WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:05.440 So I woke up Wednesday morning to the most wonderful thing, the most wonderful way to wake up. 00:00:05.679 --> 00:00:12.240 I was in the in the bathroom, I was brushing my teeth, and my little six-year-old, she comes in and she says, Happy birthday, Dad. 00:00:12.480 --> 00:00:14.480 It was my birthday, she had that right, so that was good. 00:00:14.560 --> 00:00:16.160 And says, Happy birthday, Daddy. 00:00:16.960 --> 00:00:17.600 Thanks, babe. 00:00:17.760 --> 00:00:20.079 She said, We have a we have a surprise for you in the kitchen. 00:00:20.239 --> 00:00:21.679 You gotta come, we have a surprise for you. 00:00:21.760 --> 00:00:22.800 And she's she wants to tell me. 00:00:22.879 --> 00:00:23.839 She's like, I'm not gonna tell you though. 00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:24.559 Sisters will get mad. 00:00:24.640 --> 00:00:25.280 I'm not gonna tell you. 00:00:25.359 --> 00:00:37.200 And so she takes my hand, we walk down the hall, we get to the kitchen, and Christy and my mom and the girls, they had put together 40 pictures of me, which who doesn't love that right away, right? 00:00:37.359 --> 00:00:49.359 40 pictures of me, shaped like a 40 because I turned 40, and it was a big 40 in the kitchen, and it was pictures of me from birth, about one a year all the way till this year. 00:00:49.600 --> 00:00:52.960 And so that was, I mean, who needs a better gift, right? 00:00:53.200 --> 00:00:55.679 I mean, I thought I wanted another Patagonia pullover. 00:00:55.759 --> 00:00:58.799 I do have five, like I have that addiction, even in the summer. 00:00:58.880 --> 00:00:59.520 You know, why not? 00:00:59.600 --> 00:01:01.280 Let's just add another one to the collection. 00:01:01.439 --> 00:01:04.000 You know, but that was like, oh, this is good. 00:01:04.159 --> 00:01:05.200 This was so good. 00:01:05.359 --> 00:01:12.879 And so I'm just standing there, and it's right above our kitchen sink, and so I've been all week, I've been just standing there looking at this 40 and all these 40 pictures. 00:01:12.959 --> 00:01:17.040 And not just me, of course, there's like friends and family throughout all these years. 00:01:17.120 --> 00:01:18.319 And here's what hit me. 00:01:18.480 --> 00:01:21.840 I had really cute moments uh pretty much before the age of eight. 00:01:22.000 --> 00:01:24.239 After that, it just got awkward all the way till now. 00:01:24.400 --> 00:01:27.120 But before eight, before eight, I had some stuff going on. 00:01:27.200 --> 00:01:28.159 I had some game. 00:01:28.480 --> 00:01:31.840 My biceps, my senior year, were not as big as I thought. 00:01:31.920 --> 00:01:33.040 And uh some of you know that. 00:01:33.200 --> 00:01:34.959 Thank you, Christy, via Instagram. 00:01:35.120 --> 00:01:41.599 You saw my senior picture in my basketball uniform with my you know big biceps, they're still about the same size. 00:01:41.840 --> 00:01:43.280 I've had some career moments. 00:01:43.359 --> 00:01:44.799 There's a couple like pictures in there. 00:01:44.879 --> 00:01:46.239 It's like, oh yeah, I remember that. 00:01:46.400 --> 00:01:48.719 Like I got that job, that thing happened. 00:01:49.120 --> 00:01:51.200 Wow, that was that was pretty great. 00:01:51.280 --> 00:02:00.239 And but what I look like or anything to do with career really didn't matter when I was looking at these pictures of my life. 00:02:00.400 --> 00:02:06.000 It just really didn't matter compared to like the people who were in the pictures. 00:02:06.239 --> 00:02:11.360 And then also, sort of as the week went on, like when I would look at the pictures, like even that started to fade away a little bit. 00:02:11.439 --> 00:02:20.319 And then there was this feeling of like, what was going on at that time, like that picture when I was 13 or 23 or 33. 00:02:21.360 --> 00:02:23.680 And what was the Lord doing during that time? 00:02:23.759 --> 00:02:29.759 What was the Lord showing me or trying, trying to show me often is what it's more like? 00:02:30.240 --> 00:02:33.919 And so there was a lot of joy looking at these pictures. 00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:38.159 There's been a lot of joy, but then also there's this other side to it of sorrow. 00:02:38.560 --> 00:02:52.479 Because I actually, probably like you, I I spend a lot of energy, I spend a lot of energy trying to get everything else to say something about me. 00:02:53.520 --> 00:02:53.840 Right? 00:02:53.919 --> 00:02:55.439 Maybe you know what I'm talking about. 00:02:55.680 --> 00:03:12.319 Because maybe you have at some point posted something to some social media platform, maybe Instagram or Twitter or Facebook, you posted something, and as soon as you post it, right, you you keep checking the likes as if it is the declaration of you. 00:03:14.080 --> 00:03:23.280 This interesting article came out in the Atlantic Monthly called the Instagram aesthetic is over, as Lady Taylor Lorenz wrote it. 00:03:23.360 --> 00:03:26.159 And what she was saying is that the aesthetic is over. 00:03:26.240 --> 00:03:31.439 The idea of posting pictures and revealing your life to be perfect. 00:03:32.159 --> 00:03:38.879 The proper background, the right lighting, you know, like we would never post a picture of eating dairy ice cream online, right? 00:03:38.960 --> 00:03:43.280 Like never that, unless it's Ginny's, because then that's a social status issue, right? 00:03:43.439 --> 00:03:45.680 But never just like Baskin Robin ice cream. 00:03:45.840 --> 00:03:46.639 It would never post that. 00:03:46.719 --> 00:03:49.919 You know, we've got to post eating avocado ice cream. 00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:52.560 Like that would be the that's the thing to post, right? 00:03:52.719 --> 00:03:54.080 I mean, that's good, that's gonna do it. 00:03:54.240 --> 00:03:55.599 That's gonna do it for us. 00:03:55.840 --> 00:04:02.800 But there's this shift with like all the really hot influencers that have huge followings, like people who make their livings off of these followings. 00:04:02.879 --> 00:04:07.919 There's this shift going on that's moving away from perfection to messiness. 00:04:10.319 --> 00:04:16.560 The posts are actually being thought about and put out there as to be messy. 00:04:16.639 --> 00:04:22.879 Here's the quote: in fact, many teens are going out of their way to make their photos look worse. 00:04:23.199 --> 00:04:33.439 Hoogicam, which makes an app, which makes your images look as if they were taken with an old school throwaway camera, has been downloaded more than 16 million times. 00:04:34.160 --> 00:04:39.439 Adding grain to your photos is a big thing now, says Sonia Apal is a 20-year-old college student. 00:04:39.680 --> 00:04:41.839 People are trying to seem candid. 00:04:42.079 --> 00:04:46.240 People post a lot of mirror selfies and photos of them lounging around. 00:04:46.319 --> 00:04:51.199 So here's what's interesting with all of this it's still a performance. 00:04:52.720 --> 00:04:52.959 Right? 00:04:53.040 --> 00:04:55.680 You're still performing to try to get somebody to approve it. 00:04:55.759 --> 00:04:56.560 It's still not real. 00:04:56.639 --> 00:05:01.600 Like, we will never escape the burden, whether you do Instagram or not, it doesn't even matter. 00:05:01.759 --> 00:05:05.920 We'll never escape the burden of depravity or the law. 00:05:07.519 --> 00:05:18.000 By performing up to a standard of perfection, whatever that be for you, that's law, or by performing up to a standard of perfect messiness. 00:05:18.240 --> 00:05:19.680 Still a law. 00:05:21.360 --> 00:05:29.839 And that's where we're at today, is because we don't need to keep trying to form a standard, whether it be perfect messiness or just perfect, perfect. 00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:31.759 Like it's a death that we need. 00:05:31.839 --> 00:05:33.519 We actually need death before death. 00:05:33.600 --> 00:05:35.519 That's what how we would call it spiritually. 00:05:35.680 --> 00:05:37.920 We need death before death. 00:05:39.199 --> 00:05:45.199 We're in our second week in the book of Jonah, and we see today Jonah's death before death. 00:05:46.079 --> 00:05:48.800 This is a guy, a prophet, well-known, respected prophet. 00:05:48.879 --> 00:05:49.920 Last week we talked about it. 00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:53.040 He was called by God to go preach the Nineveh, his hated enemy. 00:05:53.120 --> 00:05:53.839 These people were brutal. 00:05:53.920 --> 00:05:55.680 They're horrible, horrible people. 00:05:56.000 --> 00:05:58.639 And he didn't want to go to tell them about a merciful God. 00:05:58.720 --> 00:06:01.279 I mean, perhaps they might repent and God might actually be merciful upon them. 00:06:01.519 --> 00:06:02.639 He wanted them to pay for their sin. 00:06:02.879 --> 00:06:06.959 So he gets on a boat, he goes to Tarshish, he runs the other way. 00:06:08.399 --> 00:06:18.800 So jumping back into some of the verses Seth read, Jonah 1, jumping in at verse 4, but the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up. 00:06:18.959 --> 00:06:26.959 Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his God, and they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. 00:06:27.120 --> 00:06:32.959 But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep. 00:06:33.199 --> 00:06:35.199 Very courageous, courageous guy. 00:06:35.439 --> 00:06:36.079 Verse 6. 00:06:36.240 --> 00:06:40.079 So the captain came and said to him, What do you mean, you sleeper? 00:06:40.240 --> 00:06:41.360 Arise, call out to your God. 00:06:41.519 --> 00:06:46.879 Perhaps the God will give you a thought to us that we may not perish. 00:06:47.120 --> 00:07:02.319 So what's interesting in the story here today is that Jonah is running from going to tell the Ninevehites about God, and he ends up on a ship with other pagans, and even just by him being there, those pagans start talking and thinking and even praying to his God. 00:07:02.879 --> 00:07:05.279 So two points, kind of overarching points for today. 00:07:05.439 --> 00:07:06.720 Point number one is this. 00:07:07.600 --> 00:07:17.439 When we try to outrun God, we all do, when we try to outrun God, we learn there is nowhere to hide from God. 00:07:17.680 --> 00:07:22.639 When we try to try to outrun God, we learn there's nowhere to hide from God. 00:07:22.800 --> 00:07:26.639 Maybe you babysat your little nephew Johnny at some point. 00:07:26.720 --> 00:07:28.800 And little Johnny is all over the place. 00:07:28.959 --> 00:07:30.879 I mean, he's just zipping here and there, running. 00:07:30.959 --> 00:07:32.319 He's never walked his entire life. 00:07:32.480 --> 00:07:38.959 He's all over the house, he's all over the yard, and you are two, three hours into this thing, and you can't wait to get out and done with this thing. 00:07:39.040 --> 00:07:44.879 And finally, you're back in the kitchen giving him more goldfish, and then you pull out the old hide-and-seek card, right? 00:07:45.040 --> 00:07:51.759 We know the hide-and-seek card when you're babysitting because what that means is you get to be separate from him for a little bit, and he has to be quiet while he's hiding. 00:07:51.839 --> 00:07:54.240 And so you're saying, like, hey, let's play hide and seek. 00:07:54.319 --> 00:07:58.639 And so he runs off, and you can't count slow enough and long enough for your sanity. 00:07:58.800 --> 00:08:02.800 Eventually, it's you know, 30, you know, here I can hide and seek, here I come, I'm coming. 00:08:03.120 --> 00:08:08.240 And he had ran into the den, into the living room, little Johnny, jumped up on the couch. 00:08:08.480 --> 00:08:19.040 You probably remember this, buried his head in the corner of the couch, puts his the pillow on top of his head, and his entire body is sticking out for you to see, right? 00:08:19.279 --> 00:08:20.319 Remember this. 00:08:22.319 --> 00:08:23.439 What is he doing? 00:08:23.680 --> 00:08:27.199 Well, if he can't see you, surely you can't see him, right? 00:08:27.360 --> 00:08:29.360 I mean, this is this is his thought. 00:08:29.759 --> 00:08:30.879 He can't see you. 00:08:32.879 --> 00:08:36.240 We sort of grow out of that in a way. 00:08:39.759 --> 00:08:51.600 But not all the way, especially not when it comes to our running with God, because we still think if you can't see him, surely, surely God can't see you, right? 00:08:52.000 --> 00:08:53.679 Like surely you could run somewhere. 00:08:53.919 --> 00:09:00.320 You could hide somewhere, you could perform or pretend, you could do something to some sort of mask. 00:09:03.039 --> 00:09:05.519 King David wrote about this, I think, pretty well. 00:09:05.679 --> 00:09:13.039 It was after his affair with Bathsheba, which was probably much darker than that, because I'm sure she probably didn't want to have sex with him. 00:09:13.600 --> 00:09:15.519 And he gets her pregnant, right? 00:09:16.639 --> 00:09:20.720 He's got to figure out a way out of this, so he decides to cover it up instead. 00:09:21.600 --> 00:09:39.759 Calls her husband back from war, tries to trick him into sleeping with her, so the whole thing's covered up, and he'll think that that's his baby, and that doesn't work out because he turns out to be a pretty good man, and eventually he, David, has to arrange a situation for that guy to be killed, and then he just marries Bathsheba. 00:09:40.480 --> 00:09:42.639 And then he thinks everything's fine. 00:09:43.039 --> 00:09:45.360 This goes along with life. 00:09:46.000 --> 00:09:51.919 And then finally he breaks, finally, he repents, finally, he finds forgiveness in God alone and nothing else. 00:09:52.000 --> 00:09:56.240 And then in Psalm 139, we get these verses, Psalm 139, verse 7 through 9. 00:09:56.320 --> 00:10:00.320 I can't help but think this comes out of that sort of life. 00:10:00.559 --> 00:10:05.840 This this insight's gotta come out of that sort of life where you know about hiding. 00:10:06.159 --> 00:10:08.879 Where shall I go from your spirit? 00:10:10.000 --> 00:10:12.639 Or where shall I flee from your presence? 00:10:12.960 --> 00:10:14.960 If I ascend to heaven, you are there. 00:10:15.120 --> 00:10:17.440 If I make my bed in Sheol, that's the grave. 00:10:17.600 --> 00:10:19.759 If I make my bed in the grave, you are there. 00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:30.159 If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. 00:10:31.519 --> 00:10:35.039 We can take boats all over the place, all different directions. 00:10:35.600 --> 00:10:41.759 The opposite way that God even wants us to go, morally or in some calling, he's still with you. 00:10:42.080 --> 00:10:43.440 He's faithful for that. 00:10:43.600 --> 00:10:54.159 Now that's horrible news if your God, your thinking of God, is the cosmic, angry God waiting to ground you or spank you or take your phone away for a month. 00:10:54.320 --> 00:10:56.960 That would be horrible news that he's always with you. 00:10:57.840 --> 00:11:00.240 But what if? 00:11:02.240 --> 00:11:07.360 What if is he is actually the just God that judged everything? 00:11:07.840 --> 00:11:13.200 All of our sin on the cross, and the judgment is handled, and the judgment toward us is love. 00:11:13.360 --> 00:11:21.360 And what if God is actually what the entire biblical narrative says he is, that he is love? 00:11:26.320 --> 00:11:28.480 The Jonah 1 story continues. 00:11:28.639 --> 00:11:35.360 All these sailors that get together, they cast lots trying to figure out this storm, and maybe somebody caused this storm. 00:11:36.080 --> 00:11:37.360 They figure out it's Jonah. 00:11:37.519 --> 00:11:38.720 Jonah's the problem. 00:11:39.279 --> 00:11:40.320 Tell us what's going on. 00:11:40.480 --> 00:11:40.879 Who are you? 00:11:40.960 --> 00:11:41.679 Where do you come from? 00:11:41.759 --> 00:11:42.559 Like, what'd you do? 00:11:42.639 --> 00:11:43.279 Who are your people? 00:11:43.360 --> 00:11:44.720 Why is this storm on us? 00:11:44.799 --> 00:11:50.080 And Jonah says, I'm a Hebrew and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven and sea and the land. 00:11:51.679 --> 00:11:52.480 It's interesting. 00:11:52.559 --> 00:11:53.759 Now he's preaching to pagans. 00:11:53.840 --> 00:11:58.480 It's the very thing he didn't want to do, so now he's running, ends up doing the same thing he was going to do, anyways. 00:11:58.639 --> 00:12:00.240 They say, What have you done? 00:12:00.559 --> 00:12:05.279 For they knew Jonah was on the run for God, and Jonah tells them, and he just said, Hey, let's handle it this way. 00:12:05.360 --> 00:12:10.639 Just throw me into the sea, get rid of me, and everything will be well for you. 00:12:11.200 --> 00:12:14.080 And the men don't want to do this, they sort of fear, they fear that. 00:12:14.240 --> 00:12:16.639 They fear God, they fear Jonah's God. 00:12:17.279 --> 00:12:20.480 So they're praying to God, like, God, you know, we don't want to do this, but what if we do? 00:12:20.559 --> 00:12:22.720 You know, please don't, you know, don't come and zap us. 00:12:22.799 --> 00:12:29.679 And then in Jonah 1, verse 15, so they picked up Jonah, they hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. 00:12:29.840 --> 00:12:31.759 Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly. 00:12:31.919 --> 00:12:34.720 They offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows. 00:12:36.480 --> 00:12:43.840 And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. 00:12:44.000 --> 00:12:46.639 So, plenty of debate here when it comes to this story. 00:12:46.799 --> 00:12:50.320 This is the point for some of you that you go, and I'm done. 00:12:50.960 --> 00:12:52.000 This was it for me. 00:12:52.159 --> 00:12:54.000 Everything was great till this point. 00:12:54.320 --> 00:12:57.519 So some would say this is all metaphor, this story's all metaphor. 00:12:57.679 --> 00:13:00.159 And some would say, no, no, no, it's not metaphor, it's a miracle. 00:13:00.320 --> 00:13:03.840 If you're okay with the miracle of the resurrection, why not be okay with this miracle? 00:13:04.159 --> 00:13:05.360 Here's what we do know. 00:13:05.519 --> 00:13:13.039 What we do know is it doesn't read like figurative language, it reads like this happened. 00:13:13.519 --> 00:13:18.159 So we're gonna discuss it as if it happened, as if it is literal, it is a miracle. 00:13:18.320 --> 00:13:21.200 And we'll look to the lesson as we can. 00:13:21.279 --> 00:13:22.480 And here's point number two. 00:13:22.559 --> 00:13:25.919 I think the big lesson here with this fish showing up is this. 00:13:26.080 --> 00:13:31.519 Point number two love and redemption are beneath the surface. 00:13:32.480 --> 00:13:37.279 So our death is always required as to no life. 00:13:37.440 --> 00:13:41.759 And when I mean when I say death, I mean death before death, not physical death, death before death. 00:13:42.000 --> 00:13:46.720 Love and redemption are beneath the surface, so our death is always required as to no life. 00:13:46.879 --> 00:13:52.240 So Jonah himself describes the belly of the fish as Sheol, just like David did, the grave. 00:13:52.480 --> 00:13:54.480 So a death before death. 00:13:54.960 --> 00:14:07.120 It's a death of the sinful nature, the nature that wants to perform and pretend and hide, as to either cope or find some self-righteousness or self-justification, apart from God's movement and his love for you. 00:14:07.519 --> 00:14:13.919 The fish is not judgment on Jonah, it's love at his lowest point. 00:14:14.639 --> 00:14:17.759 It's love at the bottom of the ladder at the end of the rope. 00:14:18.639 --> 00:14:22.639 I read this quote at our Good Friday service a couple weeks ago. 00:14:22.799 --> 00:14:26.559 It's a quote by Father Stephen Freeman, who's an Orthodox Christian priest. 00:14:28.159 --> 00:14:30.320 Modernity likes ladders. 00:14:30.879 --> 00:14:36.720 We like the idea of upward mobility, of continual approvement, of moral progress. 00:14:37.120 --> 00:14:40.559 We speak of career ladders and the ladder of success. 00:14:41.440 --> 00:14:47.360 It is the myth of personal power, a story told to individuals that they can now become whatever they want. 00:14:47.600 --> 00:14:50.720 Be all that you can be, and Jesus can help. 00:14:51.840 --> 00:14:54.080 God does not meet us in the middle. 00:14:54.399 --> 00:14:57.679 He meets us at the bottom and asks us to meet him there as well. 00:14:57.840 --> 00:15:02.399 It is within that place that true humility is born, judgment ceases. 00:15:02.639 --> 00:15:05.120 Modernity loves excellence. 00:15:05.279 --> 00:15:10.480 The moral improvement pitches of the motivational preachers love the drive for excellence. 00:15:10.720 --> 00:15:13.840 Our bosses and the owners demand that we strive for excellence. 00:15:14.000 --> 00:15:18.159 God is not our boss, nor does he place us in his debt. 00:15:18.320 --> 00:15:20.000 Freely you have received. 00:15:20.240 --> 00:15:25.120 The constant nagging voice demanding improvement and excellence is not the voice of God. 00:15:25.919 --> 00:15:31.120 It is often nothing more than the neurotic echo of modernity sounding in our brains. 00:15:31.440 --> 00:15:34.000 It drives us with the threat of shame. 00:15:34.960 --> 00:15:42.000 However, Christ has trampled down shame by shame and invites us to do the same thing. 00:15:42.240 --> 00:15:48.480 You cannot escape shame except by shame. 00:15:49.679 --> 00:15:52.720 So Father Freeman's saying God finds you at the bottom. 00:15:52.960 --> 00:15:54.240 That's the only place. 00:15:54.559 --> 00:15:56.639 So a death has to be happened. 00:15:57.039 --> 00:16:05.360 A death of you trying to be enough as to be loved by God or by other people or approved as a human being or self-righteous by your own means. 00:16:07.200 --> 00:16:21.919 It's in the cross that we do not have to prove or absolve ourselves, but die to all of that as to receive full forgiveness, full worth, and full righteousness. 00:16:23.200 --> 00:16:28.559 So if I could try to be a little more concrete, I think is just trying to think through like what are these deaths? 00:16:28.639 --> 00:16:29.759 Like a death before death. 00:16:29.840 --> 00:16:30.639 What are these deaths? 00:16:31.039 --> 00:16:35.360 I think perhaps there's three common ways that we can end up in this death before death. 00:16:35.440 --> 00:16:38.000 I think death possibility number one is guilt. 00:16:39.600 --> 00:16:41.440 Maybe you've screwed up. 00:16:42.960 --> 00:16:45.360 You've hurt people, said things. 00:16:45.840 --> 00:16:48.399 Maybe you didn't want to, maybe you did want to. 00:16:48.960 --> 00:16:50.559 But you know guilt. 00:16:51.360 --> 00:16:53.200 You know the weight of guilt. 00:16:53.360 --> 00:16:58.000 You know the weight of there's something always that you have not done yet. 00:16:58.960 --> 00:17:08.240 Maybe you've never been able to live up to what God asks you to live up to, or maybe you're never able to live up to what the church told you you should be. 00:17:09.119 --> 00:17:11.519 You simply feel the weight of guilt. 00:17:12.240 --> 00:17:15.440 And the way out is not being better. 00:17:15.680 --> 00:17:17.119 The way out is a death. 00:17:17.200 --> 00:17:22.960 That's what the Christian life is: is repentance, ongoing repentance, casting yourself back on Jesus. 00:17:23.440 --> 00:17:27.759 It's a death to the self-righteous pride that is telling you to be your own savior. 00:17:27.839 --> 00:17:29.119 That's death possibility number one. 00:17:29.279 --> 00:17:29.519 Guilt. 00:17:29.680 --> 00:17:32.079 Death possibility number two would be shame. 00:17:33.119 --> 00:17:36.000 Guilt is I have done something wrong. 00:17:36.480 --> 00:17:40.400 Shame is I am something wrong. 00:17:40.799 --> 00:17:45.839 Now, the doctrine of depravity does not say you are something wrong. 00:17:46.400 --> 00:17:48.799 We have Genesis 1 before Genesis 3. 00:17:48.960 --> 00:17:52.079 Genesis 1 says you are beautifully created. 00:17:52.160 --> 00:17:55.279 You have inherent worth as God's created being. 00:17:55.440 --> 00:18:02.480 Genesis 3 says, although you are beautifully created, you have a nature in you that propels you and sends you away from God. 00:18:02.559 --> 00:18:04.400 That is the doctrine of depravity. 00:18:05.200 --> 00:18:07.920 So we are both beautiful and sinful. 00:18:08.640 --> 00:18:10.720 So we're never without worth. 00:18:11.440 --> 00:18:13.359 But maybe no one told you that. 00:18:15.759 --> 00:18:17.759 Or maybe something happened. 00:18:18.319 --> 00:18:19.519 Maybe someone hurt you. 00:18:19.599 --> 00:18:21.279 Maybe all of that happened. 00:18:23.200 --> 00:18:25.039 And the way out is actually a death. 00:18:25.119 --> 00:18:26.079 You wouldn't have thought it. 00:18:26.559 --> 00:18:28.240 It's a death to the self-loathing. 00:18:28.319 --> 00:18:31.440 It's a death to the coping and the self-hatred. 00:18:32.240 --> 00:18:37.920 As to finally be open-handed enough to receive your beloved identity in Jesus. 00:18:39.119 --> 00:18:41.200 Death possibility number three. 00:18:42.000 --> 00:18:43.119 Exhaustion. 00:18:44.000 --> 00:18:44.400 Amen. 00:18:44.720 --> 00:18:45.440 Anybody? 00:18:48.640 --> 00:18:56.079 Maybe you're simply exhausted of trying to make yourself perfect enough or good enough or churchy enough or successful enough. 00:18:56.640 --> 00:19:04.319 Exhausted in the religious merit pathway or exhausted in just worldly success merit pathway. 00:19:06.000 --> 00:19:09.039 It's all really forms of rebellion and coping. 00:19:09.519 --> 00:19:12.240 And the way out is to be at rest in Jesus. 00:19:12.319 --> 00:19:12.960 That's the way out. 00:19:13.039 --> 00:19:13.839 It's the great escape. 00:19:14.000 --> 00:19:16.799 The great escape is your actual death before death. 00:19:17.039 --> 00:19:18.720 It's like Jonah getting thrown over. 00:19:19.039 --> 00:19:20.559 You think, oh, this is the worst thing that could happen. 00:19:20.720 --> 00:19:22.000 I'd be thrown over the ship. 00:19:22.079 --> 00:19:23.519 This is the worst thing that could happen. 00:19:23.599 --> 00:19:25.200 And they're under the surface. 00:19:25.359 --> 00:19:28.400 And Sheol is the rescue. 00:19:29.599 --> 00:19:32.400 Paul explains it in Romans 6, verses 5 through 7. 00:19:32.559 --> 00:19:44.000 For if we have been united with Jesus, him, in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in resurrection like his. 00:19:45.200 --> 00:20:00.000 We know that our old self, that's the sinful nature, the old Adam, we know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 00:20:00.160 --> 00:20:05.279 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 00:20:06.160 --> 00:20:12.400 So all that to say we must die before we die, and we die into the cross of Jesus. 00:20:12.480 --> 00:20:17.200 It's where we lay down that sinful nature that wants to pretend and perform and cope and hide. 00:20:17.839 --> 00:20:20.799 And say, I have nothing to offer here except to receive. 00:20:23.119 --> 00:20:25.680 And this is for non-Christians to become Christians. 00:20:28.559 --> 00:20:32.880 Turning over of your life as to receive the grace of God, your absolution, and your righteousness. 00:20:33.039 --> 00:20:34.240 And it's for Christians. 00:20:34.880 --> 00:20:36.319 It's for you today. 00:20:36.640 --> 00:20:40.400 And later today and tonight and tomorrow morning, the next day. 00:20:40.960 --> 00:20:50.640 I read this week the statement when the belly of the fish is good news to you, the God of the cross has taken hold of you. 00:20:51.359 --> 00:20:57.359 When the belly of the fish is good news to you, the God of the cross has taken hold of you. 00:20:57.519 --> 00:21:04.960 My brothers and sisters, may you die before you die, that you might walk in the newness of life. 00:21:05.200 --> 00:21:06.559 Let's pray together. 00:21:07.039 --> 00:21:10.799 God, thank you for this great, courageous calling for us to die. 00:21:11.599 --> 00:21:13.839 It's all that we want to prove. 00:21:15.920 --> 00:21:22.400 For us to prove our goodness and worth rather than to receive it, for us to prove we are forgiven rather than to receive it. 00:21:22.640 --> 00:21:29.200 For us to work our way out of guilt or work our way out of shame or work our way out of exhaustion rather just to die. 00:21:32.079 --> 00:21:39.359 To crucify ourselves upon the cross, that we might know you and your death for us. 00:21:39.759 --> 00:21:43.680 That while we were enemies, you died for us that we might know the love of God. 00:21:45.920 --> 00:21:48.799 For so many of us, we know the weight of guilt. 00:21:51.440 --> 00:21:53.839 For many of us, we know the weight of shame. 00:21:54.720 --> 00:21:57.680 And for many of us, we know the weight of exhaustion. 00:21:59.599 --> 00:22:05.039 And would you help us stop trying to climb halfway up the ladder as to think that you are halfway up the ladder? 00:22:05.119 --> 00:22:31.519 But help us just to die and fall to all of our earning, that we might find you at the bottom, the fullness of your grace, which is sufficient for us, that we are fully forgiven, fully worthy, fully righteous, not because of what we do, but because of what you have done with this cause great transformation and newness of life in our hearts and in our lives. 00:22:31.680 --> 00:22:32.799 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:22:33.039 --> 00:22:33.680 Amen.