It is my absolute intent to model it here on earth so that the 20s and the 30s that are coming up,

my God, man, may they not go through what some of us have been through in terms of God,

where he's so sterile when it comes to experience.

What is our experience of God?

Speaking in tongues and falling over.

There's more to it than that, man.

Seek him out.

Psalm 27, verse 8.

Psalms 27:8

My heart has heard you say, beautifully, my heart has heard you say,

come and talk with me.

And my heart responds, Lord, I'm coming.

That's the NLT.

My heart has heard you say, come and talk with me.

And my heart responds, Lord, I'm coming.

Try this tomorrow morning, man.

Next scripture, Isaiah 45.

Isaiah 45, sorry, Isaiah 45, 19.

Isaiah 45, 19.

Isaiah 45, 19.

This is God saying, eh?

I publicly proclaim bold promises.

I do not whisper obscurities in some dark corner.

I would not have told the people of Israel to seek me if I could not be found.

I, the Lord, speak only what is true and declare only what is right.

Listen to that again.

I publicly proclaim bold promises.

I do not whisper obscurities in some dark corner.

I would not have told the people of Israel to seek me if I could not be found.

Hide and seek is something he thrills at.

He knocks and then runs and hides and hopes that you will wake up and find him.

Where do you think you got that?

Why do you do it with your children?

Why do you do it with your cousins and nephews and nieces?

Knock and then go hide and they come looking and you make small noises so that they find you.

Where did you get that from?

From Freud? No.

Seek him.

Another scripture, then we'll partake in communion.

Isaiah, sorry, Jeremiah 29.

Jeremiah 29, 13.

Jeremiah 29, 13.

If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.

I'm saying this to you guys in all honesty.

There has not been a time in the last 35 or 40 years that I've been a believer,

there has not, 35 years that I've been a believer,

there's not been a time where I've sought him wholeheartedly as in,

Hey, I really want to talk to you.

I really want to find you.

There has not been a time that I have not had.

God respond.

And that's not because I'm special, because I'm the worst of sinners.

As Paul would say, it is impossible for you to seek him wholeheartedly and not have him respond.

Guaranteed.

Try this tomorrow and let him play hide and seek.

Remember, he is not a cosmic vending machine that you throw a few hallelujahs into and out pops God.

No, it's a relationship.

Find time.

Find time.

I wish you were all pastors.

You'd have plenty of time.

But then I'd be out of a job.

George, you have time for the next two months.

Let's end with this.

Intimacy requires, intimacy requires engaging his presence.

Intimacy requires engaging his presence.

The reason God put Christ in me and me into Christ, and it says so in John 14, verse 20.

John 14:20

In John 14, verse 20, it says, I have been put in Christ and Christ has been put in me.

John 14:20

The reason God put Christ into me and me into Christ is so that presence was no longer dependent on me.

Intimacy requires engaging his presence.

How do you find his presence tomorrow?

Yes, he lives in you.

But how do you engage him?

How do you engage his presence tomorrow?

How do you locate his presence tomorrow?

How do you locate his presence?

Very simple, guys.

Voice.

What do you mean voice?

Hear his voice.

Hear his voice.

And you will find him.

When you want to locate your phone, you've got that find my phone thing.

When you want to locate your wife, you call out her name.

When your child is hiding or when you are hiding, what do you do when the child can't find you?

You start making noises.

The child then realizes where you are.

It's the same thing with God.

You want to locate and engage his presence tomorrow?

Hear his voice.

What do you mean hear his voice?

Different ways of doing it.

Read the word.

You will find him.

Wash your face in the word.

Your eyes are no longer blurred.

Just like the man who saw trees and then saw Christ, it literally helps you see who Christ is.

When we are talking about finding his presence, how do you find someone's presence when they are hidden?

Noise. Voice.

That's why they have these guys who, what's that guy who put an apple on someone's head and shot it with an arrow?

Sorry?

William Tell.

William Tell, yeah.

I mean, when these guys do that in circuses, who did you say it was?

William Shakespeare.

No, it's William Tell.

So, I mean, when you shoot arrows or when you throw daggers at people, what do you do?

You make a tiny little noise so that it misses your nose and just goes above your head.

You get that noise wrong.

There will be a guy with a dagger between his eyes.

How do you find someone when they are hidden?

Voice.

What do you do to find him?

Engage him.

Go to the word.

One of the easiest ways is to go to the word.

And as you read it, he comes alive.

He comes alive.

Remember, those words on paper are actually life.

Everything was made out of nothing using just one thing, words, words that he spoke.

You will always find him in the word.

That's one way you start.

How about other ways?

Talk.

Talk as in he's your father.

Begin to talk to him.

As you talk to him in conversation, you will begin to find him.

You should try it.

I mean, you do that with your child.

The child doesn't know English or Malayalam or Hindi or French or Greek yet.

And it goes, and you respond.

Why does that happen?

The entire church did that with Phoebe for two years.

Now we do it with Judah and with Emmanuel.

At the end of the day, when you begin conversations and when the conversation is genuine,

I guarantee you because of the Spirit of God living in you, you will begin to connect.

It's impossible not to.

But please don't make a feeble attempt at it.

You're dealing with alpha and omega.

I happened to wake up early yesterday, like 6.20.

The sun was rising.

I rarely see that.

And I was standing on my balcony.

And it was the most magnificent sight.

Sun rising on one side, sun hitting the water on the other side.

Thousands and thousands of fish and dolphins and stuff in the water, birds flying over.

And I'm thinking to myself, how do you do this alpha and omega?

You're this huge, extensive, big, massive God.

And yet you and I, Chava, can talk to him as if he is our own father and he is.

And as you begin to converse with him, you will find that you easily locate him, easily engage him.

And as you do, he'll start responding.

What do you think happened that morning in John 21, verse 7?

John 21:7

They were fishing. They were busy fishing.

And they see the silhouette of this man in the morning mist.

And he says, boys, do you have some fish?

What triggered Peter?

He saw the man, he didn't recognize him.

What triggered him?

He hears the voice and he says, that's the master.

He jumps off the boat.

And as you get habituated to this, every morning you will hear him.

Sometimes it'll be a song.

Sometimes he wakes you up with a song.

You think you've got that song stuck in your head?

No, no, no, no. He stuck it there.

He wakes you up with a song.

Quickly grab the words of that song because that song will mean everything for your day.

He'll either knit it together or dismantle something with it.

Taste and see that the Lord is good.

We've got to do this, guys.

Yeah?

Let's break bread.

This is so unfair.

You know how much I've finished this month?

And there's so much more to go.

Let's break bread.

Hey, on the Day of Atonement, here's what would happen.

You will read about it in Leviticus 16.

On the Day of Atonement, two goats would be brought to the priest.

And so the priest would then cast lots.

And the reason they would cast lots is because one goat would be selected as a sacrifice to God.

The other goat would be called the Azazel goat.

That sounds a little like your name, right?

No.

No, sorry.

Didn't want to go there.

Yeah.

So Leviticus 16.

So on one hand, you cast lots and now you've got these two goats.

One goat, the Lord falls on the goat to be sacrificed to the Lord.

And so they would set that goat aside.

And then the other goat would be called the Azazel goat.

Or the word scapegoat came from this.

The idea of scapegoat was this other goat.

And so then they would take the goat that was picked for a sacrifice to the Lord, and they would slay it.

And they would take the blood into the holy place and they would sprinkle it.

And that goat was supposed to pay for the sins of Israel for that entire year.

So yesterday they would have done that.

If the temple was still there, they would have done that.

They would have slain a goat, sprinkled the holy place with the blood of the goat.

And it was the payment of sins for the entire nation.

And then they would take the other goat and they would bring it and they would lay their hands upon this other goat.

And after laying hands on the goat, they would transfer the wickedness of Israel and the rebellion of Israel onto this other goat.

And then there would be a man appointed to take the goat into the wilderness.

And in the wilderness they would sometimes toss it over a cliff because they were scared it would return.

That would happen on the Day of Atonement.

And the idea was, can God cover our sins completely by doing two things?

The first thing, paying for our sins.

The second thing, sending sin away.

Paying for our sins, sending sin away.

That's what Jesus came to do.

Jesus' blood pays for the sin.

The blood pays for the sin.

The cross deals with the sinner.

The blood deals with the sin.

The cross deals with the sinner.

You send it away.

Where do you see this in the Bible? Galatians 2 verse 20.

Galatians 2:20

What does it say?

I have been crucified with Christ.

I no longer live.

But Christ lives in me.

It's not just a payment of sin that Christ does.

He sends sin away.

It's no longer a part of your equation.

So as we partake of this, remember how they used to every year have to do this.

Every year, you bring sacrifices.

You bring doves, goats, rams, bulls.

It would never send sin away.

It would only pay for your sins.

Christ died so that sin could be sent away.

As in, the sinful old man was crucified with Christ.

It no longer lives.

That's huge, eh?

Just think of that for a second, and then we eat and drink.

The blood of bulls and goats could only pay for sins.

And it had to be done again and again and again.

The Day of Atonement was the ultimate day

where the sins of a nation would be forgiven, would be paid for

with the blood of bulls and goats.

And so you'd have to do it again and again every year.

Along comes Christ, and with his blood,

he does pay for the sins of all mankind, present, past, future.

But then he does something else.

In dying on the cross, he sends the sinful old man

that he was born with away.

It no longer exists.

So in me, there is nothing that desires to sin.

I've got a brand new spirit saturated with the Holy Spirit.

Sent sin away.

One last illustration, and I know it's old

for guys who've been through Christ's life.

If Fuyo is my slave,

he serves me, he brings me coffee,

he does everything he's supposed to do every day.

One day, I wake up and Fuyo hasn't brought me coffee.

And I'm upset. He's my slave. I own him for life.

He doesn't bring me coffee.

And so I get angry and I wait for five minutes.

He still doesn't come.

I go into his room where he sleeps,

and he's lying on the floor sleeping,

and I'm enraged that he's sleeping instead of serving me.

So I grab him and I start kicking him, beating him,

and he doesn't move.

So I grab his neck, and when I grab his neck,

I realize there is no pulse and that he's actually dead.

And now that he's dead, I'm even angrier

because in his death, he has escaped my mastery forever.

In his death, he can never be my slave again.

In his death, he's escaped forever.

In his death, he's broken my hold over him forever.

That's what Christ did.

He sent sin away.

In me dying on the cross, there's nothing in me that wants to sin.

So as we eat and drink, thank God for the fact

that you do not have something sinful inside you that desires to sin,

that you've been set free from even the desire to sin.

That is your present reality.

Not only are your sins paid for, there's nothing in you.

If you've given your life to Jesus,

there's nothing in you that has a desire to sin, nothing.

That's new creation, man.

So on the night he was betrayed, he took bread, he broke it,

he gave thanks, and he said,

this is my body which is broken for you.

When I die and I'm crucified, you will be crucified with me.

I will send the old man away so that you, like me,

will not have a desire to sin.

Eat this in remembrance of me.

Getting dark here quite early, eh?

In the same manner, after supper, he took the cup, he gave thanks,

and he said, this is my blood with which I write a new agreement with you.

A new agreement.

That's what I write with my blood.

That not only have I sent your sins away,

I've forgiven all your sins.

I'll never hold them against you.

I will not reckon your sin against you.

Never, Jacob.

You are forever forgiven, forever accepted.

That's what smiling about, right?

So can we be a little less somber?

Tony, you want to lead us in a non-somber song?

Don't drink it yet.

If you have drunk it, not a problem.

But can we be happy about what he's done?

It is a happy thing, right?

Can we be happy about what he's done?

Previous one.

This is a new covenant, new agreement I write with you.

And what did I say after that?

I can come up with something, but it may not be what I said.

Sorry, Nick.

Yeah, it's not a somber occasion, eh?

There are times when we are supposed to be somber about it.

There are other times when we're not supposed to be somber about it.

Today is one of those times.

Yeah?

So don't be somber about it.

What are you going to sing?

Too somber.

Too loud.

Something else?

Think of something, guys.

Too short.

No, what if we don't sing anything that has to do with communion,

but it's a song that's joyful.

Stuff being a worship leader, eh?

Lion.

You don't know that song.

Okay.

Glorious day.

Glorious day?

Glorious day, sure.

Glorious day?

Okay.

Brandon, glorious day.

I think it's guesting crowns.

Let's start with the chorus.

As you drink it, celebrate what he's done for you.

You have been forgiven.

There's nothing standing against you.

And your sin has been sent away.

There's nothing in you that wants a sin.

Yeah?

Brand new species, man.

Mimosa samosa, all right.

Let's go.

Come, Sheldon.

Thank you, Jesus.

Come, Jesus.

Come, Jesus.

Let's go to the first verse.

Well, the mong man, my example is he.

The word became flesh and the light shined among us.

His glory revealed.

Living he loved me, dying he saved me.

Buried he carried my sins far away.

Rising he justified freely forever.

One day he's coming, oh glorious day.

Oh glorious day.

One day they led him up Calvary's mountain.

One day they nailed him to die on a tree.

Suffering, anguished, despised and rejected.

Bearing our sin, my Redeemer is he.

Lived as a nation, stretched out on a tree.

Took the nails from me.

Living he loved me, dying he saved me.

Buried he carried my sins far away.

Rising he justified freely forever.

One day he's coming, oh glorious day.

Living he loved me, living he loved me.

Dying he saved me.

Buried he carried my sins far away.

Rising he justified freely forever.

One day he's coming, oh glorious day.

Oh glorious day.

Thank you.

Thank you.

May he bless you.

Cool guys.

If you need prayer, there will be people here up front to pray for you.

So feel free to come up for prayer.

Otherwise, dawn.