The Final Lamb - Pastor Brad DeLong

We're going to turn to his word together. John chapter 1. We'll start at verse 19. Let me just say this. You probably recognize by now if you've been around, we're going to do some communion today and the Lord's going to meet with us and we're going to celebrate the cross. The cross made way for you to be forgiven, but also made way for you to be touched and healed in a miraculous way. If you've got a a pressing need in your life, uh we don't have to wait till next Sunday, you don't have to wait till Wednesday, you don't have to wait till some other time, but you can respond at the end of this message or during this message and the Lord can touch you like he's done all of these requests I just mentioned and more.

Do we believe that today and can we believe together and agree together that because of the cross that lives are going to be changed today in Jesus' name. John 1 verse 19. Now, this is the testimony of John the Baptist. When the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?" He confessed and did not deny, but confessed, "I'm not the Christ." And they asked him, "What then are you Are you Elijah? WHO ARE YOU? You didn't really answer us." He said, "I am not."

"Are you the prophet?" He answered, "No." They said to him, "Who are you?" John was just being a little stubborn. "We want to give an answer to those who sent us. WHAT DO YOU SAY ABOUT YOURSELF?" HE SAID, "I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord." How powerful is that? As the prophet Isaiah said. Now, those who were sent from uh those who were sent, they were from the Pharisees, and they asked him saying, "Why then do you baptize if you're not the Christ, you're not Elijah, you're not the prophet?

Why do you baptize?" And John answered them saying, "I do baptize with water, but there stands one among you who you don't know. It's he who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandals' strap I'm not even worthy to loose." These things were done in in Bethabara beyond the Jordan where John was baptizing. The next day, John saw Jesus coming towards him. And he said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." He's the one. "This is he of whom I said, 'After me comes a man who's preferred before me, for he was before me.'" Later the same Apostle John, who was writing about John the Baptist, would strike a similar tone in 1 John chapter 2 when he said, "My little children, these things I write to you so that you may not sin.

And then if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And he himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for our our sins only, but for the sin of the whole world. Today I want to preach about that lamb and those sins, the sins of the whole world that have been covered and taken away. And I want to do that through this title, the final lamb, the final lamb. Would you worship the lamb of God with me, the one who shed his blood for you and for your family and for your neighbors?

Would you call on his name right now? Would you thank the Lord for what we're about to hear today and invite him to speak to you? Lord, we're so thankful for what we get to celebrate and remember and commemorate today. We're so thankful, Lord, that you bled and died on our behalf. Oh God, we thank you, Jesus, and and we invite you to help us today. Let there be a fresh appreciation for the cross and for your sacrifice and and all that you did for us at Calvary.

We honor you, love you, and thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. You may be seated. I want to start with the confession today that I never really gave Leviticus a chance. Some of you are chuckling because you didn't either. This third book of the Bible just seemed so meticulous and even tedious at times and I would often just want to will myself. I just need to get through this and and force it down like a bland plate of food that you know is going to nourish you, like chicken breast.

Come on. But maybe it doesn't seem to have anything by way of seasoning or anything to pique your interest or anything to appease your mind and your flesh. Leviticus set in the timeline just after the Exodus in a book that outlines the covenant terms in great detail for the people of God. It often seemed to have no bearing on my day-to-day life or even on the 21st century at all. And And since scripture is supposed to revolve around me and my desires, it really just didn't seem to fit the bill.

I hope you notice the sarcasm in that statement. If you didn't, there it is. It doesn't revolve around me. It shouldn't revolve around me. Even still, I often turn Leviticus this It's a rough read. And And maybe as I'm instructing someone on how to read the Bible, I say, "Look, you can read the Gospels, you can get to Acts, you can read the Psalms, you can read the narratives, and read Leviticus last." I need to admit to you today as well that I was flat-out wrong about Leviticus.

Can it be a a rough read sometimes at maybe 5:00 or 6:00 in the morning? Can it be foreign at times? Sure, I'll give myself that. I'll give that to whoever agreed with me quietly a moment ago. BUT WHEN I STEP BACK and I review its contents as a whole and I realize why it's included in the law in the first place, it adds a whole new layer of appreciation for me concerning this eternal and integral text of scripture. Leviticus and the the law of Moses along with it offers the only acceptable way for a holy God and an imperfect people to be in covenant with one another for more than 5 seconds when the people would eventually mess things up.

IT WOULD ACTUALLY PROVIDE FOR THE LORD GOD HIMSELF to take up residence with his people in a tabernacle as long as it did not drive him away or drive him crazy, which they often did. And scripture's full of those instances. It's It's the text, the terms, THE TREATY THAT GOD HIMSELF ENACTED with his people to allow them to live holy as he is holy, to help them draw closer to a God whose glory and radiance caused flesh to literally glow and even wilt in his presence.

This is THE THE VERY PATH FOR ISRAEL and for God to live together in peace. It's a powerful expression of God's holy and gracious mercy. And while it does include some minute and sometimes monotonous details about what and how they were TO SACRIFICE HIM, WHAT animals could be centered considered clean for eating and others that were unclean and even text on mold and mildew that I'm reading and you're thinking, "My goodness." Oh, this is rough. Anyone read the mold and mildew text? Anyone read the one about the bald spot and the sore on the guy's forehead?

If you don't know, you ought to get into it, all right? You'll be running the aisles. I KNOW, I GET IT. I GET IT, BUT BUT AT THE VERY HEART OF THIS BOOK IS ONE OF THE KEY provisions for mankind and creator to be able to CONNECT WITH AND ABIDE WITH ONE ANOTHER. I KNOW WE'VE GOT MATTHEW 22:37 now and Jesus giving the first and and great commandment and the second that's like it and we just have free access to the Lord, BUT THIS WAS THE WAY FOR THEM TO CONNECT WITH GOD.

Many of you, Leviticus has a as a chiasm. If you were here 10 days ago or a couple Wednesdays ago, we talked about this. It's a literary device that in which concepts and words and structures are repeated in reverse order. If you diagrammed it, it would come to a center and then it would go back out and there's there's a parallel each way and right at the center of it, right in the middle OF THAT BOOK IS WHAT'S CALLED THE DAY OF Atonement day in which all the sins of Israel for that year would be atoned for.

Many of you read about it. You studied it in scripture that when a bull and two rams and two goats were used to atone for the sins of the entire nation for that year. One goat for sacrifice, another that was laid on the the sins of Israel and it was sent out into the wilderness. It was this very specific a ritual and process where a lot of blood was spilled and even more sins were atoned for, all of which served to allow for that holy God to be connected with an in covenant with an unholy people.

It's amazing what people do would do to to be connected with God. I wonder about myself if I would have to get up every single morning and sacrifice a lamb. And I'd have to get my clothes all dirty and I'd have to slaughter that thing and I'd have to do all the process and then every single night I'd have to kill another one and and then all the other things that went along with it and the grain offerings and and the and the the the sacrifices.

I WONDER HOW CONNECTED TO GOD I'D BE. WHEN SOMETIMES I STRUGGLE TO GET UP AND DRAG MYSELF, MUCH LESS DRAG A A LAMB, DRAG MYSELF TO THE HOUSE OF GOD AND LIFT my hands in worship. And I'm I'm talking TO MYSELF AS MUCH AS ANYBODY, BUT IF THAT'S WHAT THEY HAD TO DO TO BE connected with God, and I know they struggled with it. I'M SO THANKFUL THAT ALL I REALLY HAVE to do is lift my hands and say Jesus, Lord, I love you. Jesus, I PRAISE YOU.

JESUS, I WORSHIP YOU. AND THAT FORGES A CONNECTION. And that's not the extent of that connection. And there's a life of overcoming that needs to happen, but this is what they would do day in and day out. This is the way things went for an estimated 1,400 plus years before Christ. Year after year on the day of atonement, the priest would purify himself, make atonement for himself with the bull offering, cast lots for the goats, and sacrifice one, lay the sins of the people on the other.

He He'd slaughter the bull and carry the blood and the incense into the holy of holies all the while hoping he'd live through that process as he went before the mercy seat and the glory of God. And carry the incense, he spread the blood on the mercy seat, and then he killed sacrificial goat and bring its blood beyond the veil and do the same with the goat's blood as he did with the bull's. Once the tabernacle's cleansed, he he'd send the scapegoat out after pronouncing the sins of the people over it.

And then he would cleanse himself again and change only to go out and offer two rams as burnt offerings to atone for the people and and for himself AGAIN AND ONLY AFTER THE SCAPEGOAT RELEASED AND ASHES AND BLOOD are removed from the camp and all the participants are purified could they rest and celebrate. Don't drone out on me. This is how they did it. This is how they connected with God. This is how they were in covenant with God. And I know we can read Leviticus and all this can be lost on us because I've never had to sacrifice a lamb before.

I like to eat lamb. Never had to sacrifice one. Only after the scapegoat is released AND ALL THESE THINGS HAPPEN COULD THEY CELEBRATE AND ASSUMING THEY did that every year and amounted to 1400 plus YEARS OF ATONING SACRIFICES AND BLOOD COVERED mercy seats and high priests holding their breath as they went before the glory of the Lord in the Holy of Holies. 1400 sacrificial bulls. 2800 sacrificial lambs. 1400 sacrificial goats and another 1400 scapegoats carrying away the sins of the people. I just imagine them saying, "Man, I really hope that goat doesn't come back."

Took it out pretty far. Also, they could just push and roll their sins off for another year while enjoying the benefits of their covenant with the Lord. To use a Midwestern expression, one that hopefully doesn't diminish or trivialize this momentous Day of Atonement, they would just kick the can down the road for another year and another Day of Atonement in which their sins were rolled forward again and again and again. And all this was done in addition to Levitical law requiring daily sacrifices including those two lambs sacrificed at the tabernacle every day.

Exodus 29 says, "Now this is what you shall do after honor offer rather on the altar two lambs of the first year day by day continually. One lamb you shall offer in the morning. The other lamb you shall offer at twilight." Verse 42, "This shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the door of the tabernacle of meeting before the Lord where I meet with you to speak with you and there I will meet with the children of Israel and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by my glory.

Again, I pause here to say I mean metal. I get up in the morning, I get my cup of coffee, I go before the Lord. All I have to do is put some beans in the filter and open my Bible. They're dragging a lamb. And I can't do that? And they're having to do it at night. What we are doing today, the free access we have TO THE GLORY OF GOD IS NOT A CHORE. AH, BUT THIS IS THIS IS THE LORD'S PROMISE. I will meet WITH YOU THERE AND GOD WILL MEET WITH YOU EVERY SINGLE TIME.

AND THERE'S NO LAMB REQUIRED any longer. This was the end result that the Lord would meet with these were the terms. Leviticus was a part of the treaty that brought a God WHO WAS SUPREMELY HOLY TOGETHER with a people like me who are perpetually sinful. And until the deal was reworked or another way forward was secured, this was the way for the family of Israel to be set apart unto the Lord and enjoy a kinship and a closeness with him that no other family on earth enjoyed.

So every year every year that they wanted to be in covenant, they observed the day of atonement, the Passover, the festivals of weeks and shelters and and trumpets and every day that they wanted to be obedient, they would offer two lambs, one in the morning, one at night and every year at Passover, they sacrificed still more lambs, thousands of them. Scholars estimate the first Passover alone with roughly 600,000 men plus women and children in Egypt that between 100,000 and 250,000 lambs were killed on that very first Passover night.

You multiply that volume across sacrifices and hundreds of Passover celebrations in Jerusalem and it yields, as you can imagine, millions of additional lambs. Records by first century historians note that during the Passover near the time of Jesus just one over 250,000 lambs were sacrificed in one week. Solomon sacrificed 120,000 lambs in 2 Chronicles 7. Hezekiah offered at least 3,000 more in 2 Chronicles 29. Josiah offered another 30,000 lambs and goats in 2 Chronicles 35. Some of you doing math. All of this in addition to 1400 plus years of sacrifice assuming they did it every day.

511,000 days of sacrifice with two lambs a day. Again, the math it means 1 million 22,000 additional sacrificial lambs offered at the daily worship offerings all to maintain an ongoing connection with the Lord that made their covenant with him complete and communal. If that seems like a lot to you, just imagine these people wanting to be IN COVENANT WITH GOD AND THE LENGTHS THAT THEY WOULD GO TO. OH, we'll sacrifice everything WE'VE GOT TO SACRIFICE IN ORDER TO MAKE SURE THAT THE Lord is content with us.

We're in communion WITH HIM. WELL, I WONDER WHAT I WOULD DO. I wonder WHAT I WOULD DO TO BE CONNECTED WITH THE LORD. HAD ME THINKING this week in terms of math and I went to AI carefully, carefully. Said, "HELP ME MAP OUT HOW MANY LAMBS ALONE WERE SACRIFICED in order to fulfill the terms of the covenant." And it gave me the answer I thought, "We don't know." Simple math though. Two every day. You add in the first Passover, the celebration since, different offerings of different kinds.

It's it's well over a million, probably close to 15 million. That's not including goats and bulls and calves and oxen oxen and and doves and pigeons and rams and animals likely numbering in the millions themselves and they're all given on the heels of the fall of man in order to bring God and man together. They're given to satisfy the debt that mankind incurred since Leviticus tells us this for the life of the flesh is in the blood. And I've given to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.

Why are they doing this? Because blood makes the atonement and they're given to bring God and man into atonement or as one writer call it at one mint. They're given TO ROLL THE SINS OF ISRAEL ALONE FORWARD WHICH IS ONE OF the more sobering aspects OF THIS COVENANT. NOT EVEN THIS AMOUNT of sacrifice could really cover all of their sins. Millions of lambs, gallons and gallons of sacrificial blood, years and years of atonement, millions of other animals sacrificed and the debt still remain and was piled high as ever.

I thought of that in terms of our own national debt. That's a problem in a sermon for another day that I'll never preach on. Just imagine the debt. Sin for the whole world being rolled forward every year for thousands of years and since the world began. I looked this week the US national debt is at 39.28 trillion not to depress you. That's $115,000 per American citizen living in the country today. You're welcome. I knew no one would run the aisles on that one. As depressing as that may sound, imagine the cumulative debt that the world that each of us have in sin and darkness alone.

And one nation and people are tempting to roll it forward every year by offering millions and millions of sacrifices to stay in covenant with their God. If our own national debt situation is untenable, imagine the debt of the world's sins. Imagine the amount of your own debt. If my debt was in dollars today, it would be far more than $115,000 for all my mistakes and all my sins. None of US COULD EVEN HOPE TO CLIMB OUT OF THAT HOLE IN THE DEBT OF IN THE DEBT THAT WE WERE IN.

There was no chance by our own means or our own worth or even by sacrificial offerings that Leviticus calls for. Ephesians says we were dead to rights. We were dead in our trespasses and sins in which we once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all so all once conducted, all of us. In the lust of our flesh. We were fulfilling desires of the flesh and of the mind.

We were by nature children of wrath just as everybody else. This was the state of things. This was our lot in life. This was our condition, one that even Leviticus and the law could not fully atone for. I know I'm taking time to build to this, but it's crucial to understand all of this backdrop and all this history, especially when we come across this familiar but powerful phrase in John 1 and verse 29. Sitting on the front row a couple weeks ago when Brother Christian Walmers preached a message of faith, and he quotes this scripture, and it hit me like a lightning bolt.

I understand. That very day, that very morning, if they were being obedient, the day that Jesus and John saw each other, another lamb had just been killed in the sanctuary. Another one was going to be killed that evening. Another one the next morning. Another one that next evening. Both stood in a line of millions of sacrificial lambs and goats and rams, none of which could cancel death, only defer it. And if it just brings it a little more home to you, just imagine that line of millions of lambs, and imagine you jumping in and joining it.

That was our fate. Just imagine they move you up. Because death was our fate. Death was what we deserved. Death is where we were headed. THEY STOOD IN THAT LINE OF MILLIONS TO POSTPONE THE PAYMENT, SO YOU CAN UNDERSTAND why the people are looking for a MESSIAH AND THE FULFILLMENT of the prophecy of Isaiah and even the realization of Genesis 22 when Abraham, their father, declared, my son, God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering. And all of this climaxes IN THIS POWERFUL MOMENT IN JOHN 1 WHEN JOHN the Baptist, the one sent to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord himself, HE SAYS, "BEHOLD, THE LAMB OF GOD who takes away the sin of the world.

He He's the one of WHOM I SAID, 'AFTER me comes a man who's preferred before me for he was before me.' I need you to understand what a moment and a statement and a combination it is when at last the lamb of God himself, THE ONE WITHOUT SPOT or blemish, the perfect lamb, THE ONLY ONE WITHOUT SIN, THE ONLY ONE WORTHY, the only ONE ETERNAL AND WISE, WHEN HE STEPS ON THE SCENE TO FINISH WHAT MILLIONS OF SACRIFICES AND THOUSANDS OF ACTS OF ATONEMENT, ENDLESS PRAYERS AND petitions could not do.

THERE WAS NO ROLLING SINS forward anymore. There was no the holding of breath and just hoping for a Messiah any longer. There was no added death on top of thousands of years of death. John didn't just proclaim the Messiah. He didn't just point to the lamb of God or another high priest who would help kick the can down the road. No, no, no, no. He says, "This one This one's taken away the sins AWAY FOR GOOD. THIS ONE'S TAKEN ALL THE SINS AWAY. THIS ONE'S GOING TO REMOVE every spot and every blemish.

This is the lamb of God." Up until THAT VERY DAY IN PROCLAMATION, we see lambs and offerings still being sacrificed on the altar. Hope still deferred and pushed off. Atonement not fully realized. Prophecies and promises hanging in the balance when Jesus steps into the scene and into John the Baptist's sightline. At last the final lamb and sacrifice has arrived, the one on which all the hopes of Israel and the world lie. It's not just their hopes, it's ours. I need you to notice this. John the Baptist is talking to his own Jewish people.

But his words don't just pertain to them. Instead, he cracks the door wide open for all of us. Oh, this is I can say it's settled on me so powerfully. Takes away the sins of the world. The world. Why are you so excited, John? And why Why is your voice so elevated, pastor? Why is that THANKSGIVING WELLING UP INSIDE OF YOU, SAINT? BECAUSE GOD SO LOVED the world. The world that HE SENT AND GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON THAT WHOEVER BELIEVES in him SHOULD NOT PERISH, BUT HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE.

For God did not send his son into the world TO CONDEMN THE WORLD, BUT THAT THE WORLD through him MIGHT BE SAVED. THAT'S US, PEOPLE OF GOD. THAT'S YOU. THAT'S YOU. OH, I WANT THIS TO JUST SETTLE IN RIGHT NOW. IT WAS ENOUGH FOR 1,400 years and beyond that of his own people. BUT HE DIDN'T JUST COME FOR THEM. HE CAME FOR YOU. AND HE CAME for your kids. AND HE CAME FOR YOUR HOME. AND HE CAME FOR YOUR NEIGHBORS. AND HE CAME AH FOR EVERY MISTAKE, EVERY SIN, THE SINS OF THE WORLD.

AH I PRAYED THIS MORNING walking this altar that a fresh appreciation would fall on us and myself included. I would not be here. I would not enjoy the peace of God. I would not enjoy the benefits of God. I wouldn't get to celebrate the miracles OF GOD WERE IT NOT for that moment, WERE IT NOT FOR THE SUBSEQUENT MOMENTS THAT LED HIM ALL THE WAY TO CALVARY. OH, AND IF I EVER IF I EVER SIT ON A UH IF I EVER am content TO SIT ON A MESSAGE LIKE THAT WHEN THE CROSS IS IN FULL VIEW AND THE SACRIFICE OH LORD, STIR ME.

OH, GOD, stir me. If I ever forget its power, IF I EVER FORGET THE PROMISE THAT I'VE BEEN GIVEN. Uh You can tell I'm animated about this today. It's just hit me. All those sacrifices. Here comes Jesus. He could have He could have pushed me in the line. Said, "No, no, Brad, it's your turn. You go to that cross." There'd have been more than enough mistakes to put me there. There'd have been more than enough darkness, mess-ups in my life to put me on that cross.

He said, "Jump out of line, son. I'm going for you. I'll take the nails. I'll take the derision. I'll take the shame." He says in one of these texts I'm going to read, he was cut off. A curse is the one who hangs on the tree. Understand it wasn't just the pain that he endured. He allowed himself to be cursed. Cut off from the land of the living. To be put on a tree like that in his culture was the ultimate shame. He said, "No, no, you're not going to endure that shame.

I'm going to do it. I'll do it for you." So, this moment when John says, "Behold the Lamb of God takes away the sin of the world." I hope it's not lost on us as we're just trying to get to through the end of the book of John or we're just trying to navigate through Leviticus. What John is alluding to in this powerful moment that changes everything. The spotless lamb has arrived and his sacrifice is going to negate the need for any other sacrifice. He paid it all.

Not just the sins of his own people in his bloodline, but the sins of all humanity. Those who who far off like me and whosoever will and what millions of lambs and sacrifices AND ENDLESS SHED BLOOD OF GOATS AND lambs and rams could not do, Jesus, the final lamb that needed to be offered, he did on one act and one act on Calvary. What 1,400 years and and days OF ATONEMENT COULD NOT ACCOMPLISH, JESUS finished himself. And what the covenant at Sinai could just roll forward, he canceled and he complete what 80 plus high priests of Israel could only hope for, JESUS MADE A REALITY.

JESUS MADE AN AFFIRM EVERY sin of the whole world he took away. Phrase indicated that he he bore it himself. He removed it from us only through his death. Jesus took it on him himself. Every mistake, every failure, every wrong thought. I know it's it's great just talking about all the cumulative sins, but let's just pull it down to mine and yours. Every wrong action, all that national debt that global debt for every year before him and every sin after him. Every time we miss the mark.

Every time we cross the line. Every single slip of the tongue, every attitude, every intention. All those sins, the ones that no one else knows about, the ones you did last week, the ones you'll probably fall into this next week, the ones that you hope never see the light of day, the sins of the whole world. And you, person of faith, you are not excluded from that. You can hear what I'm saying and you can probably conceptualize it and think, "Oh, that's wonderful. That's great." But then it never really hits home.

That mistake you did a short time ago that you're still beating yourself up over, he died for that one. He He took it on himself. He carried it himself. Sins of the whole world. All of sin and fall short of the glory of God. If we stop there, we may think, "Oh, well, there's no hope." Verse 24 says, "Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by his blood through faith to demonstrate his righteousness because in his forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed to demonstrate at the present time his righteousness."

That he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. What does that mean? It means we're all covered today. It means the sacrifice worked. It means the lamb of God is the is truly is the final lamb in a long line of millions of others, that no other death is needed, that our sins are able to be remitted and washed away for good. It means Jesus really did pay it all. The sins of the whole world. Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

He really did come and he really did die and he really did pay for you and for me and for whosoever will. Isaiah affirms this in Isaiah 53. HE ASKED, "WHO WHO'S BELIEVED OUR REPORT? And to whom is the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness and and when we see him, there's no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows acquainted with grief.

And we hid as it were our faces from him. He was despised and we did not esteem him. Surely, surely, he has borne our griefs. He's carried our sorrows. Yet, we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But he Everyone say, "He." Not me, he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. THE CHASTISEMENT FOR OUR PEACE WAS UPON HIM, AND BY HIS STRIPES WE are healed. Here's what we did. All we like sheep have gone astray. We've turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord laid on him THE INIQUITY OF US ALL.

DO YOU SAY THE WORD ALL WITH ME? ALL. ALL. He was taken from prison, from judgment, and who will declare his generation? For he was cut off from the land of the living. For the transgressions of my people he was stricken, and they made his grave with the wicked, but with the rich at his death. Because he done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He's put him to grief. When you make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed.

He shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see the labor of his soul, and be satisfied by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. Now some may argue while Isaiah is referring to the people of Israel and the seed of Abraham, but John chimes in again, and he says, "My little children, these things I write to you that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, if anyone sins, if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

And he himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world." For the whole world. Ephesians says, "You were dead, but now our God who is rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, raised us up together. Even when we were dead in trespasses, verse five says, he made us alive together with Christ. By grace you've been saved. He raised us up, and he made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus that in the ages to come he would show the exceeding riches of his grace and his mercy, his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

For by grace you've been saved through faith. That not of yourselves. Hebrews 10 echoes this. I'm going to read this before we come to a close in a moment and we talk about our response. Hebrews 10 summarizes the entire message today. I invite you if you got your Bible, I want you to follow along just to see what our God did. For the law having a shadow of the good things to come, that Leviticus those first five books, the law, not the very image of the things, the law can never with these same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year make those who approach perfect.

The law couldn't do it. For then would it not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers once purified would have no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. You know what communion helps us do? We don't have to sacrifice and no one's bringing your sins before you and trying to shame you, but communion reminds you of the sacrifice. The one they got every year. They were reminded of their sins every year. And it reminded them how much they needed the Lord and how much they needed respond to the Lord.

Communion does that for us today. It reminded them of the sins every year for it's not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins. Therefore, when Jesus came into the world he said, "Sacrifice and offering you didn't desire, but a body you prepared for me, and burn offerings and sacrifices for sin you had no pleasure. Then I said, 'Behold, I have come.'" Oh, God. I have come. And in the volume of the book it's written in me to do your will, oh God.

That one that he prayed, "Not my will, but yours be done." Previously saying the same, "Sacrifice and offerings and burn offerings and offerings for sin you didn't desire you didn't have pleasure in them. And he said behold I've come to do your will oh God. He takes away the first that he may establish the second by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. If you're wondering if you're covered today, he covered you once and for all.

Every one of us. Verse 11 and every priest stands ministering daily offering repeatedly the same sacrifices the one that can never take away sins but this man after he'd offered one sacrifice for sins forever sat down at the right hand of God from that time waiting till his enemies are made his footstool for by one offering he's perfected forever those who are being sanctified. And later in the chapter verse 22 because of all this let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith.

Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience our bodies washed with pure water. Let's hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering. For he who promised is faithful. What does it mean? It means that when Jesus offered himself a ransom for many. No another lamb was needed. And when he uttered that cry from Calvary. And he yelled out it is finished. We can stand convinced that the work on the cross is finished. Your debt is finished. Your path to salvation is finished. Our sins and our mistakes and our failures and and need for retribution is finished.

Death is finished. Hell is finished. The grave in your life is finished. All that shame and all that guilt and all those weights and all those sins they're finished. You don't have to carry them. You don't have to hold on to them, but what we're celebrating today reminds you that Jesus truly did pay it all and he took away the sins of the world. And we can rejoice. Our response can be One of our responses can be We can rejoice. And I wonder if you just do that right now.

I know that there's a Thanksgiving welling up in your heart. Can you just rejoice? Oh, from your own experience If you've had a single sin forgiven, I wonder if you let that reflect in your posture right now. YOU LET THAT BE REFLECTED in your PRAISE RIGHT NOW. OH, JESUS. I praise you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord, that you've forgiven me. Thank you, Lord, that you went to Calvary for me. THANK YOU FOR SHEDDING EVERY BLOOD drop of blood that you shed for me, oh God. I thank you, Jesus.

Thank you, Jesus. We're going to continue that response in a moment. In the same breath, as I talk about Jesus, he did the heavy lifting. He paid it all. But it still does evoke a response from us. Anytime the gospel was preached and delivered, the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, the people who received it in scripture offered a response. For those who had never received the gift of the Holy Ghost, their response Peter lined it out. They were to repent. They were to turn away from their old life.

They were to turn towards God. They were to ask for forgiveness knowing that he's faithful and just to forgive them of their sins and cleanse them from all unrighteousness. They just did an about-face and turned away from sin and turned towards God and they aligned their heart and their mind and their life with him. Repentance. Anyone thankful for the day you repented of your sins and the Lord forgave you? Maybe you did this morning and the Lord forgave you again. We're going to repent together in a a little while communion and the Lord's going to forgive you again.

Then they were baptized in the name of Jesus for the remission of their sins. In fact, in Acts chapter 8, we're told about a Ethiopian man who's sitting in a chariot and he's reading the same passage of Isaiah that we just read in Isaiah 53 and Philip goes to him and he says, "Hey, do you understand what you're reading?" And the man says, "How can I unless someone tells me?" If you need a sign to teach a Bible study, here it is. This is it. So, he begins to talk to him and and the man says, "IS IS ISAIAH TALKING ABOUT HIMSELF OR SOME OTHER?"

And it says that Philip preached Jesus to him. Same Jesus I'm preaching to you today. And the Ethiopian eunuch says, "Well, here's water." He didn't say, "Hey, that's great. I'm going TO GO ON MY WAY. I'm going back. Hop out of the chariot. I'm out OF HERE." THEY CAME DOWN THE WAY AND HE SEES WATER and he says, "YOU KNOW WHAT? I GOT TO respond somehow. I can't just hear it and not do something about it." So, they walked DOWN AND PHILIP BAPTIZES HIM IN THE NAME OF Jesus and then Philip's gone.

Powerful moment. Reminds us at the cross. Calls for a response. And then of course, Peter says you can be filled with the gift of the Spirit with the evidence of speaking with other tongues. If you've never received the gift of the Holy Ghost today, you ought to receive God's Spirit today. And what will happen is you can come down in this altar and you can lift your hands and begin to worship God here in a moment and you can begin to speak in a language that you There's some people who recently experienced that that are celebrating that right now.

You can begin to speak in another LANGUAGE JUST LIKE ACTS TELLS US. MILLIONS OF PEOPLE have responded this way. And that doesn't exclude the rest of us. Because if you've already experienced that, for one, you could speak in tongues again. You should. But it might be that your response takes on a different form. There's a song that says that the blood of Jesus reaches and it will never lose its power. And I hope that the cross never loses its to That we are ever stirred by the cross.

Look, I'm I'm I'm just going to I'm going to talk to myself here. You just listen. I've been plenty of communion services where the cross is preached and sacrifice is laid out. And I've come down and I'm just anticipating taking communion and I'm just thank you, Jesus. And I'm looking around. Thank you, Lord. You don't You can You can do whatever you feel compelled to do. I'm just going to ask today though that you give the Lord your most sincere response for what he did for you in taking your place and my place on that cross.

And we never let the message of the cross fall on deaf or tired ears. Or ears that will hear but but not listen and really not really heed the word. Again, as I pray this morning, I just pray that Oh God, help me not to not to just uh can this to a 30-second response. You bled on that cross for over 6 hours. I'm not expecting 6 hours. Uh but I expect and I believe the Lord expects a lifetime of response where we continue to walk after him and we continue to let the cross call us to sacrifice our self.

And And Paul says, "In light of Christ's mercies, we should present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is our reasonable service." So, maybe your response here in a moment is that you just want to come and you want to worship the Lord and you want to spend some time in his presence. Or maybe your response is, "Lord, I haven't I haven't brought anything close to a sacrificial lamb every Sunday. Really, I brought my worst on Sunday. I JUST BROUGHT MYSELF AND BARELY ANY PRAISE, BUT I WANT to bring you more, oh God.

I want to give more of myself to you, LORD." AND MAYBE OF IS, "LORD, I LAY MY LIFE DOWN AGAIN. I COMMIT MYSELF AGAIN. I'M GOING TO GIVE you more time because you gave me eternity. I'm going to give you my whole heart uh because you gave me a whole life. Maybe it's just I'm going to come and I'm going to connect with God. And I'm not going to leave this altar until I do. Or maybe you want to come and repent again. Say, "Lord, you took away the sins of the world.

Would you take away these sins and these mistakes I've had and these thoughts that I've had? Would you forgive me, oh God?" I wonder if you'd stand right now and just begin to respond in whatever way seems appropriate. I'm going to open this altar in just a moment, but would you respond right now? Again, would you just push past some flesh and maybe SOME EXHAUSTION, MAYBE SOME TIREDNESS? WOULD YOU LET THE CROSS COME into full view right now? Uh well, maybe it's a AN OUTWARD WORSHIP.

MAYBE, LORD, IT'S OH GOD, I NEED YOU. I seek you with all my heart. Maybe it's a sign of repentance. Lord, I want to give you more. I want you to lift your voice right now, people of God. Would you respond to the message of the cross of Christ? Uh Jesus. Uh we seek you, Lord. Uh Jesus, I'm thankful we don't have to bring a sacrificial lamb, but we will bring you our hearts. We will bring you our hearts, Lord. We'll bring our commitments. We'll bring our sacrifices of our time.

We'll bring a sacrifice of talent. We'll bring a sacrifice of our treasure, LORD. UH WE'LL GIVE YOU OUR WHOLE HEARTS. WE'LL SEEK AFTER YOU WITH ALL OF OUR HEARTS, oh God. Uh Jesus. Uh the Holy Ghost is here. God's drawing some people through the message of the cross. Uh we know that when we preach Jesus and him crucified, then miracles and signs and wonders can follow. Maybe you need a miracle today and you recognize that the cross made a way for it. I want to open this altar right now.

Whatever response you want to give, if you've never received the gift of the Holy Ghost, you can come right now and lift your hands and begin to speak with other tongues. You can repent. If you want to come and worship the Lord, would you come right now and begin to call on the name of the Lord and praise him. If you want to come and repent. EVERYONE THAT'S WILLING, would you respond right now to the cross and the message of the cross? If you want to come and thank the Lord for every sin he remitted.

Uh your response is not in vain right now. And this is not a response of compulsion. This is a response of a willing heart. Uh Jesus, you paid it all for me, so I owe you something. I owe you today. I owe you my consecration. I owe you my praise. I owe you, Lord, my worship. Jesus. Uh Do you bring your sincerity before the Lord right now? And maybe you don't have a response that inherently comes to mind. Would you just seek after him with all your heart?

If you believe that he died for you and paid for your sins, would you seek the Lord right now? Uh Jesus. We seek you, oh God. Again, if you've never received the gift of the Holy Ghost, it's simple. You can come and lift your hands and begin to ask the Lord for forgiveness. And you can begin to worship the Lord and he'll fill you with the gift of the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking with other tongues. Oh Jesus. Thank you for the cross.