WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:02.959 Week and so we've kind of turned the auditorium into Route 66. 00:00:03.200 --> 00:00:06.000 How many of you have been on Route 66 before? 00:00:06.240 --> 00:00:07.360 All right, a couple of you. 00:00:07.519 --> 00:00:08.160 Very good. 00:00:08.320 --> 00:00:11.919 I heard you get your kicks on Route 66. 00:00:12.240 --> 00:00:19.839 Uh, but we're gonna be taking the kids on a three-night journey through really the grand story of Scripture, the big idea of Scripture. 00:00:20.079 --> 00:00:26.320 A lot of times we can get caught up in a lot of the minutiae of Scripture and trip over what the Bible's all about. 00:00:26.480 --> 00:00:36.240 And we're gonna talk to the kids really about three big pictures, which is the fact that God created the world, created it out of nothing, He created it in perfection. 00:00:36.479 --> 00:00:51.200 And on the second night, we talk about how it all went wrong, how God had given clear commandments and Adam and Eve had broken the commandment of God, and mankind was cursed, and they became sinners. 00:00:51.439 --> 00:00:55.200 And we talk about the consequences of the fall. 00:00:55.920 --> 00:01:07.599 But the ultimate picture is what we're going to talk about tonight, not just the fact that or this morning, not just that God created the world and that the world was impacted by sin, but we're going to talk about that work of redemption. 00:01:07.840 --> 00:01:11.359 Christ has redeemed us to God. 00:01:11.680 --> 00:01:13.840 And that's what I'm going to talk to you about this morning. 00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:22.879 And so I said all week I was going to preach through the whole Bible in 35 minutes, and someone said, you can't even preach in one passage in 35 minutes. 00:01:22.959 --> 00:01:25.840 And so you pray for me, okay? 00:01:26.079 --> 00:01:29.280 It's not that I don't preach fast enough, you just don't listen quickly enough. 00:01:29.439 --> 00:01:34.159 So I'll try to preach at 65 miles an hour with gust up to 90, okay? 00:01:34.319 --> 00:01:35.920 And uh we'll try to get through that way. 00:01:36.000 --> 00:01:36.879 Let's all stand together. 00:01:36.959 --> 00:01:46.959 We're gonna read just one verse of scripture and springboard into the grand drama, the unfolding drama of redemption. 00:01:47.519 --> 00:01:51.120 When I use the word redemption, I'm using a theological word. 00:01:51.200 --> 00:01:53.840 It means to purchase or to buy back. 00:01:54.319 --> 00:02:00.480 And that's exactly the word that the Apostle John uses here in Revelation chapter 5 and verse number 9. 00:02:00.560 --> 00:02:16.639 And they sung a new song saying, Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof, for thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God, by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation. 00:02:16.800 --> 00:02:17.840 Let's read that verse together. 00:02:18.080 --> 00:02:18.879 Ready, begin? 00:02:19.120 --> 00:02:25.520 And they sung a new song saying, Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof. 00:02:25.919 --> 00:02:34.319 Thou hast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation. 00:02:34.479 --> 00:02:39.439 Father, bless the reading and the preaching of your word today, and we'll thank you for it in Jesus' name. 00:02:39.680 --> 00:02:40.080 Amen. 00:02:40.159 --> 00:02:42.639 Thank you so much, and please be seated together. 00:02:43.199 --> 00:02:51.280 Is it even remotely possible to encapsulate the whole story of the Bible in one simple word? 00:02:52.400 --> 00:03:02.800 Now, maybe a much smaller beta test, would it be possible for us to tell lesser stories and encapsulate them in one word? 00:03:02.960 --> 00:03:11.120 So I'm gonna give you uh a great historical character, and maybe someone in the room can guess the one word that describes their life. 00:03:11.280 --> 00:03:14.719 Okay, so uh let's start with uh let's start with an easy one. 00:03:14.879 --> 00:03:22.479 If I say the name Solomon, okay, his whole life is encapsulated in you're you some of you are gonna embarrass me right now. 00:03:22.560 --> 00:03:23.599 I know you are, okay. 00:03:23.919 --> 00:03:24.960 Known by what? 00:03:25.520 --> 00:03:25.919 Wisdom. 00:03:26.080 --> 00:03:29.280 I thought somebody was gonna say women, but they said they said wisdom. 00:03:29.360 --> 00:03:30.719 That's that's the right answer. 00:03:30.960 --> 00:03:33.520 How about how about Benedict Arnold? 00:03:34.080 --> 00:03:35.199 Trader, okay? 00:03:35.360 --> 00:03:39.199 Uh Thomas Edison, light bulb. 00:03:39.280 --> 00:03:42.479 I have the word innovation, but I'll I'll accept that for 200 Alex. 00:03:42.639 --> 00:03:42.960 Okay. 00:03:43.120 --> 00:03:51.039 Um Billy Grimm, Evangelism, uh, Albert Einstein, genius. 00:03:51.199 --> 00:03:52.479 I heard the word genius, okay. 00:03:52.639 --> 00:03:55.199 Samson, strength. 00:03:55.919 --> 00:04:03.520 So it's possible to take a larger story and to encapsulate it into one main thought. 00:04:04.400 --> 00:04:07.520 Can we do that with the Bible? 00:04:07.840 --> 00:04:11.120 Now, when we look at our Bible, I hope you have a copy of God's Word. 00:04:11.199 --> 00:04:14.960 If you don't have a copy of the Bible, um, see me after church. 00:04:15.199 --> 00:04:19.519 I I have one of my favorite things in life is to give people a copy of God's word. 00:04:19.759 --> 00:04:21.519 But I hope you have a Bible. 00:04:22.800 --> 00:04:25.759 In my hand, I have what we call the Holy Bible. 00:04:26.000 --> 00:04:27.759 It's divided into two testaments. 00:04:27.920 --> 00:04:32.800 We have 39 books in the Old Testament, we have 27 books in the New Testament. 00:04:33.600 --> 00:04:38.240 We have 66 books that comprise the Old and the New Testament. 00:04:38.480 --> 00:04:43.680 In those 66 books, there are 1,189 chapters. 00:04:43.920 --> 00:04:50.639 Those 1,189 chapters are divided into 31,102 verses. 00:04:51.040 --> 00:04:57.600 In those 31,102 verses, there are 791,000 words. 00:04:59.120 --> 00:05:07.759 And out of nearly 800,000 words in the Bible, there's a growing thread, a theme. 00:05:09.600 --> 00:05:24.079 Shall we call it a stream that meanders through each page, sometimes as a roaring mighty river, at other times a hidden flow, but always always moving, always advancing, always flowing forward. 00:05:25.920 --> 00:05:32.879 Someone's called it a scarlet thread of mercy that travels between the guttermost to the uttermost. 00:05:33.199 --> 00:05:41.920 Our one word reaches to kings like David in palaces, it reaches to paupers like Bartimaeus on street corners. 00:05:42.240 --> 00:05:47.439 It reached publicans like Matthew the tax collector and prostitutes like Rahab. 00:05:48.160 --> 00:05:50.959 Our one word was planted in the soil of Eden. 00:05:51.120 --> 00:05:54.319 It germinated under the feet of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 00:05:54.399 --> 00:06:03.040 It grew into a mighty oak and a forest of oaks and prophecy and Hosea and Joel and Isaiah and Obadiah. 00:06:03.759 --> 00:06:12.480 Until the day that the oak of redemption received the axe blade of God's judgment. 00:06:12.720 --> 00:06:21.199 The oak of redemption was felled, and out of its timber was formed an old rugged cross on which the Prince of Glory died. 00:06:22.240 --> 00:06:26.079 The Bible is in one word, this word. 00:06:27.920 --> 00:06:28.959 Redemption. 00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:32.560 Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it. 00:06:32.720 --> 00:06:39.199 Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, redeemed through his infinite mercy, his child, and forever I am. 00:06:39.360 --> 00:06:42.639 How many of you can say this morning, I've been redeemed? 00:06:44.879 --> 00:06:49.839 The creator coming to seek and to save that which was lost. 00:06:51.600 --> 00:06:59.120 2026 marks the 100-year anniversary of the development of Route 66. 00:07:00.160 --> 00:07:04.959 Route 66 unites Chicago with Santa Monica, California. 00:07:05.600 --> 00:07:09.519 It travels 2,448 miles. 00:07:11.040 --> 00:07:19.279 Since its founding, Route 66 has symbolized freedom and Western expansion and nostalgia. 00:07:22.879 --> 00:07:28.959 One route carried dreams and soldiers and wanderers. 00:07:29.120 --> 00:07:33.360 One road seemingly connected an entire nation. 00:07:35.040 --> 00:07:37.519 But far greater than America's highway. 00:07:38.160 --> 00:07:52.639 The Bible builds a redemptive bridge from earth to heaven, paved with the marvelous grace and mercy of Jesus Christ to redeem the fallen back to God. 00:07:53.519 --> 00:08:00.959 We're gonna walk for several minutes through the pages of the Bible in four easy steps. 00:08:01.279 --> 00:08:02.319 So easy. 00:08:03.439 --> 00:08:04.800 A caveman can do it. 00:08:04.879 --> 00:08:07.040 Number one, creation. 00:08:07.199 --> 00:08:11.199 Let me talk to you about creation, the way things were. 00:08:11.360 --> 00:08:12.720 Let's all say that together. 00:08:13.040 --> 00:08:15.839 Creation, the way things were. 00:08:16.079 --> 00:08:21.360 In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. 00:08:21.680 --> 00:08:28.079 We read from Genesis chapters one and two, maybe three, uniting themes about the creation of God. 00:08:28.240 --> 00:08:31.120 First of all, it was a perfect creation. 00:08:31.279 --> 00:08:39.120 It is God who stepped back from the canvas of his creative power and said, It is good, it is good, it is good. 00:08:39.519 --> 00:08:50.080 He created man and said, It is good, and then he took a rib from Adam's side, and out of his rib he made a woman, and then God said, Fellows, it is very good. 00:08:50.879 --> 00:08:53.120 A perfect creation. 00:08:54.159 --> 00:08:56.000 A complete creation. 00:08:56.320 --> 00:09:01.360 The Bible says, thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 00:09:01.440 --> 00:09:04.399 In other words, God finished the work of creation. 00:09:04.639 --> 00:09:12.960 It is my belief, based on my reading of Scripture, that God did not set the world in motion and allow it to evolve to the situation it is today. 00:09:13.039 --> 00:09:16.000 It is that God spoke the world into existence. 00:09:16.320 --> 00:09:20.960 He spoke everything out of nothing, and he completed his work. 00:09:21.200 --> 00:09:31.919 It is Charles Darwin who 8,000 times in his famous treatise said, we may well suppose, but it's 3,800 times in the scripture, the Bible says, Thus saith the Lord. 00:09:32.080 --> 00:09:37.519 The Bible says God created the world and God completed that which he started. 00:09:38.399 --> 00:09:42.080 But it's not only perfect and complete, it is united. 00:09:42.320 --> 00:09:47.919 And what we discover from the way things were is that man was united. 00:09:48.240 --> 00:09:50.399 Man was united with his God. 00:09:51.039 --> 00:09:58.639 It says in Genesis 3.8, and they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. 00:09:59.120 --> 00:10:04.480 In the way things were, man was in perfect fellowship with God. 00:10:06.159 --> 00:10:12.320 Science now tells us that no one uses more than 10% of their brain potential at any given time. 00:10:12.399 --> 00:10:17.440 And if you're married to a man, you probably know that's scientifically accurate, right? 00:10:18.720 --> 00:10:32.240 But before the fall, Adam and Eve had an unbroken potential to be aware of the presence of God, to know God, to walk with God, to commune with God, in perfect fellowship with God. 00:10:32.320 --> 00:10:32.960 And aren't you glad? 00:10:33.039 --> 00:10:36.559 And I'm not going to bury the lead, I'm going to get to the end of the sermon really quickly. 00:10:36.720 --> 00:10:47.279 Aren't you glad that we're going to go to heaven someday and we will once again be able to perceive and know what there is to know about God as they did, but far greater, we shall see him as he is. 00:10:49.440 --> 00:10:50.960 Man was united with God. 00:10:51.279 --> 00:10:53.440 Man was united with others. 00:10:53.840 --> 00:10:55.360 Genesis 2.25. 00:10:55.440 --> 00:10:58.559 They were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. 00:11:00.879 --> 00:11:02.960 Perfect harmony together. 00:11:03.279 --> 00:11:05.519 That's the world God made. 00:11:06.240 --> 00:11:08.000 Man was united with himself. 00:11:08.159 --> 00:11:10.480 The Bible says they were naked and unashamed. 00:11:10.720 --> 00:11:17.039 Man had a capacity to be fully known and to be fully loved and to be fully at peace. 00:11:17.759 --> 00:11:18.320 C.S. 00:11:18.399 --> 00:11:21.600 Lewis said the human machine was made to run on God. 00:11:22.399 --> 00:11:27.279 God himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn. 00:11:27.679 --> 00:11:36.000 In other words, if you've ever owned a computer, you know this is true, that your computer has an original operating system and is often infected by a virus. 00:11:36.480 --> 00:11:54.320 The original operating system, the default settings of the human person was to honor and to serve God and to love God and to worship God, to respect others as representatives of God, but we all recognize that a virus has corrupted the system of humanity. 00:11:54.799 --> 00:12:01.519 Genesis 1 and 2 recount how things were, but Genesis 3 begins to describe how things are. 00:12:01.840 --> 00:12:08.000 So the second phase of this grand story is not just how things were, it describes to us how things are. 00:12:08.399 --> 00:12:12.879 And the fall describes to us the nature of the world in which we live today. 00:12:13.120 --> 00:12:19.519 I think we'd all agree, as what I just described is not true of our world as it is today. 00:12:19.759 --> 00:12:22.639 It is not now as it was then. 00:12:23.039 --> 00:12:28.639 Sin has complicated the perfection and pleasure of God's world. 00:12:28.879 --> 00:12:33.200 For with disobedience of Adam came sin into the world. 00:12:33.440 --> 00:12:42.879 The scripture says in Romans 5.12, wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and death has passed on all men, for that all have sinned. 00:12:43.039 --> 00:12:48.320 Romans 3.23, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. 00:12:48.480 --> 00:12:53.120 Only once in my ministry did I ever say, how many of you do believe that you've never committed a sin? 00:12:53.200 --> 00:12:55.759 I had one person raise his hand and said he never committed a sin. 00:12:55.840 --> 00:12:57.919 And I said, You just did, because now you are a liar. 00:12:58.080 --> 00:12:59.279 Can I get an amen? 00:13:00.559 --> 00:13:04.240 Sin is now the way things are. 00:13:04.639 --> 00:13:10.159 And from Genesis 3 on, we see a couple things that are very descriptive of our world in which we live today. 00:13:10.320 --> 00:13:12.960 Number one, think about broken relationships. 00:13:13.440 --> 00:13:17.360 First of all, man suffered a relationship break with God. 00:13:17.759 --> 00:13:22.399 Genesis 3 describes the home of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. 00:13:22.559 --> 00:13:33.840 But the Bible says at the end of the chapter, God drove out the man, and he placed at the east of the Garden of Eden cherubims and a flaming sword which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life. 00:13:34.159 --> 00:13:36.080 Man and God are now separated. 00:13:36.159 --> 00:13:41.919 And I say to you, it is not God that's moved from you, it is that we have moved from God. 00:13:42.639 --> 00:13:45.279 All we like sheep have gone astray. 00:13:45.440 --> 00:13:47.600 We've all turned to our own way. 00:13:47.759 --> 00:13:52.080 We've all walked away from the known will of God. 00:13:52.240 --> 00:13:58.240 And sin is any area in our lives when we disobey the commandments of God. 00:13:59.279 --> 00:14:04.000 We have broken relationships with God, but we have broken relationships with each other. 00:14:04.399 --> 00:14:09.279 When I read the Bible, I see an unbroken succession of broken relationships. 00:14:09.919 --> 00:14:21.919 There's the severed relationship of Adam and Eve, and Cain and Abel, and Saul and David, and David and Absalom and Jacob and Esau and Isaac and Ishmael and Philemon and Onesimus and Paul and Peter and Paul and Barnabas. 00:14:22.000 --> 00:14:25.120 It's an unbroken line of broken relationships. 00:14:25.360 --> 00:14:26.000 Why? 00:14:28.639 --> 00:14:29.759 Because of sin. 00:14:30.879 --> 00:14:43.200 It was Tim Keller who observed, because of sin, our relationships tend naturally toward conflict, toward blame, toward manipulation, toward isolation. 00:14:44.000 --> 00:14:45.759 How are things today? 00:14:46.879 --> 00:14:48.720 Broken relationships. 00:14:50.799 --> 00:14:53.679 Secondly, we see a groaning creation. 00:14:54.080 --> 00:14:55.679 That's how things are. 00:14:56.240 --> 00:14:59.279 We might imagine the beauty of the Garden of Eden. 00:14:59.759 --> 00:15:07.759 I was just reading an article recently where they they think they found the Garden of Eden, and they did really good scientific work. 00:15:07.840 --> 00:15:13.600 They they looked between the Euphrates and Tigris River, and that's really good because that's kind of the land between the rivers. 00:15:13.679 --> 00:15:14.799 That's where it all got started. 00:15:14.879 --> 00:15:18.960 But they're never going to find the Garden of Eden because it was corrupted because of sin. 00:15:19.279 --> 00:15:23.600 The next time we see Eden is when Jesus Christ rules and reigns upon this earth. 00:15:28.639 --> 00:15:34.720 Abel is slain by his brother Cain, his brother's blood cries from the ground. 00:15:34.960 --> 00:15:43.279 The harmony of Eden was replaced by the disruption of natural disasters and storms and decay and sand spurs and drought. 00:15:43.840 --> 00:15:53.840 In the Bible, you can read of a drought into the ministry of Elijah, famine in the days of Joseph, a plague of locusts in the days of the prophet Joel. 00:15:53.919 --> 00:15:59.440 In Egypt, we read of hailstones and a moraine of cattle and other plagues that persisted. 00:15:59.679 --> 00:16:12.240 The Bible speaks of earthquakes and pestilence and even hurricanes, and I don't mean to give you PTSD this morning, but all of these natural disasters were not part of the way things were, but they're part of the way things are. 00:16:12.799 --> 00:16:18.559 Romans 8 says, We know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. 00:16:18.639 --> 00:16:27.519 And every time you hear a growing pain, a groaning pain of natural disaster, it's just the ground crying out, even so come, Lord Jesus, come. 00:16:29.200 --> 00:16:30.879 What about the way things are? 00:16:31.039 --> 00:16:34.000 Thirdly, will you notice there's shattered souls? 00:16:36.320 --> 00:16:40.000 Someone said we live in the age of the fractured self. 00:16:41.360 --> 00:16:52.080 Because we were made for God's pleasure, because we were made to find joy in God and harmony with one another, our inner world has become a world of turmoil. 00:16:54.559 --> 00:17:01.120 Inner turmoil explains why the prodigal son desired the father's house and the far country. 00:17:01.840 --> 00:17:07.839 It explains why Paul said that the good that he would, he couldn't do, and the good that he wouldn't do, that's what he did. 00:17:08.000 --> 00:17:14.160 It seemed as if there was a great struggle occurring in the soul of a great man. 00:17:15.440 --> 00:17:21.759 The inner turmoil explains why Demas forsook the Apostle Paul, having, quote, loved this present world. 00:17:22.720 --> 00:17:27.759 The inner turmoil is why Esau sold his birthright for a pot of stew. 00:17:29.359 --> 00:17:39.039 It's why Tom Brady, who after winning his third Super Bowl, said, Why do I have three Super Bowls and still think that there's something greater out there for me? 00:17:39.920 --> 00:17:45.200 Because listen, guys, Super Bowl trophies don't fill the void deep down inside your heart. 00:17:45.440 --> 00:17:47.519 Only Christ can do that. 00:17:49.119 --> 00:17:50.960 The splintered soul. 00:18:01.599 --> 00:18:08.079 Actually, interesting that during a pandemic it was sexual activity that actually decreased among human beings. 00:18:08.559 --> 00:18:18.160 Maybe they are not the top vices that people turn to to fill the void deep inside that inner struggle, but they do turn to endless entertainment. 00:18:18.960 --> 00:18:21.759 They turn to social media and pornography. 00:18:22.000 --> 00:18:25.519 We've turned to prescription medications and fantasy. 00:18:25.759 --> 00:18:30.160 Someone said they've turned to a world of digital distractions. 00:18:30.400 --> 00:18:46.640 It's hard for some of us to sit in a room and hear a 35 or 40 or 50 or hour-long sermon on Sunday because we've been conditioned to live our lives in sound bites 40 or 50 or 60 seconds at a time. 00:18:46.880 --> 00:18:54.880 You see, it's the fractured soul, is the way things are, but it's not the way that they were, and it's not the way God designed it to be. 00:19:05.200 --> 00:19:10.640 Jeremiah called the things that we turn to broken cisterns that can hold no water. 00:19:11.039 --> 00:19:20.000 Solomon in Ecclesiastes said that all life away from God consolidates to his vanity and vexation of spirit. 00:19:20.319 --> 00:19:28.400 Paul in the book of Romans notes that all of these are attempts to worship the creature more than the Creator who is blessed forever. 00:19:28.720 --> 00:19:29.359 Amen. 00:19:29.920 --> 00:19:33.759 Sin is why things are not the way they are supposed to be. 00:19:33.839 --> 00:19:40.880 But let's go to the third part of this grand story, and that is this redemption is the way that things could be. 00:19:41.839 --> 00:19:44.400 We started with the way that things were. 00:20:08.400 --> 00:20:17.599 Some of you maybe have heard a young person caricature the entire Old Testament as the diatribe of an angry, warmongering, and fantasidal, bloodthirsty God. 00:20:17.680 --> 00:20:27.119 And I want you to know that on every page of the Old Testament, we can see a long-suffering, merciful God who is not willing that any would perish, but that all should come to repentance. 00:20:27.920 --> 00:20:34.240 It was God that sent the flood in Noah's day, who gave him 120 years to preach the gospel. 00:20:34.880 --> 00:20:39.359 It was God who sent his own people into captivity, who gave them centuries to repent. 00:20:39.440 --> 00:20:44.480 And I say to you today, it is the same God of mercy of the Old Testament that is the same God of mercy today. 00:20:44.720 --> 00:20:46.240 He is not willing that any would perish. 00:20:46.400 --> 00:20:58.880 And may I just say, if a man chooses to go to hell, he will do so stepping over the bloodstained cross of Jesus Christ, who shed his blood, so that we could have forgiveness of sin through the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:21:00.400 --> 00:21:05.920 The Bible says that hell was prepared for the devil and his angels. 00:21:06.400 --> 00:21:09.279 We have a merciful redeeming God. 00:21:09.920 --> 00:21:15.759 The whole time in the Old Testament, the Bible was telling us that a redeemer was on his way. 00:21:16.079 --> 00:21:19.599 In Genesis 3.15, we have the first promise of this Redeemer. 00:21:19.759 --> 00:21:34.880 It is said that God would put an enmity between the serpent and the woman, and between his seed and her seed, and his seed would bruise her seed's head or hill, and her seed would crush the serpent's head. 00:21:35.920 --> 00:21:44.640 He's called a prophet in Deuteronomy chapter 18, verse 15 The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, like unto me. 00:21:45.920 --> 00:21:50.079 2 Samuel chapter 7 When thy days be fulfilled, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers. 00:21:50.240 --> 00:21:54.160 I will set up after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels. 00:21:54.240 --> 00:21:55.759 I will establish his kingdom. 00:21:56.000 --> 00:21:59.599 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom. 00:22:00.880 --> 00:22:01.599 Forever. 00:22:03.200 --> 00:22:05.359 For unto us a child is born. 00:22:05.680 --> 00:22:14.079 Unto us the Son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. 00:22:14.240 --> 00:22:16.160 Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign. 00:22:16.319 --> 00:22:22.559 Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and thou shalt call his name Emmanuel. 00:22:24.079 --> 00:22:30.640 And because this Redeemer would be a Jew, the Bible must describe the formation of the nation of Israel. 00:22:31.119 --> 00:22:33.680 It described the promises to the nation Israel. 00:22:33.759 --> 00:22:37.359 And it kind of describes Satan's battles against the Jewish people. 00:22:37.599 --> 00:22:39.440 Did you ever read the story of Esther? 00:22:40.400 --> 00:22:46.559 Esther's a story of God's people being captive in the land of Iran or Persia. 00:22:47.519 --> 00:22:56.400 And there was a wicked man by the name of Haman that had orchestrated the extermination, shall I say, the Holocaust of the Jewish people. 00:22:56.720 --> 00:23:33.920 And we ought not just think as we read Old Testament Holocaust stories like that story or the story of Pharaoh killing all the male babies, that this is just an attempt at ethnocleansing or cleansing this globe of a certain race of people, that these genocidal attempts in the Old Testament are not just about eradicating a nation, they're about the war for this messianic seed that is promised would come to the nation of Israel, through the tribe of Judah, that a king was coming who wouldn't just sit on an earthly throne, but would sit in a heavenly throne, not just a king to set us free from political bondage, but would set us free from our sin. 00:23:34.000 --> 00:23:41.759 And Satan has always decided to fight that seed that would produce the Messiah, whose name is Jesus Christ. 00:23:42.160 --> 00:23:45.200 Because the Redeemer would be a sacrifice. 00:23:45.519 --> 00:23:51.759 The Old Testament describes tabernacles and temples and the system of sacrifices and blood atonement. 00:23:52.000 --> 00:23:54.160 Because this Redeemer would be a king. 00:23:54.400 --> 00:24:11.440 The Old Testament tells us about the reign of David and the downfall of Israel, and would provide, listen, sufficient and overwhelming proof, not just to the first coming of Christ in Bethlehem, oh, but to the second coming of Christ as he rules and reigns over all the earth. 00:24:11.839 --> 00:24:27.119 Because the Redeemer is a bridegroom, the Bible describes covenant, faithful love, and his story of redemption is told through the marriage of Abraham and Sarah and Israel and Rebekah, or excuse me, Isaac and Rebekah and Jacob and Leah. 00:24:28.079 --> 00:24:28.960 Prophets? 00:24:29.279 --> 00:24:36.000 Moses, Elijah, and Jeremiah, yeah, they're just prefigures of the Messiah, who's also a prophet who is to come. 00:24:37.279 --> 00:24:41.279 This Messiah will come as God in flesh. 00:24:41.599 --> 00:24:46.240 He comes to offer himself as a sacrifice for our sins. 00:24:46.799 --> 00:24:50.960 The Bible describes the manner in which the Redeemer will die. 00:24:52.160 --> 00:25:00.559 Seven hundred years before he comes, Isaiah says he was oppressed, he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. 00:25:00.880 --> 00:25:07.440 He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shears is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. 00:25:08.319 --> 00:25:14.640 The Redeemer comes and will hang upon a cross. 00:25:33.680 --> 00:25:36.720 He became the curse for us. 00:25:38.720 --> 00:25:40.079 Listen, guys. 00:25:40.640 --> 00:25:45.759 He took our sin, we receive his righteousness. 00:25:46.079 --> 00:25:50.720 He took our separation, we get his unity with the Father. 00:25:50.960 --> 00:25:54.400 He took our death, we receive his life. 00:25:59.279 --> 00:26:02.559 He took our hell and we receive his heaven. 00:26:02.720 --> 00:26:05.680 Thank God for the wonderful grace of Jesus Christ. 00:26:07.279 --> 00:26:10.319 The Bible says the Redeemer will be sold for silver. 00:26:11.200 --> 00:26:12.640 Zechariah chapter 11. 00:26:12.720 --> 00:26:19.839 I said, If you think good, give me this price, and if not for bear, so they weighed for my price, thirty pieces of silver. 00:26:21.279 --> 00:26:30.400 Thousand years before Messiah hung upon an old rugged cross, and John says, For these things were done that the scripture might be fulfilled, a bone of him shall not be broken. 00:26:30.559 --> 00:26:38.480 A thousand years before that event, David wrote of Messiah in Psalm 34, verse 20, and he says, His bones will not be broken. 00:26:39.920 --> 00:26:40.319 It was B. 00:26:40.480 --> 00:26:40.559 B. 00:26:40.640 --> 00:26:45.359 Warfield who said, The Old Testament is a room furnished but dimly lit. 00:26:45.519 --> 00:26:49.039 The coming of Christ floods the room with light. 00:26:49.279 --> 00:26:52.880 Jesus Christ came to redeem us from our sin. 00:26:55.920 --> 00:26:56.799 Creation? 00:26:57.039 --> 00:26:59.519 Well that's that's the way things were. 00:27:00.079 --> 00:27:02.319 The fall, well, that's the way things are. 00:27:02.480 --> 00:27:04.799 Redemption, that's how things could be. 00:27:05.119 --> 00:27:08.079 Number four, the Bible speaks of restoration. 00:27:08.319 --> 00:27:12.000 This speaks of the way things will be. 00:27:12.960 --> 00:27:16.480 The Bible says that one day Christ will make all things new. 00:27:16.799 --> 00:27:25.519 Sin will be removed, death will die, all of creation will be restored, God will dwell with his people. 00:27:28.079 --> 00:27:29.599 The story ends. 00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:33.200 Peace returns to the universe. 00:27:33.440 --> 00:27:36.240 Satan is cast into the lake of fire. 00:27:36.400 --> 00:27:41.279 The redeemed will be with Jesus, and Christ will receive all glory. 00:27:42.400 --> 00:27:51.680 I heard the story of a young boy who's reading a book, maybe a book about cowboys and Indians, and I'm not sure which side of that war you'd decide to follow, but he was reading this book. 00:27:52.960 --> 00:27:57.200 And his mother called him to suffer. 00:27:59.599 --> 00:28:02.480 And she said, Johnny, come on in. 00:28:02.799 --> 00:28:04.000 Supper's ready. 00:28:04.240 --> 00:28:07.680 And he said, Mom, I'll be there in a minute. 00:28:08.240 --> 00:28:10.799 And she called again, Johnny, supper's ready. 00:28:11.200 --> 00:28:12.880 Come, it's hot on the table. 00:28:13.759 --> 00:28:15.599 I'll be there in just a second. 00:28:16.160 --> 00:28:20.400 And finally, she said, I'm not going to say this again. 00:28:21.519 --> 00:28:23.200 Supper's ready, come to the table. 00:28:23.359 --> 00:28:25.119 And he hurriedly ran to the table. 00:28:25.200 --> 00:28:27.200 And she said, Where have you been? 00:28:27.519 --> 00:28:28.880 He said, I'm sorry, Mom. 00:28:29.039 --> 00:28:38.240 He said, I was just reading this great story and uh I didn't have quite time to finish it, but I went to the last chapter and I needed to read it because I just needed to see who wins. 00:28:39.359 --> 00:28:44.640 Can I just tell you guys this morning, we're not waiting to see how all of this turns out. 00:28:44.799 --> 00:28:55.039 The battle was won 2,000 years ago on an old rugged cross when Jesus Christ bowed his head and said, It is finished, and he was buried and rose again. 00:28:55.200 --> 00:29:00.319 Can I just go on record this morning and say we are on the winning side this morning? 00:29:00.799 --> 00:29:03.119 You can watch the news and get worked up about it. 00:29:03.200 --> 00:29:13.119 You can watch Bloomberg and CNBC and read the newspapers and get all worked up about things that'll probably correct next week, but I'm just telling you, there's a reality that I live by today. 00:29:13.279 --> 00:29:22.079 I'm not searching for victory, I'm fighting from victory because we are accepted in Christ and He has died and risen again. 00:29:22.400 --> 00:29:25.200 We have victory in the person of Jesus Christ. 00:29:25.359 --> 00:29:27.200 Can all God's people say amen? 00:29:27.359 --> 00:29:29.119 Why don't you take that to work with you tomorrow? 00:29:29.200 --> 00:29:30.799 Why don't you take that home with you today? 00:29:30.960 --> 00:29:33.279 Why don't you take that into your next obstacle? 00:29:33.519 --> 00:29:35.440 We are on the winning side. 00:29:35.839 --> 00:29:38.079 Well, I'm trying to figure out if God will get on my side. 00:29:38.160 --> 00:29:41.119 Well, you're looking at your life entirely wrong. 00:29:41.759 --> 00:29:44.640 There's a character in the Old Testament's name is Joshua. 00:29:44.799 --> 00:29:52.880 And Joshua had taken over for Moses, and he's a little bit trepidatious about the war that is to come because Joshua's a great man, but he didn't think he's like Moses. 00:29:53.680 --> 00:30:01.920 And all of a sudden, a beautiful, a beautiful angel appeared to Joshua. 00:30:03.599 --> 00:30:06.960 And Joshua thought to himself, whoa, who is this? 00:30:07.519 --> 00:30:10.799 His identity was the angel of the Lord. 00:30:11.759 --> 00:30:16.480 And Joshua said, Are you for us? 00:30:18.319 --> 00:30:20.400 Are you for us or are you for them? 00:30:22.720 --> 00:30:24.960 And the angel said, Nay. 00:30:26.000 --> 00:30:28.480 As captain of the Lord of hosts, I am come. 00:30:28.640 --> 00:30:29.839 You know what he was saying? 00:30:30.079 --> 00:30:34.160 He was saying, Joshua, I'm not here to take sides. 00:30:35.119 --> 00:30:36.799 I'm here to take over. 00:30:38.880 --> 00:30:43.039 It was Lincoln in the Civil War who said, the question is not, is God on our side? 00:30:43.119 --> 00:30:45.039 The question is, are we on God's side? 00:30:45.119 --> 00:30:47.839 I'm just telling you, Jesus Christ didn't come to take sides. 00:30:47.920 --> 00:30:50.640 He didn't take sides with the Pharisees and the Sadducees. 00:30:50.799 --> 00:30:53.279 He didn't come to take sides with the Jews and the Romans. 00:30:53.359 --> 00:30:59.599 He's not coming to earth to choose sides between the Republicans and the Democrats, the Yankees and the Rednecks. 00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:03.279 He's gonna come and He's gonna take over someday. 00:31:04.319 --> 00:31:07.920 Sorry about that illustration of the North and South. 00:31:08.079 --> 00:31:11.279 I used to say the South will rise again, but I'm not sure it's ever coming back. 00:31:11.440 --> 00:31:12.079 Amen. 00:31:13.519 --> 00:31:15.279 We're on God's side. 00:31:16.079 --> 00:31:18.079 And we have victory in Jesus. 00:31:19.519 --> 00:31:24.240 This morning we live between redemption and restoration. 00:31:25.920 --> 00:31:33.519 The cross has already secured victory, but the creation still waits for the king to finish what he started. 00:31:36.559 --> 00:31:40.319 None of our lives reflect how things should be. 00:31:42.880 --> 00:31:45.200 Sin has ruined our world. 00:31:46.319 --> 00:31:47.599 But Jesus came. 00:31:48.240 --> 00:31:53.599 Christ came into the darkness and he shattered it with his light. 00:31:54.880 --> 00:32:02.960 The whole Bible tells you and me this great truth that we really truly do need Jesus. 00:32:05.200 --> 00:32:12.319 A couple years ago, one of the advantages of living out west was seeing some amazing places. 00:32:13.599 --> 00:32:23.839 A couple of years ago, we came through the desert towards Las Vegas and up into Utah, one of the most breathtaking places I've I've ever seen in my life. 00:32:25.279 --> 00:32:28.400 And we came into Zion National Park. 00:32:28.559 --> 00:32:30.720 How many of you have been to Zion before? 00:32:31.039 --> 00:32:34.480 Well, you have you have to go to Zion National Park. 00:32:35.519 --> 00:32:40.720 It was raining a bit that day, and as I look back, I'm kind of grateful it was raining that day. 00:32:40.799 --> 00:32:48.960 It's as if the rain had washed so much dust off the palette of God's masterpiece he painted in the desert. 00:32:49.359 --> 00:32:50.799 A beautiful place. 00:32:51.759 --> 00:33:04.240 The park ranger told us an interesting story of two American painters, one by the name of Thomas Moran and Albert Bierstadt, who came to that part of the world at the beginning of the 1900s. 00:33:04.799 --> 00:33:09.279 They observed glowing skies and breathtaking valleys of the American West. 00:33:09.519 --> 00:33:12.559 Of course, the Mormons had pioneered much of that country. 00:33:12.640 --> 00:33:16.319 They came to Zion and they said, surely this looks like heaven. 00:33:16.559 --> 00:33:18.240 They named it Zion. 00:33:20.480 --> 00:33:29.759 These two painters that came and they saw the breathtaking beauty of these valleys and had painted a number of portraits of Zion. 00:33:31.119 --> 00:33:35.599 They came back east to New York to sell these paintings. 00:33:38.160 --> 00:33:39.920 And they couldn't sell them. 00:33:42.799 --> 00:33:47.599 Stories told that people thought there's nothing that could possibly be that beautiful. 00:33:48.000 --> 00:33:49.519 It's fantasy. 00:33:52.640 --> 00:33:56.000 Some accuse the artist of exaggeration. 00:33:58.160 --> 00:34:03.519 Because no one could imagine such glory actually existing on earth. 00:34:05.599 --> 00:34:23.519 But when travelers later stood in places like Zion or Yosemite Valley, their eyes fixed upon towering cliffs and blazing sunsets, and they discovered that the artist, listen, the artist had not overstated the beauty at all. 00:34:25.840 --> 00:34:34.000 If anything, the paintings had fallen far short of its natural beauty. 00:34:37.920 --> 00:34:39.599 Eye hath not seen. 00:34:42.239 --> 00:34:43.920 Ear has not heard. 00:34:45.119 --> 00:34:53.360 It hasn't even entered into your mind the things that God has prepared for those that love him. 00:34:56.480 --> 00:34:59.599 So it will be when Christ restores all things. 00:35:01.679 --> 00:35:08.480 The prophets describe deserts blooming and creation rejoicing and wolves lying down with lambs. 00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:12.239 When Christ restores all things. 00:36:01.440 --> 00:36:10.239 Did you know that there are ten times the number of police officers in our country that serve as mental health therapists? 00:36:12.800 --> 00:36:31.039 It seems so fantastical that peace and safety in inner shalom would rest in every heart, but I'm telling you, this is the power of Jesus Christ. 00:36:32.480 --> 00:36:38.079 And unlike Route 66, many roads lead west. 00:36:39.679 --> 00:36:41.840 But only one road leads to God. 00:36:43.679 --> 00:36:45.519 And his name is Jesus. 00:36:46.159 --> 00:36:48.719 History is his story. 00:36:49.199 --> 00:36:52.880 The Bible, his love letter of redemption. 00:36:54.159 --> 00:36:58.079 The way things were is not how things are. 00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:03.039 But Jesus came and will come again. 00:37:03.840 --> 00:37:18.559 And everything, listen, everything lost in Eden has not only been regained, but will be multiplied in the restoration found in Jesus Christ. 00:37:18.800 --> 00:37:21.440 And I encourage you to turn to him today. 00:37:21.679 --> 00:37:22.880 Let's all pray, may we?