Another in My Place

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, good evening, Redeemer students.

[SPEAKER_00]: We are heading into week three of our new series called Hidden Gems.

[SPEAKER_00]: And what we're doing in this series is we're opening up to what I like to call the crispy portions of our Bible.

[SPEAKER_00]: The ones that don't have a lot of love and the pages aren't so crinkly because they've maybe had never been opened before.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the goal through this series is to help expose you and help show you that there are riches in all of this work.

[SPEAKER_00]: It is maybe hard or less accessible in some sections, but this book is full of gold.

[SPEAKER_00]: I love the Bible and I want you to love the Bible.

[SPEAKER_00]: I always, I often will read through the Bible any year on a Bible reading plan.

[SPEAKER_00]: And every time I get through the second of like first and second Kings, first and second Samuel, it is like the richest, most entered, like Hollywood has nothing on the content of the Bible.

[SPEAKER_00]: Especially in those sections, it's incredible, there's so much drama, there's so much happening.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I would encourage you to dive in, but we're going to do that in little ways each week through sections of scripture.

[SPEAKER_00]: One of the things that's most astounding to me about the Bible is that though it was composed over a period of about 2,000 years by 40 different individual authors, it tells one unified story.

[SPEAKER_00]: And though 40 human authors wrote scripture, there was one divine author that was inspiring each of them to write exactly what he intended.

[SPEAKER_00]: And as you recognize this, it will challenge your perspective as you read any section of Scripture.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I would encourage you, no matter where you open into the word think, this is part of a larger story.

[SPEAKER_00]: What you will find in Scripture is this incredibly intricate and ornate web of all of these prophecies that turn into realities and it takes a thousand years for it to happen.

[SPEAKER_00]: And what I always think about is how we enjoy movies that have little elements of kind of foreshadowing, happening throughout the movie and then you get to the end of the movie and you're like, oh, it all makes sense now.

[SPEAKER_00]: The Bible makes that look like child's play.

[SPEAKER_00]: What happens in movies today?

[SPEAKER_00]: We are going to get a glimpse of that story from tonight from a place that you may have never heard a sermon from.

[SPEAKER_00]: Leviticus.

[SPEAKER_00]: Open your Bibles to the third book in the Bible, which is Leviticus, and we're going to turn to chapter 16.

[SPEAKER_00]: Leviticus 16.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, show of hands, who in here has attempted, keyword attempted to read through the Bible before at some point.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, most of you, keep your

[SPEAKER_00]: If your Bible reading plan was smashed to bits in the book of Leviticus.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, a number of you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I've been there too.

[SPEAKER_00]: Leviticus is a confusing book.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's these like really weird rules and laws.

[SPEAKER_00]: Some of them are gross.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're like, why is this in the Bible?

[SPEAKER_00]: What is going on here?

[SPEAKER_00]: There are these restrictions on being clean and being unclean, and there's these sacrifices and these instructions are pre-issues.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's just a lot of strange things going on.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I understand why it is hard to read through some portions of this.

[SPEAKER_00]: At the service level, it is pretty hard for us to see anything more taking from the book of Leviticus, which is why we're going to dig beneath the surface, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: We're not just scratching at the surface, but we are digging and may the Lord reveal to you another hidden gem tonight in this passage.

[SPEAKER_00]: When God calls His people Israel, He set them apart as a chosen people, His chosen possession.

[SPEAKER_00]: And part of the way that this nation would operate is part of a section of them that tribe of Levi would be designated to be priests, and basically their job was to serve the Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: That was their vocation.

[SPEAKER_00]: Within this group of people there was one high priest that had special responsibilities

[SPEAKER_00]: In God's timing and in God's wisdom, he provides this section of rules and regulations and instructions that we read in the Old Testament.

[SPEAKER_00]: But the reason that he gives them to us and to Israel is to understand a few things.

[SPEAKER_00]: Last week we looked at this that seeing that the root of all of God's commands is love.

[SPEAKER_00]: He commands to us what is according to our best interests.

[SPEAKER_00]: And when we obey him and when we follow his instructions, we are communicating that we love God back.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's the reason that God gives these instructions for us to obey.

[SPEAKER_00]: And a huge component of God's expectations was that this nation followed a carefully designed sacrificial system.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Austin in the 21st century, here that, and think that is barbaric that people would offer animals as sacrifices, like those animals are supposed to be a petting zoo, not being slaughtered.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the truth is, in every major religion, thousands of years ago, this was a normal part of life.

[SPEAKER_00]: So it wasn't strange for them, but even for us today, as we look back on this system, even tonight,

[SPEAKER_00]: There will be things in you in here that I trust and pray will grant you encouragement, hope, and thanksgiving for who God is and what He has done.

[SPEAKER_00]: The Bible's one unified story tells how a holy God can be brought together with sinful humanity.

[SPEAKER_00]: How can God who is holy and right and just?

[SPEAKER_00]: uphold that reality without sacrificing who he is by welcoming people who are unholy and unrighteous and unjust.

[SPEAKER_00]: How does that system work?

[SPEAKER_00]: The only way that God can do this is if there is another who takes their place in receiving the judgment that they deserve.

[SPEAKER_00]: In Leviticus 16 teaches us the heart of how does that work?

[SPEAKER_00]: How is that possible?

[SPEAKER_00]: As I said before in the nation of Israel there was one man who was dedicated to be the high priest.

[SPEAKER_00]: He was the chief of all of the priests.

[SPEAKER_00]: He was given special access into God's presence and he had his certain duties that he had to fulfill.

[SPEAKER_00]: And part of God's promise for his people as they wander through the wilderness with that God would be with them.

[SPEAKER_00]: Even though they felt like they were in this barren land, the Lord would be near.

[SPEAKER_00]: He would be in their very camp.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the way that his presence was revealed or depicted was in this cloud of glory that centered on this tent that God had the Israelites made called the Tabernacle.

[SPEAKER_00]: Some of you may remember the pictures from Sunday School of this tent.

[SPEAKER_00]: The Tabernacle had three areas ahead of the outer core, the inner room, and the holy place, and obviously God can't be stuffed inside of a tent.

[SPEAKER_00]: He decided that he would demonstrate his presence, the reality that he is near through this system.

[SPEAKER_00]: He would be localized inside this holy place.

[SPEAKER_00]: And throughout the year, there would be this sacrifices offered for individuals by any priest,

[SPEAKER_00]: was that the sins of the whole nation would be covered through the act of one man, the high priest.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was a solemn day, it was a sad day, it was a hard day because the people were confronted with the reality of their sin.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that is a heavy weight to bear.

[SPEAKER_00]: Sin has devastating effects.

[SPEAKER_00]: in us, in our lives.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's read the first few verses, just to see how big of a deal this is.

[SPEAKER_00]: Leviticus 16 verse 1, the Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron when they drew near before the Lord and died.

Leviticus 16:1

[SPEAKER_00]: They were killed for their pride.

[SPEAKER_00]: They didn't follow God's instructions.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the Lord said to Moses, tell Aaron, that's the high priest, your brother not to come at any time into the holy place inside the veil before the mercy seat that is on the ark of the covenant so that he may not die.

[SPEAKER_00]: For I will appear in a cloud over the mercy seat.

[SPEAKER_00]: God is giving in order to be followed in their approach to Him.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the amazing thing is that God is holy and we are not.

[SPEAKER_00]: And therefore, our sin, our unrighteousness,

[SPEAKER_00]: is repulsive to him.

[SPEAKER_00]: It is offensive to him because we have chosen things that are lesser than him and have been glad in choosing those things.

[SPEAKER_00]: The Bible describes that there are flaming angels in the presence of God right now who are burning because of their proximity to him.

[SPEAKER_00]: These angels haven't sinned, they haven't done anything wrong, and yet God's radiance

[SPEAKER_00]: That is their existence.

[SPEAKER_00]: Not suffering, radiating God's glory.

[SPEAKER_00]: It is no wonder that Aaron's sons died when they thought they would approach God on their own terms instead of on his.

[SPEAKER_00]: The true wonder is that a God like this can be approached at all.

[SPEAKER_00]: We should be amazed that there is access to him

[SPEAKER_00]: And when we look at it objectively, it should be amazing to us at any cost.

[SPEAKER_00]: There are three effects of our sin that I want to draw out from this text tonight.

[SPEAKER_00]: Number one, sin requires cleansing.

[SPEAKER_00]: Number two, sin requires payment.

[SPEAKER_00]: And number three, sin requires separation.

[SPEAKER_00]: We'll look at one of those at a time.

[SPEAKER_00]: Sin requires cleansing.

[SPEAKER_00]: Number one.

[SPEAKER_00]: these are the instructions to air in the high priest that he shall put on the holy linen coat and shall have the linen undergarment on his body and he shall tie the linen sash around his waist and wear the linen turban and these are the holy garments and he shall bathe his body and water and then put them on.

[SPEAKER_00]: Before the high priest is able to offer a sacrifice for the people, he must first himself be cleansed.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because even though this is a holy man, he is not without sin.

[SPEAKER_00]: He needs to be washed and wiped clean.

[SPEAKER_00]: There is a defiling nature in the act of sin.

[SPEAKER_00]: It makes us dirty.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is how the Bible often speaks of sin, especially in the Old Testament.

[SPEAKER_00]: That you are clean or you are unclean because of your sin.

[SPEAKER_00]: In an English class some day, some of you will be required to read the rigorous works of Shakespeare.

[SPEAKER_00]: It is hard.

[SPEAKER_00]: I didn't enjoy it when I was in high school.

[SPEAKER_00]: I did not read a much of it, but I had to read some.

[SPEAKER_00]: One of Shakespeare's most famous works, Mick Bath, is a written play that illustrates the effect of sin and guilt on a human soul.

[SPEAKER_00]: Mick Bath is the main character.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's a Scottish nobleman.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's got a shot to become the king.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to abbreviate.

[SPEAKER_00]: OK, I hope that's OK. And there's a prophecy given to him that he will become the next king.

[SPEAKER_00]: And what happens to him is something that happens often, you ask, and when we hear a good thing is coming for us, we get impatient.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we insist that we want it now.

[SPEAKER_00]: We don't want to wait.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's exactly what McBeth decides to do and takes matters into his own hands, and his wife.

[SPEAKER_00]: Lady McBeth says, that's a good idea.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's take the throne, and so McBeth kills the acting king takes possession of the throne, and this sends McBeth in his wife and two opposite directions.

[SPEAKER_00]: McBeth is challenged and hardened by his actions.

[SPEAKER_00]: And over the course of time becomes less and less concerned with the wrong things that he is doing, but his wife has a different reaction.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because though initially she was supportive of this act, over time she becomes progressively more convinced that what she did was wrong.

[SPEAKER_00]: The guilt weighs heavier and heavier on her.

[SPEAKER_00]: Through the play, she feels this increasing weight and she begins sleepwalking in the night.

[SPEAKER_00]: And essentially, she wakes up and she's washing her hands because the blood is still on her hands.

[SPEAKER_00]: She can't wash the sin, the guilt away.

[SPEAKER_00]: She says, all of the sweet perfume of Arabia will not be able to remove this from me.

[SPEAKER_00]: She's in torment because she understands that she cannot separate herself from the uncleanness, the dirtiness that comes from her sin.

[SPEAKER_00]: And when we sin, there are two responses, either we harden our hearts and we reject the whole system or we feel stuck because the reality of our sin is real and pressing.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we feel the guilt and the weight and we feel dirty.

[SPEAKER_00]: we are dirty, haven't you ever felt that?

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you, at one point, she did on a test in, because of that, you passed it, no one ever found out, no one knows still to this day.

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you lied to protect yourself from someone or something.

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you went back to sexual sin that you insisted that you would never return to.

[SPEAKER_00]: The feeling, when we look at that in the eye and we recognize what we've done is dirty.

[SPEAKER_00]: We feel dirty.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you may not have done one of those things but you have done something in either throughout this process of your life.

[SPEAKER_00]: You have increasingly hardened your heart against that.

[SPEAKER_00]: because you don't want to deal with that.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you would rather not face the consequences of it, or even tonight you are feeling the guilt and the weight of those sinful decisions.

[SPEAKER_00]: God gave the high priest a process to absolve the sense of dirty.

[SPEAKER_00]: He said to the high priest, you need to put on these new garments.

[SPEAKER_00]: These were garments that had never been worn,

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's interesting, too, because they were not the elaborate, priestly garments with all of the gold and the dazzle men and the jewels and the gemstones, all of this beautiful, ornate things.

[SPEAKER_00]: They were simple, plain, and linen, and they were white, representing purity.

[SPEAKER_00]: The spots of the sin of the high priest that had been caused on his heart were washed clean.

[SPEAKER_00]: And now he was given these new garments from the Lord as a symbol for purity.

[SPEAKER_00]: that God gives.

[SPEAKER_00]: But how could the priest really know he was forgiven?

[SPEAKER_00]: How could he genuinely confidently understand that this was not just wiping away or sweeping it under the rug, but genuinely he was forgiven.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because of what we will see next, the second point number two, sin requires payment.

[SPEAKER_00]: Sin requires payment.

[SPEAKER_00]: Why does sin require payment?

[SPEAKER_00]: Good question.

[SPEAKER_00]: Sin requires payment because of justice.

[SPEAKER_00]: And though we might think that it is weird that justice is displayed in this way in the Bible, we all actually live with this assumption every day.

[SPEAKER_00]: When you are play, wrestling, or arguing with your siblings, and all of a sudden it goes a little too far,

[SPEAKER_00]: And when you are the hurt one, what are you hoping for?

[SPEAKER_00]: You are hoping for revenge, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: At least you're hoping for restitution.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're hoping that the sides get brought up, that the score gets settled, that you get back to even.

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you're calling mom or dad to get in and say, they need to be grounded for what they just did to me.

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you're taking matters into your own hands.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because you have to get that precious payback.

[SPEAKER_00]: You must have it.

[SPEAKER_00]: It is sinful to lash out in anger at your sister who is provoking you, but how much more sinful is it to lash out in anger, to disrespect, to disregard, to disobey the God who has only shown love to you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes we act as though we hate the God who is loving itself.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we operate on this principle, but we don't understand why it should be leveraged against us.

[SPEAKER_00]: We want to be paid back, but we don't want to pay back.

[SPEAKER_00]: Every sin that you commit student is stacking a debt higher and higher and higher and higher.

[SPEAKER_00]: One that you have no means to repay.

[SPEAKER_00]: one that you have no ability to pay back for.

[SPEAKER_00]: And every sinful deed, every sinful word, every sinful thought, even everything done with a sinful intention is offensive to God.

[SPEAKER_00]: And what we ought to expect as a result from our sin is payback, judgment, so we should expect.

[SPEAKER_00]: but God knowing this as He prescribes these instructions, lays out this process in which His justice is upheld, and He still demonstrates and shows love to His people.

[SPEAKER_00]: Through the death of another, the people can come before Him.

[SPEAKER_00]: And here's how it's laid out in this passage.

[SPEAKER_00]: The high priest is brought forward to goats.

[SPEAKER_00]: He takes the first goat and He kills it.

[SPEAKER_00]: He offers it as a sacrifice, as a payment for the people's sins.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you look to verse 15, you can see this.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then the high priest shall kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people and bring its blood inside the veil.

[SPEAKER_00]: And due with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull sprinkling it over the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat.

[SPEAKER_00]: So he takes the blood into this tabernacle, into the holy place where the presence of God dwells, and he goes to this box called the Ark of the Covenant, which contains the law of God, the expectations of God's righteousness for us.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the reality is, as that high priest goes in there, he understands something dreadful, that he does not measure up to God's righteousness.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so God says, take the blood of this animal and go to that box and pour the blood out.

[SPEAKER_00]: So that God who is in heaven and descending and descended with this man will not take the life of the man because he has accepted the life of the goat through the blood.

[SPEAKER_00]: That is what's happening in the day of atonement.

[SPEAKER_00]: This blood would be poured out on the mercy, seat, the lid of the box, or the seat of grace.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the animal died in the place of the high priest and the people that he represented.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the shedding of blood showed that this sin cannot just be swept away, but sin actually requires payment.

[SPEAKER_00]: There is no wiping it away, pretending that it doesn't exist.

[SPEAKER_00]: It must be punished.

[SPEAKER_00]: What about the second gobe?

[SPEAKER_00]: I love this picture.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can see if you jump to verse 20.

[SPEAKER_00]: Here's what happens to the second gobe.

[SPEAKER_00]: And when the high priest has made an end of a toning for the holy place and the tent of meeting in the altar, he shall present the live goat.

[SPEAKER_00]: An errand shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the inequities of the people of Israel and all their transgressions and all their sins.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness and the goat shall bear all their inequalities on itself to a remote area and he shall drive the goat into the wilderness.

[SPEAKER_00]: Last point, number three, sin requires separation.

[SPEAKER_00]: Sin requires separation.

[SPEAKER_00]: The consequence of our sin is not just a sense of guilt or dirtiness, it's not just a debt that must be paid for, but it also brings a separation from God's presence.

[SPEAKER_00]: Of course, God is everywhere.

[SPEAKER_00]: We cannot go anywhere to get away from His actual presence.

[SPEAKER_00]: But this element of God's presence is His loving presence.

[SPEAKER_00]: His welcoming presence.

[SPEAKER_00]: And because God is holy, His welcoming presence cannot be tainted or tarnished with our unholyness.

[SPEAKER_00]: And what that means is that our sin has earned us ex-guile being sent out, being cast away.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so on the day of a tone in the high priest would confess the sins of the people on this goat.

[SPEAKER_00]: And there is a symbolic exchange happening.

[SPEAKER_00]: All of the sins are going on to this goat.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then the goat is driven out into the wilderness.

[SPEAKER_00]: This animal is called the scapegoat.

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you've heard that term before.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is where it comes from.

[SPEAKER_00]: It is taking the punishment, the blame, and the guilt of the people.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it is going out.

[SPEAKER_00]: The people would experience God's kindness because the goat would experience the exile that the people deserved.

[SPEAKER_00]: And God gave the people this image to show that their sins had not just been forgiven, but that they had been forgotten.

[SPEAKER_00]: That God was not just content to wipe their slate clean, but to say, I will remember your sins no more.

[SPEAKER_00]: They are gone.

[SPEAKER_00]: They are cast out why is that better?

[SPEAKER_00]: Why is it better that they're forgotten and not just forgiven?

[SPEAKER_00]: Because you may have experienced this before.

[SPEAKER_00]: You wrong someone.

[SPEAKER_00]: And eventually you come back and you apologize for what you've done and they forgive you.

[SPEAKER_00]: But then, for a long time, sometimes for many years after that incident, you're wondering, are they still thinking about that?

[SPEAKER_00]: Are they still reminiscing about the thing that I said or did to them?

[SPEAKER_00]: Are there actions being motivated somehow, but what I've done?

[SPEAKER_00]: How do I know they've really forgiven me?

[SPEAKER_00]: How do I know they've really let this go?

[SPEAKER_00]: How much more comforting would it be if in that person's forgiveness they also had forgottenness?

[SPEAKER_00]: that it was completely gone.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was totally wiped away.

[SPEAKER_00]: God, of course, knows all things.

[SPEAKER_00]: So he can't forget anything.

[SPEAKER_00]: But he uses this language to communicate clearly unwaveringly that God when he forgives, he forgives in full.

[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't have heartedly forgive.

[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't hold the grudge.

[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't hold these things

[SPEAKER_00]: His forgiveness is complete and exhaustive.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jeremiah prophesies that one day, iniquities shall be sought in Israel, and their shall be none, and sin and Judah and it shall not be found.

[SPEAKER_00]: Micah says that God will tread our iniquities underfoot and he will cast them into the depths of the sea.

[SPEAKER_00]: The Salmist says, as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

[SPEAKER_00]: They are gone, Christian, do you know that your sins have been forgotten by God?

[SPEAKER_00]: You do not bear them.

[SPEAKER_00]: They have been paid for.

[SPEAKER_00]: God will never hold a grudge onto the sin that has been forgiven by the blood of Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: God made a way that the stains of our sins can be washed clean.

[SPEAKER_00]: He gives away that the debt incurred by our sins can be paid, and he makes it possible for us to be brought in and not separated through another in my place.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it sounds too good to be true, if we go and bring this up out.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the reality is, as it is, that is too good to be true.

[SPEAKER_00]: The book of Hebrews actually explains this.

[SPEAKER_00]: So turn in your Bibles to Hebrews.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's almost at the end of the Bible.

[SPEAKER_00]: Chapter 10.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is a little bit of what I was talking about earlier.

[SPEAKER_00]: The connection between the storyline of the Bible.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hebrews chapter 10.

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

[SPEAKER_00]: I like to think of the book of Hebrews.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like in the moving national treasure, how they discover Benjamin Franklin's glasses, his spectacles, and then they take them, and they look at the Declaration of Independence on the back, and there's like a hidden code buried within it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hebrew's kind of does the same thing for us at the Bible, because what Hebrew says that, unlocks, it helps us to make sense of what on earth is going on in the book of Leviticus, or in Numbers, or in Deuteronomy.

[SPEAKER_00]: What is going on here?

[SPEAKER_00]: This book sheds a lot of light on that.

[SPEAKER_00]: That God was doing something intentional in the Old Testament sacrificial system.

[SPEAKER_00]: That of something that would come in the future and it was preparing his people to operate by faith and something that they couldn't quite make sense out of yet.

[SPEAKER_00]: Look at Hebrews 10-1.

[SPEAKER_00]: For since the law, what we read in the Biblical 16,

[SPEAKER_00]: has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities.

[SPEAKER_00]: It can never.

[SPEAKER_00]: By the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, that's the day of atonement.

[SPEAKER_00]: It can never make perfect those who draw near.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jumping down a verse 3, but in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year.

[SPEAKER_00]: For it is impossible for the blood of bowls and goats to take away sins.

[SPEAKER_00]: The nation of Israel was given the system not to actually cleanse their guilt, but to point forward to the one who would come that would in totality with finality cleanse their guilt.

[SPEAKER_00]: The author says that even the day of atonement the most sacred of all the sacrifices didn't handle this.

[SPEAKER_00]: It says that that was just a reminder of the people's sins.

[SPEAKER_00]: that the people needed to be reminded year after year that we are guilty and we deserve death.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because if you fail to recognize that you will never appreciate the loving kindness of God, you will never have a death of thanksgiving in your heart that God has saved you and he cares for you if you don't recognize that you don't deserve that.

[SPEAKER_00]: When Jesus came, he acted as our high priest

[SPEAKER_00]: He had no spot or stain of sin.

[SPEAKER_00]: His merit was all sufficient.

[SPEAKER_00]: We just sang about that tonight.

[SPEAKER_00]: He perfectly obeyed the law of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: And even though he took on the form of weakness, Christ did not descend in glory in his royal garments, but in plain garments, like a human.

[SPEAKER_00]: And even though he took on the form of us that was weak,

[SPEAKER_00]: and suffered, even though he was tempted, he never sinned.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hebrews 726 says that it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.

[SPEAKER_00]: And this high priest, instead of offering the blood of a bull or a goat,

[SPEAKER_00]: Hebrews 9, 12, set us, that it was by the means of his own blood that secures our eternal redemption.

[SPEAKER_00]: Continuing in Hebrews 9, 24, we read that Christ has entered not into the holy place made with hands, in the tabernacle, which are copies of the true things, but now into heaven itself, to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.

[SPEAKER_00]: He does not sprinkle the altar with the blood of a bull or a goat that sprinkles his own blood.

[SPEAKER_00]: He shows that justice has been settled.

[SPEAKER_00]: The sacrifice or became the sacrifice.

[SPEAKER_00]: The offer or became the offer ring.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he's death on the cross.

[SPEAKER_00]: He experienced the separation from God that we deserve.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because I deserve to be an exile.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so do you.

[SPEAKER_00]: But because Christ experienced the exile, the abandonment, the forget,

[SPEAKER_00]: Being forgotten by his own father, you don't have to.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because he was cut off for us, we can be brought near in him.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is how you can be justified by a holy God without having your sins and wrongdoing swept under a rug.

[SPEAKER_00]: They have been paid and folded.

[SPEAKER_00]: You believe that student.

[SPEAKER_00]: Have you experienced that yourself?

[SPEAKER_00]: or you simply going through the motions offering your duty because that's what you're supposed to do.

[SPEAKER_00]: The problem with that offering is it is insufficient and you will live your entire life doing the same thing and never feel the freedom that Christ's offering offers you.

[SPEAKER_00]: There is no way to absolve your guilt, remove the stains, pay your debt without eternal judgment.

[SPEAKER_00]: being sentenced over your soul, unless the eternal worth of the eternal Son of God takes your place.

[SPEAKER_00]: The forgiveness was costly to purchase, but it is free to receive in him.

[SPEAKER_00]: And as we receive it, Hebrews 4, 16 should be our experience.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let us then get confidence drawn near to the throne of grace, to the seat of grace, to the mercy

[SPEAKER_00]: that we might find mercy and grace and health in our time of need.

[SPEAKER_00]: Christian, you have full, unfettered, unfiltered access to the very throne room of God, because of which Jesus has done for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Even on the days when you feel guilty or dirty or condemned, the price has been paid in full by another in your price.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's great.

[SPEAKER_00]: Father, we thank you that though we are so slow to understand, you are patient with us and your spirit helps us in our weakness.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Lord, I pray that though these are large,

[SPEAKER_00]: big ideas and realities that they would settle into the cracks of our heart and would change us entirely.

[SPEAKER_00]: I pray that these students would treasure what you have done.

[SPEAKER_00]: It would help me to treasure more what you have done on the cross for me, though I have deserved nothing.

[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for your grace.

[SPEAKER_00]: We pray that you would bless our conversation tonight in Jesus name.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.