WEBVTT 00:00:00.479 --> 00:00:08.000 Genesis 15, starting in verse 1, says, After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision. 00:00:08.320 --> 00:00:13.679 Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield, your very great reward. 00:00:14.240 --> 00:00:18.879 But Abram said, Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless? 00:00:19.120 --> 00:00:23.760 And the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus. 00:00:24.160 --> 00:00:31.359 And Abram said, You've given me no children, so a servant in my house will be my heir. 00:00:32.320 --> 00:00:40.320 Then the word of the Lord came to him, This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir. 00:00:40.560 --> 00:00:47.039 He took him outside and said, Look up at the sky and count the stars, if indeed you can count them. 00:00:47.520 --> 00:00:52.079 Then he said to him, So shall your offspring be. 00:00:53.520 --> 00:00:58.880 Abram believed in the Lord, and he credited to him as righteousness. 00:00:59.600 --> 00:01:08.079 He also said to him, I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land, to take possession of it. 00:01:08.400 --> 00:01:13.599 But Abram said, Sovereign Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of it? 00:01:14.239 --> 00:01:22.959 So the Lord said to him, Bring me a heifer, a goat, and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon. 00:01:23.280 --> 00:01:28.640 Abraham brought all these to him, cut them in two, and arranged the halves opposite each other. 00:01:28.799 --> 00:01:31.519 The birds, however, he did not cut in half. 00:01:31.760 --> 00:01:36.879 Then the birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away. 00:01:38.319 --> 00:01:39.359 Verse 17. 00:01:48.400 --> 00:01:55.920 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, To your descendants, I will give this land. 00:01:58.079 --> 00:02:00.239 Would you join me in a word of prayer? 00:02:05.040 --> 00:02:12.080 God, as we have already sung this morning, you are the prize of our journey. 00:02:13.280 --> 00:02:15.759 You are the joy of our salvation. 00:02:16.080 --> 00:02:20.159 Seeing you face to face is what we long for. 00:02:20.319 --> 00:02:22.080 It is what we are made for. 00:02:24.639 --> 00:02:30.639 God, as we look at this challenging passage this morning, I ask that you would uh help us. 00:02:31.360 --> 00:02:40.000 Help us to see and understand, uh, clear away things that would get in the way of us seeing and and knowing what is here. 00:02:40.400 --> 00:02:44.400 And we ask, as we do each week, God, that you would change us. 00:02:45.439 --> 00:02:53.919 We ask that by your spirit you would enable us to see new aspects of the good news about Jesus. 00:02:54.479 --> 00:03:02.400 And not only that we would see it, but also that we would believe it and that it would change our lives and change our hearts. 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:10.639 Lord, we confess that we are not capable of bringing that level of change about inside of ourselves. 00:03:10.879 --> 00:03:12.319 And so we look to you. 00:03:13.599 --> 00:03:19.680 We look to you and ask for your grace this morning as we look into these words in your word. 00:03:20.719 --> 00:03:23.360 We pray all this in Jesus' name. 00:03:23.840 --> 00:03:24.479 Amen. 00:03:27.120 --> 00:03:34.879 This morning we are at the beginning of a new series of messages that we have titled Asking for a Friend. 00:03:35.039 --> 00:03:39.840 And really what we're doing today is we are exploring questions that you all have submitted to us. 00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:49.439 These are questions that uh maybe you had or a friend of yours, someone in your sphere of influence has, maybe about God or about the Bible or about faith. 00:03:50.000 --> 00:04:00.400 And before we get into the specifics today, uh I do think it's important to set the stage for a series like this uh by just mentioning a few things on the front end. 00:04:00.560 --> 00:04:00.800 Okay? 00:04:01.120 --> 00:04:06.240 Uh so the first is this the answer to these questions does matter. 00:04:06.879 --> 00:04:15.759 Okay, as we go about trying to explore and answer questions that are like deep, difficult questions, the answer to these questions does matter. 00:04:16.079 --> 00:04:21.680 And the way we answer questions also matters. 00:04:22.319 --> 00:04:36.959 The reason is because it it matters not just that we get to, quote unquote, the right answer or closer to the right answer, it also matters that we recognize that there are people behind every single one of these questions. 00:04:37.600 --> 00:04:41.759 There's the question, and there's always the question behind the question. 00:04:42.000 --> 00:04:52.160 There's always the personal life experience, the personal pain or difficulty or suffering or some personal thing that is behind each one of these questions. 00:04:52.319 --> 00:05:04.079 And so it matters that we respond to questions with love and with grace and with humility and with empathy, recognizing that there are people behind each one of these questions. 00:05:04.399 --> 00:05:20.560 And so we want to, throughout the series, model what it looks like to pursue what the Bible says and to hold tightly to it and to explore questions like this with charity and with empathy and with grace, knowing there are people behind each one of these questions. 00:05:21.360 --> 00:05:30.399 A second thing I'll mention is that in a 30-minute span on Sunday morning, we do not have enough time to engage these questions comprehensively. 00:05:30.560 --> 00:05:31.920 Okay, you know this. 00:05:32.399 --> 00:05:42.319 You know this is true, but I want to reiterate and affirm that what we're going to be doing during these weeks is not giving you all there is to say about any of these subjects. 00:05:42.560 --> 00:05:53.199 What we're going to be doing is setting a framework, laying a foundation, giving some direction for you to continue to explore these questions on your own. 00:05:53.439 --> 00:06:00.560 But we are not capable of exhaustively saying all there is to say about each one of these questions here on Sundays. 00:06:00.720 --> 00:06:03.519 So I'm not asking you to lower your expectations. 00:06:04.000 --> 00:06:09.439 What I'm asking you to do is recognize the limitations of what we can do in a setting like this. 00:06:09.600 --> 00:06:13.759 And I'm asking you to be unreasonably gracious with me. 00:06:14.240 --> 00:06:20.319 Because as I answer these questions, you may think to yourself, Well, you didn't even touch this whole aspect of this thing. 00:06:20.560 --> 00:06:25.040 Or you went about this and said all these things about this over here and never even got to this. 00:06:25.199 --> 00:06:26.319 Yes, I know. 00:06:26.639 --> 00:06:30.079 I'm very aware of all the things I don't have time to say. 00:06:30.319 --> 00:06:35.839 And so please just be gracious with me as we explore these questions together. 00:06:36.800 --> 00:06:42.800 So the first question that we're going to be exploring in our time during the series is this. 00:06:43.199 --> 00:06:46.959 Isn't the cross an act of cosmic child abuse? 00:06:48.480 --> 00:06:59.600 Isn't the cross where God the Father poured out his judgment and poured out wrath on the Son of God, isn't this an act of cosmic child abuse? 00:07:00.480 --> 00:07:08.399 Now, behind this question and every single one of these other questions, by the way, is an even bigger question about the character of God. 00:07:10.160 --> 00:07:22.240 I think it's safe to say that virtually all of us have a special kind of disdain for fathers who beat or abuse their children in any way, shape, or form. 00:07:23.839 --> 00:07:32.000 Some of us who sit here today personally know the pain of a father who is physically abusive. 00:07:33.839 --> 00:07:50.720 Some of us here know what it's like to walk on eggshells, afraid that the smallest little mistake we make is going to awaken the anger of our father and set him off into anger or even rage. 00:07:51.519 --> 00:07:58.720 Some of us have lived in fear knowing that we could be on the receiving end of our father's anger for seemingly not having done anything at all. 00:08:00.639 --> 00:08:06.319 Some of us know what it's like to wonder which father is going to walk through the door after work every day. 00:08:06.639 --> 00:08:14.000 Is it going to be the fun, loving, playful dad, or is it going to be the grumpy, angry, hurtful, mean dad? 00:08:16.319 --> 00:08:25.279 And so, based on these things that we've seen in others or have experienced personally for ourselves, we wonder, okay, is God like that? 00:08:28.480 --> 00:08:32.080 We may imagine God the Father as angry. 00:08:32.799 --> 00:08:36.720 We may imagine him as wrathful at the drop of a hat. 00:08:37.200 --> 00:08:49.200 You know, like he's this quivering mass of anger and sort of pent-up rage, and at the slightest little poker nudge, he's ready to just unleash it on anyone who would cross him. 00:08:50.000 --> 00:08:57.519 We may imagine him getting some form of twisted pleasure out of torturing his innocent, sinless son. 00:08:59.200 --> 00:09:03.200 So at the heart of this question is an actual is actually a deeper question. 00:09:03.440 --> 00:09:05.279 What kind of God is he? 00:09:06.080 --> 00:09:08.399 What kind of father is he? 00:09:09.519 --> 00:09:13.039 Is the cross an act of cosmic child abuse? 00:09:15.200 --> 00:09:20.480 As we explore this question, I want to approach it uh by looking at it this way. 00:09:20.639 --> 00:09:27.679 We're gonna look at these verses in Genesis, and we're gonna see the promise, the covenant, and the cross. 00:09:28.399 --> 00:09:31.519 So, first let's uh think about the promise. 00:09:32.399 --> 00:09:36.320 Uh, Genesis 15, as you heard this read this morning, you understand this. 00:09:36.399 --> 00:09:38.960 Like, this is a difficult passage to understand. 00:09:39.039 --> 00:09:42.000 It's culturally very foreign to us in the modern world. 00:09:42.159 --> 00:09:51.919 And so, for us to make like any sense of any of this, what we have to do is kind of just zoom out and see where we are in the story of Abraham's life. 00:09:52.240 --> 00:10:05.279 And as we rewind the tape back to Genesis chapter 12, we see that God entered into a relationship with a man named Abram, who would later be called Abraham, and God made these incredible promises to him. 00:10:05.840 --> 00:10:10.080 He made a promise that he would give him biological descendants. 00:10:10.639 --> 00:10:21.840 This is a striking promise to make, and a surprising promise to make, considering that Abram and his wife are both old and she's physically incapable of having children. 00:10:22.159 --> 00:10:26.639 So these are like not exactly the kind of people that you would expect God to make this sort of promise to. 00:10:26.879 --> 00:10:35.440 But God makes them a promise that he is going to provide them with biological descendants, and he's going to provide them, secondly, a land. 00:10:35.840 --> 00:10:39.840 He's going to give them a place to call home. 00:10:40.480 --> 00:10:53.919 And both of these promises that we see God make to Abraham actually fit into a larger promise that God made back in Genesis chapter 3 when he promised that he would crush the head of the serpent. 00:10:54.559 --> 00:11:05.360 So God promised that he would take everything that is broken in our world, everything that is shattered, everything that is out of joint, everything that is not the way it's supposed to be. 00:11:05.600 --> 00:11:09.600 God promised he would take all of those things and make them right again. 00:11:09.919 --> 00:11:12.960 He promised that he would make all things new. 00:11:13.120 --> 00:11:26.399 And so he made this big promise to crush the head of the serpent, and then went about accomplishing that by calling a man Abraham and giving him these two promises that fit into this larger promise. 00:11:26.559 --> 00:11:31.679 So this is really the essence of the promise God made is that he would crush the head of the serpent. 00:11:34.480 --> 00:11:46.240 Chapter 15 marks the third time that God has made these promises to Abraham that he was going to give him a land and biological descendants. 00:11:46.799 --> 00:11:54.399 And so you see in verse 1, God says to him, Do not be afraid, I am your shield and your very great reward. 00:11:54.960 --> 00:12:04.080 And Abraham's response to this question is a response that you can hear some pain in his question, or in his response. 00:12:05.759 --> 00:12:11.600 I'm paraphrasing what Abraham says here when he says, I'm old. 00:12:12.559 --> 00:12:14.480 My wife is old. 00:12:15.200 --> 00:12:20.799 We don't have any biological descendants, nor is it physically possible for us to have any. 00:12:21.039 --> 00:12:25.440 Who exactly is going to inherit this great reward that you're going to give me? 00:12:25.679 --> 00:12:27.039 I don't have any children. 00:12:27.200 --> 00:12:29.679 I've got no one to pass this stuff on to. 00:12:30.799 --> 00:12:44.879 And every time God makes these promises to Abraham or brings up this reward, this inheritance he's going to give to him, it's just another reminder that these promises are yet to be fulfilled. 00:12:45.600 --> 00:12:58.960 And so God reaffirms his promises to give him land and descendants, to which Abraham responds, as many of us would, and say, Okay, God, you keep saying, you keep saying that you're going to do this. 00:12:59.279 --> 00:13:09.360 You keep saying you're going to make to fulfill these promises to me, and it's been years, and I still don't have any children, I still don't have this land that you're promising. 00:13:09.600 --> 00:13:10.879 How can I know? 00:13:12.320 --> 00:13:14.000 How can I be certain? 00:13:14.159 --> 00:13:20.000 What assurance do I have, God, that you are going to fulfill these promises that you've made? 00:13:20.720 --> 00:13:24.320 And so God makes a covenant with Abraham. 00:13:25.600 --> 00:13:29.200 So the promise is that God's going to crush the head of the serpent. 00:13:30.159 --> 00:13:36.080 And the covenant is, that's what all the, you know, all the dismembered animals in this passage. 00:13:36.639 --> 00:13:38.960 The covenant is really what that's about. 00:13:39.039 --> 00:13:40.480 So listen to verse 9 and 10. 00:13:40.559 --> 00:13:48.399 It says, The Lord said to him, Bring me a heifer, a goat, and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon. 00:13:49.039 --> 00:13:55.360 Abram brought these to him, cut them in two, and arranged the halves opposite each other. 00:13:55.600 --> 00:13:58.480 The birds, however, he did not cut in half. 00:13:59.440 --> 00:14:06.879 Now, this uh everything we read in this passage feels so strange to us, doesn't it? 00:14:07.840 --> 00:14:13.600 Uh this this feels bizarre, this feels grotesque in ways. 00:14:14.399 --> 00:14:31.360 But we have to just for a moment, I want to invite you to suspend your feelings and suspend your modern sensibilities, and just remember that this is the way that covenant relationships were established in much of the ancient world. 00:14:32.159 --> 00:14:33.679 This is just how they do it. 00:14:33.840 --> 00:14:35.200 You know, we think this is weird. 00:14:35.360 --> 00:14:39.440 Like cutting animals in half and walking between them, we're like, that's crazy. 00:14:39.679 --> 00:14:48.000 But if Abraham were here today, if he could be transported from their culture to ours, we would say, it's weird to make a contract by cutting animals in half. 00:14:48.080 --> 00:14:51.279 And he would probably say, Yeah, so is an e-signature. 00:14:52.240 --> 00:14:58.240 So is clicking a box that says accept terms and conditions, knowing you never read any of those terms and conditions. 00:15:00.639 --> 00:15:07.120 This is just how covenants were established and formed in parts of the ancient world. 00:15:07.840 --> 00:15:09.039 So here's how it worked. 00:15:09.200 --> 00:15:33.279 There were two parties that would desire to enter into a covenant relationship with one another, and each party they would together bring animals, and then they would cut those animals in half, which is a very messy process, by the way, if you're talking about like large cattle, like we see here, and they would walk between them. 00:15:33.759 --> 00:15:41.279 Now, I thought about bringing props for this, but I didn't because I didn't know what I would bring as props. 00:15:41.360 --> 00:15:45.759 Also, I didn't want to scar my children by using their stuffed animals. 00:15:46.159 --> 00:15:48.399 I see people going, don't do it. 00:15:48.799 --> 00:15:50.879 I have enough sense not to do that, guys. 00:15:51.039 --> 00:15:53.919 So you're just gonna have to use your imagination with this, okay? 00:15:54.159 --> 00:16:04.720 What would happen is that the parties would agree to the terms of the covenant that they had made, and they would walk between the pieces of these animals that they had sliced in half. 00:16:06.240 --> 00:16:15.759 And the reason why they did this, the reason why they cut them in half and walked between them was to act out the consequences of breaking the covenant. 00:16:16.559 --> 00:16:30.320 So they would walk between them, and it was a way of saying, if I don't keep my end of the bargain, if I don't keep my end of the covenant, may I be torn to pieces like these animals. 00:16:30.639 --> 00:16:41.519 So each party would make commitments and they would walk through the pieces as a way of acting out the consequences or the curses, as they were called, of that covenant. 00:16:41.679 --> 00:16:48.559 And what they were doing is they were binding themselves to the obligations that they made to this other person. 00:16:48.799 --> 00:16:58.559 They were binding themselves not only to the obligations, but also to the curses or to the consequences of breaking the promises that they made. 00:16:58.879 --> 00:17:02.480 And so this was a serious thing to enter into a relationship like this. 00:17:02.720 --> 00:17:10.079 This is no pinky swear, this is no, you know, in a dark backroom handshake agreement. 00:17:10.319 --> 00:17:14.640 This is a serious thing to enter into a covenant relationship like this. 00:17:15.839 --> 00:17:34.799 So in every covenant, there were obligations for both parties, and both parties would walk between the pieces, and we see a picture of this in verse 17, where it says, When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. 00:17:35.279 --> 00:17:41.599 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abraham, said, To your descendants I will give this land. 00:17:43.759 --> 00:17:52.480 Now, this language of uh the smoking firepot and the flaming torch, uh that's that's again another weird part of this passage for us. 00:17:52.640 --> 00:17:55.200 But it all makes sense when you read the book of Exodus. 00:17:55.279 --> 00:18:06.400 And you see that when God led his people out in the Exodus, he appeared to them as a pillar of fire and as a pillar of cloud or a pillar of smoke. 00:18:07.039 --> 00:18:29.680 And so essentially, what's being depicted here with this smoking firepot and blazing torch passing through the pieces of these cut apart animals, what's being depicted here is that God Himself passed between the pieces, covenanting to Abraham, making a promise to Abraham, saying, Here's all the things that I promise you. 00:18:29.920 --> 00:18:34.880 If I don't keep my promises, may I be torn to pieces like these animals. 00:18:38.799 --> 00:18:47.920 There's a pastor and scholar, Tim Keller, who's really uh shaped my thinking on uh this passage in particular. 00:18:48.079 --> 00:18:49.680 Many of you are familiar with him. 00:18:49.839 --> 00:18:52.799 You're familiar with him through me, whether you know it or not. 00:18:52.960 --> 00:19:01.839 Um, but he's he made a really important observation about this passage that I think is is is really like the the the linchpin, the key to this whole thing. 00:19:02.160 --> 00:19:07.680 What he says is that the most important part of this passage is what doesn't happen. 00:19:08.799 --> 00:19:13.759 Abraham never walks through the pieces, only God does. 00:19:15.440 --> 00:19:23.839 Now, it's not because Abraham didn't have, there was no obligations, it's not that there was no end of the bargain that he needed to keep up. 00:19:25.839 --> 00:19:28.640 No, I think something far bigger is happening here. 00:19:29.359 --> 00:19:40.000 God passed through the pieces of these animals on his own behalf, saying, if I don't keep my promises, may I be torn to pieces like these animals. 00:19:42.319 --> 00:19:47.519 But God also passed through on Abraham's behalf. 00:19:48.319 --> 00:19:58.720 And in doing so, he said, Abraham, if you fail to keep your end of the covenant, I will be torn to pieces like these animals are. 00:20:22.000 --> 00:20:23.440 I love you, Tad. 00:20:25.759 --> 00:20:26.720 The gasp. 00:20:27.519 --> 00:20:31.119 Yeah, they didn't keep the covenant like they were supposed to. 00:20:31.279 --> 00:20:32.960 They were unfaithful. 00:20:35.039 --> 00:20:45.920 God promised that if Abraham did not remain faithful to the terms of the covenant, he would take upon himself and bear those covenant curses. 00:20:46.160 --> 00:20:50.079 And that is exactly what happened at the cross. 00:20:50.559 --> 00:20:57.839 So the covenant God made with Abraham, he promised that he would bear those covenant curses. 00:20:59.440 --> 00:21:07.519 And the cross is the place where we see that coming to fruition as we let the story of the Bible lead us forward to the person and the work of Jesus. 00:21:07.680 --> 00:21:21.920 In the same way that God stood in Abraham's place during that covenant ceremony in Genesis 15, God stood in our place when he went to the cross. 00:21:25.920 --> 00:21:32.480 Another question that's related to this one we're exploring today, and you'll see a connection with this in a moment. 00:21:32.720 --> 00:21:37.279 Another question that's related to this one is why can't God just forgive? 00:21:38.000 --> 00:21:45.519 You know, all the stuff the Bible says about judgment and about God's justice and uses the language of God's wrath. 00:21:45.680 --> 00:21:48.160 We don't like that type of language. 00:21:48.799 --> 00:21:58.799 And so all of that can lead us to maybe think or to see or to believe that God is like some wrathful, angry, uptight God who simply can't let things go. 00:22:01.599 --> 00:22:12.000 That he holds on to the smallest little grievances, he won't let those things go, why can't God just forgive? 00:22:13.200 --> 00:22:17.839 Well, I think the answer to that question uh lies partially in our own personal experience. 00:22:19.680 --> 00:22:51.279 If you have ever been deeply wounded, if you have ever been hurt by someone, if you have ever been taken advantage of by someone, if someone has ever done something to you that can never be undone or taken something from you that can never be given back, when you have been deeply sinned against, you know this, that you can't just forgive. 00:22:52.559 --> 00:22:57.839 You see, the question, why can't God for just forgive, assumes that forgiveness is totally free. 00:22:59.519 --> 00:23:02.400 But we all know that forgiveness is never free. 00:23:02.799 --> 00:23:07.599 When you choose to forgive someone, it costs you to do so. 00:23:07.920 --> 00:23:13.200 When someone has sinned against you, when you are wounded, you've got two options. 00:23:13.440 --> 00:23:15.359 You can make that person pay. 00:23:15.599 --> 00:23:26.640 You can hold it against them, you can rub it in their face, you can try and ruin them, you can bring it up all the time and remind them of how they've hurt you, you can make them pay for that sin. 00:23:27.440 --> 00:23:31.599 The only other alternative when you have been wounded is that you pay. 00:23:33.440 --> 00:23:44.160 You absorb that sin into yourself, you give up your right to get even, and that's what it costs you to forgive someone is it costs you your right to get even with that person. 00:23:44.559 --> 00:23:50.079 So either you make them pay or you absorb that pain into yourself. 00:23:50.960 --> 00:23:54.640 And this is exactly what God did at the cross. 00:23:55.519 --> 00:23:58.480 So remember what the Bible says about who Jesus is. 00:23:58.960 --> 00:24:14.559 The Bible says that Jesus is not some innocent bystander, that he's some unaffiliated third party who got, you know, caught in the crosshairs or somehow, you know, accidentally drew the wrath of God the Father. 00:24:14.880 --> 00:24:20.559 No, the Bible says that Jesus is God Himself who has taken on human flesh. 00:24:22.000 --> 00:24:32.160 The Bible says in the person of Jesus, God Himself took on flesh, became a part of the world he created, and joined us in our humanity. 00:24:33.039 --> 00:24:44.720 And what this means is that at the cross, as Jesus suffered and died for us, what was happening was that God in Christ absorbed the pain and the sting of our sin. 00:24:46.480 --> 00:24:56.640 As Jesus suffered and died, God in Christ absorbed the consequences that we deserve for the sin that we have committed. 00:24:56.880 --> 00:25:15.039 God in Christ bore the covenant curses that we deserve for our sin and for the ways that we have looked to things and people besides God, given our hearts and our allegiance to those things instead of Him, for the ways we've created idols out of good things that God has given us. 00:25:15.599 --> 00:25:22.480 God in Christ bore the covenant curses for our unfaithfulness. 00:25:23.440 --> 00:25:39.680 And the good news is that because of what Jesus has done, because he absorbed the pain and the sting of our sin, forgiveness is now available to every single one of us who comes to Jesus in faith. 00:25:40.960 --> 00:26:04.480 Forgiveness is now available to anyone, doesn't matter what where you have come from this morning, doesn't matter what things you've done or have been done to you in your life, forgiveness and newness of life is available to anyone and everyone because God in Christ absorbed the pain and the sting of our sin into himself. 00:26:05.920 --> 00:26:13.119 Having absorbed that sting and that pain, God extends forgiveness to us. 00:26:14.720 --> 00:26:20.640 God gives up his right to get even for those of us who come to him in faith, and we can be forgiven. 00:26:21.440 --> 00:26:24.799 And so this is this is the kind of God he is. 00:26:26.000 --> 00:26:32.400 He is the kind of God who would bear the pain and would bear the sting of our sin in himself. 00:26:32.960 --> 00:26:41.119 He's the kind of God who would take upon himself the curses and the consequences that we deserve for our unfaithfulness to him. 00:26:41.920 --> 00:26:49.200 He's the kind of God who was willing to pay the cost of forgiveness so that our relationship with him could be restored. 00:26:49.359 --> 00:26:51.279 This is the kind of God He is. 00:26:51.839 --> 00:26:56.319 So, no, the cross is not an act of cosmic child abuse. 00:26:57.200 --> 00:27:11.440 The cross is a cosmic act of love and generosity and grace and forgiveness because at the cross God Himself absorbed the pain and the sting of our sin. 00:27:12.960 --> 00:27:17.119 The cross does show us that yes, God is just. 00:27:19.359 --> 00:27:23.519 The cross shows us that our sin matters. 00:27:24.640 --> 00:27:27.759 It shows us that our rebellion against him. 00:27:29.119 --> 00:27:39.279 It shows us that the ways, for all the ways that we have done what is right in our own eyes, instead of following his good instruction, all of that matters. 00:27:39.599 --> 00:27:42.079 God takes that very seriously. 00:27:42.400 --> 00:27:55.440 So the cross does show us the justice of God, but it also shows us that his heart overflows with love for his image-bearers whose lives have been ruined by sin. 00:27:57.119 --> 00:27:59.759 It shows us his heart of compassion. 00:28:02.000 --> 00:28:12.079 It shows us that he was so filled with love and mercy and compassion for us that he was willing to suffer a loss that we could never imagine. 00:28:12.559 --> 00:28:17.839 The loss of his son, so that we could be forgiven. 00:28:18.559 --> 00:28:22.079 So, no, the cross is not an act of cosmic child abuse. 00:28:22.799 --> 00:28:31.440 The cross shows us that the exact opposite is true, that he's not an angry, mean, vindictive God who just is just can't wait to punish people. 00:28:32.000 --> 00:28:40.000 It shows us that his heart is for our good and that through Jesus he has accomplished our ultimate and eternal good. 00:28:41.039 --> 00:28:44.079 That's the picture of God that we see at the cross. 00:28:44.240 --> 00:28:45.680 Yes, he's just. 00:28:46.480 --> 00:28:48.480 Yes, our sin matters. 00:28:48.880 --> 00:28:57.839 Yes, the Bible says that those who do not turn to Jesus in faith will bear the weight of the consequences for their sin. 00:29:01.119 --> 00:29:06.240 But the Bible tells us that in Jesus we can be forgiven. 00:29:06.640 --> 00:29:10.079 And that God's heart overflows with love for us. 00:29:10.240 --> 00:29:16.480 His heart is good, and he has accomplished through Jesus our ultimate and eternal good. 00:29:17.519 --> 00:29:21.680 So, friends, that good news is for you today. 00:29:24.319 --> 00:29:27.440 I don't know what you walked in here with Karen this morning. 00:29:28.319 --> 00:29:35.279 But what I do know is that this good news is for you. 00:29:36.079 --> 00:29:41.279 And so will you receive, will you accept, will you rejoice in the good news this morning? 00:29:42.079 --> 00:29:50.559 That God Himself absorbed the pain of your sin into himself so that you could be forgiven, so that you could have newness of life. 00:29:54.000 --> 00:30:00.880 One of the ways that we respond to the message of the good news each week here at Elmwood is we come to the communion table. 00:30:01.039 --> 00:30:07.279 And as we come to the communion table, we see a picture of both the justice and the love of God. 00:30:07.519 --> 00:30:13.359 We see that God, our sin matters, and we see that God's heart overflows with love. 00:30:13.519 --> 00:30:36.559 And so as we come forward to receive the broken body and shed blood of Jesus, we are reminded that we come forward because we need God's mercy, because we need God's grace and his forgiveness, and we come forward in rejoicing with hearts that are full because God in Christ has provided for us the means of forgiveness, the means of salvation for us. 00:30:36.799 --> 00:30:45.039 And ultimately through Jesus, it's through Him that the head of the serpent will be finally and fully one day crushed. 00:30:45.119 --> 00:30:46.880 And we look forward to that day.