WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:03.759 Our passage this week, we are working our way through the book of 1 John. 00:00:03.839 --> 00:00:07.200 Our passage this week is a little bit of a repeat from last week. 00:00:07.360 --> 00:00:16.079 Actually, the whole entire passage we read last week, but we're gonna work our way through a little bit of verses we talked about last week to get to verses 1 and 2 of chapter 2. 00:00:16.160 --> 00:00:21.280 So some of it will feel like a little bit of a review, but hang with me because we're trying to get to verses 1 and 2 of chapter 2. 00:00:21.359 --> 00:00:31.920 Now, here's what I read this week about this passage that Christie just read in 1 John verses 1, 8, to the end of chapter, chapter 2 through verse 2. 00:00:32.000 --> 00:00:33.840 Here's what I read this week about that passage. 00:00:34.079 --> 00:00:37.200 Said this Sin is a crippling disease. 00:00:37.520 --> 00:00:40.159 Sin is a crippling disease under a veneer. 00:00:41.039 --> 00:00:45.600 Now, maybe you're here, just showed up at church, finally got yourself back to church, you mustered up together. 00:00:45.759 --> 00:00:52.240 You're like, great, great, this guy, like week one back, he's gonna beat me up on sin. 00:00:52.399 --> 00:00:53.759 All right, well, hang with me. 00:00:53.840 --> 00:00:55.600 Uh I don't think that's gonna be the case. 00:00:55.759 --> 00:00:57.200 Perhaps you'll feel that way, I don't know. 00:00:57.280 --> 00:00:58.799 Uh, but I don't think that'll be the case. 00:00:59.039 --> 00:00:59.600 Hang with me. 00:00:59.679 --> 00:01:01.920 So first let's remind ourselves what a veneer is. 00:01:02.000 --> 00:01:04.480 So I grabbed some pictures for us to uh look at. 00:01:04.560 --> 00:01:05.680 So here's the first one. 00:01:05.760 --> 00:01:07.680 Uh this is let's talk about veneer, right? 00:01:07.760 --> 00:01:13.840 This old dresser, and the dresser was built out of cheap wood, and then what do we do? 00:01:14.079 --> 00:01:18.560 We put a thin veneer of more expensive wood on top of it. 00:01:18.640 --> 00:01:21.519 So this is a great picture because you can see that the veneer has worn off. 00:01:21.680 --> 00:01:26.239 All right, picture of this guy didn't think he was gonna be in a sermon, but he is. 00:01:26.480 --> 00:01:27.599 Especially his backside. 00:01:27.760 --> 00:01:28.640 He didn't expect that. 00:01:28.719 --> 00:01:37.280 And so they built this wall, probably there's two by four and plywood, then you got some uh you know, cement in there to hold on stone veneer, right? 00:01:37.439 --> 00:01:39.599 So it's not a stone wall, right? 00:01:39.680 --> 00:01:42.079 It's the stone veneer wall, is what it is. 00:01:42.239 --> 00:01:44.079 Uh here's our last picture here. 00:01:44.319 --> 00:01:49.760 All right, so you know what those veneers are, and we thank him for getting those veneers. 00:01:50.480 --> 00:01:52.319 So here's what's clear. 00:01:52.879 --> 00:01:53.760 Here's what's clear. 00:01:53.920 --> 00:01:55.599 Some of you have veneers uh as well. 00:01:55.760 --> 00:01:58.719 I had my teeth whitened, by the way, so I'm in I'm not in judgment. 00:01:58.879 --> 00:02:00.159 I'm not in judgment, okay? 00:02:00.400 --> 00:02:03.920 All right, we're all trying to improve ourselves along the way, is what we're trying to do. 00:02:04.079 --> 00:02:06.239 And a veneer is that improvement. 00:02:06.480 --> 00:02:11.840 A veneer is covers that which is less appealing. 00:02:12.000 --> 00:02:17.840 That's what the wood veneer was, that's what the stone veneer was, it's what the porcelain teeth veneer thing is. 00:02:18.000 --> 00:02:20.800 It's just covering that which is less appealing. 00:02:21.199 --> 00:02:24.240 We're not saying sin makes you unworthy. 00:02:24.400 --> 00:02:25.680 That's what you can easily hear. 00:02:25.759 --> 00:02:27.360 So I need to go out of the way to say that. 00:02:27.439 --> 00:02:29.360 It doesn't mean you're unworthy. 00:02:29.680 --> 00:02:34.000 We were beautiful before we were broken in Genesis 1. 00:02:34.080 --> 00:02:35.439 That's still true. 00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:47.840 Yet under that ideal self, under the ideal self that we would like for ourselves to be, and certainly the ideal self that God has called us to be, we are not all put together. 00:02:48.159 --> 00:02:51.039 We are self-bent in nature. 00:02:51.919 --> 00:02:53.280 Now let's look at these verses. 00:02:53.439 --> 00:02:55.360 1 John 1, 8 through 10. 00:02:55.439 --> 00:02:57.439 I'll reread the verses Christy read for us. 00:02:57.599 --> 00:03:01.360 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 00:03:01.520 --> 00:03:10.800 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 00:03:10.960 --> 00:03:15.680 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. 00:03:15.919 --> 00:03:17.120 So here's point number one. 00:03:17.280 --> 00:03:18.800 This is straight from verse 8. 00:03:19.120 --> 00:03:22.159 Sin is comprehensive in all people. 00:03:22.719 --> 00:03:25.120 Sin is comprehensive in all people. 00:03:25.599 --> 00:03:28.639 So it's possible you don't feel like a moral failure. 00:03:29.120 --> 00:03:30.240 That's very possible. 00:03:30.560 --> 00:03:31.919 It's possible to feel that way. 00:03:32.000 --> 00:03:37.919 It's possible to feel like you've done more good than bad, and then you know, work your way from there to feel like you're just not a moral failure. 00:03:38.080 --> 00:03:38.960 That's very possible. 00:03:39.120 --> 00:03:51.680 But it's also possible, and here's John's point, it's also possible that you lack the self-awareness to be aware of the sin inside of you. 00:03:52.240 --> 00:03:56.000 Now, the hard thing there would be is you don't even have the awareness of it, right? 00:03:56.560 --> 00:04:02.479 And so we just pray in the grace of God that you would see that you have sin inside of you. 00:04:02.560 --> 00:04:04.159 There's a crippling disease. 00:04:04.240 --> 00:04:05.360 This is what John is saying. 00:04:05.520 --> 00:04:10.639 It's for you and I to be very careful not to be deceived. 00:04:10.719 --> 00:04:11.680 And that's his word. 00:04:12.400 --> 00:04:22.079 Don't be deceived that you don't have this going on in your heart and in your mind and in your actions comprehensively. 00:04:22.720 --> 00:04:42.160 Now, others of us, we can feel this sin reality, this sin doctrine to the point of crushing us because you were raised with the guilt trip by your parents, or you got the guilt trip by your church, and it was more sin than it was grace, and you know how to all that fit together, and you just constantly sort of feel under it and unworthy. 00:04:42.879 --> 00:04:48.240 And then modern culture comes in, it tends to side on the side of your good person. 00:04:49.199 --> 00:05:02.079 Like you don't have original sin inside of you, and so the effect of that is you need to just pull your bootstraps up a little bit and let your good be better than bad, which is an incredibly exhausting path for life. 00:05:04.079 --> 00:05:07.199 And John's just saying the whole time, just be careful and all that. 00:05:07.360 --> 00:05:13.199 Be really, really careful because we all love to hide from ourselves. 00:05:14.959 --> 00:05:16.480 We want to hide from ourselves. 00:05:16.639 --> 00:05:18.399 We want to just live in the veneer. 00:05:19.040 --> 00:05:21.920 I can remember being at a finance class at UGA. 00:05:22.000 --> 00:05:24.879 It was a huge class, it was like 200 people, big auditorium. 00:05:25.040 --> 00:05:27.839 First day of class, I was sitting up toward the top of this big auditorium. 00:05:28.000 --> 00:05:29.199 They pass out the syllabus. 00:05:29.600 --> 00:05:36.319 You remember when they pass out the syllabus and pass it out, and everybody starts talking to each other because this is your life for the semester. 00:05:36.399 --> 00:05:39.279 And you only have one main question when you're in college. 00:05:39.439 --> 00:05:40.800 Is the final comprehensive? 00:05:40.879 --> 00:05:42.160 That's what you're looking for first. 00:05:42.480 --> 00:05:43.439 Is it comprehensive? 00:05:43.519 --> 00:05:44.240 Is it comprehensive? 00:05:44.319 --> 00:05:45.120 Is it comprehensive? 00:05:45.199 --> 00:05:45.759 This is the question. 00:05:45.920 --> 00:05:47.120 Is the final comprehensive? 00:05:47.279 --> 00:05:48.879 Well, this syllabus goes out. 00:05:49.040 --> 00:05:51.759 There are only four things on the syllabus. 00:05:52.000 --> 00:05:57.519 Every test rolls into the next test, and every test is comprehensive. 00:05:57.600 --> 00:05:59.360 And all of us are just going bonkers. 00:05:59.439 --> 00:06:00.399 We can't believe it. 00:06:00.560 --> 00:06:02.639 Can you believe this in a class, right? 00:06:02.800 --> 00:06:05.199 Like that I would we would have to know this material. 00:06:05.360 --> 00:06:07.120 Like it's unheard of. 00:06:07.680 --> 00:06:08.000 Right? 00:06:08.079 --> 00:06:16.800 And there's this feeling like I'm gonna have to know everything from the entire class. 00:06:18.000 --> 00:06:19.279 Comprehensive. 00:06:23.360 --> 00:06:26.399 We realize the nightmare of comprehensive. 00:06:26.879 --> 00:06:31.279 And it means fullness, fullness, the full class, comprehensive. 00:06:31.360 --> 00:06:34.319 So this is the bad news, which is also the good news. 00:06:34.480 --> 00:06:35.759 It's interesting how this works. 00:06:35.920 --> 00:06:39.839 The bad news is this sin is comprehensive inside of us. 00:06:40.000 --> 00:06:42.399 It fully affects us. 00:06:42.879 --> 00:06:49.360 Not just in our actions, like those are sins, like that's a sin, and that one's a sin, and stop doing that, and stop doing that, but also like in our heart and in our motives. 00:06:49.439 --> 00:06:58.240 And sometimes you don't see it until years later, and you're like, oh, I thought that was so good, and then like you look back and you're like, that was really selfish of me how I did that or judged that or handled that. 00:06:58.639 --> 00:07:00.160 It's comprehensive. 00:07:00.879 --> 00:07:03.920 It's just, it's it's in us, it's a part of us. 00:07:04.639 --> 00:07:19.360 And then in a strange way, even sin is a is good news because it rightly names that which has been true inside of you your entire life. 00:07:20.399 --> 00:07:31.519 So you can go the way of modern culture and pretend like the crippling disease is not in you, which means you'll try to do a whole bunch of good to outweigh a bunch of the bad. 00:07:33.439 --> 00:07:39.279 But to name something for what it is is incredibly relieving. 00:07:40.160 --> 00:07:47.920 To just say, like, oh, the reason why I do things I don't want to do and regret it later, that's sin. 00:07:48.319 --> 00:07:51.839 The reason why I think things and I don't want to think them, that's sin. 00:07:52.720 --> 00:07:56.879 The reason why I don't do things, I should have done them, oh, that's that's sin. 00:07:57.439 --> 00:08:00.720 The reason why my motives are not always pure, oh, that that's sin. 00:08:01.199 --> 00:08:05.040 Like to actually have a name for the thing is incredibly relieving. 00:08:05.199 --> 00:08:10.319 I read two weeks ago uh author and memoirist Mary Carr, incredible writer. 00:08:10.639 --> 00:08:11.519 She wrote this. 00:08:11.680 --> 00:08:16.720 She wrote, nothing is more non-judgmental than the doctrine of sin. 00:08:17.920 --> 00:08:21.519 Because you're in agreement that we're all just the same. 00:08:22.160 --> 00:08:24.000 Isn't that non-judgmental? 00:08:24.319 --> 00:08:26.720 To just say we're we're all we're all the same. 00:08:26.959 --> 00:08:28.399 We're all sinners. 00:08:28.800 --> 00:08:30.639 Incredibly non-judgmental. 00:08:30.879 --> 00:08:33.600 Point number two, this is from verse nine. 00:08:34.320 --> 00:08:39.039 Comprehensive sinfulness needs ongoing confession. 00:08:39.279 --> 00:08:42.320 Comprehensive sinfulness needs ongoing confession. 00:08:42.480 --> 00:08:46.240 Now, this need is not to earn the acceptance of God. 00:08:46.320 --> 00:08:47.279 That's not what this is. 00:08:47.519 --> 00:08:57.039 This is for us to grow into the awareness, this ongoing confession is to grow into the awareness and the knowledge of the acceptance you already have. 00:08:57.120 --> 00:09:04.399 So maybe you had a point of confession of your need and acceptance of Christ to come into belief of Christ to be a Christian. 00:09:04.559 --> 00:09:11.840 But ongoing confession is not like, oh, I gotta do this again in order to be right with God or have my acceptance with God to be correct. 00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:20.000 That is, this is about growing into the awareness of that which has always been true and is true for you right now. 00:09:20.720 --> 00:09:23.519 This is why confession is the road to healing. 00:09:24.000 --> 00:09:33.679 Last Saturday, not yesterday, the Saturday before, I was a real pill like all day to my family and especially to Christy. 00:09:33.759 --> 00:09:35.360 But then it came out in the evening. 00:09:35.440 --> 00:09:43.440 I was I was tired, we just got back from dinner, we we parked in the garage, and we parked in the garage, and we would get in there, and I'm just like, let's get in the house and do the bedtime, let's do all that. 00:09:43.519 --> 00:09:46.240 And so I'd like, hey, uh, clean up your trash. 00:09:46.399 --> 00:09:54.000 We're in the car, we produce a lot of trash in the car, clean up your trash, pick up your shoes because our children love to take the shoes off in the car. 00:09:54.159 --> 00:09:57.360 Clean up the trash, pick up your shoes, let's get in the house. 00:09:57.519 --> 00:09:58.799 Like, you know, the orders are there. 00:09:59.200 --> 00:10:02.320 Pretty simple structure there, very clear, very clear. 00:10:02.639 --> 00:10:06.320 I head into the house, they're doing the couple things they need to do. 00:10:06.480 --> 00:10:07.360 They get into the house. 00:10:07.519 --> 00:10:13.600 One daughter doesn't have her shoes, so we walk back out to the garage and we get out of there. 00:10:13.759 --> 00:10:15.440 One shoe, one shoe. 00:10:18.080 --> 00:10:19.120 Can you believe it? 00:10:19.279 --> 00:10:20.399 Where's the other shoe? 00:10:20.559 --> 00:10:22.879 And I become like providing working dad. 00:10:23.120 --> 00:10:32.000 I paid for that shoe, and you know, we're gonna find that shoe, and that shoe costs$30, and yeah, like I'm like, you know, like I've never lost anything in my entire life. 00:10:32.159 --> 00:10:34.559 Yeah, like I'm proving a point, right? 00:10:34.720 --> 00:10:36.559 And I'm just a pill. 00:10:36.720 --> 00:10:40.080 I'm impatient and I'm short and I'm rude. 00:10:40.639 --> 00:10:46.080 So uh we didn't find the shoe, by the way, just to let you know, shoes disappear. 00:10:46.799 --> 00:10:53.759 And tucking her into bed that night, and apparently, like very apparently, like I'm unsettled, right? 00:10:53.840 --> 00:10:55.279 Like I'm unsettled. 00:10:55.759 --> 00:10:57.759 And I just apologize to her. 00:10:58.240 --> 00:11:02.080 Not because I'm like some great person or dad, it's actually the opposite. 00:11:02.159 --> 00:11:03.039 Like I was impatient. 00:11:03.120 --> 00:11:09.759 I just needed to apologize to my my kid, and I just you know, it's like I'm sorry, I you know, I was impatient. 00:11:09.840 --> 00:11:16.320 I was really I was actually, I was actually what we tell you not to be to your sisters, is like what I was to you. 00:11:16.480 --> 00:11:19.919 Like I was like, I'm I'm I'm sorry about that. 00:11:20.879 --> 00:11:28.320 The most amazing thing always happens in these confessions interrelationally, any confession between in relationships. 00:11:28.879 --> 00:11:33.039 This part of us that's unsettled gets settled. 00:11:34.639 --> 00:11:42.639 And then this wedge between the two of you, maybe not perfectly, is removed sometimes, but it gets removed. 00:11:44.399 --> 00:11:48.639 This word confession, a powerful word, Greek word, homologio. 00:11:49.120 --> 00:11:49.919 Here's what it means. 00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:52.960 It means to say the same thing as. 00:11:55.120 --> 00:11:56.559 Here's what I love about this. 00:11:56.799 --> 00:12:00.240 You're not creating new information for God. 00:12:00.480 --> 00:12:00.799 Right? 00:12:00.960 --> 00:12:02.639 That's what the definition of the word is saying. 00:12:02.799 --> 00:12:08.480 I wasn't creating new information for my daughter, she's already here, but your children already know about you, right? 00:12:08.559 --> 00:12:13.919 Like maybe they're young enough, they don't have words for it yet, or maybe they're old enough and they have very clear words for it. 00:12:14.080 --> 00:12:15.279 They already know. 00:12:15.440 --> 00:12:19.600 And by the way, if you're wondering if you're a sinner, just ask your family, right? 00:12:20.320 --> 00:12:21.440 Any of us? 00:12:22.639 --> 00:12:26.159 So when we go into confession to God, we're not creating new information. 00:12:26.240 --> 00:12:28.799 Like he doesn't know, like, oh, I didn't I didn't realize that. 00:12:28.879 --> 00:12:41.120 You know, it we're coming into agreement with him about what he already knows to be true about us and about our need for his perfect supply of grace for us. 00:12:41.600 --> 00:12:42.559 Isn't that amazing? 00:12:42.639 --> 00:12:44.879 Doesn't that kind of change how you feel about confession? 00:12:44.960 --> 00:12:49.039 I get I used to think confession sounded so horrible, like something to avoid. 00:12:49.120 --> 00:12:50.960 That's this sounds like something I need to do. 00:12:51.039 --> 00:12:52.159 This sounds incredible. 00:12:52.240 --> 00:12:56.320 This sounds like this sounds like a way to grow in the grace of God. 00:12:57.519 --> 00:13:00.159 The good news is you don't even need an altar. 00:13:01.360 --> 00:13:05.039 You don't even need a priest or pastor. 00:13:06.320 --> 00:13:29.919 It's just wherever you come into the awareness of your sin, heart, mind, deed, wherever that moment is, you're driving down I-75, you got Garth Brooks on, or Taylor Swift, whatever your tune is, you, and you go like, oh, I didn't realize, oh my gosh, that memory, you're replaying something, or heads on the pillow at night, you're replaying something, and you come into awareness of the sin. 00:13:30.320 --> 00:13:31.440 There's your altar. 00:13:31.600 --> 00:13:32.480 Right there. 00:13:33.679 --> 00:13:35.600 Kitchen sink, you're crying, right? 00:13:35.679 --> 00:13:37.360 Like anywhere, it doesn't matter. 00:13:37.840 --> 00:13:39.600 There is your altar. 00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:41.360 God, I missed that. 00:13:41.840 --> 00:13:43.200 I should have done it, I missed it. 00:13:44.320 --> 00:13:45.600 God, I I did that. 00:13:45.759 --> 00:13:46.480 I said that. 00:13:46.559 --> 00:13:47.919 I shouldn't have said it. 00:13:49.120 --> 00:13:50.240 Sorry about that. 00:13:50.480 --> 00:13:52.159 I don't want to be like that. 00:13:52.720 --> 00:13:54.559 There's this motive in me. 00:13:55.360 --> 00:13:57.039 I need this worked out. 00:13:58.399 --> 00:14:01.440 There's this fear in me, there's this anxiety in me. 00:14:04.000 --> 00:14:16.559 God, I want to come into agreement with what is true about me as being imperfect and a sinner and in supply of your great grace. 00:14:16.639 --> 00:14:17.519 Isn't it amazing? 00:14:17.679 --> 00:14:23.679 We don't have to give up on the doctrine of sin to embrace the doctrine of grace. 00:14:24.399 --> 00:14:25.200 What a gift. 00:14:25.360 --> 00:14:27.440 What a gift the Christian faith gives us. 00:14:27.600 --> 00:14:32.879 We don't have to give up on the doctrine of the justice of God in order to believe in the grace of God. 00:14:33.039 --> 00:14:34.480 How incredible. 00:14:36.399 --> 00:14:38.559 Chapter 2, verses 1 and 2. 00:14:38.879 --> 00:14:42.480 My little children, John writing, so endearing. 00:14:42.720 --> 00:14:46.879 My little children, I'm writing these things to you so that you may not sin. 00:14:46.960 --> 00:14:51.440 So he's going, like, I have a hope for you of a life of peace, is what he's saying there. 00:14:51.519 --> 00:14:54.559 And then he goes, but, he's like, I know about you guys. 00:14:54.639 --> 00:15:01.360 But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 00:15:01.600 --> 00:15:10.320 He is the propitiation, big word, we'll talk about it, for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world, for anybody. 00:15:10.799 --> 00:15:12.399 Open for anybody. 00:15:13.120 --> 00:15:20.080 Point number three is this just as sin is comprehensive, Christ's work is comprehensive. 00:15:21.840 --> 00:15:27.519 Verse 1 literally says this we have, when you sin, a paraclete with the Father. 00:15:27.679 --> 00:15:30.879 Now that word paraclete is that word advocate. 00:15:32.080 --> 00:15:35.919 It means to represent in a legal manner. 00:15:36.240 --> 00:15:43.919 It's an official binding relationship that whatever they achieve, your paraclete, your advocate, whatever they achieve, you achieve. 00:15:44.080 --> 00:15:45.519 They win, you win. 00:15:46.559 --> 00:15:50.480 Here's the quote I read about it this week, broke it down for us, theologian Charles Hodge. 00:15:50.559 --> 00:15:52.559 I think we'll put it up on the screen here. 00:15:53.039 --> 00:15:56.799 The relationship of Christ to his people. 00:15:56.960 --> 00:15:59.519 So to you, hear this for you. 00:15:59.679 --> 00:16:04.320 The relationship of Christ to his people is that of a legal advocate to a client. 00:16:04.639 --> 00:16:07.279 The former personates the latter. 00:16:07.440 --> 00:16:10.320 The lawyer stands in the client's place. 00:16:10.559 --> 00:16:14.720 It is, while it lasts, the most intimate of relationships. 00:16:15.279 --> 00:16:18.480 You may not even have to appear in court. 00:16:18.879 --> 00:16:22.480 You are not heard, you are not regarded. 00:16:22.799 --> 00:16:29.440 You are lost in your advocate, who for the time being is your representative. 00:16:29.600 --> 00:16:32.080 The advocate, not you, is seen. 00:16:32.320 --> 00:16:38.480 The advocate, not you, is heard, the advocate, not you, is regarded. 00:16:40.159 --> 00:16:43.360 And then something cool happens in this next verse in verse 2. 00:16:43.600 --> 00:16:45.279 Another word is used. 00:16:45.519 --> 00:16:48.879 This word propitiation, big theological word. 00:16:49.440 --> 00:16:52.000 It's a rare word, actually, in the scriptures. 00:16:52.159 --> 00:17:00.879 And it means this: a sacrifice given to an angry God, a sacrifice to appease an angry God. 00:17:01.039 --> 00:17:06.079 Now, you get stuck there and go, oh, angry God, like I don't do that part, I don't do that part. 00:17:06.799 --> 00:17:08.400 But here's what this is teaching us. 00:17:08.480 --> 00:17:11.839 It's teaching us, first off, we don't have to give up on the justice of God in order to have the grace of God. 00:17:11.920 --> 00:17:12.480 That's incredible. 00:17:12.640 --> 00:17:15.920 And it's also teaching us this: God's not angry with you. 00:17:16.240 --> 00:17:19.119 He already handled that within himself. 00:17:21.279 --> 00:17:28.960 He decided within himself, by his own means, Christ's work, your sin put upon him, his righteousness given to you, you're forever beloved. 00:17:29.279 --> 00:17:30.400 He settled all that. 00:17:30.640 --> 00:17:32.319 He's not angry with you. 00:17:33.680 --> 00:17:37.440 Not from that stuff from long ago, not today, not tomorrow. 00:17:37.920 --> 00:17:46.880 So the image that's built for us is a grace, a loving God that is accepting and welcoming. 00:17:48.319 --> 00:17:53.200 And the grace of God says to the justice of God, oh yeah, I know him. 00:17:54.559 --> 00:17:55.519 I know her. 00:17:56.319 --> 00:17:57.920 I'm his advocate. 00:17:59.119 --> 00:18:00.480 I'm her advocate. 00:18:02.240 --> 00:18:04.559 Justice of God, you don't have to look at her. 00:18:06.480 --> 00:18:07.759 You don't have to look at him. 00:18:08.400 --> 00:18:09.440 I know Russ. 00:18:10.160 --> 00:18:11.279 You look at me. 00:18:11.920 --> 00:18:13.599 You look at my perfect record. 00:18:14.000 --> 00:18:15.440 You look at my perfection. 00:18:15.680 --> 00:18:19.440 And I in the grace of God will stand and cover him. 00:18:20.799 --> 00:18:24.319 He is utterly lost inside of me. 00:18:26.319 --> 00:18:28.880 All of it forever has been paid for God. 00:18:32.400 --> 00:18:34.160 By himself, he paid for it. 00:18:34.480 --> 00:18:36.000 You may be broken. 00:18:36.400 --> 00:18:37.759 You may feel broken. 00:18:37.920 --> 00:18:39.759 You may have a broken moral record. 00:18:39.920 --> 00:18:40.880 It may be in deed. 00:18:41.039 --> 00:18:42.880 It may be in thought, it may be in motive. 00:18:42.960 --> 00:18:43.519 It's one of them. 00:18:43.599 --> 00:18:44.880 I just covered it all. 00:18:46.079 --> 00:18:49.039 But you are more loved by God than you could ever dare to dream. 00:18:49.119 --> 00:18:49.920 And we know it. 00:18:50.079 --> 00:18:52.000 We know it securely in Jesus. 00:18:52.160 --> 00:18:53.440 This is the gift of Jesus. 00:18:53.599 --> 00:18:54.720 Here's what this means for your life. 00:18:54.880 --> 00:18:55.200 Three things. 00:18:55.359 --> 00:18:56.160 Sermons just beginning. 00:18:56.240 --> 00:18:56.640 Just kidding. 00:18:56.720 --> 00:18:57.279 No, we're not. 00:18:57.440 --> 00:18:59.200 Here's what this means for your life. 00:18:59.920 --> 00:19:00.880 Six-point sermon. 00:19:01.759 --> 00:19:07.839 Number one, you can call sin and stop avoiding the issue. 00:19:08.640 --> 00:19:11.359 That would be incredibly relieving for some of us. 00:19:12.079 --> 00:19:23.119 Number two, you can deal with the guilt you've been avoiding and shoving that sucker down so deep it's causing a mess in your life and relationships. 00:19:23.359 --> 00:19:31.440 And because you can call sin sin, and because you're already loved by God by Christ's work, you're secure, you're already accepted. 00:19:33.119 --> 00:19:34.559 God isn't angry with you. 00:19:34.880 --> 00:19:37.759 That's why Paul can say there's no condemnation for us. 00:19:38.559 --> 00:19:40.400 Number three, last thing. 00:19:41.039 --> 00:19:45.920 You can stop trying to pay God for something that has always been a gift. 00:19:46.400 --> 00:19:47.839 And you can just walk with them. 00:19:50.079 --> 00:19:58.319 You can walk with them in ongoing confession, and you can walk with him in ongoing delight of how much he loves you. 00:19:58.640 --> 00:20:04.319 My brothers and sisters, may you know the sweet and sufficient justification and rest of Christ's word for you. 00:20:04.480 --> 00:20:05.519 Let's pray together. 00:20:05.759 --> 00:20:11.279 God thank you for your good work, that you are our advocate and you are our propitiation. 00:20:14.319 --> 00:20:19.920 God, thank you that you settled your justice by means of your grace. 00:20:20.160 --> 00:20:26.799 I thank you that we can see and call sin and ourselves always first. 00:20:28.000 --> 00:20:31.519 That we are not perfect and yet we are perfectly loved by you. 00:20:32.319 --> 00:20:34.960 That we are humbled and we are loved. 00:20:36.079 --> 00:20:40.559 God, thank you for this great gift that is true for us. 00:20:41.039 --> 00:20:45.519 May we celebrate it here as we receive communion in Jesus' name. 00:20:45.759 --> 00:20:46.400 Amen.