WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:01.840 Oh, Jacket Sunday. 00:00:02.000 --> 00:00:02.959 Here we are. 00:00:03.359 --> 00:00:05.919 16-year-olds got a jacket on, so we're going. 00:00:07.679 --> 00:00:10.080 Well, uh, if I haven't met you, my name is Sam. 00:00:10.160 --> 00:00:11.439 I'm the student pastor here. 00:00:11.519 --> 00:00:14.480 So, as Russ was mentioning, we have a fourth and fifth grade thing. 00:00:14.560 --> 00:00:14.960 I'm over that. 00:00:15.039 --> 00:00:16.800 I'm over the sixth through twelfth graders. 00:00:16.960 --> 00:00:20.640 Um, it's been a joy to serve here coming up on three years all of a sudden. 00:00:20.719 --> 00:00:21.920 Um, it's been wonderful. 00:00:23.280 --> 00:00:24.399 Not 16. 00:00:24.559 --> 00:00:27.679 Uh, yes, I'm 25, shockingly. 00:00:27.920 --> 00:00:35.359 Um well, growing up, I always noticed that one of my eyes was clearer than the other. 00:00:35.520 --> 00:00:37.200 I don't know if anybody else can relate to that. 00:00:37.359 --> 00:00:43.759 Um, I noticed when I was like five, six, seven-ish, as I was laying in bed perusing through Juni B. 00:00:43.920 --> 00:00:45.200 Jones, as one does. 00:00:45.439 --> 00:00:48.960 The B stands for Beatrice, but I just like B, and that's all. 00:00:49.200 --> 00:00:51.039 I would read with both eyes, right? 00:00:51.119 --> 00:00:54.320 And then I would close my left eye, and I would read Juni B. 00:00:54.479 --> 00:00:56.960 Jones, be crystal clear, crystal clear. 00:00:57.119 --> 00:00:59.200 And then I'd be like, man, my left eye's kind of funky. 00:00:59.280 --> 00:01:01.039 So let's close my right eye this time. 00:01:01.119 --> 00:01:05.120 I'm gonna read with my left eye, and it was all of a sudden just unbelievably blurry. 00:01:05.439 --> 00:01:08.640 So I did wear glasses for a few months in elementary school. 00:01:08.719 --> 00:01:10.159 It didn't really help much. 00:01:10.239 --> 00:01:12.400 Um I don't think I took the test right. 00:01:12.560 --> 00:01:17.680 Um so then I went 10 more years of school with a blurry eye, didn't fix it. 00:01:17.920 --> 00:01:22.239 And then I was like, man, okay, senior year of high school, maybe it's time. 00:01:22.400 --> 00:01:23.439 Uh maybe it's time. 00:01:23.519 --> 00:01:25.200 So I'm look let's let's track in with glasses. 00:01:25.280 --> 00:01:28.400 So I go to the doctor, you know, do the whole which picture is clearer thing. 00:01:28.480 --> 00:01:30.000 They both are equally blurry. 00:01:30.079 --> 00:01:33.599 Uh, and then he says, You have a lazy eye. 00:01:33.680 --> 00:01:34.560 It's unfixable. 00:01:34.640 --> 00:01:36.719 So I thought, make my day. 00:01:37.760 --> 00:01:40.879 But he said, we can get you a prescription that'll help it. 00:01:40.959 --> 00:01:42.239 It won't, it won't fix it. 00:01:42.400 --> 00:01:44.799 Like you're stuck with this a little bit, but it will help. 00:01:45.040 --> 00:01:45.519 It'll help. 00:01:45.680 --> 00:01:54.400 So he gives me the glasses, my mom and I drive down Cobb Parkway, go up, you know, north towards Ackworth, and we get the glasses, we we step outside, I put them on. 00:01:54.640 --> 00:01:56.400 It was like the world was unlocked. 00:01:56.640 --> 00:02:02.480 I look up at the trees, and there's leaves, not just green blobs, there's leaves on the tree. 00:02:02.879 --> 00:02:04.879 I didn't know you were allowed to see this well. 00:02:05.439 --> 00:02:07.519 So let's let's shift gears here. 00:02:07.760 --> 00:02:17.680 If you were to ask a hundred people, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, atheist, agnostic, what they thought the Bible was about, I think you'd get about a hundred different answers. 00:02:17.919 --> 00:02:19.360 Some would be negative, right? 00:02:19.599 --> 00:02:24.240 Saying that the Bible is perhaps bigoted, homophobic, anti-Semitic, hateful text. 00:02:24.560 --> 00:02:38.800 Some would be positive, perhaps saying the Bible has good moral teachings, and that Jesus was a great prophet, and that his lessons and all these different things he taught us give us good moral things to take away, but there are some hard things I disagree with, so I'll just take those out, take the good morality, and then move on. 00:02:38.879 --> 00:02:41.520 That's kind of like what Thomas Jefferson did, for example. 00:02:41.759 --> 00:02:47.360 But here's my answer, and here's what I think Paul's answer is from our passage. 00:02:47.759 --> 00:02:50.639 That from Genesis to Revelation, there is one story. 00:02:50.879 --> 00:02:54.159 And it is here summarized in Romans 12 through 14. 00:02:54.240 --> 00:03:03.680 And here's my argument for us today: that if you understand the Bible through the lens that it is actually written, it'll be unlocked for you. 00:03:03.919 --> 00:03:12.240 That as we see here in Romans 5, that the whole Bible is summarized in this simple passage, death in Adam, life in Christ. 00:03:12.479 --> 00:03:28.240 The Bible will be unlocked for you because the thing is, if the Bible is just simply a bunch of good moral teachings and stories, then Christianity would be a life of trying to be pretty good, avoiding certain things, doing the right things, so that maybe when you stand before the throne of God one day, maybe he'll let you in. 00:03:29.039 --> 00:03:42.800 But if the Bible is what it says it is, if it is God's revealed world, word showing us the redemptive story of Jesus, then life can actually be full of true, genuine joy with a full assurance that Jesus' blood is sufficient for you. 00:03:43.520 --> 00:03:52.800 Now, here's the whole story of the Bible: Genesis to Revelation, proven on the cross, life in Adam, or sorry, death in Adam, life in Jesus. 00:03:53.120 --> 00:04:05.120 Now, each year here at Redeemer, just like Sam mentioned, we pause from the series we have been doing, which for us has been Acts, and we step into the six weeks leading up to Easter with what the church has historically called Lent. 00:04:05.360 --> 00:04:11.599 Now, Lent most simply marks the 40-day period leading from Ash Wednesday to Good Friday and then into Easter. 00:04:11.759 --> 00:04:18.000 So for many of us, maybe we were raised in churches that didn't really talk about Lent much, so this is kind of a new word. 00:04:18.560 --> 00:04:21.199 For other of us, maybe Lent has some baggage. 00:04:21.360 --> 00:04:28.240 Maybe when you think of the word Lent, you remember how when you were in second grade you didn't give up that one thing and felt like you were less of a Christian than your friend. 00:04:28.480 --> 00:04:39.759 For others, even, Lent might be an incredibly sacred season for you, where you feel the eyes of your heart enlightened and pushed towards the cross of Christ, where his righteousness given to you and your sin taken upon him. 00:04:40.480 --> 00:04:45.920 On Sunday nights with Redeemer Students, we've been studying the last seven words from Jesus on the cross. 00:04:46.240 --> 00:04:53.680 The first night we looked at the cosmic forgiveness of Christ to sinners, where Jesus cried out, Father, forgive them, they know not what they do. 00:04:54.000 --> 00:05:00.399 The second night we saw the incredible assurance from Jesus to this man who was a lifelong sinner. 00:05:00.879 --> 00:05:04.160 Jesus said, Today you will be with me in paradise. 00:05:04.399 --> 00:05:14.879 Then the third night, we saw one of the most stunning words of compassion in all of the scriptures, as Jesus in his dying breaths looks down at his mother, likely weeping, and says, Woman, behold your son. 00:05:15.600 --> 00:05:21.120 So for the next six weeks, leading into Good Friday and into Easter, that's exactly what we're going to be doing together. 00:05:21.360 --> 00:05:25.600 We're going to be beholding the Son of God in all of his splendor and glory. 00:05:25.759 --> 00:05:30.480 So before we dive into our passage, let's pray one more time together. 00:05:31.680 --> 00:05:36.319 Father, we confess that you are Lord. 00:05:36.560 --> 00:05:40.079 Father, that you uphold the universe by the word of your power. 00:05:40.480 --> 00:05:42.639 Father, you have stepped into time. 00:05:43.120 --> 00:05:53.439 You have sent your son to take on flesh, to be born as a baby, to grow and then reveal the fullness of yourself to us. 00:05:53.680 --> 00:06:02.959 And so, Father, I pray that as we unpack your word, Father, by your spirit and for your glory, you would open our eyes to see the beauty of your son this morning. 00:06:03.279 --> 00:06:14.639 Pray that we would see that all of our religious striving is empty apart from the cross, and all of our sin from the past and in the future is forgiven fully by the blood of the Son. 00:06:14.800 --> 00:06:19.920 And we pray, Father, that your Spirit will be in this room and would uh do the work of illuminating your word to us. 00:06:20.000 --> 00:06:21.519 We ask all this in Jesus' name. 00:06:21.680 --> 00:06:22.240 Amen. 00:06:22.480 --> 00:06:24.959 So let's read our passage together one more time. 00:06:25.199 --> 00:06:26.720 Romans 5, 12 through 14. 00:06:26.800 --> 00:06:33.439 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned. 00:06:33.600 --> 00:06:38.480 For sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 00:06:38.639 --> 00:06:47.759 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who is a type of the one who was to come. 00:06:48.240 --> 00:06:51.680 So here we have Paul writing to the Christians in Rome. 00:06:51.839 --> 00:06:59.279 In this book, Romans, is a book attempting, where Paul is attempting to give the gospel as clearly as he possibly can to these believers. 00:06:59.439 --> 00:07:06.959 And this passage that we just read is argued by many to be the logical, theological focal point for Paul. 00:07:07.199 --> 00:07:11.680 If you want to know what Paul believes, you need only look at Romans 5, 12 through 14. 00:07:11.839 --> 00:07:21.839 This is all that Paul believes, and this is everything, everything that comes after Paul is ultimately rooted in this focal point: death in Adam, life in Christ. 00:07:22.079 --> 00:07:24.560 Paul is making some cosmic claims here. 00:07:24.879 --> 00:07:29.120 He's not just saying that sometimes people do selfish things because of Adam. 00:07:29.360 --> 00:07:37.360 He's saying there is now, across all continents of the world, across all generations, across all peoples, a bent. 00:07:37.759 --> 00:07:41.519 And this bent, Paul is arguing, is not towards God and towards life. 00:07:41.600 --> 00:07:46.160 This bent from birth given to us by our father Adam is towards sin. 00:07:47.279 --> 00:07:48.560 How did this happen? 00:07:48.800 --> 00:07:50.079 It's certainly not hard to see. 00:07:50.240 --> 00:07:52.879 Who in here has a toddler or kid age two to six? 00:07:52.959 --> 00:07:53.439 You raise your hand. 00:07:53.600 --> 00:07:55.279 Who has a toddler, kid age two to six? 00:07:55.439 --> 00:07:57.040 Did you teach them to say no? 00:07:57.759 --> 00:07:59.519 Did you teach them to say mine? 00:08:00.800 --> 00:08:02.319 It's their natural bent. 00:08:02.560 --> 00:08:05.199 They were born wanting what's theirs. 00:08:05.519 --> 00:08:06.480 So we see it. 00:08:06.720 --> 00:08:07.600 Now, how did this happen? 00:08:07.839 --> 00:08:09.839 Let's look at Genesis 2 together. 00:08:10.160 --> 00:08:12.720 So Genesis 2, 15 through 17. 00:08:13.759 --> 00:08:18.639 The Lord God took the man, Adam, and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 00:08:18.800 --> 00:08:25.680 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat. 00:08:25.839 --> 00:08:29.360 For in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die. 00:08:29.759 --> 00:08:32.399 And in the Hebrew, that literally says, You shall die, die. 00:08:32.480 --> 00:08:33.519 You're gonna die. 00:08:33.919 --> 00:08:36.320 God did not create Adam with moral perfection. 00:08:36.639 --> 00:08:39.200 God created Adam with a moral neutrality. 00:08:39.440 --> 00:08:41.759 Adam was not perfect, he was innocent. 00:08:42.000 --> 00:08:43.519 Innocent until proven guilty. 00:08:44.159 --> 00:08:47.919 Here, Adam stands, himself and God in the garden. 00:08:48.240 --> 00:08:49.840 Eve is not there yet. 00:08:50.000 --> 00:08:55.360 So at this point, when this covenant is given, it falls on Adam alone to fulfill this. 00:08:55.600 --> 00:08:59.440 So this is the initiation of what has been called the covenant of works. 00:08:59.600 --> 00:09:05.200 And this is what the covenant of works says: don't eat of the tree and you live, eat of the tree and you die. 00:09:05.360 --> 00:09:10.159 And this is righteousness earned based on obedience or disobedience. 00:09:10.320 --> 00:09:11.200 It's very simple. 00:09:11.360 --> 00:09:14.639 This is the covenant that Adam was given. 00:09:15.279 --> 00:09:17.600 The rest of humanity stands on this. 00:09:18.000 --> 00:09:21.600 Stands on whether or not Adam would obey or disobey. 00:09:21.919 --> 00:09:27.519 So Adam receives the covenant of works, God creates Eve, and then chapter three comes. 00:09:27.919 --> 00:09:32.240 Serpent shows up, he shows up, and this isn't any normal serpent. 00:09:32.480 --> 00:09:33.440 He talks. 00:09:34.399 --> 00:09:36.399 So the serpent tempts Eve. 00:09:36.799 --> 00:09:40.080 He makes the tree look really good, really desirable. 00:09:40.240 --> 00:09:43.360 The one tree that she's not allowed to eat, he makes it look really good. 00:09:43.679 --> 00:09:50.879 But he does what Satan always does, which is make God's word seem limiting on what we really want. 00:09:51.120 --> 00:09:55.279 Make God's word seem really limiting on what we really truly want. 00:09:55.440 --> 00:09:59.840 Rather than inviting us into true joy and true life, which is what the word of God actually does. 00:10:00.080 --> 00:10:01.519 So Eve eats. 00:10:01.919 --> 00:10:02.399 Every time. 00:10:02.559 --> 00:10:04.159 Dad gummit, she does, doesn't she? 00:10:04.320 --> 00:10:05.919 She takes the fruit she eats. 00:10:06.080 --> 00:10:11.759 But if you ever want to know what the heart of God is towards sinners, you need only look into Genesis 3. 00:10:11.919 --> 00:10:17.519 So Adam and Eve both eat, and in true marriage form, Adam blames Eve. 00:10:20.159 --> 00:10:23.039 There's some husbands in here that wouldn't have gone well for you. 00:10:23.600 --> 00:10:26.080 Wouldn't have been some extra words in Genesis 3 here. 00:10:26.399 --> 00:10:28.720 There's some wives in here that would not have taken that well. 00:10:29.679 --> 00:10:33.360 But what was the covenant that God gives Adam? 00:10:33.840 --> 00:10:35.919 You eat, you die. 00:10:36.480 --> 00:10:41.440 So you have to believe that Adam and Eve at this point thought they were about to be struck dead. 00:10:41.679 --> 00:10:45.519 They didn't necessarily fully realize it was a spiritual death that was coming. 00:10:45.600 --> 00:10:47.759 They surely thought it was a physical death, too. 00:10:47.919 --> 00:10:49.200 But what does God do? 00:10:49.519 --> 00:10:51.679 Genesis 3, 14 and 15. 00:10:52.240 --> 00:10:53.679 The Lord God said to who? 00:10:53.840 --> 00:11:00.559 The serpent, because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all the beasts of the field. 00:11:00.720 --> 00:11:05.039 On your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. 00:11:05.279 --> 00:11:09.440 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. 00:11:09.600 --> 00:11:12.080 He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. 00:11:12.240 --> 00:11:16.480 Rather than striking Adam and Eve dead here, God promises to bring life. 00:11:16.879 --> 00:11:20.240 Genesis 3.15 is called by many the first gospel. 00:11:20.879 --> 00:11:25.759 God is promising to send someone to come defeat and crush the head of the serpent. 00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:34.080 This person will certainly crush his head, but like we see in the passage, his head will be bruised, meaning the crucifixion. 00:11:34.559 --> 00:11:41.120 The pain by which the wounded victor crushes the head of Satan will come through the form of the crucifixion. 00:11:41.440 --> 00:11:50.879 But what we see is a cosmic stain from the disobedience of Adam, but a promise of a cosmic restoration from God. 00:11:51.360 --> 00:12:03.120 This is the initiation of the covenant of grace, where God promises that our righteousness is not based on our moral and perfect law keeping, but in the one-way love of God towards sinners through the blood of Christ. 00:12:03.360 --> 00:12:05.919 The covenant of grace is the reality for the rest of time. 00:12:06.000 --> 00:12:08.480 The covenant of works is done away with forever. 00:12:08.799 --> 00:12:11.360 So back in Romans 5, Paul continues. 00:12:12.080 --> 00:12:15.200 He says, Death spread to all men because all sinned. 00:12:15.360 --> 00:12:20.320 For sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 00:12:20.480 --> 00:12:24.639 So we have to ask, does that mean that with no law people are innocent? 00:12:24.799 --> 00:12:27.360 Because that certainly is what that passage looks like. 00:12:27.840 --> 00:12:32.559 Now, Bruss, a few weeks ago, talked about a very smart-sounding word, hermeneutics. 00:12:32.799 --> 00:12:34.399 I'm sure you used it this week. 00:12:34.720 --> 00:12:38.799 This word is talking about the way in which we understand the Bible. 00:12:39.039 --> 00:12:49.360 So one of the most important things to do with hermeneutics is take a confusing passage, perhaps like this one, and read it in light of what has already been made clear. 00:12:49.600 --> 00:12:55.120 So, in other words, again, you read the confusing passages in light of the clearer ones, not vice versa. 00:12:55.360 --> 00:12:58.559 So here in verse 13, we have something that certainly is kind of confusing. 00:12:58.720 --> 00:13:01.360 So we need to take a step back to Romans 2. 00:13:01.600 --> 00:13:03.440 So Romans 2, 12 and 15. 00:13:03.519 --> 00:13:06.240 This hopefully will help us understand what Paul's saying here. 00:13:06.480 --> 00:13:11.919 Paul explains, for all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law. 00:13:12.080 --> 00:13:15.200 And all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. 00:13:15.279 --> 00:13:27.039 They, the Gentiles, aka you and me, unless you're Jewish, show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them. 00:13:27.200 --> 00:13:28.639 Here's what he's saying. 00:13:29.039 --> 00:13:37.200 With or without the law, whether a person knows it or not, they are still born under the curse of sin and death. 00:13:37.600 --> 00:13:40.240 He says the law is written on their hearts. 00:13:40.480 --> 00:13:43.919 People by nature have a sort of moral compass, don't they? 00:13:44.080 --> 00:13:46.000 I mean, look into the secular world. 00:13:46.240 --> 00:13:49.120 How do they know that murder is bad? 00:13:49.440 --> 00:13:56.240 Because they are created in the image of God and therefore are created with a moral compass of some sort, with God's law on their hearts. 00:13:56.320 --> 00:13:58.960 So then the question is: are people innocent apart from the law? 00:13:59.279 --> 00:14:00.080 Well, no. 00:14:00.320 --> 00:14:05.120 Then the worst thing a Christian could do is tell someone who's never heard the gospel about the gospel. 00:14:06.480 --> 00:14:08.720 But this cosmic stain is not the final word. 00:14:08.879 --> 00:14:10.480 Let's look at verse 14. 00:14:12.159 --> 00:14:22.159 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who is a type of the one who was to come. 00:14:22.720 --> 00:14:28.000 So Paul brings an idea into this passage that we haven't heard yet in the book of Romans. 00:14:28.159 --> 00:14:30.000 He uses the word type. 00:14:30.639 --> 00:14:34.480 Here's another big word to use in your life this week: typology. 00:14:34.960 --> 00:14:43.919 So typology means this correspondence between events, people, and institutions, and their future escalated version in Christ. 00:14:44.240 --> 00:14:49.519 In other words, how does this Old Testament example lead us to Jesus? 00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:54.799 Typology is the reason we don't read the Old Testament and simply get moral lessons from it. 00:14:54.960 --> 00:15:02.720 It's the reason we read Genesis to Malachi and see how the Old Testament is perfectly fulfilled in the person and work of Jesus in every single verse. 00:15:03.360 --> 00:15:06.159 Example, Jesus is the better David. 00:15:06.399 --> 00:15:14.720 So we don't read David and Goliath and give a sermon called Dare to Be a David, where I give you a bunch of moral lessons and empower you to try to defeat your giants. 00:15:14.799 --> 00:15:23.200 What we would say is that Jesus is the better David, whereby Jesus has conquered the final Goliath, which is sin and death and the serpent. 00:15:23.519 --> 00:15:37.039 Jesus is the better Moses, the one who stood between God and man and pleaded for their forgiveness, splitting the sea of God's judgment and inviting God's people to walk through to freedom to the other side, to the promised land, the New Jerusalem. 00:15:37.519 --> 00:15:40.879 That's how typology affects the way we read the Old Testament. 00:15:41.120 --> 00:15:48.399 That's why now we can look at Leviticus and see how it points to Jesus being the great high priest, the atoning Lamb. 00:15:49.600 --> 00:15:51.919 So let me prove this to you. 00:15:52.159 --> 00:15:53.759 Luke 24, 27. 00:15:54.639 --> 00:15:58.399 Jesus has already died, he's risen again, and Luke writes this. 00:15:58.639 --> 00:16:08.960 And beginning with Moses, the law, and all the prophets, Jesus interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. 00:16:10.159 --> 00:16:11.679 That would have been an awesome sermon. 00:16:12.080 --> 00:16:13.440 We love the Sermon on the Mount. 00:16:13.600 --> 00:16:15.120 This would have been gas. 00:16:15.519 --> 00:16:17.600 Luke, whatever she would have written down, man. 00:16:18.399 --> 00:16:23.200 But here's what Jesus is saying everything points to me. 00:16:23.919 --> 00:16:26.320 Genesis to Malachi, Jesus. 00:16:26.559 --> 00:16:29.120 Leviticus, Jesus, judges, Jesus. 00:16:29.200 --> 00:16:31.279 It's all about Jesus. 00:16:31.600 --> 00:16:34.720 Now, how does Adam point us to Christ? 00:16:34.879 --> 00:16:36.639 That's our question this morning. 00:16:37.840 --> 00:16:44.799 We learned in Genesis 2 that Adam stood as the covenant representative head of humanity. 00:16:45.039 --> 00:16:50.240 He's the first man, he's the one from whom every single other human being will come from. 00:16:50.799 --> 00:16:57.279 And at the breach of his covenant, remember the covenant of works, all human beings now are born under this curse. 00:16:59.600 --> 00:17:01.919 All who are in Adam are in sin. 00:17:02.159 --> 00:17:08.079 And in a much more beautiful, powerful way, all who, by placing faith in Christ, are made righteous. 00:17:08.319 --> 00:17:14.240 Not because of their covenant lawkeeping, but because of Christ's obedience and one-way love given to us. 00:17:14.799 --> 00:17:17.039 In this sense, Christ is the better Adam. 00:17:17.279 --> 00:17:22.960 The one who actually was obedient, obedient to the point of death on the cross. 00:17:23.680 --> 00:17:26.160 So that we who believe find life and righteousness to him. 00:17:26.319 --> 00:17:29.920 This is the one God promised in Genesis 3. 00:17:30.240 --> 00:17:32.720 God has promised to bring life out of death. 00:17:33.119 --> 00:17:36.079 Now there is a very present reality for all people. 00:17:36.880 --> 00:17:39.680 We are all born under the stain of Adam. 00:17:39.839 --> 00:17:52.160 And not only is that indwelling sin in our hearts, but we live in a world that constantly reminds us of this stain: sickness, death, school shootings, division, miscarriage. 00:17:52.480 --> 00:17:57.039 We don't have to look very far to see what Adam has caused. 00:17:58.000 --> 00:18:02.400 But is God some far-off, inactive being? 00:18:02.960 --> 00:18:05.680 Watching his world burn and doing nothing about it? 00:18:06.319 --> 00:18:09.119 That's not what this book would testify to. 00:18:10.079 --> 00:18:17.359 The God of the universe revealed in the Bible didn't just send a way for the curse to be reversed, he actually himself came and took the curse upon himself. 00:18:18.079 --> 00:18:21.119 There's no other religion or worldview that teaches you that. 00:18:21.680 --> 00:18:26.559 Every other religion or worldview will say, try your best to be good and hopefully God will approve of you. 00:18:26.880 --> 00:18:31.359 Christianity says God stepped down in your brokenness and took your stain on himself. 00:18:32.480 --> 00:18:35.519 Now maybe you're here this morning and you find yourself grieved. 00:18:36.319 --> 00:18:38.559 Maybe life has beat you up. 00:18:38.880 --> 00:18:46.160 Maybe with sickness, death, family, work, life, you're just exhausted. 00:18:46.480 --> 00:18:47.839 Maybe you're grieved. 00:18:48.240 --> 00:18:50.559 Perhaps you can hardly keep your eyelids open. 00:18:51.359 --> 00:18:54.880 Maybe you're in here today and the gospel has never seemed enticing to you. 00:18:55.200 --> 00:19:02.480 Maybe it seemed dry and cold and far off, and there's been kind of no regard for this God who must be angry with me. 00:19:02.880 --> 00:19:05.599 Maybe you thought Christianity was about morality. 00:19:06.079 --> 00:19:12.240 But maybe this morning, you're seeing that Jesus is attractive to you for the first time, perhaps. 00:19:12.559 --> 00:19:25.200 The invitation to my prayer that I've been praying for all week is that perhaps even this morning you would believe for the first time that Jesus is sufficient for you, that his one-way love for you has stirred within you a desire to have faith in him. 00:19:25.519 --> 00:19:31.839 That even in your brokenness, even though you don't have it all together, he still perfectly loves you. 00:19:32.400 --> 00:19:34.640 The invitation is to come and believe this morning. 00:19:34.880 --> 00:19:38.559 Now maybe you're here this morning and find yourself religiously exhausted. 00:19:39.039 --> 00:19:42.799 Maybe you've been taught your whole life that you need to perform. 00:19:43.119 --> 00:19:46.240 That if you sin this many times, God will give up on you. 00:19:46.319 --> 00:19:52.079 That there's a little asterisk at the end of the Bible with your name that says he or she won't be fully forgiven. 00:19:52.559 --> 00:19:55.440 You find yourself still kind of believing in the covenant of works. 00:19:56.559 --> 00:20:01.519 That if I mess up X amount of times, I'm done. 00:20:02.079 --> 00:20:04.319 Maybe this week you stumbled in some way. 00:20:04.640 --> 00:20:05.839 Maybe you drank too much. 00:20:05.920 --> 00:20:08.480 Maybe you stumbled again watching pornography. 00:20:08.720 --> 00:20:10.799 Maybe you just messed up in a big way this week. 00:20:11.119 --> 00:20:15.920 And this morning, you come in this place and wonder, could anyone love me if they knew? 00:20:16.480 --> 00:20:19.200 Could God love me if he knew? 00:20:20.000 --> 00:20:26.400 So here's the offer for each of us, whatever category you find yourself in, is to behold the Son of God. 00:20:27.359 --> 00:20:30.160 To look at Jesus with us this morning. 00:20:30.640 --> 00:20:38.000 He took your sin, he took your shame, he took the parts of you that you really wish weren't true about yourself. 00:20:38.319 --> 00:20:40.720 And he said, I still love you in that. 00:20:41.359 --> 00:20:43.599 Like that's what I died on the cross for you. 00:20:43.920 --> 00:20:47.839 That was for those deep, ugly, deep places that you're trying with all your might to hide. 00:20:48.400 --> 00:20:50.799 That's where the gospel does the best work. 00:20:52.000 --> 00:20:56.799 Church, what we have gained in Jesus is so much better than what we lost in Adam. 00:20:58.000 --> 00:21:03.039 This is what the seed, the child of Eve, has given us life and righteousness. 00:21:03.200 --> 00:21:04.480 So that's the offering. 00:21:04.880 --> 00:21:05.359 That's it. 00:21:05.920 --> 00:21:11.119 To collapse once again into the grace and mercy of Jesus and feels love for you. 00:21:11.920 --> 00:21:18.240 To run once again into his arms and remember that this love you didn't initiate, and therefore you'll never lose. 00:21:18.799 --> 00:21:22.000 Because he is the one who has initiated this one-way love towards you. 00:21:22.400 --> 00:21:24.240 So collapse this morning once again. 00:21:24.720 --> 00:21:25.599 Let's pray. 00:21:26.880 --> 00:21:31.440 Father, the gospel is so rich. 00:21:31.920 --> 00:21:34.000 Your word is so alive. 00:21:34.880 --> 00:21:39.519 Even as far back as Genesis, Father, we see the promises of the Son. 00:21:41.519 --> 00:21:44.880 Father, you always bring life out of death. 00:21:46.079 --> 00:21:50.079 As soon as Adam and Eve breached this covenant, you didn't strike them. 00:21:51.680 --> 00:21:52.880 You promised life. 00:21:53.440 --> 00:21:57.039 And this life has been fulfilled in the person and work of Jesus. 00:21:57.680 --> 00:22:09.519 And so, Father, I pray for each of us this morning as we come to this place with whatever doubts, whatever sin, whatever grief, whatever tears we come in this place with, Father, I pray that you would meet us here. 00:22:10.079 --> 00:22:16.160 I pray that as we receive the sacrament, perhaps it would be a means of grace for us as never before. 00:22:16.720 --> 00:22:17.039 We love you. 00:22:17.279 --> 00:22:17.920 Thank you for the cross. 00:22:18.079 --> 00:22:19.279 We pray all this in Jesus' name. 00:22:19.440 --> 00:22:19.839 Amen.