MidTree Church
The sermon audio of MidTree Church in Harris County, Ga. BEHOLD // BELIEVE // BECOME
MidTree Church
The Great Exchange: When Jesus Took Your Place | Pastor Will Hawk | March 23, 2025
The crucifixion stands as history's ultimate demonstration of sacrificial love—a moment when the sinless Son of God willingly suffered what was rightfully ours to give us what could never be ours through our own efforts.
Journeying through the religious and political trials Jesus endured reveals a profound truth: the Creator of the universe stood silent before His accusers, accepting false charges, mockery, and brutal treatment that our sin deserved. Though declared innocent multiple times by both Pilate and Herod, the crowd demanded His crucifixion instead of Barabbas, an actual insurrectionist and murderer—a powerful picture of the substitution at the heart of our salvation.
This "great exchange" offers believers five extraordinary gifts purchased at the cross. Through expiation, our sin is completely removed, liberating us from crushing guilt and shame. Through propitiation, God's righteous anger toward sin is fully satisfied, assuring us that no sin is too grievous to be forgiven. Through justification, we're declared righteous despite our imperfections, giving us a fresh start not just once but daily. Through reconciliation, we're brought back into relationship with the Father we ran from, providing the family connection our hearts crave. Through imputation, we're clothed in Christ's perfection, addressing our deepest feelings of inadequacy.
These aren't theological abstractions but practical, life-changing realities available to anyone who comes with empty hands and an open heart. Whatever your struggle today—whether shame over past mistakes, doubt about God's forgiveness, need for a fresh start, longing for family, or feelings of never measuring up—the cross offers precisely what you need. Will you reach out and receive what Jesus suffered so greatly to give you?
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Y'all are so kind. All right, if you would turn to your Bibles. We're going to be in Luke, chapter 22, starting at verse 66, and we're going to go all the way to chapter 23, verse 7, which is on page 883. If you're using one of the Pew Bibles, you can follow along as we read together. I'll give you just a couple seconds to find where you are.
Speaker 1:When day came, the assembly of the elders of the people gathered together, both chief priests and scribes, and they led him away to their council and they said If you are the Christ, tell us. But he said to them If I tell you, you will not believe, and if I ask you you will not answer. But from now on, the Son of man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God. So they all said Are you the Son of man? Then you will not answer.
Speaker 1:And brought him before Pilate and they began to accuse him, saying we found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king. And Pilate asked him Are you the king of the Jews? And he answered him you have said so. Then Pilate said to the chief priests in the crowds. I find no guilt in this man, but they were urgent saying he stirs up the people teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee even to this place. When Pilate heard this, he asked whether the man was a Galilean, and when he heard that he belonged to Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him over to Herod, who was himself in Jerusalem at the time. This is the word of the Lord.
Speaker 2:Amen. Thank you, cece. As I was getting ready for this Sunday, I knew a couple of things. One thing that I knew is that my sermon was not going to be the best sermon of the day, and I was so on board with that. And so let me just tell you I did prepare a little bit differently for this Sunday than I have in Sunday's past or than I typically do. So I knew you were already going to have two sermons preached to you, and I love the fact that they are two sermons that every believer in this room can preach every day of their lives.
Speaker 2:May we be reminded, not just because of a baptism but of a sharing of a testimony, that if you are a Christian, your story may not look like this and it may not sound like this. It may not include 600 jumps out of an airplane, it may not include all kinds of details, but it includes a person who is in need, a need that can only be met in Christ, a willingness by God to send his son to meet that need and then a life after that need has been met. So sermon one is already done. Sermon two you guys preached last week. You just didn't know it. My son came up to me after the second service last week and he said, dad, you, mr, beasted the Stensons. And I was like, what are you talking about? And what you guys may not realize if you came to first service last week was after we asked you to give toward the Stinson's. By the way, if you're not sure who that is, it's a family who is finishing up seminary with five-year-old son and teenage daughter who are looking to move their entire life to Mombasa, kenya, live there.
Speaker 2:Train pastors, plant churches do incredible things. Their goal was to raise $3,000 that the church would then match so that we could cover their vision trip and they wouldn't have to worry about raising money until they decided to go full-time. And I asked you guys, guys, if we can just please raise $3,000, then we will be able to send them raised $3,000, then we will be able to send them. As it stands now, we have raised over $9,000. Yeah, praise God, and I just tell you, I told them that in front of everybody on Sunday and Audrey immediately broke down. So you have already been a part of sermon number two with your generosity, your desire to see the kingdom go. So I have very little work to do this morning, and I am on board with that.
Speaker 2:What I would like to do this morning is help you understand what it takes for you to have a story like this. What I would want to do this morning is to remind those of us who it's been a long time since Will was nine years old on June 2nd 1991, and got baptized, to be reminded of what it was that Christ had to do so that I could have this story to share. Why would Jesus suffer so? Why not, when all of this is happening, give them some miraculous reality of his power? Why not give them faith by overcoming the enemy right in front of their eyes and putting on display 10,000 angels as a show of force that would immediately cause wonder and worship? Perhaps what I wonder the most is why does Jesus wait for three hours in a garden, knowing that Judas was on his way? How easy it would have been for him to finish that moment just a few minutes early and say amen and walk away, and walk away. There were a million different ways that Jesus could have saved himself, but only one way to save you in this broken world. Infinite number of ways Jesus could have walked away from this, but only one way that he could save you and this broken world.
Speaker 2:We finished last week by looking at this passage. We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, endurance, character and character produces hope. And I took a moment to just say this is what I want us to realize, church. I want us to realize that suffering produces. It produces good things for those who put their trust in God. So here is my hope and my prayer.
Speaker 2:Martin Luther puts it this way. There's this beautiful prayer that I'm going to encourage you to pray before our morning ends, and Luther begins it like this my dear brother, my dear sister in Christ, learn Christ and him crucified. And this is what I want to knock out today. I want you to learn Christ. I'm not going to try to preach a ton, I'm not going to try to draw you along in this sort of emotional appeal. I want to appeal to your brains this morning. I want to teach you what Christ is, a word that means both savior and king. I want to teach you what it means that he died on this kind of a cross, in that kind of a way. What is it that it actually did for us? And, by the way, there's a QR code, and some of you are already well trained in this and you have started pulling your phones out. Let me pray and then y'all can pull your phones out and I'll tell you what that is.
Speaker 2:Father, I want to do my absolute best which is going to be far from sufficient in teaching Christ as Savior and King. I want to do the absolute best that this human male can do in teaching the crucifixion, why it was that your hands were stretched out, why it was that nails pierced them, why you were mocked, why you were beaten, why you were scorned, why you were played to dress up with. Why were all of these things realities and what does it mean for us in 2025? Is it a distant story or is it a promise that you made long ago that continues to fulfill itself? I believe it is the latter, and I would pray for every believer of old in this room that you would give us fresh wind, fresh fire and fresh spiritual desire to pursue you, for those in this room who are skeptical, for those who are seeking you openly and curious. Thank you for Veronica's testimony, her honesty walking in. I'm learning about the Bible, but I'm not sure that this is for me, about me that I should be here. Thank you for that honesty. I think it represents many in this room, but would you meet all of us, no matter where we are. I pray Amen.
Speaker 2:One of my favorite little books, devotionally, is a book written by John Piper called 50 Reasons Jesus Came to Die. Go ahead, take your phones out. Sometimes when you do this it messes up the website, so if it does just holler at me afterward, this little here, I can probably make that easier for you. This little QR code will give you a free PDF to the entire book, which I cannot advocate for you at a better time of the year, as we are a number of weeks away from Easter. 50 reasons Jesus came to die, and I will be going through all 50 right now. You're not sure, are you? You're not really sure, are you? I want to give you five.
Speaker 2:Like I said, we've already had two good sermons. I only have two main points, and this is the first one. At the cross, jesus suffered what was ours. At the cross, jesus suffered what was ours. What Sarah has already read and what I am going to read and point to. I want you to realize that every picture you have that is accurate and biblically supported, that is encouraged by the Spirit. When you imagine Christ on the cross, I want you to understand every nail, every beating, every spitting, every scorn, every mocking, every nerve ending in fiber that was screaming in pain. Every bit of darkness, every bit of loneliness, loss, sadness and depression was yours first, every one of them. For our sake, he being God, made him being Jesus to be sin. The concept of scripture is that the Holy One who had never done anything wrong, in fact so much so that 1 Peter would say he committed no sin and neither was deceit even found in his mouth. Every possible sin you can imagine have committed, known, has been committed. Have committed, known, has been committed is heaped on one man as he sits, rather is displayed on the cross. For our sake, god made him to become sin.
Speaker 2:There was a teacher that I had my first year in college. He was a Pol Sci teacher. I don't think I've told y'all this story ever before. He opened the class, which was the I think it was the history of political science, from Marx through something, and he started the class. This was an older Polish gentleman, white haired, sort of a taller version of the old man in up. If that helps you, kind of just do that, okay.
Speaker 2:And he asked this question as the first class opened. He said hey, by show of hands, how many of you believe that man is generally good and how many of you believe that man is generally evil? That was his question. He said I want you to raise your hand if you believe that man is generally good. Anybody want to guess how many hands went up? All of them save one. Every hand in the room goes up, except for one kid, because he grew up in a church that read the Bible. Except for one kid, because he grew up in a church that read the Bible.
Speaker 2:And then question number two I'd never been more proud in my life to be right, and that says a lot. He said how many of you believe that man is inherently evil? And I put my hand up. I was ready, I was ready to get called on. I was going to go into God, man, christ. Response our brokenness, romans 3, 23,. For all of sin, finally, lord, it's my moment. And he says he's right. And let me tell you why. And I was like all right, fine, you take it, you take it, he, you take it. He said I remember in World War II, when the first V2 rocket flew over my house.
Speaker 2:From that moment on, I have known without a shadow of a doubt that if you put a human in the corner, if you give them the right or, depending on how you see it, the wrong opportunity, every one of us, when squeezed, does not have righteousness seep out. It is dark, it is sinful and, for our sake, god made Jesus to be sin at the cross, covering in sin the one who had committed none. So this is the text that Sarah read. I know it's too small for you. We're going to do it a little bit differently this morning, because what I am going to try to accomplish in quick order is to teach you two things at one time. One, I want you to see and feel and know the crucifixion of Christ. We're not even gonna get all the way there. I want you to imagine what it would have been like for you to get what your sins deserve and I'll stand here when I do that stuff and I want you to watch the plot play out as Jesus goes through God's perfect ordination to be able to rescue you in a broken world. So what I'm going to do, I'm going to try to make this physical. When the plot moves, I'll be standing on this side of the pulpit, and when I want you to notice what your sin actually deserved, if you are ever to have gotten it, I will be standing over here. I'm going to move fairly quickly, though.
Speaker 2:Now the men who were holding Jesus in custody. They were mocking him as they beat sorry, as they beat him. They blindfolded him and asked him prophesy who is it that struck you? And they said many other things against him, blaspheming him, in other words. Here's what you deserved you deserve to be made fun of. You deserved, because of your sin, to be beaten physically, painfully. You deserved because of your sin. This is the sin that was placed on him. This is what I'm trying to teach you. You deserve to be blindfolded and struck and have somebody say hey, if you really have your life together, tell us what's happening. Jesus, you're a prophet. Tell me, who was it that just hit you? Blaspheming the Son of God, in other words, just hit you. Blaspheming the Son of God, in other words, saying horrible things about God to the face of God.
Speaker 2:There's a little quote by Thabiti that I think is worth mentioning. They play a little game. They blindfold Jesus and take turns hitting him. They say prophesy, who was it that hit you? No doubt that seemed like a funny thought to them, but can you imagine the day of judgment when they appear before Christ and he says by the way, I know it was you who hit me. Now one of our sins is hidden, hidden before his sight. And yet here Christ remains. This is the pre-trial. This is them in the wilderness, this is them before it even becomes semi-legal. And then the trial continues. Sorry, I'm realizing I'm messing up my own slides here.
Speaker 2:When day came, trial trial number one. When day came, the assembly of the elders of the people gathered together, both chief priests and scribes. This will be trial number one. It will be generally religious in nature. They led him away to their council and they said if you are the Christ only thing I've put in bold on this entire text, because you must not miss this to understand what is happening If you are the Christ.
Speaker 2:Now, this is a word that means two different things it means savior, on the one hand, and it means king, on the other. Let me tell you why this matters. It matters because if you are the Jewish people, jesus claiming to be savior is the most egregious offense they can bring against him. This man is claiming to be God and in their law, the Jewish law, he should have been stoned to death. Little problem for them. They no longer run their nation. The Romans do. So. If they are going to actually bring death to this man, they're going to need more than a religious charge. This is why they use the term Christ, because it not only means savior, it also means king. And if Caesar hears that there is another one claiming to be king, if Caesar hears that there is another one building a revolution, there is a zero tolerance policy for that individual continuing to live and to breathe.
Speaker 2:So they look at Jesus. Are you savior? Are you the Messiah who has promised to come? Are you the king of kings? But he said to them if I tell you, you will not believe. I want you to notice. If I tell you he's silent, primarily in this trial, and if I ask you, you will not answer. But from now on, the son of man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God. So they all said are you the son of God then? And he said to them you say that I am. To us it sounds evasive. To us, it sounds like Jesus simply says hey, that's what you're saying about me. Another way to read this would be Jesus saying it is as you have said that I am. This is Jesus agreeing with them. This is Jesus saying yes, I am Christ, I am Savior, I am Messiah. Christ, I am Savior, I am Messiah, I am King. Which is why the very next thing that comes from them is they say what further testimony do we need? We've heard it for ourselves. Now Matthew does for us sort of a wonderful thing. If you read this in Matthew, you are going to come across what's called the oath of the testimony. The same story in Matthew comes to this little passage.
Speaker 2:But Jesus remained silent and the high priest, caiaphas. He said to him I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the son of God. And he said you have said so. There's something you need to know about Jewish culture. So there's something you need to know about Jewish culture. It is an honorable thing to remain silent when you are accused. It's an honorable thing for somebody to say horrible things about you and you trust yourself to God, not pleading your own case. Side note Jesus didn't even have to plead his own case. All of these false witnesses that they brought their arguments contradicted. So both Pilate and Herod are going to say look, I don't know what you guys are trying to do to this man, but none of the arguments line up. We have to throw this thing out of court. But this one line by Caiaphas was politically brilliant.
Speaker 2:According to Jewish tradition, if anybody ever said to you a law-abiding Jewish person, I adjure you by the living God, you either speak or you call into question whether or not you believe in the goodness of God. For you to remain silent would be blasphemy to God. This would be similar. I want you to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. So help you God. Same thing. We've taken it from a Jewish context and we have put it in our own.
Speaker 2:And when Caiaphas says this Jesus, and Caiaphas says this Jesus, in honoring the name of his own father, must respond and he says am I the Christ? It is as you have said. I am savior, I am king. That's why when we go back to this story, that's why when we look here, all of a sudden the action moves. Then the whole company, sorry guys. Then the whole company of them arose and brought him before Pilate. Why? Because Caiaphas had got him. He had finally got Jesus to say I am a king. And they say checkmate, take him to Pilate. There is no way this Roman officer is going to let him live.
Speaker 2:And they began to accuse him, saying we found this man misleading our nation. Have you ever had somebody lie about you? Have you ever had somebody make up a tale about you to put themselves in a better light? Have you ever had to go to bat for yourself because it felt like there were numerous voices that were making fabricated tales to call into question your goodness and your character? This is what Jesus endured on the cross. We found this man misleading our nation. He forbade for us to give tribute to Caesar, which of course he never did. He said that he is Christ a king. So Pilate turns and he asks him are you, are you the king of the Jews? And he answered him it is as you have said.
Speaker 2:Then Pilate said to the chief priests and to the crowd I find no guilt in this man. Just give me your eyes for one moment on this. Pilate's going to say this four times, four times the judge holding the gavel who could drop it, will say there's no guilt here, there is nothing. Do you realize? I couldn't take one of you and put you on this stage for more than five minutes and be able to say that about one of us. Jesus is 33 years into living in a human life, living for all of time, and one human judge actually gets it right and he says there's nothing here. What are you guys doing, wasting our time with this? And Pilate said to the chief priests in the crowd I find no guilt in this man. But they were urgent saying no, no, no, pilate. He's stirring up the people. He's teaching throughout all Judea and from don't miss this Galilee. And as soon as Pilate hears it, welcome to trial.
Speaker 2:Number two I don't wanna be responsible for this. Pilate is thinking I can't find any guilt in this guy. It just seems like a mob. Wait a minute. Did you just say he's from Galilee? Awesome flag on the field, not in my jurisdiction. That guy was speeding in Phoenix City. Don't look at me as a cop in Columbus to do anything about it. This guy's too well known. You think I wanna be on social media locking this guy up? I don't think so. And because it was Passover, it was convenient, guy up, I don't think so. And because it was Passover, it was convenient. Who was overseeing Galilee? Herod was so trial number three when Pilate heard this, he asked whether the man was a Galilean.
Speaker 2:Please, guys, look, I know the Bible can be hard to understand at times. Hear me out, it's not as hard as we make it out to be. If you are going to try to read the Bible the way you try to read a children's storybook, yeah, okay, it's going to get you all right. Read 10 minutes of Shakespeare and then pick up your Bible and feel like a genius. If you need to, I'm telling you the Bible is not that difficult to understand, but it does require two things of you. Number one it requires that you actually want to understand it, not bring your own understanding to it. If it is your job to justify the way that you're living, the way that you're thinking and trying to find that in Scripture, it is going to be an empty, dusty, dead book to you. Additionally, if you are going to flip Jesus a penny with the five seconds that you give him to give yourself credit for reading the word of God I would offer to you. You ought not expect to get much the word of God. We have it every day and it takes just some time, a little bit of thought, to understand. He looks and he's like wait, this guy's a Galilean. Awesome, pilate heard this. He asked whether the man was a Galilean and when he learned that he belonged to Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him over to Herod. I don't want to have anything to do with this. Send Jesus to trial.
Speaker 2:Number three Herod happened to be in Jerusalem at that time. Why was he in Jerusalem at that time? It was Passover. When Herod saw Jesus one of my favorite parts he was very glad. Let me just go ahead and tell you sometimes I don't mind getting you high to then slam you down. I think it's good for your soul. Okay, the question and then V2 rockets. You're like oh, that was unfair. Okay, I get it. Sometimes I think that is good for your soul. I just want you to know this is about to have a huge turn and I don't want you to miss it, because it goes to far greater depths than what I have already hit.
Speaker 2:Herod is so glad to see Jesus. He had long desired to see him. Why? Because he had heard about him. He wanted to see some sign done by him. So when he questioned him he did it at some length, but Jesus again made no answer. Herod is thinking, hey, here comes the one claiming to be the Christ, and I don't know about all of that and I'm not that upset that Pilate sent him to me. I've wanted to meet this guy. I heard he walked on water and food fell from the heavens or was multiplied in some way that sick people were able to receive healing. Lame people were walking. He's spitting in the mud and blind people are seeing Jesus, do something for me. Do you not know that I hold in my hand your life or your death? Herod must have been thinking Don't you know that it is within my authority to throw you in jail, to place you on a cross or to give you a lush lifestyle that no one else on the planet could? Just one little thing, jesus, one little show. Hey, here's some water, maybe make it wine for me. Dance, monkey, dance.
Speaker 2:The chief priests and the scribes stood by vehemently accusing him, and Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him. This is what you deserve. You deserve to be vehemently accused 24-7. In fact, in case you don't know this, there is one called the devil, aka the accuser, who is very good at doing this. In fact it's his native tongue. He knows how to accuse you. He knows how to accuse you because he has seen your stuff.
Speaker 2:Jesus is a little bit harder to accuse Not much there to see but you, oh, it's so easy. It's so easy to make fun of you. You get dressed up and you look nice and you open your little Bible. But I know what was running through your mind last night as you went to sleep. I know what you were pondering. I know what you were looking at on your phone. I know what was running through your mind last night as you went to sleep. I know what you were pondering. I know what you were looking at on your phone. I know what you were thinking about. The accuser would say vehemently accusing you day and night. This is what you deserve. Notice, jesus is the one who gets it, and because Herod doesn't get a show, he puts on his own. They arrayed Jesus in splendid clothing. Jesus, if you're not going to make a little one-act play for us in your miracles, then we will make one out of you. And the creator of the universe is played dress up with. This is what you and I deserve.
Speaker 2:And Herod and Pilate became friends with each other that very day, because the enemy of my enemy is my friend and before this they had been at enmity with each other. Pilate then called together chief priests and rulers and the people, and they said to them you brought me this man as somebody who is misleading the people, and after examining him before you, behold, I did not find this man guilty of any of your charges. Neither did Herod. He sent him back to us. Look, nothing deserving death has been done by him, so I'm gonna punish him and release him, bringing us to the final part.
Speaker 2:But they all cried out together away with this man and release to us Barabbas, a man who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection starting in the city and for murder. Pilate addressed them once more this would be his third time desiring to release Jesus. But they kept shouting crucify, crucify him. A third time he said to them why? What evil has he done? I found in him no guilt deserving death. I'm going to punish him and release him. But they were urgent, demanding with loud cries that he should be crucified. Voices prevailed, the voices that were formed by God himself, cried for the death of the one who spoke them into existence.
Speaker 2:I told you I only had two points. Point one is Jesus suffered what was ours. Point two is to give us what was his. Thomas pointed to this and I can think of no better Sunday to show this to you For our sake. He did make him to be sin, but I don't want you to miss this. Why did he do this? So that, unto something, suffering produces good things. All of the beating, the mocking, the scorn, all of these things placed on Jesus so that in him we might become righteous Christians.
Speaker 2:This is a scandal. Unbelievers, this does not make sense in this world. Why would you, the furthest from God, not even just be brought back to a blank canvas? Why would you be given goodness and righteousness? Because this is the gift of the cross. This is substitutionary atonement. This is the great exchange. This is Barabbas, who was an insurrectionist what Jesus was accused of and a murderer. This is a guy who spent his time taking life, being exchanged for the one who gave it. This is the one who is building his own kingdom, being exchanged for the one who is it. This is the one who is building his own kingdom being exchanged for the one who is building a kingdom for others. This ought to sound very familiar. This is what Christ does for us on the cross.
Speaker 2:Martin Luther's original quote is on the left. If you are feeling particularly smart today, look to the left. I've cleaned it up on the right, my dear brother. Learn Christ. I've cleaned it up on the right, my dear brother. Learn Christ, learn Savior, learn King, learn the crucifixion, learn his pain, learn to pray like this. This would be the prayer I would hope for all of you to pray. Lord Jesus, you are my righteousness, I am your sin. This is what you bring to Christ. You took upon yourself what is mine and gave to me what is yours. You took on yourself what is mine and gave to me what is yours. You took on yourself what you were not and you gave me what I was not.
Speaker 2:I want to close by telling you five gifts that you get at the cross and Stokesy or team. Whenever you guys want to come up, y'all feel free to come on up. Five gifts, by the way, note takers, good luck. All right, I'm moving quick and all of you can learn one new $5 word today. I never try to be impressive. You do not need to know theological terms, but I'm going to try to teach you some anyway as we close out this morning. Five gifts from the cross.
Speaker 2:Number one this is called expiation. First gift at the cross, your sin is removed. All we, like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned every one of us to his own way and the Lord laid on him the iniquity, the sin, the brokenness, the accusations of us all. Who is expiation for? It's especially for those with feelings of guilt or shame. This morning, the first gift of the cross is for those who think how could I have done this? I'd be terrified for people to know that I am did that. And Jesus steps in and he offers expiation, your sin being removed. Secondly, propitiation by the way, they're all going to end in ation, so you can just know that, trying to make it easy, god's wrath is satisfied. Not only is your sin removed, but the wrath of God. For God to be just, he has to punish evil. It is satisfied and this is love. Not that we loved God, far from it. Squeeze us and see what comes out, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the payment, the propitiation for our sins. The second gift from the cross is that God's wrath is satisfied. This is especially for those who feel like their sins are too numerous, their sins are too egregious or big, for those who feel that their sins are impossible to cover. This is the second gift the cross offers you.
Speaker 2:Thirdly, we are offered justification. You are declared righteous and this word is a biggie because you're not righteous On your best day. You are so far from this man, but because of the work on the cross, this third gift and don't miss that it is a gift this is grace giving what your effort never could. You are declared righteous and given a new life, for all have sinned by the way, that's a past tense thing. You have sinned and all fall short. You are actively falling short. Don't miss how perfect the gospel is. It's not just good enough for your past failures, it's good enough for your current ones too, and God, knowing this, says you are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Who is this for? It's especially for those who know they need a new start and if they're honest, they need more than one. They need a new start every day, and sometimes they need three starts in a day. This is what justification gives you the righteousness of Christ and a new life.
Speaker 2:Fourthly, it gives you reconciliation. You are brought back to the father that you ran from the law, knowing right from wrong, written on your own conscience from the time you were three years old and your mom said time to get in the car and you ran the other way, right into the street. From that moment on, written on your heart was a recognition that you were broken. It existed there that until Christ came, you would realize that you had a problem, so that you would be justified by faith. And now that faith has come, you are no longer under a guardian, you are no longer under this law. You are no longer on the rat race or on the hamster wheel trying to just be good enough for God or better than the person next to you. No, in Christ you are sons and daughters of God through faith. This is especially for those who need a good family. It's especially for those who desire closeness with God and wonder where that went, since you were 15 years old.
Speaker 2:Reconciliation and, finally, the last gift given to us at the cross. By the way, you could spend a millennia building this out is imputation. You are clothed in Christ's perfection and we end where we began. He made him to be sin. Who knew no sin, so that in him you would be seen as righteous. This is especially for those who rarely feel good enough or as though they do not measure up. I've been walking with Christ for over 30 years of my life. I have yet to graduate from this list, and I would be willing to bet that everyone in this room has yet to graduate.
Speaker 2:So what do we do with this? We ask, we believe, and we come with empty hands, simply saying if these are gifts that Christ has purchased at the cross, if they truly are gifts and I do not have to earn them, jesus, I'll take some of that. If you're still offering, if you're still offering that I can be brought back to you. I'd like to have some of that. If you're telling me my guilt and my shame can be removed, might I have some of that? A new life that begins not just with every morning, but every time I come to you and ask for newness.
Speaker 2:If this is a short version pointing only to a few gifts that are available to us at the cross, what do you need from Jesus today? Let this be a room of response, let it be a room of testimony that we would stand and sing, that we would dismiss ourselves to the back porch to sit in the world that God created and just meditate on his goodness to us. Come forward on the back porch and talk, share good stories and hard stories, ask for prayers about difficult things, but know this Christ has given us so much more than five gifts at the cross. They're innumerable, but I give you enough this morning to pursue him well, so let's pursue him together.