Jesus Is Greater | Donovan Rillion | Greater Than Guilt

Does anybody know what the best cereal in the

world is? And there is a right answer. Frosted

mini -wheats. Somebody said cocoa something.

Cocoa crispies. Okay, hold on. Wait, wait, wait.

I heard one. Who said Fruity Pebbles? Who said

it? Oh, up here. Okay, Rebecca. I knew I liked

you. Rebecca is right. It's Fruity Pebbles. Fruity

Pebbles are objectively the best cereal ever.

From the amazing flavor to all the colors that

are probably not healthy for you, the texture,

and that overwhelming feeling that all of those

colors, that artificial coloring, you know, the

ones that cause so many problems, they can't

possibly be good for you. Fruity Pebbles. The

best cereal in the world. And I want to give

you a fun fact. I love food history. There's

a show on the History Channel called The Foods

That Built America. Great, great show. I hope

you watch it. But Fruity Pebbles were actually

the first ever cereal based on a cartoon character.

Now, you had other cereals that had cartoon mascots,

but they weren't based on a cartoon character.

Fruity Pebbles, though, and Cocoa Pebbles, I

think maybe that's what you were talking about,

Guy, when you said Cocoa Krispies, just like

the Walmart version, right? But Fruity Pebbles

and Cocoa Pebbles were based on Pebbles. Okay,

wow, you guys are lame. Y 'all don't watch cartoons

growing up? Pebble? Pebbles Flintstone. Yes.

It was actually a rebrand, by the way, of something

called Sugar Rice Crinkles. Okay, that doesn't

sound that appetizing. Sugar Rice Crinkles. But

Fruity Pebbles. And this isn't about cereal.

This is about the Flintstones, the beloved 1960s

cartoon. Was anybody, never mind, I'm not going

to ask if you were alive to watch that as a kid

when it was originally on TV. I watched the reruns.

It was great. It's a cartoon series based on

this family, their adventures from the Stone

Age. And one of the best parts of the Flintstones,

to me at least, was always their family car.

I think the car in the Flintstones is one of

the coolest things ever. It's this contraption

made of logs and stone cylinders that they sit

in and they ride. But the funny thing to me is

not the way the car looks, but it's how it's

powered. Does anybody know how the car was powered?

Fred's feet. And he would pedal his feet and

he would always like get a wind up, right? And

he'd go, boom, and then he'd just take off in

this car. It was powered by his feet. It's one

of the funniest things ever because who in the

world ever dreamed up this idea that they would

make a car that's supposed to take you somewhere,

but in the car, you would have to do all of the

work. So it's funny, but it's also... a very

serious parallel for what we're going to talk

about this morning. Hopefully you didn't think

I was going to talk about serials and cartoons

all day. The Flintstones car, it's a system that

promises to get you where you need to go, but

you've got to do all the heavy lifting. You've

got to do the pedaling. You've got to be the

one to take you where you need to go. So it really

will only take you as far as you can take yourself.

And the harder the road gets, the bumpier the

road gets, the more obstacles and objects are

on your path, the more difficult this road gets,

the more worn out you become. And then eventually,

you're incapable of moving or going in any type

of effective distance. Are you all with me? Does

this make sense? Yes. Because here's the truth.

Right now in this room, sitting in these chairs

or maybe listening online, There are people among

us, maybe it's you, trying to navigate life by

the power of your own feet, by your own will,

by your own strength, by your own goodness, by

your own wisdom. You are trying to navigate life

in a Flintstones car. And you can only take yourself

as far as you can take yourself. And the sad

reality is we're all human. And humans get tired.

Humans mess up. Humans grow weary. Humans fail.

We lack common sense sometimes. Sometimes we

have plenty of common sense, but maybe we just

don't really have the knowledge or the wisdom.

And so what we do is we try to make it on our

own. We try to pedal our feet. constantly to

keep ourselves moving forward and keep ourselves

moving others forward, constantly doing the work

that we believe needs to be done. And it's not

always a bad thing. Sometimes there are good

things that need to be done, but we try to do

it ourself. And when we put that responsibility

on ourselves, what that felt responsibility does

is it brings the realization of many failures.

Many times where we mess up and we slip up and

we don't do what we were supposed to, or we do

things that we know we shouldn't, like those

words that you can't take back, but you really

wish you could. Or maybe the compromises you

made so that you could get ahead, but you're

really just thinking about it and you're wishing

you could have stood more firm in your core values.

Or the lapses of judgment, or the moments of

weakness that produce some pretty rough results

in your life. There's a word for that. feeling.

A word that describes this consuming feeling

in our hearts and in our minds after a wrongdoing

or a failure. Anybody care to guess what that

word is? Guilt. Somebody looked at the back of

their bulletin. Guilt. It's guilt. It's this

feeling that only adds to the responsibility

that we feel. Like we say, well, I'll take responsibility

for that. Well, if you're like me, you've got

a lot of failures. You've got a lot of wrongdoings

and a lot of shortcomings that you're taking

a lot of responsibility for. And you feel it

and you think about it and you dwell on it. And

it's this guilt that consumes you. And that comes

from us trying to pedal our own car. Now, we're

not just pedaling to get ahead. What it is, is

we're pedaling to try to pay off that guilt.

to pay off that debt that we have because we

know all of the things we did. Like if I can

just work hard enough, if I can just serve enough,

if I can feel bad enough and do enough good,

maybe it'll make up for all of the things that

I've done wrong. Or maybe it will atone for my

sins. And so we keep pedaling that car forward,

no matter how futile it feels, until eventually

you just can't anymore. Until eventually you

find yourself just sitting, dwelling. in the

rot of your guilt. It's this painful cycle. And

what this painful cycle proves to me is this

idea that many of us believe God forgives. We

are in a church. If you are a Christian, if you

are a believer, if you've been baptized into

Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, then

you believe, or at least you say you do, you

believe that God forgives. But the problem is,

is we don't actually feel forgiven. We believe

that God forgives us for our sins. We believe

that he paid our debt. But for some reason, we

keep trying to make payments on the debt that's

already been paid. If you've got a debt that's

been forgiven, you don't keep sending a check

to the debtor. It's done. But for some reason,

we find ourselves in this cycle of trying to

work to atone for our wrong. trying to overcompensate

for the things that we've done that we still

feel guilty about. And I just have to ask the

question, why? Why is it that so many of us still

feel guilty? If we believe, if we believe that

God forgives, if we believe in the forgiveness

of sins that comes from Jesus Christ, if we believe

that, why do we still feel guilty? You know,

the original audience of Hebrews, those Christians

that were from a Jewish background, they were

tempted to go back to a system of doing the same

things over and over again. They were tempted

to go back to a system of peddling, of making

these regular sacrifices, of constantly going

to the temple day after day and week after week

and year after year to have their sins accounted

for and atoned for. And the Hebrew writer...

He shows these people, these Jewish Christians,

why that system, that system of peddling was

not something that they should go back to. Why

that system was never going to get them to their

desired destination. It was never designed to

finish the job. As we talked about last week,

it was designed to get them to the door, but

it was never going to get them through the door.

I want you to go ahead and turn to Hebrews chapter

Hebrews 9 · chapter mention

9. And before we read, I want to tell you what's

being addressed here, give you a little background.

The Hebrew writer, he explains how the tabernacle,

which was the tent where God dwelt among his

people, the tabernacle had two rooms. So you

had the outer room, and then you had the most

holy place. And these rooms were separated by

a veil, a veil by which Jesus tore whenever he

was crucified. But you had these two rooms. separated

by a veil. And only a priest could enter the

outer room, like a regular ordinary priest could

go into the outer room. And only the high priest

could enter into the most holy place. And the

regular priest, they would go into the outer

room, they'd go in daily to bring these regular

offerings. And so they were constantly going

in on behalf of the people to this outer room.

And then in the most holy place, the only person

that could go in there was the high priest. And

the high priest could only go in once a year.

So you have this system where people, ordinary

people like you and me, we would go to a priest

daily and we would give him something to take

into the outer room so that he could bring it

before God, make the offering, and then we would

be okay for a little while. But then the next

time we sin, we got to go back. And it was this

exhausting system. And then once a year, you'd

bring a little bit of a bigger sacrifice and

you'd bring it to the high priest and he would

go into the most holy place to present that to

God. And here's what we read in verses 8 through

10. If it's underlined, I'd love for you to read

along with me. By this, the Holy Spirit indicates

that the way into the holy places is not yet

opened as long as the first section is still

standing. According to this arrangement, gifts

and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect

the conscience of the worshiper, but deal only

with food and drink and various washings, regulations

for the body imposed until the time of reformation.

Right there. The Hebrew writer is explaining

how inadequate the old system was. We used that

word last week. We use it again because that

is really this point that the Hebrew writer is

making through this book is that, hey, that system

that you were raised in, that system that you're

tempted to go back to, that system that tells

you you've got to keep doing and you've got to

keep working in order to earn a spot, that system

is inadequate. It's not good enough. It never

was. And so he's making that point. And he's

not saying it's not that it was a bad system.

He's not saying God gave you something bad. It

just was. wasn't designed to do the thing that

only Jesus could do. God designed the system,

so it was good. God provided it. It had its place.

It was just never designed to pay off the debt.

Instead, it was designed to remind the people,

to remind them that their debt was there and

that God was merciful. And it was there to remind

them, or at least to point them to the only one

who could actually Pay off the debt. Jesus. And

so what's the solution? What's the solution to

this old system and this inadequate way of working

and repeatedly... Trying to pedal your way forward

and pedal your way into the good graces of God.

What's the solution? Well, we get to verse 13

and it starts to give it to us. So if it's underlined

again, please read with me. For if the blood

of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of defiled

persons with the ashes of a heifer sanctify for

the purification of the flesh, how much more

will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal

spirit offered himself without blemish to God,

purify our conscience from dead works to serve

the living God. He says, if that stuff was good,

if the blood offerings, the sacrifices, if that

was good, if the ashes sprinkled on someone,

if that was good, if this old system was good,

well, how much greater is Jesus? And that's the

whole reason for the title of this series, Jesus

is Greater, because you have this old system

that was good. You have these things that were

good, but Jesus is so much greater. Because he

doesn't just come and help us to feel a little

bit better about the way that we used to live.

He doesn't come to just make you feel okay, even

though you've done some wrong. He doesn't come

to kind of push you along a little bit. No, he

comes to forgive all sin and to give, as the

Hebrew writer says, to purify our conscience,

to give a pure conscience. What he's saying is,

is that old way? pales in comparison to our great

high priest Jesus. And he's not saying Jesus

came to be an addition to the old system. It's

not, you know, we had a series last year when

we talked about Galatians. It's not Jesus. It's

not the old way plus Jesus. No, Jesus came to

replace that old system with something far greater,

not more strength for our feet to pedal harder,

not more stamina so that we can get a little

bit farther on our own. No, he came, Jesus came

to put a whole new engine in our car. So we're

no longer pedaling by our feet. We are being

driven by the power of Jesus. And I want you

to notice what that engine does. God, through

the blood of Jesus, he purifies our conscience

from dead works. That word, that phrase there,

dead works, is pretty significant. Dead works,

the peddling, the trying to push ourselves along,

the trying to be good enough, the trying to be

wise enough, the trying to be capable enough.

He comes to extinguish that from our lives. And

your conscience, the thing that tells you, you

have to keep trying. to do more. The thing that

keeps telling you that you've got to make up

for the wrong you did, your conscience, the place

where your guilt lives, your conscience will

be purified. In other words, he's going to remove

the guilt. He's going to remove the weight of

that debt. He's going to take away the constant

feeling of I need to make up for all the wrong

I've done. He's going to remove that. He's going

to purify your conscience. from those dead works.

But maybe you're thinking, well, if Jesus purifies

my conscience, why does my guilt keep popping

up? Why, when I lay in bed at night, do I keep

thinking about all of the wrong that I've done?

Why, when I'm sitting at my desk at work, I can't

help but think of the words I said that I wish

I could take? If God, if Jesus purifies my conscience,

if he takes away the guilt, then why is the guilt

still there? Read chapter 10, verses 1 through

4 with me. For since the law has but a shadow

of the good things to come instead of the true

form of these realities, it can never, by the

same sacrifices that are continually offered

every year, make perfect those who draw near.

Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered

since the worshipers, having once been cleansed,

would no longer have any consciousness of sins?

But in these sacrifices, there is a reminder

of sins every year, for it is impossible for

the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

He says the law was just a shadow, but it wasn't

the real thing. It's kind of like when you play

hide and seek. When I was a kid, we used to go

in the woods and we'd play hide and seek. And

when it's daylight, you get the benefit of the

sun creeping through the canopy of the woods.

And so you could be hiding behind a tree or in

the bushes. And if you're a smart hider, you

keep your eyes open and you keep your ears attentive

so that you know. When the seeker is coming near

you, when they're approaching, you can be extra

quiet, extra still, right? And so what you do

is you're watching. And you start to hear, you

know, leaves crumple because they're walking.

And then before you see them, you might see their

shadow. So you know they're on their way. And

what the Hebrew writer says is that the law,

the old way, that inadequate system, it was a

shadow. It was something that indicates, it tells

you that the real thing is coming. The real thing

that is going to actually purify your conscience,

forgive you of your sins, make you perfect in

the eyes of God, that real thing is on its way.

So it's just a shadow. And the truth about a

shadow is a shadow is not the real thing. It's

not something that you can grab. It's not something

that you can attain. Nobody ever caught a shadow.

When I was writing that, the only thing I could

think of is like Nana, the dog from Peter Pan.

And Nana caught the shadow. But other than that,

a shadow has no physical value. You can't hold

on to it. And so with the old law, it was never

meant to be the thing that you hold on to. It

was just supposed to tell you, Jesus is coming.

As we said last week, the old system could get

them through the door, but it could never get

them through it. And what it left behind, verse

3, a reminder of sins. A reminder. Remember that

guilt we've been talking about? That feeling

that just kind of has your brain held captive,

that weighs on your heart all the time? That

thought of the things that you've done, the things

that you've said, the person you've been. The

old way leaves you with that. The old way leaves

that on your heart. It leaves that on your mind,

that system of trying to do more so that you

can be enough, that system of trying to be good

enough, that system of working harder or going

farther, of peddling, that system leaves you

with the reminder of your sins. It leaves you

with the guilt. And that's the answer to our

question, the constant replay of your wrongdoing

that keeps popping up. That's the reminder. It's

what the old system produced. And so when we

go back to peddling, when we go back to trying

to be enough, trying to pay off the debt ourselves,

trying to be what God needs us to be, when we

try to do that on our own, we get the same result.

We get the same inadequate result of a reminder

of who and how we've been. And I don't know about

you, but I don't want to be reminded of how I've

been because I haven't been good enough. I haven't

been strong enough. I haven't been wise enough.

I have not been pure enough. And so if I have

to constantly be reminded of that, and let me

be honest, I am, and I need to let that go. And

that's why we're having this sermon, because

I need to let it go. That's what the old system

produced. Not because God hasn't forgiven us,

but because we, us flawed humans, we keep living

like the debt is still ours to pay. So the old

system, it couldn't clear the conscience, it

couldn't wipe away the memory of the sin, and

neither can your own willpower. And so now I

want you to follow me here because we got to

do a little bit of math, all right? If the old

system left us a reminder, if the old system

left us with this guilt, this awful feeling of

all of the things we've ever done wrong, all

of the things that we've said and done, all of

the times when we weren't who we needed to be,

if that's what the old system left with us, then

what does Jesus leave us with? That's what we've

got to ask. If that's what the old system left,

and we're told that it was good, but it wasn't

quite good enough, well, then what does Jesus

leave us with? The answer, I believe, is Jesus

leaves us with a verdict, a final decision in

our case. Hebrews 10, 11 through 14. Notice the

difference? The priests... daily standing, because

their work is never done. There's always another

sin that needs to be atoned for. There's always

another wrongdoing that somebody needs to bring

before them. It's kind of like, you know, in

my brain as a kid, I grew up in an area that

was heavily Catholic. In my brain as a kid, the

priests in the Catholic church just sat in the

little confession box all day, every day. They

just lived there. Like, that's what my brain

told me. And that's what I picture when I think

of these priests standing daily to make sacrifice.

I think of my vision of the Catholic priest sitting

in the confession box all day, every day. And

his work is never done. There's always going

to be another sinner that needs to come confess.

There's always going to be another person who

has done wrong against God that needs to bring

something before the priest so that he can bring

it before God. But what Jesus does is Jesus sits

down at the right hand of God because his work

is done. His work's complete. He doesn't have

to stand so that we can keep going to him and

saying, Jesus, I need you to go into the temple,

make an offering for me. I need you to go make

my case, plead my case. No, Jesus sits because

the case is settled. The sacrifice has already

been made. The debt has already been paid. The

verdict is in. You're forgiven. You've been made

perfect. And so again, why do we still feel guilty?

Now, I want to clarify, the Hebrew writer does

use a phrase that's important. I was listening

to a John Piper sermon on this, and he said it's

important to note the verb tenses. And he says

a lot of really fancy words, and by that I mean

he just knows like basic English. But he says

a lot of fancy words about the Greek tenses here.

And in simple, what he says is it's important

to note that the phrase being sanctified is correct.

It's not that we are already sanctified. We are

not currently perfect. You have been made perfect

as in the verdict is in, you are forgiven. The

verdict is in, you are in the eyes of God, one

of his. You have the ability to be his. You have

the ability to be in his family, but you are

not yet perfect. It's this idea that you're still

in the process. You're still in progress. Like

I said earlier to somebody, we were talking about

someone and they were like, you know, still working

on it. We're all a work in progress. We're not

quite there yet. And so we need to not be mistaken

in thinking we have reached perfection, but we're

in the process of being sanctified. So what he

says is, if you are in the process of being made

sanctified, being made holy, then you have been

made perfect. you've been forgiven. The verdict

is in and it will not change. The easiest way

I can think to illustrate this is like branding

a cow. So the cow may not be everything you need

it to be yet. It may not be ready to take to

market. It may not be fully grown. You may not

have finished it yet, but it's still your cow.

And so you put that brand on it so that nobody

is mistaken. Whose cow that is. And I'm sorry

to refer to you all as cows. I've already said

heifer in this sermon once. Hebrew writer said

it, not me. The cow part is me. But you brand

the cow to say, this is mine. No changing that,

no question about it. But it's still got some

work to do. It's still got some room for growth.

And that's what the Hebrew writer is saying here.

And then he brings back a promise that God made

hundreds of years ago through the prophet Jeremiah.

Look at verses 16 through 17. This is the covenant

that I will make with them after those days,

declares the Lord. I will put my laws on their

hearts and write them on their minds. Then he

adds, I will remember their sins and their lawless

deeds no more. Fun fact, the passage he's quoting

is Jeremiah 31, 31 through 34. This is the only

place. In the Old Testament, where a new covenant,

the idea, at least the phrase new covenant is

mentioned. Nowhere else in the Old Testament

is the phrase new covenant mentioned. And so

way back then, through the prophet Jeremiah,

God announces his intentions. He makes this promise.

He says, the old way, we're not going to live

by that anymore. It's a new covenant. covenant.

I'm going to establish a new deal with my people.

And in this new deal, this is what he says. I'm

not going to keep holding their sins against

them to make it personal. God says, I'm not going

to hold your sins against you. He remembers them.

I will remember their sins and their lawless

deeds no more. We all know those people who they

do the thing where they do something for you

and then for the rest of your life. They hold

it against you. Like, hey, remember that time

I loaned you 20 bucks? Just want to make sure

you remember because I may need it here soon.

Or like, you know, they forgave you for something

you did wrong to them and they feel like you

need to remember how gracious they were towards

you. And so it's like, hey, just so you know,

I did wreck your car, but I want you to remember

the time. You wrecked my car. So you can't be

mad at me because I wrecked your car because

you wrecked mine. They hold that thing over you

for the rest of your life. They never let you

live it down. Don't be like those people, by

the way. Let it go. Unless it's like a serious

debt, then hold that against them, absolutely.

But God's not like us. He's not like those people.

When God forgives the sin, he says he will remember

it no more. As in, I'm not going to hold that

against you. When you mess up, I'm not going

to say, dude, again? You just did this last week.

Are you seriously doing it again? He's not going

to bring it up. He's not going to say, hey, don't

forget the time when you did this, but I forgave

you. I let it go. Well, clearly you did it. God

doesn't do that. Which is why in verse 18, the

Hebrew writer says, where there is forgiveness

of these, There is no longer any offering for

sin. No more offering means no more payments,

no more peddling. If God isn't holding it against

you, if God is not looking at you and saying

guilty, if God's not looking at you and saying

stained, if God's not looking at you and saying

sinner, then you can let it go too. Stop trying

to fix it. Stop trying to make up for it or pay

it off. Stop holding it against yourself. Again,

I'll ask the question, why are we still making

payments on a debt that has already been canceled?

Why are we trying to pedal a car when it's got

an engine in it? Listen, you don't need to just

forgive yourself. That's good like mental health

advice to forgive yourself. Yes, you did wrong.

It's okay. Well, it wasn't okay. but we're okay

now, let it go. That's good. But more important,

you need, I need to accept and receive God's

verdict. And God's verdict is innocent, debt

paid. I want to clarify though, not all guilt

is bad. Sometimes it's important to feel a little

bit of guilt. Or in other words, you need to

take responsibility for your actions. That's

a good thing. Sometimes the Spirit will convict

you of sin. that you need to repent of. And if

you're in this room right now and you are living

in sin or you keep doing that thing, this might

be the lesson that says, hey, let's get past

that and let it go and move on with life. That's

what repenting is. It's turning away from it.

Sometimes you will be convicted, but we need

to know the difference between being convicted

and being condemned. What conviction says is

come back. It's God saying, come back to me.

Come back to my family. Let that sin go. Leave

it behind and come into the family of God. But

what condemnation says is, hey, you need to keep

paying because don't forget how wrong you've

been. And what God says is there is no. There

is no condemnation for those who are in Christ,

which is what conviction does, is it leads you

to relying on Jesus, to being powered by Jesus,

whereas condemnation keeps you peddling on your

own. And nobody needs to be peddling on their

own. There is therefore no condemnation. That's

what Paul says in Romans 8 .1. In other words,

the verdict is in. You don't have to keep paying.

You're not on trial anymore. You just simply

need to give it to Jesus and leave it. That's

the key there. Leave it with Jesus. And once

you've given it to Jesus, you remember that he

purifies our conscience from dead works to serve

the living God. Just logically speaking, nobody

wants to be doing dead works. And nobody wants

to be doing something that they feel is pointless.

Nobody wants to be working in vain. Nobody wants

to have an assignment that they feel like doesn't

really amount to anything, doesn't really accomplish

it. Nobody wants to be doing that. And what the

Hebrew writer says is when Jesus purifies your

conscience, it's to take you from those dead

works, that laboring in vain, and it brings you

into serving a living God, as in the work you

will be doing in Christ has purpose. It has value.

It has a grand purpose. Nobody is saying to give

your life to Jesus and then sit still. To give

your life to Jesus and then just throw your hands

up and say, I'm good until Jesus comes, I'll

sit here. I love that song, we'll work until

Jesus comes. What that song is not saying is

we will work out of obligation because we feel

like we've got to make up. for all the wrong

we've done. It's we will work out of gratitude.

We will work because we know what good he's done

for us and we need to make sure that we are paying

that forward and living a life that is grateful.

What I would say is Jesus coming into your life

should move you forward to places that you would

have never been able to get to on your own. It

should take you places that your feet could not

pedal you to. And I believe that. I say that

because that's been the story of my life. I would

not be the man I am today. I would not have the

family I have today. I would not be doing the

work I'm doing today if not for the power of

Jesus in my life. It is not because I'm smart

enough. It's definitely not because I'm good

enough. It's not because I'm capable enough.

It is only because of Jesus. And I will tell

you, this is a lot farther than I would have

ever imagined I'd be in this life. And this is

a lot farther than a lot of people thought I

would ever be in life. And that is not because

of anything I've done. It's not because of anything

I made happen. It is because of Jesus Christ.

And I can imagine there are some people in this

room who will say the same thing, that they would

not be where they are today if not for the power

of Jesus Christ. And so again, I ask, why do

we keep trying to pedal with our own feet? They

are not good enough. We are not strong enough.

We are not wise enough. So please, please, please

let it go and just let Jesus take you where he

needs you. So what do we do with all this? This

has been a lot. I'm going to give you a challenge.

It's pretty simple, although doing it may not

be so simple. This week, I want you to name your

guilt. It's hard to get rid of something that

we haven't actually diagnosed. So name the thing

that's got you feeling guilty. Name the thing

that just consistently is in your mind making

you feel bad, making you feel like you've got

to work harder or be good enough. Name it and

then remember what Jesus does. Every time it

shows up, every time that feeling comes into

your heart and your mind, remember what God says.

I will remember their sins and their lawless

deeds no more. If God doesn't hold it against

you, stop holding it against yourself. And then

I want you to do something. Do something for

someone else, not to pay anything off, not to

make payments on that debt, not to make up for

the wrong, but just out of gratitude. If there's

nothing we can give God, if there's no amount

of money, we say that all the time, God, there's

nothing I can give you. There's nothing I can

pay to say thank you. There's nothing I can say

to say thank you. If that's true and it is true,

then just go serve someone and let that be your

sign of gratitude. And if we can do that, if

we can stop making payments and just start serving

our living God, then I think we'll be okay. And

today I want you to imagine for a moment what

it would be like if this church, for our church

to be a place where nobody feels like they've

got to hide their past, where they've got to

continually dwell in their guilt, to be a place

where people serve out of gratitude instead of

out of debt, a place where visitors walk in and

they meet people who are living free of guilt

and sin and shame. That's what a purified conscience

would look like in this family. And so I'm asking

again for us to live like a car powered by an

engine instead of by mere feet. So stop making

payments on a debt Jesus already paid. Stop pedaling

and just let Jesus drive. There's a pretty popular

song, Jesus Take the Wheel. Jesus, don't just

take the wheel, put your foot on the gas for

me. And maybe this morning you realize. that

you have been peddling your whole life. You've

been trying to pay off a debt you could never

pay. You've been trying to make it on your own.

You've been trying to do for yourself. I heard

someone say, if I was hired to run my life, I

would have fired me a long time ago. I'm asking

you today to fire yourself and hire Jesus. And

guess what? He works for free. Isn't that cool?

Fire yourself. Let Jesus drive. He offers a better

way than trying to pay on your own. Acts 2 .38,

repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of

your sins and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Essentially, be baptized, turn away from those

sins, and you will receive forgiveness of those

sins. It'll be wiped clean and you'll get the

engine that helps you drive forward. Or maybe

you're in the room and you're carrying something

that you've already, you've given to Jesus, but

you kind of keep holding on to it. Like you've

handed it off, but you're still, you know, still

holding on a little bit. Or maybe you've given

it to Jesus, but you kind of keep looking back

to see if he still got it or did he hand it back

to you? Or maybe you felt like you were playing

a game of hot potato with Jesus. Like here, Jesus,

you take it. No, I don't want you to take it.

Give it to Jesus. Let him have it. Let him have

it and let it go. If there's anything you need

this morning, if you need to hand it off to Jesus

for the first time and hand it off to him for

good, or if you need to just remember that he's

willing to take it and keep it and let it go,

whatever you need this morning, whatever your

hurt is, whatever prayers you need, we want to

be here for you. We want to pray with you. We

want to support you, walk with you. We offer

you the invitation now to do so as we stand and

sing.