WEBVTT 00:00:02.799 --> 00:00:08.320 Our text for tonight is found in First Peter chapter 3, verse 18. 00:00:08.560 --> 00:00:10.720 I invite you to open your Bibles and turn there now. 00:00:10.960 --> 00:00:14.880 First Peter chapter 3, verse 18. 00:00:16.559 --> 00:00:35.439 The apostle writes, For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit. 00:00:36.960 --> 00:00:39.039 The year was 1961. 00:00:39.600 --> 00:00:46.399 The Green Bay Packers had just lost the NFL title game championship to the Philadelphia Eagles the year prior. 00:00:46.640 --> 00:01:06.239 And as training camp began for the new season, with three dozen professional football players all eager to dive into all the finer details and nuanced strategies that would get them over the hump and able to finally win the championship, their head coach, Vince Lombardi, did something unexpected. 00:01:07.200 --> 00:01:20.879 At the first team meeting, day one, minute one of training camp, he went to the front of the room and he held up a pigskin and he said, Gentlemen, this is a football. 00:01:21.200 --> 00:01:26.079 And then he made every player in the locker room turn to page one of the playbook. 00:01:26.239 --> 00:01:35.760 And he proceeded to spend the rest of the day of training camp discussing not elaborate details of football's most intricate and complex strategies. 00:01:35.920 --> 00:01:44.079 No, he reviewed the basics, how to block, how to tackle, how to run, the things that they had kind of taken for granted. 00:01:44.159 --> 00:01:49.280 And this became a tradition for all of the Lombardy-led Packers at every one of his training camps. 00:01:49.519 --> 00:01:56.799 There was an intentional commitment on day one of camp not to take the basics for granted. 00:01:57.359 --> 00:02:00.799 They were going to master the essentials first. 00:02:01.040 --> 00:02:10.879 And too often, I believe, as Christians, our pride and our hubris clouds our own judgment when it comes to studying our Bibles. 00:02:11.840 --> 00:02:13.840 I know a lot of us grew up in the church. 00:02:13.919 --> 00:02:16.080 We won the Pinewood, or not Pinewood Derby. 00:02:16.240 --> 00:02:18.319 The Iwana Grand Prix, we won those things. 00:02:18.479 --> 00:02:19.599 We won the Timothy Award. 00:02:19.680 --> 00:02:22.240 Every year in Iwana, we memorized dozens of verses. 00:02:22.400 --> 00:02:29.280 And we can think, although none of us would dare say it out loud, I've moved past the basics. 00:02:29.840 --> 00:02:30.960 I've moved beyond that. 00:02:31.039 --> 00:02:31.759 I'm a sinner. 00:02:31.919 --> 00:02:33.599 Jesus died on the cross for my sins. 00:02:33.759 --> 00:02:35.439 If I put my faith in him, I'll be saved. 00:02:35.520 --> 00:02:36.560 I've got that down. 00:02:36.960 --> 00:02:41.599 I'm ready for something that's a little more complex, something a little deeper, you know. 00:02:42.000 --> 00:02:45.919 And the reality is, nothing could be further from the truth. 00:02:46.400 --> 00:02:48.479 There is no deeper truth. 00:02:48.719 --> 00:02:58.080 There is no more profound reality, no more mystifying joy than to marvel at the message that Christ came to die for sinners. 00:02:59.039 --> 00:03:02.159 I quote the eminent theologian Bob Hartman. 00:03:09.199 --> 00:03:12.080 This I know, for the Bible tells me so. 00:03:13.039 --> 00:03:18.719 This evening we're going to be looking at one verse, just one verse, 1 Peter chapter 3, verse 18. 00:03:18.800 --> 00:03:28.639 And frankly, this verse is a bottomless well of grace, and we could drink deeply from this verse for many weeks without ever emptying the cup. 00:03:28.719 --> 00:03:37.199 And yet the contents of this verse are so beautifully true and so marvelously simple that even a child can understand it. 00:03:37.520 --> 00:03:46.319 I titled this sermon The Heart of the Gospel because it's very pretentious, and that's also what I think this verse is all about. 00:03:46.639 --> 00:03:48.080 Let's read it again. 00:03:49.120 --> 00:04:04.800 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit. 00:04:06.639 --> 00:04:13.759 Now, before we dive into what this verse is telling us, just a brief reminder by way of the context around this verse. 00:04:13.919 --> 00:04:16.000 Peter, the apostle Peter, is writing a letter. 00:04:16.160 --> 00:04:19.600 He's writing it to elect exiles, he says, of God. 00:04:20.319 --> 00:04:28.000 Men and women, believers in Jesus Christ, who are living as strangers and aliens in a foreign and hostile world. 00:04:28.319 --> 00:04:42.079 They have been called by the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctification of the Spirit, for sprinkling with the blood of Jesus Christ and for obedience to him as their Lord, and they are living as strangers in this world. 00:04:42.639 --> 00:04:47.839 And then he's transitioning now at this point in his letter to a very practical exhortation section. 00:04:48.079 --> 00:04:59.120 His letter begins with this exultory example of the great mercy that God shows to us, causing us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection that's found in Jesus Christ. 00:04:59.360 --> 00:05:05.040 Or storing up for us an imperishable inheritance in heaven, awaiting the revelation of Jesus Christ. 00:05:05.279 --> 00:05:11.839 Or that God is fitting us together as living stones into a new temple and a new priesthood to the glory of Jesus Christ. 00:05:11.920 --> 00:05:24.879 But now in the middle of the letter, He's transitioning into a series of very practical and very challenging commands for how we're supposed to live our lives in light of this new identity that we've been given. 00:05:25.199 --> 00:05:35.759 Because you are a sojourner and because you are an exile in this world, despite all of the pressure that is around you, this is how you must live. 00:05:37.120 --> 00:05:42.399 And there's a deep and powerful sense of comfort that we find in Peter's words. 00:05:42.639 --> 00:05:49.279 As we are Christians who are trying to live out the Christian life, we are necessarily going to stand out from the world around us. 00:05:49.519 --> 00:05:55.199 Because we do crazy things, like talk to strangers on college campuses about the gospel. 00:05:56.399 --> 00:06:03.920 Because we do crazy things like set aside our rights in order to pursue peace with our friends and with our enemies. 00:06:04.879 --> 00:06:17.600 Ladies, you do crazy things like buck against a culture that sensationalizes external appearances and flashy apparel in order that you can be clothed with what Peter calls the imperishable bolt beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit. 00:06:17.759 --> 00:06:27.040 Gentlemen, you do crazy things like repudiate a toxic culture of selfish bravado and arrogant personal conquest in order to put on Christ-likeness. 00:06:27.600 --> 00:06:41.680 And all of us daily are striving to put on sympathy and brotherly love and compassion and humility that swims against the stream of Twitter and Facebook and Instagram and happy hour and hookup culture. 00:06:42.800 --> 00:06:45.279 These are very practical exhortations. 00:06:45.439 --> 00:06:48.480 These are real-world, everyday exhortations. 00:06:48.639 --> 00:06:56.399 And those practical exhortations, when pursued with the zeal that Peter calls us to, will lead to suffering. 00:06:57.360 --> 00:07:09.839 Christians are going to be mocked and slandered and ostracized and ignored and treated like weirdos simply because we're trying every day to look like Christ. 00:07:10.959 --> 00:07:27.279 Every happy hour we've declined, every homeschool group we've joined, every time we swam against the current of our culture, and in order to try and be faithful to Christ, has opened us up as targets of opportunity for a world that hates Christ and needs a place to vent that hatred. 00:07:27.680 --> 00:07:30.319 And it will be against the church. 00:07:30.720 --> 00:07:45.199 And so it's on the tails of that encouragement to remain faithful and to remain fearless in the face of suffering that Peter runs back to the basic and fundamental truth of the gospel from which all of the Christian life flows. 00:07:45.439 --> 00:07:48.000 Remember, suffering Christian. 00:07:49.199 --> 00:07:50.879 Christ suffered also. 00:07:52.240 --> 00:07:57.360 Suffering is not a sign of God's displeasure with you. 00:07:58.720 --> 00:08:05.439 Rather, suffering is a badge of honor that is worn by anyone who would seek to follow Christ. 00:08:05.600 --> 00:08:14.639 And we must never forget that Christ suffering on behalf of sinners is the very heart of our gospel message. 00:08:16.160 --> 00:08:17.279 It's everything. 00:08:18.480 --> 00:08:21.680 And it's what we turn our attention to now, the very basics of this. 00:08:21.839 --> 00:08:24.560 We'll use three very familiar questions to get there. 00:08:24.800 --> 00:08:27.519 Who, what, and why? 00:08:28.240 --> 00:08:31.839 Now, who is this gospel message all about? 00:08:32.559 --> 00:08:33.840 Who is the central figure? 00:08:33.919 --> 00:08:34.799 Who's the hero? 00:08:34.960 --> 00:08:39.120 Who is the one around whom all of human history is revolved? 00:08:39.360 --> 00:08:40.480 It's Jesus Christ. 00:08:40.559 --> 00:08:41.919 That's how the verse begins. 00:08:42.240 --> 00:08:45.200 For Christ also suffered. 00:08:45.600 --> 00:08:55.279 Our tendency, my tendency often at times, I fear, is to skip over the name of Christ like a stone across the water merely because of its familiarity to my ears. 00:08:55.759 --> 00:09:05.360 And I can acknowledge its presence as the subject of the sentence, but move on as if this was just another pronoun in the pantheon of human speech, and it is not. 00:09:06.559 --> 00:09:09.279 The word Christ is dripping with significance. 00:09:09.440 --> 00:09:17.840 It soaks up more than two millennia of biblical theology that needs to be wrung out in order to grasp all the meaning it finds inside it. 00:09:18.240 --> 00:09:25.279 I mean, when Peter speaks about the Christ, he is announcing the fulfillment of the hope of Israel. 00:09:26.480 --> 00:09:30.080 That word Christ, I'm sure you know, comes from the Greek word Christos. 00:09:30.240 --> 00:09:40.480 And we learn in the Gospel of John chapter 1, verse 41, that this is the New Testament term for the Old Testament term Messiah or anointed one. 00:09:41.600 --> 00:09:52.799 Whenever God would anoint someone to fulfill his purposes inside the nation of Israel, they would be anointed with oil as a sign of God's choice and as a sign of their empowerment for the ministry that he's giving them. 00:09:53.039 --> 00:09:59.679 When Aaron and his sons were appointed to serve as priests, they were anointed. 00:09:59.919 --> 00:10:04.399 When Elisha was called to serve as a prophet, he was anointed. 00:10:04.480 --> 00:10:15.919 When Saul and David, and when every Israelite king was crowned with the crown and sat on the throne, when he was accepting that royal mantle, he was anointed with oil. 00:10:17.200 --> 00:10:28.240 But Moses begins to make very clear for us in the book of Deuteronomy that the promise that was made was that there was coming one man who would be the Messiah. 00:10:29.279 --> 00:10:30.879 The anointed one. 00:10:31.200 --> 00:10:39.519 He would be anointed to serve not simply as a priest, not simply as a prophet, not just another king, but to be all three of those things. 00:10:40.559 --> 00:10:44.480 And this Messiah's ministry would extend forever. 00:10:45.120 --> 00:10:49.919 This would be the man that God appointed to bring his people, his peace. 00:10:50.159 --> 00:10:53.360 This would be the man that God has appointed to rule his kingdom. 00:10:53.519 --> 00:10:59.600 This would be the man who would finally undo all of the devastation from sin in the garden. 00:10:59.919 --> 00:11:02.159 He would be the Christ. 00:11:02.720 --> 00:11:09.039 God's chosen vessel to bring salvation and hope and rest and comfort and joy. 00:11:09.519 --> 00:11:12.480 And it wouldn't be on stone tablets or commands. 00:11:12.559 --> 00:11:14.480 It wouldn't be in rituals or ceremonies. 00:11:14.559 --> 00:11:19.039 It would be in a man, in Jesus, the Christ. 00:11:19.600 --> 00:11:36.879 This is why when Jesus begins his ministry in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 4, he reads from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah, and he reads these words The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. 00:11:37.120 --> 00:11:46.720 He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and the recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty all those who are oppressed, and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. 00:11:48.000 --> 00:11:53.120 But this man is unlike any other man. 00:11:54.879 --> 00:11:58.320 Salvation could not be accomplished by a mere mortal. 00:11:59.600 --> 00:12:09.840 The stain of sin that infects every descendant of Adam renders each one of us unworthy of the ministry of this Messiah. 00:12:10.080 --> 00:12:13.679 Our hearts are filled with corruption from our birth. 00:12:13.919 --> 00:12:17.039 I have toddlers, I know it, I can prove it. 00:12:19.039 --> 00:12:25.759 And as a consequence, every act of my attempted righteousness is in fact dripping with decay. 00:12:26.639 --> 00:12:32.639 The prophet Isaiah says in Isaiah 64, for all of us have become like one who is unclean. 00:12:32.960 --> 00:12:41.360 All our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment, and all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities like the wind take us away. 00:12:41.919 --> 00:12:45.120 And you don't need a sermon to know that that's true. 00:12:46.480 --> 00:12:48.799 You just need to look at your own life. 00:12:50.399 --> 00:12:59.919 Do not sinful motives and self-righteousness seep into your most noblest attempts at righteousness? 00:13:01.120 --> 00:13:04.639 And that's why the Christ couldn't be just another man. 00:13:04.960 --> 00:13:08.639 He had to be very God in human flesh. 00:13:08.879 --> 00:13:31.200 And so when Peter uses this word Christ, which we can so flippantly fly over, he is bringing us before the everlasting God, the second person of the Trinity, the eternal Son who dwells in holiness and in glory inaccessible, in perfect delight and joy with the Father and the Spirit from before time began. 00:13:32.320 --> 00:13:38.000 And to call Jesus the Christ is to acknowledge the overwhelming compassion of God. 00:13:38.080 --> 00:13:40.799 It was just as Jesse talked about this morning. 00:13:41.840 --> 00:13:52.080 How could God so love sinful man that he would take on human flesh and dwell among us? 00:13:52.159 --> 00:13:54.399 How could God love you that much? 00:13:56.320 --> 00:13:58.559 How could God love me that much? 00:14:00.799 --> 00:14:03.919 But this is the God who is love. 00:14:05.039 --> 00:14:06.879 He became flesh. 00:14:07.200 --> 00:14:14.879 He became the Christ, the Messiah, God's appointed mediator of salvation. 00:14:15.759 --> 00:14:20.000 Our gospel message begins with a person. 00:14:22.960 --> 00:14:25.039 That's who the gospel is about. 00:14:26.799 --> 00:14:30.559 But what then is the message of the gospel? 00:14:31.039 --> 00:14:35.519 What has the Christ done for us? 00:14:36.480 --> 00:14:39.039 Peter goes on in verse 18. 00:14:40.559 --> 00:14:50.720 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous. 00:14:53.519 --> 00:15:03.120 By suffering, Peter here is referring to the cruel and unjust death that Christ would endure on the cross of Calvary. 00:15:03.200 --> 00:15:11.519 And today even here, our familiarity with the message of the gospel can sometimes blunt the force of these words that we're reading. 00:15:11.679 --> 00:15:17.039 We've become so accustomed to the cross that we're numbed to the grand injustice of it all. 00:15:18.799 --> 00:15:22.559 Death entered the world because of sin. 00:15:23.679 --> 00:15:24.960 Our sin. 00:15:26.399 --> 00:15:31.200 And because all have sinned, all must die. 00:15:31.519 --> 00:15:38.799 The dust from which we were created waits, ready to reclaim our flesh when the last breath has gone from our lungs. 00:15:39.039 --> 00:15:40.320 And that is right. 00:15:40.639 --> 00:15:41.840 And that is good. 00:15:42.240 --> 00:15:47.679 And so, yes, death is a sad reality, but it's also a very common reality. 00:15:48.159 --> 00:15:52.720 All men who have ever lived deserve to die. 00:15:53.840 --> 00:15:54.799 All men. 00:15:56.559 --> 00:15:57.679 Except one. 00:15:59.360 --> 00:16:02.399 Jesus Christ never deserved death. 00:16:03.120 --> 00:16:05.039 He never sinned against God. 00:16:05.440 --> 00:16:07.279 He never violated God's laws. 00:16:07.440 --> 00:16:09.120 He never violated God's character. 00:16:09.279 --> 00:16:11.120 He never gave in to temptation. 00:16:11.919 --> 00:16:19.120 If death is the wages of sin, then Jesus Christ never earned one cent of the cross. 00:16:20.559 --> 00:16:24.960 And yet it was for death that he came in the flesh. 00:16:25.440 --> 00:16:27.919 This was his purpose in coming. 00:16:28.480 --> 00:16:32.960 It's the reason he set aside the glory of heaven. 00:16:33.440 --> 00:16:41.039 When Paul is trying to explain the mystery of the Christ to the Philippians, he says that he took on the form of a servant. 00:16:41.360 --> 00:16:52.559 Being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 00:16:54.399 --> 00:17:04.880 When Jesus begins to explain to his disciples in clear and uncertain terms for the first time what he came to do in Luke chapter 9. 00:17:05.200 --> 00:17:15.119 He says, the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised. 00:17:16.400 --> 00:17:18.079 This is the message of the gospel. 00:17:18.400 --> 00:17:21.839 This is what we carry, this is what we believe. 00:17:22.559 --> 00:17:39.680 That the Most Holy God, he who existed in perfect, sinless righteousness, out of compassion for you, out of mercy for you, out of love for you, humbled himself to become like you. 00:17:40.160 --> 00:17:47.039 And even though he had never violated God's law, he suffered under the punishment of God's law. 00:17:48.000 --> 00:17:54.880 The author of life bearing the full weight and penalty of death sting. 00:17:57.039 --> 00:18:05.680 And he came to die not peacefully of old age, not painlessly through swiftness. 00:18:07.119 --> 00:18:09.279 Peter says he suffered. 00:18:12.640 --> 00:18:24.880 The one who deserves every word of worship being jeered and mocked and belittled. 00:18:27.039 --> 00:18:39.680 The one who sits enthroned in the heavens at the right hand of the Father receives the mocking, contemptuous crown of thorns piercing his brow. 00:18:41.119 --> 00:18:50.799 The one who breathed life into the first man stretched out his hands on a tree and gasped for air. 00:18:52.319 --> 00:19:13.279 And the one who perfectly fulfilled every single one of his father's commands endured the pain of all of his father's wrath, death for sins that he had never committed, but would perfectly atone for your sins and my sins. 00:19:15.519 --> 00:19:25.440 As the hymn so poignantly reminds us, behold the man upon a cross, my sin upon his shoulders. 00:19:26.640 --> 00:19:36.559 Ashamed I hear my mocking voice cry out among the scoffers, it was my sin that held him there until it was accomplished. 00:19:37.440 --> 00:19:40.559 His dying breath has brought me life. 00:19:41.759 --> 00:19:44.000 I know that it is finished. 00:19:45.519 --> 00:19:49.920 And it is finished. 00:19:52.160 --> 00:20:00.559 Peter writes in our verse, Christ also suffered once for sins. 00:20:01.680 --> 00:20:02.319 Once. 00:20:03.920 --> 00:20:23.279 And unlike the Jewish Passover lamb, which since Egypt had been slaughtered in countless homes for years beyond memory, unlike the bulls and the rams that were brought to the altar day after day in the temple, the sacrifice that the Christ offered upon the cross was sufficient. 00:20:25.839 --> 00:20:35.359 Tom Schreiner writes The reason Christ's death is sufficient is precisely because he was sinless. 00:20:36.000 --> 00:20:40.480 He could not have died for his people if he needed to die for himself. 00:20:43.119 --> 00:20:45.599 This is what the author of Hebrews tells us as well. 00:20:45.759 --> 00:20:56.480 He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of his people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. 00:20:57.200 --> 00:21:09.279 We need to understand that the good news of the gospel is good news precisely because it is finished. 00:21:10.240 --> 00:21:22.799 When Jesus cried out his last upon the cross and fell silent, so too did he silence every lingering claim that sin and death had upon his elect. 00:21:22.960 --> 00:21:27.359 Who is there to bring a charge against his elect? 00:21:27.759 --> 00:21:34.240 Because the blood of Christ offered once for all pays all at once. 00:21:34.400 --> 00:21:37.279 Christian, don't you find comfort in Peter's words? 00:21:39.200 --> 00:21:54.720 If all of God's wrath against your sin has been born, and if all of the sting that death has to bear on you has been drained, then what is there left for you to fear in this life? 00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:24.240 And I have to ask, how is it that we can believe the death of Christ is sufficient enough to finally and completely atone for my sin before the infinite wrath of God's holy justice, and yet still not find it compelling enough to prompt a pursuit of holiness in my life. 00:22:32.880 --> 00:22:38.160 You see, the who of our gospel message is the Christ. 00:22:38.799 --> 00:22:44.160 Jesus, the Son of God, the sinless, spotless Savior. 00:22:44.400 --> 00:22:59.519 And the what of our gospel message is that the Christ suffered an unjust death at the hand of sinful men for the redemption of sinful men, accomplishing once and for all the complete atonement, our sin required before a holy and just God. 00:22:59.839 --> 00:23:03.119 But now we have to ask the why of the gospel. 00:23:04.559 --> 00:23:07.680 Why did Jesus suffer and die? 00:23:09.279 --> 00:23:14.480 Why did the righteous one give himself up for the unrighteous? 00:23:15.839 --> 00:23:21.279 And this is a question whose answer stretches all the way back into the garden. 00:23:21.440 --> 00:23:24.240 Look again what Peter writes in verse 18. 00:23:24.559 --> 00:23:36.240 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God. 00:23:38.240 --> 00:23:40.559 Ponder the small word that. 00:24:45.519 --> 00:24:47.039 Just didn't work that way. 00:24:47.279 --> 00:24:58.000 You had to be brought into the king's presence by someone who had the authority to do that, by someone who had the appropriate standing to receive an audience with the king. 00:24:58.160 --> 00:25:00.640 Someone had to bring you to the king. 00:25:01.920 --> 00:25:12.960 And Jesus suffered, and Jesus died, and he shed all of his righteous blood on the cross to bring unrighteous sinners into the presence of the King. 00:25:14.400 --> 00:25:17.200 I said that this answer stretches all the way back into the garden. 00:25:17.279 --> 00:25:19.920 Do you remember the first three chapters of Genesis? 00:25:20.319 --> 00:25:24.319 God in holy benevolence created the universe. 00:25:24.720 --> 00:25:34.000 And then inside this grand universe, he crafted an unbelievable paradise in which he placed his very best creation, man and woman. 00:25:34.480 --> 00:25:46.319 Created in the image and likeness of God, man was designed to enjoy perfect fellowship with God, worshiping and tending the garden and being filled with delight forever. 00:25:46.400 --> 00:25:48.480 This was what we were designed and built to do. 00:25:48.640 --> 00:25:50.880 Our very hearts yearned for this kind of fellowship. 00:25:50.960 --> 00:25:55.359 And then, miracle of miracles, God delighted in his creation. 00:25:56.799 --> 00:26:06.000 God himself would walk in the cool of the garden, in the cool of the day with Adam and Eve, Moses writes to us in Genesis 3. 00:26:07.119 --> 00:26:09.440 God fellowshipped with his creation. 00:26:09.680 --> 00:26:19.359 Here we're creator and creation, enjoying perfect fellowship, untainted by sin and unestranged in their relationship and in perfect harmony. 00:26:19.519 --> 00:26:27.200 And then prompted by sin and lured by their own lustful pursuits, Adam and Eve broke that fellowship through sin. 00:26:27.440 --> 00:26:31.599 And surely on the day that they ate the fruit, they died. 00:26:32.400 --> 00:26:35.680 Not in chronology, but in certainty. 00:26:36.720 --> 00:26:43.759 And the painful, unintended consequence was that Adam and Eve could no longer live in the presence of God anymore. 00:26:44.079 --> 00:26:46.160 Their sin prevented that. 00:26:49.039 --> 00:26:58.160 They were cast out of the garden and they began to endure all of the fallen frustrations of a world that is marked with corruption and marked with death. 00:26:59.759 --> 00:27:04.880 But nonetheless, God loved his creation. 00:27:06.400 --> 00:27:24.720 And he permitted not even one sunset to fall on the garden before God promised that one day he would send a descendant of the woman, an anointed man, a Christ, who would undo all of the brokenness of their sin. 00:27:24.960 --> 00:27:30.319 He would defeat the serpent, though it would require his own body be bruised to accomplish it. 00:27:30.559 --> 00:27:38.240 And that Christ, the anointed one, would once again restore fellowship between God and man. 00:27:38.480 --> 00:27:41.599 He would bring us to God again. 00:27:42.079 --> 00:27:51.519 And Matthew's gospel account records that when Jesus breathed his last on the cross, the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. 00:27:51.680 --> 00:28:05.039 And this symbolic barrier between the presence of God and the Holy of Holies and the presence of sinful man and the temple complex was destroyed because God's Messiah had torn down the true barrier of our sin. 00:28:05.599 --> 00:28:12.559 Jesus had forever restored perfect fellowship between God and men. 00:28:14.720 --> 00:28:20.559 And now Jesus invites us into the throne room of the King of the universe. 00:28:21.440 --> 00:28:26.640 Not merely his subjects, but his sons and daughters. 00:28:28.640 --> 00:28:38.640 And we approach the throne of grace with confidence because the one who brings us there is a sympathetic great high priest, Jesus the Christ. 00:28:40.319 --> 00:28:47.039 He's the good shepherd who puts us on his shoulders and carries us home. 00:28:48.799 --> 00:28:51.119 This is the good news of the gospel. 00:28:52.319 --> 00:28:56.720 The good news is not simply that you can have eternal life. 00:28:58.640 --> 00:29:01.359 Quite honestly, everyone lives forever. 00:29:02.559 --> 00:29:07.759 Both the redeemed and the unredeemed will have an eternity of existence. 00:29:08.480 --> 00:29:12.720 And the good news of the gospel isn't just that there's another paradise coming. 00:29:13.359 --> 00:29:16.319 The good news of the gospel is you get Christ. 00:29:17.359 --> 00:29:20.000 You receive the gift of fellowship with God. 00:29:21.519 --> 00:29:24.319 Heaven isn't good because it's a garden. 00:29:24.559 --> 00:29:29.920 Heaven is good because it is there that we enjoy the fellowship with God that we have ruined. 00:29:30.559 --> 00:29:39.839 And there's a kind of preaching that you can hear in this world that's not unlike the prosperity gospel, and it promises reward and it promises blessing forever. 00:29:40.640 --> 00:29:50.240 But if our greatest reward and our greatest blessing isn't eternal fellowship with God, then you have missed the very heart of the gospel. 00:29:55.519 --> 00:29:59.519 And an illustration that's sure to estrange almost everyone in the room. 00:29:59.839 --> 00:30:06.480 I remember growing up at youth camp, and we would sing that great audio adrenaline song, Big House. 00:30:06.799 --> 00:30:07.680 Anyone remember that? 00:30:07.839 --> 00:30:08.960 Jesse, I got one. 00:30:09.119 --> 00:30:09.680 Alright. 00:30:09.920 --> 00:30:12.160 In case you don't, the chorus of the song went like this. 00:30:12.240 --> 00:30:13.599 I'll just recite it. 00:30:14.079 --> 00:30:16.720 Come and go with me to my father's house. 00:30:16.799 --> 00:30:21.359 It's a big, big house with lots and lots of room. 00:30:21.759 --> 00:30:25.519 A big, big table with lots and lots of food. 00:30:25.759 --> 00:30:28.160 A big, big yard where we can play. 00:30:28.799 --> 00:30:30.720 See, it comes full circle. 00:30:31.359 --> 00:30:33.599 It's a big, big house. 00:30:33.839 --> 00:30:36.079 It's my father's house. 00:30:36.400 --> 00:30:43.519 Now, cheesy 90s youth camp lyrics aside, you have to ask a question. 00:30:44.240 --> 00:30:47.119 What is it about heaven that makes it a paradise? 00:30:47.359 --> 00:30:48.720 Is it mansions? 00:30:49.359 --> 00:30:50.559 Is it feasts? 00:30:50.799 --> 00:30:53.599 Is it never-ending touch football games? 00:30:54.160 --> 00:30:54.480 No. 00:30:56.880 --> 00:30:57.839 It's God. 00:31:00.079 --> 00:31:02.160 I want to ask you a question. 00:31:04.480 --> 00:31:13.519 If you had the option right now, when you die, you can have every worldly delight you've ever dreamed of. 00:31:14.240 --> 00:31:21.359 Redskins can win eternal Super Bowls and all the barbecue beef brisket you could ever have. 00:31:21.599 --> 00:31:23.680 I don't know what your dreams are like. 00:31:24.880 --> 00:31:34.799 If you could have every one of your worldly delights fulfilled in eternity, but no God, would you take it? 00:31:36.799 --> 00:31:42.000 Friend, if you did, you'd be missing out on the very heart of the gospel. 00:31:44.720 --> 00:31:47.920 I have one last question to ask from this passage. 00:31:48.799 --> 00:31:52.799 We've thought about the who of the gospel, the what of the gospel, the why of the gospel. 00:31:52.880 --> 00:31:56.640 I guess that now what I want to ask is the so what of the gospel. 00:31:56.960 --> 00:31:57.759 So what? 00:31:58.480 --> 00:32:01.599 What do you do with this kind of verse? 00:32:01.920 --> 00:32:04.480 What do you do with this kind of gospel? 00:32:05.920 --> 00:32:11.200 Well, first let me say that you might be here tonight and you're not a believer in Christ. 00:32:12.319 --> 00:32:17.440 Maybe you're just visiting this week, you're in town to see friends and they dragged you to church. 00:32:18.240 --> 00:32:21.119 Maybe this is all new to you and you've never heard this before. 00:32:22.079 --> 00:32:27.519 Maybe you've been to church your entire life, but you've never been to Jesus. 00:32:29.680 --> 00:32:31.359 Then you need to know something. 00:32:33.119 --> 00:32:53.279 You need to know that if you are living apart from Christ and are not trusting in Him for your salvation, then all of your sin and all of its guilt and all of its condemnation and all of its penalty rests on you now. 00:32:56.400 --> 00:33:12.720 And if you hear this gospel message, and you remain unwilling to accept Christ's offer of forgiveness and reconciliation, and you die in that state, you need to know that you will remain estranged from God forever. 00:33:13.920 --> 00:33:22.079 God is the source of all good, all light, all joy, all life. 00:33:22.480 --> 00:33:26.240 And you will spend eternity severed from it. 00:33:27.759 --> 00:33:29.519 That is what hell is. 00:33:30.960 --> 00:33:42.960 And all of the holy wrath of God's justice will crash upon you with unyielding fury for all of eternity. 00:33:46.960 --> 00:33:50.000 But I beg you to hear the gospel's call today. 00:33:51.759 --> 00:34:05.279 This is why Christ came to offer reconciliation and forgiveness to all who would turn from their sins and place their faith fully in him and on his finished work and the cross. 00:34:05.440 --> 00:34:13.119 And if that is you here today, I beg you, please don't leave without being reconciled to God through Christ by faith. 00:34:15.440 --> 00:34:17.679 Come see me after this. 00:34:17.840 --> 00:34:22.239 Come talk to Jesse or Jordan or Dan or whoever dragged you here tonight. 00:34:25.679 --> 00:34:26.800 Come to God. 00:34:27.840 --> 00:34:31.280 Cry out to Him in prayer and trust in His mercy today. 00:34:34.639 --> 00:34:36.800 Perhaps you're here and you are a believer. 00:34:38.079 --> 00:34:55.679 You've already had your heart captured by God's grace and He's brought you to saving faith in Him, then I beg you to run to the grace of Jesus that's found in the gospel every morning, to be refreshed every morning in the declaration of Tatalesti, it is finished. 00:34:56.159 --> 00:35:08.960 Find encouragement in the knowledge that the Christ who died once for your sins has been made alive, and even now he sits at the right hand of the Father and stands before the throne, making intercession for you. 00:35:09.679 --> 00:35:29.760 I want you to find courage in the knowledge that the finality of Christ's death and resurrection means that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor power, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all of this creation will be able to separate you from the love of God and Christ Jesus your Lord. 00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:44.000 And whether it is through suffering or joy, I want you to find strength to live as an alien and as a stranger here on earth, as an ambassador for the Christ who loved you and gave himself up for you. 00:35:45.679 --> 00:35:49.519 And one of the ways we do that is through communion. 00:35:50.480 --> 00:35:59.920 We as the church gather together to remember the blood and the body that was shed and broken for us. 00:36:02.000 --> 00:36:03.599 And we're going to do that now in just a minute. 00:36:03.679 --> 00:36:04.880 Would you pray with me? 00:36:09.599 --> 00:36:10.880 Almighty God. 00:36:15.760 --> 00:36:17.760 Thank you for the cross. 00:36:20.159 --> 00:36:23.199 For by it we're saved. 00:36:26.400 --> 00:36:30.320 We can't begin to fathom the depth of your compassion for us. 00:36:32.400 --> 00:36:43.679 We marvel at this cosmic collision of your justice and mercy. 00:36:47.519 --> 00:36:54.000 I pray, God, that you would take our hearts captive by your grace. 00:36:56.000 --> 00:36:59.679 We thank you for the Christ, your Son, our Savior. 00:37:00.960 --> 00:37:04.960 We thank you for the gift of forgiveness and salvation that's found in Him. 00:37:06.880 --> 00:37:12.880 I pray, God, that you would continue to save people even tonight. 00:37:14.000 --> 00:37:16.079 And it's in Jesus' name we pray. 00:37:16.400 --> 00:37:17.039 Amen. 00:37:19.599 --> 00:37:21.280 Thank you for being with us today. 00:37:21.360 --> 00:37:24.000 And now a parting word from Pastor Jesse. 00:37:24.639 --> 00:37:32.880 If you have any questions about what you heard today, or if you want to learn more about what it means to follow Christ, please visit our church website, emmanuelbible.church. 00:37:33.119 --> 00:37:38.960 If you're not a member of a local church and you live in the Washington, DC area, we'd love to have you worship with us here at Emmanuel. 00:37:39.119 --> 00:37:42.079 I hope to personally meet you this Sunday after our service. 00:37:42.320 --> 00:37:48.320 But no matter where you live, it's our hope that everyone who uses this resource is involved in their own local church. 00:37:48.559 --> 00:37:54.960 Now may God bless you this week as you seek Jesus constantly, serve the Lord faithfully, and share the gospel boldly.