WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:03.759 Last Sunday, we started a brand new series called Blessed. 00:00:03.919 --> 00:00:19.760 And what this actually is is a study of Ephesians chapter 1, verses 3 through 14, which is this really incredible section of scripture where Paul, who's the author and probably the most influential Jesus follower of all time, lays out for us the blessings that God has given us. 00:00:20.239 --> 00:00:22.559 He begins in Ephesians chapter 1, verse 3. 00:00:22.640 --> 00:00:32.640 We looked at this last week, and he says, All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. 00:00:32.719 --> 00:00:34.719 And by the way, I'm just going to follow along on the mobile app. 00:00:34.799 --> 00:00:38.960 If you have that, you can follow along with all the scripture, just have that for reference later. 00:00:39.039 --> 00:00:39.759 But he says that. 00:00:43.840 --> 00:00:50.479 And it's funny because the word we translate praise at the very beginning of that verse can also be translated blessed. 00:00:50.719 --> 00:00:55.840 So some translations actually say, blessed be God who has blessed us with every blessing. 00:00:56.000 --> 00:01:01.119 Though it's not hard to see where we got the phrase blessed from when it comes to the name of this series. 00:01:01.679 --> 00:01:06.000 This is all about the blessings that God has given us. 00:01:06.480 --> 00:01:08.719 And they're very profound and they're very powerful. 00:01:08.959 --> 00:01:12.719 These are not modern-day social media hashtag bless type blessings. 00:01:12.799 --> 00:01:15.200 This is not all the lights turn green on your way to work. 00:01:15.439 --> 00:01:20.560 This is not that the best spot in the parking lot was available right when you pulled in. 00:01:20.879 --> 00:01:22.640 And so you feel blessed. 00:01:22.879 --> 00:01:29.680 Those blessings are fine, but those are the kinds of blessings that don't mean anything as soon as we encounter real problems. 00:01:30.079 --> 00:01:34.480 As soon as life gets hard and we encounter something really difficult, those blessings mean nothing. 00:01:34.640 --> 00:01:35.760 These blessings are different. 00:01:35.920 --> 00:01:37.680 These are spiritual blessings. 00:01:38.000 --> 00:01:41.760 These are things that are so powerful and personal. 00:01:42.079 --> 00:01:47.840 They are so core for us as human beings that they supersede our circumstances. 00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:50.560 To follow Jesus is to live a blessed life. 00:01:50.879 --> 00:01:54.560 We simply need to know and understand what our blessings actually are. 00:01:54.640 --> 00:02:01.599 And so Paul goes on throughout this section in Ephesians to lay out for us and explain for us what our blessings actually are. 00:02:01.680 --> 00:02:03.439 And that's what we're going to explore together. 00:02:03.680 --> 00:02:05.359 What does it mean to live a blessed life? 00:02:05.519 --> 00:02:12.159 If you've been following Jesus for years, I'm so excited to go through this because sometimes as a Jesus follower, I've been following Jesus for over 20 years. 00:02:12.319 --> 00:02:15.199 Sometimes I forget what my actual blessings are. 00:02:15.439 --> 00:02:19.439 And I start putting my trust and my faith in much more temporary blessings. 00:02:19.680 --> 00:02:23.919 And I'm excited to shift my attention toward the blessings that I've really been given. 00:02:24.080 --> 00:02:34.159 And if you're not a Jesus follower, if this is something you're checking out, you're thinking about it, you're still not sure, I think it's really good for you on the front end to understand the blessings being offered to you and to make a decision based on that. 00:02:34.879 --> 00:02:46.240 We're going to start by looking at Ephesians chapter 1, verse 4, very next verse, and Paul writes, even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. 00:02:46.479 --> 00:02:50.080 There's a lot there we could spend like a month on this one verse alone. 00:02:50.479 --> 00:02:52.240 Says that we're loved, and that is awesome. 00:02:52.319 --> 00:02:53.520 We talk a lot about God's love here. 00:02:53.919 --> 00:02:55.680 It's a thread that runs through everything we do. 00:02:55.919 --> 00:02:59.840 Jesus said that the world will know you belong to me by the way you love one another. 00:03:00.080 --> 00:03:02.719 We could talk about the fact that we're chosen because that's a big deal. 00:03:02.879 --> 00:03:05.360 Every one of us knows what it's like to not be picked. 00:03:05.599 --> 00:03:10.560 Every one of us knows what it's like for someone to look at you and say, nah, we're gonna go with someone else. 00:03:10.719 --> 00:03:13.520 Whether that was a career thing, a romance thing, whatever. 00:03:13.599 --> 00:03:21.199 We all know how that feels, so it's pretty awesome to know that no matter who's passed you over before, God has looked at you and he says, Yes, I pick you. 00:03:21.840 --> 00:03:33.439 But as I prayed and prepared this week, it became really clear to me that we needed to put our attention on the second half of this verse, on what it says that we've actually been chosen to be. 00:03:33.680 --> 00:03:40.800 That God has loved us and he has chosen us to be holy and without fault in his eyes. 00:03:41.120 --> 00:03:44.879 So we have been blessed with holiness, and that's what we're gonna talk about today. 00:03:44.960 --> 00:03:48.479 What does it mean to be blessed with holiness? 00:03:48.719 --> 00:03:50.639 Like, what does it even mean to be holy? 00:03:50.800 --> 00:03:53.599 It's one of those words that we see in the Bible a lot, and we we sort of get. 00:03:53.680 --> 00:04:04.240 There's a lot of words like that, there's a lot of concepts like that in Scripture, and we hear it and we go, yeah, I get what that means, and and we get it maybe in kind of a hazy way, but it's not a word we use very often in life. 00:04:04.719 --> 00:04:08.159 Like we don't tend to describe things as holy, but the Bible uses that word a lot. 00:04:08.240 --> 00:04:12.719 In fact, God is described as holy throughout the Bible, pretty much from start to finish. 00:04:12.800 --> 00:04:20.480 So, for example, in the book of Isaiah, this is several centuries before Jesus shows up on the scene, Isaiah has a vision from God. 00:04:20.560 --> 00:04:21.120 He's a prophet. 00:04:21.279 --> 00:04:28.720 And in this vision, the room that he's in sort of transforms, and he's all of a sudden in the throne room of heaven, which is pretty crazy to think about. 00:04:29.040 --> 00:04:36.560 And and he's in the presence of God, and there's these angels that are flying around God, and they're just shouting out and singing this statement over and over again. 00:04:36.720 --> 00:04:38.000 We see it in Isaiah 6.3. 00:04:38.319 --> 00:04:45.199 It says, They, meaning the angels, were calling out to each other, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of heaven's armies. 00:04:45.439 --> 00:04:47.839 The whole earth is filled with his glory. 00:04:48.560 --> 00:04:51.519 God is holy, holy, holy. 00:04:53.040 --> 00:04:59.680 Jesus' best friend John had a vision toward the end of his life, and that vision is recorded in our Bibles as the book of Revelation. 00:04:59.920 --> 00:05:01.279 It's the very end. 00:05:02.160 --> 00:05:10.160 And in this vision, John sees a multitude in heaven singing a song about God, to God, and hear the lyrics to that song. 00:05:10.399 --> 00:05:14.480 Great and marvelous are your works, O Lord, the God Almighty. 00:05:14.639 --> 00:05:21.279 Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations, who will not fear you, Lord, and glorify your name, for you alone are holy. 00:05:21.519 --> 00:05:27.360 All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous deeds have been revealed. 00:05:27.839 --> 00:05:30.160 It says that you alone, God, are holy. 00:05:30.240 --> 00:05:35.279 And so we're told in Scripture over and over again, God is holy, He is holy, He is holy. 00:05:35.360 --> 00:05:37.040 But what does that mean? 00:05:38.720 --> 00:05:41.360 The actual word holy is a very simple word, it means different. 00:05:41.600 --> 00:05:44.160 And God is definitely different than you and I. 00:05:45.040 --> 00:05:55.839 He says in Isaiah that his ways are not like our ways, that his thoughts are not like our thoughts, that his thoughts are actually higher than our thoughts in the same way that the heavens are higher than the earth. 00:05:56.160 --> 00:06:12.160 That's really humbling to hear that God is different than us in those ways, because let's be honest, sometimes, if we're really being honest, maybe it's just me, maybe I'm the messed up one, um, which is totally possible and true, but like sometimes I think God could do things differently. 00:06:12.399 --> 00:06:19.120 Sometimes I think, you know, if if I had like a day, one day, and I had all of God's power and resources, I could really make an impact. 00:06:19.439 --> 00:06:22.240 In other words, sometimes I think I could do better than God. 00:06:22.720 --> 00:06:24.240 And we all feel that way sometimes, right? 00:06:24.319 --> 00:06:28.079 Like, hey, God, you know, I know you've got your ways and your will and all that kind of stuff. 00:06:28.160 --> 00:06:33.600 However, there seem like there are some clear issues happening here right now, and it doesn't seem like it'd be that hard to fix it. 00:06:33.680 --> 00:06:43.040 And so, you know, if you could just do this, and sometimes when we get in that mode, it's almost like we believe at some level that we're more compassionate, more fair, more understanding than God. 00:06:43.360 --> 00:06:46.800 And if he could just think like us, he would he would fix things. 00:06:47.120 --> 00:06:49.600 But he reminds us, I don't think like you think. 00:06:50.240 --> 00:06:53.680 I'm different, I'm holy, and I'm really glad he's holy. 00:06:53.920 --> 00:06:57.920 I think we should all be glad that I'm not God and that you're not either, right? 00:06:59.759 --> 00:07:00.879 He's holy. 00:07:01.199 --> 00:07:04.399 That word it means different, but it doesn't just mean different for the sake of being different. 00:07:04.480 --> 00:07:11.680 It means different in a sacred sense, something that is set apart, something that is so unique, so amazing that it's it's like in a whole other category. 00:07:11.920 --> 00:07:15.120 And the truth of the matter is we all understand holiness in that in that light. 00:07:15.279 --> 00:07:20.240 We all have things in our lives that we view as holy, we just maybe don't use that word. 00:07:20.560 --> 00:07:25.759 Like you probably have something in your life that is so sacred to you, it is set apart for a special purpose. 00:07:26.000 --> 00:07:30.240 When Megan and I got married, my grandmother gave us uh her fine china. 00:07:30.480 --> 00:07:31.839 It was like a big deal for her. 00:07:31.920 --> 00:07:35.519 She's like, she told us, she actually brought us into the room and sat us down. 00:07:36.480 --> 00:07:41.360 And and she began by saying, you know, I may not be here for many more years, because my grandma's been saying that since I was four. 00:07:41.519 --> 00:07:46.240 Um, you know, this may be the last Christmas, so I just want you to know, you know. 00:07:47.040 --> 00:07:48.720 And it was this like a big deal to her. 00:07:48.800 --> 00:07:56.800 She said, I love you guys, and I'm so proud of you, and I'm so excited that you're getting married, and so I want you to know I'm giving you the china. 00:07:57.519 --> 00:07:59.920 And we were like, the plates? 00:08:00.319 --> 00:08:03.439 Was that cool, like that's awesome. 00:08:03.680 --> 00:08:07.360 And so she gave us these plates, and they're very nice, and they're probably expensive. 00:08:07.439 --> 00:08:08.879 I don't know, they're probably old. 00:08:09.120 --> 00:08:11.120 We've been married for 13 years, we've never used them. 00:08:11.199 --> 00:08:12.720 Not once, not one time. 00:08:12.800 --> 00:08:15.120 They've been in a box for 13 years. 00:08:15.360 --> 00:08:19.199 I feel guilty every time we've moved, and I've found the box, I've forgotten that it exists. 00:08:19.279 --> 00:08:21.519 I'm like, oh yeah, grandma's china. 00:08:21.680 --> 00:08:32.799 It would probably really hurt her feelings if she knew that we had never taken this out of the box, but I don't want to tell her because after all, this might be her last year, and like, you know, um, I just don't want that to be the thing, you know? 00:08:34.240 --> 00:08:36.480 And so I just moved the box to the next house. 00:08:36.639 --> 00:08:45.840 And maybe there'll be a day where that china is as sacred to us as it is to my grandma, because she would only break it out for special occasions, but we got four small kids. 00:08:46.000 --> 00:08:49.039 Breaking out fine china would just mean fine china gets broken. 00:08:49.120 --> 00:08:50.240 That's all that would mean. 00:08:50.399 --> 00:08:54.639 And we're at the point, honestly, where disposable dishes are sacred. 00:08:54.879 --> 00:08:55.440 You know? 00:08:55.600 --> 00:09:07.279 I'm like, maybe if you're a conservationist, you're like, blasphemy, but we have like if we don't have to do dishes, I think paper plates are amazing and we should recycle them and use them all the time because I love no dishes. 00:09:07.360 --> 00:09:08.799 That is sacred to me. 00:09:09.600 --> 00:09:11.440 But we all have things that are sacred to us. 00:09:11.519 --> 00:09:13.279 My wife has things that are sacred to her. 00:09:13.440 --> 00:09:16.320 Um, at our house, she has all these pens. 00:09:17.200 --> 00:09:18.559 My wife loves to journal. 00:09:18.639 --> 00:09:20.080 And when she journals, she means business. 00:09:20.159 --> 00:09:31.840 She opens up her Bible, she opens up another book in a journal, a notebook, and then she lays like 30 pens out, and they're all in different colors, and she she journals and she gets different pens, and I don't know if those pens are color-coded for different emotions or whatever, I don't really get it. 00:09:31.919 --> 00:09:35.200 But but like it's this work of art when she journals. 00:09:35.360 --> 00:09:42.080 And if you were to be at our house, if you came over to my house and said, Hey, can I borrow a pen, I can promise you my wife would not give you one of those. 00:09:42.320 --> 00:09:44.240 Our children are not allowed to use those pens. 00:09:44.559 --> 00:09:46.159 I am not allowed to use those pens. 00:09:46.480 --> 00:09:47.600 And I understand why. 00:09:47.679 --> 00:09:49.279 I'm I'm a pen chewer. 00:09:50.000 --> 00:09:50.480 You know? 00:09:50.559 --> 00:09:54.480 I don't know if anyone else is like that, if you're willing to admit it, if I have a pen, I don't know why. 00:09:54.639 --> 00:09:56.720 Subconsciously it ends up in my mouth. 00:09:56.960 --> 00:09:58.320 It's just, I don't know. 00:09:58.480 --> 00:09:59.360 I don't know what that means. 00:09:59.519 --> 00:10:00.559 Is something wrong with me? 00:10:00.799 --> 00:10:01.200 Maybe? 00:10:01.360 --> 00:10:01.679 Okay. 00:10:01.919 --> 00:10:05.279 Or or if I don't chew a pen up, I I play with it. 00:10:05.440 --> 00:10:11.840 And it's totally subconscious, but you know the little clips on the end of pens, in case you want to put it in your pocket or something, like I will I will flick those off. 00:10:11.919 --> 00:10:12.559 I'll break them. 00:10:12.639 --> 00:10:14.240 And I don't do it on purpose, it just happens. 00:10:14.320 --> 00:10:16.639 So she's like, you are not gonna touch my pens. 00:10:16.879 --> 00:10:21.519 Those pens are sacred to her, they're holy, they're set apart. 00:10:21.840 --> 00:10:32.960 The only thing I have like that in my life would be basketball shoes, which is really, you know, embarrassing to admit that the only thing I can think of that I treat as holy would be my basketball shoes. 00:10:33.120 --> 00:10:34.639 But I love basketball shoes. 00:10:34.799 --> 00:10:35.759 It's all I wear. 00:10:35.919 --> 00:10:37.840 As a kid, all I wore was basketball shoes. 00:10:37.919 --> 00:10:42.399 Then I became an adult, and I was like, I should probably branch out, and I should probably get like dress shoes and boots, I don't know. 00:10:42.559 --> 00:10:44.159 Like there's a lot of different kinds of shoes in the world. 00:10:44.240 --> 00:10:47.200 And I tried all the shoes, and they're not as good as basketball shoes, in my opinion. 00:10:47.279 --> 00:10:50.639 So about a year ago, I said I'm going back, and all I wear now are basketball shoes. 00:10:50.720 --> 00:10:51.600 That's all I wear. 00:10:51.759 --> 00:10:52.399 That's it. 00:10:52.639 --> 00:10:55.840 I'm trying to find a pair of shoes that are basketball shoes that would go with a suit. 00:10:55.919 --> 00:11:00.159 And I'm searching because then I have it all, I'm complete, I don't need anything but basketball shoes. 00:11:00.240 --> 00:11:07.200 They're comfortable, they're great, they're nostalgic for me, they remind me of my childhood, and I'm very particular about my shoes. 00:11:07.440 --> 00:11:12.399 And so when I was a kid, I played, and every year my mom and dad would buy me a new pair of basketball shoes for my season. 00:11:12.480 --> 00:11:14.720 And when they would buy those, those were sacred to me. 00:11:14.799 --> 00:11:19.440 Like I remember in 1996, I'm telling you this as if it's an important memory because it is. 00:11:19.600 --> 00:11:22.799 In 1996, my parents bought me a pair of Jordan 11s. 00:11:22.879 --> 00:11:24.240 These are Jordan 11s. 00:11:24.480 --> 00:11:27.120 You may look at them and think, shoes. 00:11:27.519 --> 00:11:30.080 But I look at those and I think, Jordan 11s. 00:11:30.320 --> 00:11:36.159 See, in the mid-90s, Michael Jordan was basketball, and the movie Space Jam had just come out, and I was in the sixth grade. 00:11:36.240 --> 00:11:40.480 And if you've never seen Space Jam, Michael Jordan plays basketball with Bugs Bunny, and it's awesome. 00:11:40.559 --> 00:11:47.919 And can I just say, as a quick side note and tangent, that Bugs Bunny is way underrepresented in the world today, and my children have no idea who the Looney Tunes are. 00:11:48.000 --> 00:11:48.879 They're like forgotten. 00:11:49.039 --> 00:11:56.000 They know all the Disney characters, but but there's no knowledge of Bugs Bunny and all those, and I think that something should be done about that now. 00:11:56.320 --> 00:11:56.639 Okay. 00:11:58.240 --> 00:11:58.960 That's important. 00:11:59.039 --> 00:12:00.399 I had to get that off my chest. 00:12:00.639 --> 00:12:04.480 But but Michael Jordan plays basketball with Bugs Bunny, and it's awesome. 00:12:04.639 --> 00:12:06.320 And Space Jam was amazing. 00:12:06.399 --> 00:12:12.080 I thought it was the coolest movie I'd ever seen, and those were the shoes that Michael Jordan wore in that movie. 00:12:12.159 --> 00:12:13.679 That's where he like debuted them. 00:12:13.840 --> 00:12:14.879 And so they were a big deal. 00:12:15.039 --> 00:12:18.000 My parents bought me Jordan 11s, and I was like, wow. 00:12:18.240 --> 00:12:20.320 And these were sacred to me. 00:12:20.480 --> 00:12:24.240 I did not wear them to school, even though my friends would have thought they were cool. 00:12:24.480 --> 00:12:25.679 I didn't wear them to church. 00:12:25.759 --> 00:12:27.679 They were too sacred for church. 00:12:28.720 --> 00:12:30.159 I only wore them. 00:12:30.399 --> 00:12:34.879 I only wore them when I was inside a basketball court, like an indoor court. 00:12:35.039 --> 00:12:37.360 I didn't even wear them to practice or to my games. 00:12:37.440 --> 00:12:43.200 I wore a different pair of basketball shoes, and then when I got there, I took those off and I put my game shoes on because they were my game shoes. 00:12:43.279 --> 00:12:47.679 They were holy, they were sacred, they were set apart for a very special purpose. 00:12:47.919 --> 00:12:50.879 That's what something that is holy is like. 00:12:51.440 --> 00:12:52.879 It's that special. 00:12:53.840 --> 00:12:58.000 And the Bible tells us constantly that God is holy. 00:12:59.200 --> 00:13:00.240 He's holy. 00:13:01.440 --> 00:13:10.879 And it's not hard for us to see that he is, but here's the thing God's holiness, it like it has a way of becoming a problem for us. 00:13:11.840 --> 00:13:14.320 Because some things just don't mesh. 00:13:14.559 --> 00:13:20.000 Some things are like oil and water, they don't really go together, and holiness and unholiness, they're kind of like that. 00:13:21.360 --> 00:13:28.320 And so God is supremely holy, and we are less holy. 00:13:29.279 --> 00:13:33.519 And this becomes an issue when it comes to us relating to God. 00:13:33.759 --> 00:13:38.879 How can an unholy person coexist with a holy God? 00:13:39.759 --> 00:13:40.960 How does that work? 00:13:42.240 --> 00:13:46.080 See, we we are people that have an easily corruptible nature. 00:13:46.399 --> 00:13:49.200 It's not always popular to talk about, but the Bible teaches about it really clearly. 00:13:49.279 --> 00:13:56.000 In fact, Romans 3.23 says very plainly that everyone, all people, all have sinned and fallen short of God's glorious standard. 00:13:56.080 --> 00:13:56.639 We've all lost. 00:13:56.720 --> 00:13:58.080 Woo! Okay? 00:13:58.320 --> 00:13:59.759 You guys aren't excited about that. 00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:03.919 Um because we're born with a sinful nature. 00:14:04.080 --> 00:14:06.639 That is a term that's offensive to many people in our culture. 00:14:06.720 --> 00:14:08.320 These people obviously don't have children. 00:14:08.399 --> 00:14:18.480 Um, but like we're born as sinners, meaning that we will inevitably choose selfishness, and we'll inevitably choose selfishness just because we really, really want to. 00:14:18.799 --> 00:14:30.159 In fact, you can look a lot at a lot of the things that people struggle with and battle with and wrestle with, and at the end of the day, it really boils down to this is as the basic argument, but I really, really, really want to. 00:14:31.360 --> 00:14:32.799 We're like kids in that sense. 00:14:34.799 --> 00:14:37.679 And so, oh you guys hear that? 00:14:38.240 --> 00:14:38.639 Okay, good. 00:14:38.720 --> 00:14:39.360 It's not just me. 00:14:39.600 --> 00:14:43.759 It's doing a hey Alex, the thing's doing a thing, the speaker right there. 00:14:44.080 --> 00:14:46.879 I sounded like footsteps, and I thought I was about to get killed, but I'm not. 00:14:46.960 --> 00:14:47.840 I'm good, I'm safe. 00:14:48.080 --> 00:14:49.759 It's just a speaker. 00:14:50.960 --> 00:14:52.080 It's all good. 00:14:54.159 --> 00:14:55.759 What was I talking about? 00:14:56.480 --> 00:14:58.080 Holiness, probably, sin? 00:14:58.240 --> 00:15:00.080 Yeah, so we have this thing called a sin nature. 00:15:00.240 --> 00:15:05.279 And it and it's funny, it basically means that we're flawed, and and we will just choose something that is our way, not God's way. 00:15:05.440 --> 00:15:11.840 And even though our culture really, really denies God much of the time, it still agrees with this basic idea, it just uses different language. 00:15:12.000 --> 00:15:15.200 So it's not uncommon to hear a phrase in our culture like, well, we're only human. 00:15:15.440 --> 00:15:15.759 Right? 00:15:15.840 --> 00:15:17.600 We can't help it, we're we're only human. 00:15:17.759 --> 00:15:20.399 In other words, we're we're weak and we mess up. 00:15:20.559 --> 00:15:24.960 And that becomes a problem because when we sin, and everyone give a round of applause to Alex Benell, our sound guy. 00:15:25.200 --> 00:15:26.159 Go, Alex. 00:15:29.279 --> 00:15:30.960 He's a fixer. 00:15:32.080 --> 00:15:33.200 Go, Alex. 00:15:34.480 --> 00:15:39.120 When we sin, it corrupts us and it makes us less holy. 00:15:39.600 --> 00:15:42.799 And we see this actually in the Old Testament, really hammered home. 00:15:43.519 --> 00:15:47.279 That if you you do certain things, you're you're unclean, you're less holy. 00:15:47.360 --> 00:15:51.279 And it's it's actually kind of kind of inundating if you read like Leviticus or Deuteronomy. 00:15:51.360 --> 00:15:53.679 If you want to have a really great Saturday, read Deuteronomy or Leviticus. 00:15:53.759 --> 00:15:54.320 It's a jam. 00:15:54.559 --> 00:15:57.600 And like it just says over and over again don't do this, if you do this, you're unclean. 00:15:57.679 --> 00:15:59.279 Don't do this if you do this, you're unclean. 00:15:59.759 --> 00:16:06.240 I'm gonna give a shout out to my friend Ben Sykes because this is an analogy that I first heard from Ben, and it's awesome. 00:16:06.639 --> 00:16:08.960 It's like a fly landing in your soup. 00:16:09.200 --> 00:16:09.519 Okay? 00:16:10.480 --> 00:16:18.399 The Old Testament gives us this idea that the unholy thing has all the power, that the unclean thing is the one with all the real power. 00:16:18.480 --> 00:16:27.279 Because if you're eating a bowl of soup and a fly lands in that soup, do you go, oh well, it's just a fly, and you flick the fly out of the soup and then you keep on eating? 00:16:27.440 --> 00:16:28.000 Right? 00:16:28.320 --> 00:16:30.240 A few of you are like, yeah, but don't say that. 00:16:30.320 --> 00:16:31.679 Don't admit that in front of other people. 00:16:31.840 --> 00:16:33.600 Keep that to yourself, okay? 00:16:34.320 --> 00:16:35.120 But no, no, no. 00:16:35.200 --> 00:16:49.120 I mean, how many of us, if a fly landed in our soup, even if it was like an amazing soup, if it's lobster bisque or it's that soup at Olive Garden with like sausage and kale that's super spicy, like if it's that and a fly lands in it, you're like, I'm done with this soup. 00:16:49.440 --> 00:16:52.000 Because that fly has in your mind ruined the soup. 00:16:52.080 --> 00:16:57.440 Even though the fly has only touched a very tiny part of the soup, you don't keep eating the soup. 00:16:58.000 --> 00:17:01.840 Because that unclean thing in your mind has contaminated the whole thing. 00:17:02.799 --> 00:17:10.000 And we're taught in scripture that the unholy things, the unholy actions, they they corrupt everything. 00:17:10.640 --> 00:17:15.920 That it's the unholy thing that has all the power, and that becomes a real problem for us because God is holy. 00:17:16.400 --> 00:17:19.680 And holiness and unholiness, they don't seem to mix well. 00:17:20.640 --> 00:17:39.440 We see that, for example, when God gives instructions to Moses for building this thing called the tabernacle, which was like a mobile temple that the Israelites, who were nomads at the time, would carry with them, and they would worship at the tabernacle, and God's actual presence dwelled in this one specific room in the tabernacle, and it was called the most holy place. 00:17:39.920 --> 00:17:46.799 And we see God giving Moses instructions in Exodus chapter 26 for how to handle the most holy place, and here's what he says. 00:17:47.599 --> 00:17:51.359 For the inside of the tabernacle make a special curtain of finely woven linen. 00:17:51.519 --> 00:17:56.240 As we read this, by the way, you will learn that God is a very, very detailed person. 00:17:56.720 --> 00:18:01.440 Decorate it with blue, purple, and scarlet thread and with skillfully embroidered cherubim. 00:18:01.759 --> 00:18:06.240 He doesn't want any sloppy cherubim, he wants skillfully embroidered cherubim. 00:18:06.400 --> 00:18:16.240 He says, Hang this curtain on gold hooks attached to four posts of acacia wood, overlay the post with gold and set them in silver bases, hang the inner curtain from clasps and put the ark of the covenant in the room behind it. 00:18:16.319 --> 00:18:19.599 This curtain will separate the holy place from the most holy place. 00:18:19.680 --> 00:18:23.519 And so God is saying, Hey, I'm gonna dwell in the most holy place. 00:18:23.599 --> 00:18:24.799 But there's gotta be like a curtain. 00:18:24.880 --> 00:18:27.839 Something's gotta separate me from you. 00:18:28.240 --> 00:18:29.839 And we might think, well, what is God up to? 00:18:29.920 --> 00:18:30.960 Is he just being snobby? 00:18:31.039 --> 00:18:33.119 Is he just saying, I don't want to be around you, I need my privacy? 00:18:33.200 --> 00:18:34.000 Like, what's going on? 00:18:34.160 --> 00:18:38.000 But we see actually in Leviticus chapter 16, God give a warning to Moses. 00:18:38.319 --> 00:18:45.119 And he says, warn your brother Aaron, who was the high priest, not to enter the most holy place behind the inner curtain whenever he chooses. 00:18:45.359 --> 00:18:47.119 If he does, he will die. 00:18:47.519 --> 00:18:51.519 Now we could read this and be like, okay, God is being pretty severe here. 00:18:51.759 --> 00:18:53.440 And we read that way sometimes. 00:18:53.519 --> 00:19:00.880 Like, like if you look at Genesis, the early chapters of Genesis, when God makes the world and he tells Adam and Eve, hey, you can eat freely from every tree in the garden. 00:19:00.960 --> 00:19:02.720 There is this one tree though, don't eat its fruit. 00:19:02.799 --> 00:19:03.599 If you do, you'll die. 00:19:03.759 --> 00:19:06.400 And we read that almost sometimes as if God is making a threat. 00:19:06.559 --> 00:19:07.599 But he's not. 00:19:07.839 --> 00:19:10.240 He's not saying, if you eat this, I'll kill you. 00:19:10.400 --> 00:19:14.240 And he's not telling Moses, hey, tell Aaron, if he comes in my room, he's dead. 00:19:14.319 --> 00:19:15.200 I'm gonna kill him. 00:19:15.440 --> 00:19:16.079 Right? 00:19:16.480 --> 00:19:20.720 He's saying it very matter of factly, tell him that if he comes in here, he will die. 00:19:21.759 --> 00:19:25.759 And it's because his holiness would like consume Aaron. 00:19:25.839 --> 00:19:26.640 It would overtake him. 00:19:26.799 --> 00:19:27.519 He couldn't handle it. 00:19:27.680 --> 00:19:30.400 He would just die from holiness exposure, essentially. 00:19:30.559 --> 00:19:37.839 And so what the high priest would have to do was once a year, when the high priest would go into the most holy place, that high priest would have to make a series of sacrifices. 00:19:37.920 --> 00:19:47.039 And these sacrifices, blood spilt to pay the price for sin, would act like a covering, a protective covering, so he could enter into God's presence and live. 00:19:47.200 --> 00:19:51.039 And that may sound really superficial and silly and like, come on, that's just craziness. 00:19:51.119 --> 00:19:54.960 But what's really awesome is that creation has a way of imitating the creator. 00:19:55.119 --> 00:19:57.599 And we see things like this in our world today. 00:19:57.920 --> 00:20:02.880 For example, there are certain materials in the world that are highly radioactive. 00:20:03.279 --> 00:20:08.160 And in the first gathering, uh, there's a guy who goes here who's awesome, but he's a nuclear engineer. 00:20:08.319 --> 00:20:13.200 And so as I was giving this analogy, I was very fixated on him, and I kept looking at him like, is this basically accurate? 00:20:13.279 --> 00:20:14.160 And he's like, You're good. 00:20:14.319 --> 00:20:17.599 So I have been given endorsement by a nuclear physicist or engineer. 00:20:17.680 --> 00:20:22.720 If I don't know if those are different things, they probably are, but either way, he said, eh, not bad. 00:20:22.960 --> 00:20:33.359 So there are certain materials that are highly radioactive, and if you were like in a nuclear reactor and you were in the middle of it where the reaction is happening, and that core is exposed. 00:20:33.599 --> 00:20:41.279 And the materials that are causing that nuclear reaction to continue happening are just it's just you and them in the room, and you don't have anything protecting you, you're gonna die. 00:20:41.599 --> 00:20:51.039 You can't see the radiation, but it's this force that is so powerful that your human body will literally deteriorate just by being close to it. 00:20:52.480 --> 00:20:54.160 It's the same way with God. 00:20:55.279 --> 00:21:05.519 His holiness is apparently so intense, so powerful, that for us as unholy people to be in his presence without something, without something covering us, we can't handle it. 00:21:05.599 --> 00:21:09.039 In the state that we're in, we would die. 00:21:09.920 --> 00:21:16.480 And so God has to create all these barriers of separation, not because he wants to be far from us, but because he loves us. 00:21:16.799 --> 00:21:20.000 And he's literally protecting us from his own holiness. 00:21:20.079 --> 00:21:21.599 It's a weird thing to think about. 00:21:22.640 --> 00:21:25.039 But what if something could change our state? 00:21:25.440 --> 00:21:34.160 What if something could actually change who we are so that we we could exist with God, we could be with God, we could be near his presence and near his holiness, and it wouldn't kill us. 00:21:34.319 --> 00:21:35.519 That would be amazing. 00:21:36.559 --> 00:21:46.319 That would sort of do away with all of these rituals and sacrifices that the people of God in the Old Testament had to do over and over again just to temporarily be okay to be in the presence of God. 00:21:46.400 --> 00:21:48.799 And that's exactly what Jesus did. 00:21:49.599 --> 00:21:52.880 It's exactly what he does when he makes us holy. 00:21:53.519 --> 00:21:56.000 We actually see hints of this in the Old Testament. 00:21:56.079 --> 00:22:00.960 In fact, that vision that Isaiah had that I mentioned earlier, where he sees the angels and they're flying around and They're saying holy, holy, holy. 00:22:01.200 --> 00:22:04.880 A few verses later, Isaiah realizes where he is and he freaks out. 00:22:05.200 --> 00:22:06.559 Isaiah 6, 5. 00:22:06.720 --> 00:22:08.559 Then I said, It's all over. 00:22:08.799 --> 00:22:14.160 I'm doomed, for I am a sinful man, I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. 00:22:14.400 --> 00:22:20.880 Yet I've seen the king, the Lord of heaven's armies, and then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 00:22:21.039 --> 00:22:25.279 And he touched my lips with it and said, See, this coal has touched your lips. 00:22:25.519 --> 00:22:29.519 Now your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven. 00:22:30.240 --> 00:22:34.880 So in this example, Isaiah realizes that he's unholy. 00:22:35.920 --> 00:22:38.000 And typically the unholy thing has all the power. 00:22:38.079 --> 00:22:43.440 So if the unholy thing, if the unclean thing touches a clean thing, it's the clean thing that becomes unclean. 00:22:43.680 --> 00:22:46.960 But it's like reversed here, it's the opposite of the fly in the soup. 00:22:47.599 --> 00:22:50.559 This coal touches Isaiah's lips. 00:22:50.720 --> 00:22:54.799 And apparently it is so holy that it cleanses him of his unholiness. 00:22:54.880 --> 00:22:57.839 And now he's he's somehow fit to be in the presence of God. 00:22:59.039 --> 00:23:02.720 This is just a picture of what Jesus would do, who Jesus would be. 00:23:02.880 --> 00:23:05.039 This is so, this is so like Jesus. 00:23:05.119 --> 00:23:06.160 This is how he lived his life. 00:23:06.240 --> 00:23:11.920 For example, early in his ministry, Jesus healed a leper, which is something he actually did pretty often. 00:23:12.079 --> 00:23:17.359 But but this time he caused quite a stir because when Jesus healed this leper, he healed him by touching him. 00:23:17.759 --> 00:23:19.440 He put his hands on the leper. 00:23:19.599 --> 00:23:20.799 And that was a big no-no. 00:23:21.200 --> 00:23:22.240 You didn't do that. 00:23:22.480 --> 00:23:25.599 Because if you touched a leper, you could contract leprosy. 00:23:25.680 --> 00:23:27.599 And so lepers were viewed as unclean. 00:23:27.680 --> 00:23:33.519 They didn't know how germs worked back then, but they had spiritual language that sort of explained the physical world. 00:23:33.839 --> 00:23:42.000 And so, if you touched a leper, you were now unclean, and that leprosy could have spread to you, so you would be cast out, you would be put aside because they didn't want leprosy to spread. 00:23:42.160 --> 00:23:49.279 In those days, leprosy was an epidemic, and they could barely contain it, and so you could not by law touch a leper. 00:23:49.920 --> 00:23:51.200 But Jesus did. 00:23:52.079 --> 00:23:58.720 But instead of him contracting leprosy, the touch of Jesus cured the leper. 00:23:59.440 --> 00:24:05.039 Instead of the unclean thing corrupting the clean thing, it was the other way around. 00:24:05.200 --> 00:24:11.119 Jesus' holiness and his goodness and his purity like transferred to this guy, and his leprosy is gone. 00:24:12.240 --> 00:24:15.039 So apparently that there's a power in Jesus. 00:24:15.200 --> 00:24:23.680 There's a holiness in Jesus that is so powerful and so incredible that it has the ability to overcome the unholiness in us. 00:24:24.240 --> 00:24:27.920 That's exactly what Jesus accomplished for us on the cross. 00:24:28.319 --> 00:24:38.079 When he took our sin on his shoulders, paid the price for our sin, he became that final sacrifice, and he gave us his holiness. 00:24:39.200 --> 00:24:43.680 It's interesting, we we mentioned the curtain that separated the most holy place in the temple. 00:24:44.000 --> 00:24:47.039 And in Matthew 27, 51, Jesus is on the cross. 00:24:47.359 --> 00:24:50.960 It says, then Jesus shouted out again and he released his spirit. 00:24:51.279 --> 00:24:55.200 At that moment, the curtain in the sanctuary of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. 00:24:55.279 --> 00:24:58.480 It was from top to bottom because this was God's doing, not man's. 00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:04.160 And you look at that and you go, okay, Jesus dies on the cross and a curtain tears. 00:25:05.599 --> 00:25:07.200 But it was super meaningful. 00:25:08.160 --> 00:25:15.119 Because that was that was God's saying the separation between me and you, it doesn't need to be like that anymore. 00:25:15.519 --> 00:25:19.440 Because Jesus paid the price for your sin, your unholiness, so to speak. 00:25:19.920 --> 00:25:23.200 He's gifted you his righteousness. 00:25:24.160 --> 00:25:29.119 Righteousness means right standing with God, something that none of us could ever earn in and of ourselves. 00:25:29.359 --> 00:25:33.759 Not one of us in this room is good enough to earn perfection. 00:25:34.000 --> 00:25:38.880 But the Bible teaches us that when Jesus died on the cross, not only did he take our sin, he gave us his righteousness. 00:25:38.960 --> 00:25:45.039 It's almost like you can imagine a conversation between Jesus and God the Father, and Jesus is like, hey, what if I take their sin on my shoulders? 00:25:45.200 --> 00:25:46.960 What if I bear the brunt of that? 00:25:47.200 --> 00:25:51.279 And then I'll pay the price, and that'll be taken care of, that'll be dealt with. 00:25:51.519 --> 00:25:54.880 And then what if I actually take my holiness that I've actually earned? 00:25:54.960 --> 00:26:01.839 And what if I give that to them so that when you look at them, Father, you see me, you see my purity, you see my goodness. 00:26:02.160 --> 00:26:04.400 And that's what happened on the cross. 00:26:05.119 --> 00:26:12.160 And so, because of Jesus, we've been blessed with his holiness, and now there doesn't have to be separation between us and God. 00:26:13.279 --> 00:26:24.160 We can actually be in his presence, and that's what Paul says when he wrote Ephesians 1:4, when he says, Hey, we've been loved and chosen to be holy and without fault in his eyes. 00:26:24.319 --> 00:26:27.279 It's really cool that last part, without fault in his eyes. 00:26:27.440 --> 00:26:31.359 The word that Paul used that we translate without fault, you can also translate it blameless. 00:26:31.519 --> 00:26:35.200 And it's a word that always had a ceremonial connotation in their culture. 00:26:35.359 --> 00:26:38.559 It really meant something that was worthy of being offered to God. 00:26:39.680 --> 00:26:42.240 Something that was acceptable to God. 00:26:42.480 --> 00:26:47.359 And so what Paul is saying is because of Jesus, we've been blessed with holiness. 00:26:48.240 --> 00:26:54.319 And because we've been blessed with that holiness, now when God looks at us, he does not see our faults, he does not see our failures. 00:26:54.559 --> 00:26:58.319 He sees the righteousness of Jesus, and we are now acceptable to God. 00:26:59.440 --> 00:27:03.200 It means that God looks at you and he looks at me and he says, Yes. 00:27:04.240 --> 00:27:05.759 It's incredible. 00:27:06.559 --> 00:27:07.200 It's incredible. 00:27:07.279 --> 00:27:11.359 It might fall on deaf ears for us sometimes because this is so familiar to us if we've grown up in church. 00:27:11.440 --> 00:27:21.920 But if you're Paul and you've lived your whole life in this religious system that has constantly told you, do more, do more, do better, do better, and whatever you do, do not let a fly land in your soup. 00:27:22.319 --> 00:27:24.160 And that's that's like, or a gnat. 00:27:24.400 --> 00:27:26.559 In fact, if a gnat landed in your soup, that was a big deal. 00:27:26.720 --> 00:27:30.400 Gnats were the smallest of all the unhealthy animals in Jewish culture. 00:27:30.720 --> 00:27:41.759 If you grew up like that and you're just living constantly on edge, trying to do every single thing you can to guarantee that you don't slip up at all, because if you slip up at all, you are now unholy and unclean, and God will reject you. 00:27:41.920 --> 00:27:54.400 If that's how you would understood God to understand that God Himself came as a person to live in the flesh as one of us and experience death on a cross so that he could just give you his holiness and it's done and it's finished. 00:27:54.720 --> 00:27:56.000 That's awesome. 00:27:56.240 --> 00:27:57.839 That is awesome. 00:27:58.880 --> 00:28:00.880 And that's how it is for us. 00:28:01.359 --> 00:28:11.920 On Easter Sunday, there was this really awesome young woman who stuck around for a few minutes after the service and we prayed together, and Elon and I were standing right there, and she came and she said, You know, I'm so close. 00:28:12.160 --> 00:28:15.279 I love God so much, and I feel like he's really close to saving me. 00:28:15.359 --> 00:28:16.640 I'm just not quite finished yet. 00:28:16.799 --> 00:28:18.240 Those are the words that came out of her mouth. 00:28:18.319 --> 00:28:24.240 And we got to sit there and say, Man, when Jesus died on the cross, he said, It is finished. 00:28:24.640 --> 00:28:27.119 So you don't have to be the one who finishes it. 00:28:27.359 --> 00:28:32.400 I mean, you're sitting here saying, like, like, I know I've got a few more things I've got to get right, and then it'll be finished, and then God will really be good with me. 00:28:32.480 --> 00:28:34.240 And I'm like, that's not what God says. 00:28:34.400 --> 00:28:37.039 That's religion, that's not Jesus. 00:28:37.440 --> 00:28:38.319