Behold, the Lamb!

I need you to set your feet with your hands up. Here we go. Let's go. Don't stop now. Let's go. Here's why. My enemy's coming. Do you feel it yet? I know you do. Say it. Oh, as long as I'm breathing, I've got a reason. Oh, praise the name of the Lord. Oh, my soul, together with the Lord. Oh, let's praise His name. Oh, my soul. Say it. Oh, I praise when I feel it. But I praise when I don't. So, if you feel it or not, clap your hands. I praise because I know that it's, you're still in control. Oh, my praise is a weapon. And it's a word and a sound. You may believe in my name. And my praise is the shot that brings Jericho down. I bring Jericho down today. Oh, as long as I'm breathing. We're in motion. One more time. Oh, praise the name of the Lord. This is all for you, Jesus. One more. Praise His name. Oh, praise the name of the Lord.

Oh, my soul. Say it. Oh, I won't be crying. My God is alive. How could I keep it? All the way from the back. Oh, praise the name of the Lord. Oh, my soul. Are you in it yet? Let me hear it. This is all for you, Jesus. If you're running out of reasons to praise Him. I'll name you a few. Come on, hands up. Here we go. Oh, praise because you're strong. Praise because you reign. Praise because you rose and defeated the grave. Oh, praise because you're faithful. Praise because you're true. Praise because there's nobody greater than you. Come on, you say it now. Heroes. Heroes. You just defeated the grave. Oh, praise because you're true. Praise because you're true. Forever praise because there's nobody greater than you. Let's go. Praise the Lord.

This is song of the worship. Praise the Lord. Oh, my soul. Keep it up. Praise the Lord. We've always praised Him. Oh, my soul. And we will never cease to praise Him. Praise the Lord. Oh, my soul. Say, I won't. Oh, I won't be quiet. Oh, how could. Say, I won't be quiet. He's my God. I will never. I will never be quiet. Say, I won't be quiet. Lift it up. You don't have to. You can praise. Praise Him with your gift. With your sin. With your words. And with your hands up. Come on. God, this is for you. Receive this worship, God. Can you people clap into the name of Jesus? Mm.

There's one on the throne. Jesus is holy. He is worthy of praise and honor. Oh. There is one on the throne, Jesus, who is worthy of praise and honor and glory. Worthy is the man who was slain and seated on the throne. There's no one like the Lord. And the elders' creatures bow, giving praise to Him and Him alone. There's no one like the Lord. There is one on the throne, Jesus, who is worthy of praise. He is worthy of praise and honor and glory. Worthy is the lamb who was slain and seated on the throne. There's no one like the Lord. And the elders' creatures bow, giving praise to Him and Him alone. There's no one like the Lord. Worthy is the father who was slain and seated on the throne. There's no one like the Lord. And the elders' creatures bow, giving praise to Him and Him alone. There's no one like the Lord. There's no one like the Lord. There's no one like the Lord. Like the Lord our God. We crown you King of glory. We crown you Lord of all. We crown you King of glory. We crown you Lord of all. We crown you King of glory. We crown you Lord of all. We crown you King of glory. We crown you Lord of all.

Worthy is the lamb who was slain and seated on the throne. There's no one like the Lord. And the elders' creatures bow, giving praise to Him and Him alone. There's no one like the Lord. Worthy is the lamb who was slain and seated on the throne. There's no one like the Lord. And the elders' creatures bow, giving praise to Him and Him alone. There's no one like the Lord. Worthy is the lamb who was slain and seated on the throne. There's no one like the Lord. And the elders' creatures bow, giving praise to Him and Him alone. There's no one like the Lord. I see the King of Glory coming on the clouds with fire. The whole earth shakes, the whole earth shakes. I see His love and mercy washing over all our sins. The people sing, the people sing. Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest. I see a generation rising up to take their place. With selfless faith, selfless faith. I see a new revival starting as we pray and sing. Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest. Can we say that together? Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest.

Blessed is the name, blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. Praise is to you, God. Well, welcome this morning. You may be seated. The holy presence of the Lord is here. So fixed, you feel the holy presence of the Lord here in this place. Yes, and I heard Him say, come out of the grave. Come out of the cave. Come out of the dark and into the light. Jesus is here right now and He's calling you, sir, out of the cave. He's calling you, ma'am, out of the grave. There's new life here for you. There's new life here for you. Resurrecting life here in this place today. There are many who are coming and kneeling before the Lord and surrendering their lives to the Lord. And that is why we are here today. And if you make the most important decision of your life today and give Jesus that lordship, surrender to Him. We have a Bible that we want to give you. Back here, there'll be congregational pastors after service waiting to talk with you and pray with you and give you a Bible. It's the best thing, the living word of God, the best thing. Well, welcome to all the new visitors. We are so happy to see you. And we want to welcome you back here after service. We have a free gift. We want to put in your hands and get to know you a little bit. Wow. day is coming a resurrection day is coming next week Easter is here Easter is coming and God has resurrecting power for each one of us and we have four services can we say four yes we have a sunrise service 6 45 in the gravel parking lot if you have not experienced that I invite you to come we have bonfires in the gravel they'll be worshiping a message and we'll see the sun

rise over the hills it's a beautiful beautiful way to start resurrection Sunday we have our normal service times 8 30 10 and 11 30 did you know that we had standing room only in the 10 o'clock service last Easter so if you were a regular here would you mind coming to the first or the third that would be amazing we have an Easter invite a digital Easter invite remember when pastor gave us the message invite one well here we made it really easy for you you type Easter to that number it automatically sends you an Easter invite that you can just text along to your friends and invite them to come and sit with you we made it very easy and today everyone say today today we have a connect luncheon with our wonderful pastor pacer and his beautiful wife Connie 11 30 so next service stay if you're new stay we have an amazing lunch there's always plenty of food in the pavilion 11 30 with pastor pacer and Connie well we are going to have opportunity to pray for our offering do you know that it is our privilege to bring our little loaf and fish to Jesus and he multiplies it every time I have a scripture for us proverbs 3 9 and 10 honor the lord with your wealth with the first fruits of all your crops then your barns will be filled to overflowing that first fruits means our first and our best and we bring it to the lord and he promises that he will provide all of our needs according to his riches well let's go ahead and pray for our offering lord we thank you that you are faithful god that you are the one who supplies our needs according to your riches and glory when we bring our little offering and place it in your hands you multiply it for the feeding of the hundreds and feeding of the thousands and we faithfully we are the faithful ones who brings that and gives it to your hands to use however you want to in Jesus name amen welcome revolution family we are glad you're here today it is great to be in the house of the lord we are so excited what the lord has for us today we're also excited about any first-time visitors that are here we'd love to connect with you so please stop by at the connect table as you leave the service today and if you're here today and you decide to make Jesus the lord of your life congratulations we are so excited to embark on this new journey with you if you want to you can meet us over at the new believers table right after service we'd love to give you a gift amy we have a lot of stuff going on as well so anything any questions anything you missed today check it out on the church website or the church center app also check out we have a qr code here on our screen below us i believe that means so nice that's awesome you can find all of this

information on the qr code and also on that qr code you can read more about our rev kids easter hunt that's coming up this friday we are so excited for this event all right amy i think that's all we have for today we are so excited about all the things going on in our church enjoy the rest of the service welcome to revolution church can you put your hands together praise jesus glad you're here come on my name is paul hassell i spoke here in august of last year and i still hear from some of you who say hey i say hi to strangers now thanks so much so good job remembering that was the message say hi some of you remembered it honored to be here today with you our sermon title will be behold the lamb behold the lamb who was slain my desire is that you would never look at the cross the same way after today so here we're building we're in a sermon series and we're looking at the cross and the resurrection but we've kind of been holding some punches in some ways right because our series title is sunday's coming so we can't tell you what's on sunday but we will sunday's coming it's friday but sunday is coming first peter 318 says it really clearly it says for christ also suffered for us suffered once for sins the just for the unjust that he might bring us to god being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the spirit i want to tell you story There was once a good king in a good kingdom. In fact, he was the best king. He was wonderful. He was nearly perfect in every way. But something went wrong in his kingdom. Something went terribly wrong. Someone began to steal gold from the treasury of the king. That was not okay with the king because he's just. So he issued a decree and he said, there will be 10 lashes on the back of anyone who is caught stealing from my treasury. And people trembled at what that sentence would look like for someone. And then more stealing happened. The moat was closed, the castle was locked,

but more stealing happened from the treasury. And everyone scratched their head and thought, what is going on? The king being a good king issued a new decree and he said, there will be 40 lashings for whoever is caught stealing from the king's treasury. The story took a turn when they realized it was the daughter of the king caught stealing from the treasury, the princess. The people had no idea what he would do. He's all loving. He can't kill his own daughter. Everyone knows 40 lashings is too much. A person could die, but he's perfectly just. So the sentence must be served. What's he going to do? The day came, the princess was over the executioner's post. Her shirt was ripped on her back. And the executioner said, I don't want to do this, but I have to do this. And then a voice came, said, stop. It was the king. He came off of his throne. He walked to where his daughter was and he surrounded her with his arms. His sweat was mixing with her sweat because neither of them wanted to go through with this. But when he cradled her and covered her, he said to the executioner, hit her. The executioner said, I can't do that, good king.

I would hit you if I hit her. He said, hit her. So he did 39 times and then the 40th and the king dropped dead and the daughter went free. This is the gospel. This is the mercy of the cross. Jesus hung in your place. We're gonna look straight at that right now. Point number one, Jesus hung in your place. Romans is an amazing book. Who likes the book of Romans? It's like a whole theology book in one. It's just amazing. Romans 3.23 says, the wages of sin is death. Excuse me, Romans 3.23 says, who's got it? For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Romans 6.23 says, the wages of sin is death. That's why this story makes sense. That's why you can think about that and go, wow, she did sin and there was a law. There is a law, the wages of sin is death. But I have really good news. I don't wanna hold it till the end. It's prophesied by Isaiah, Isaiah 44, verse 22. I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to me, return to me for I have redeemed you. Last week, if you were here, you got to hear Pastor Pacer preach an amazing message. And he was looking at according to the scriptures.

So we looked at Abraham and Isaac. We looked at Noah and we looked at Esther. How on the third day, it had to happen on the third day. He had to rise on the third day according to the scriptures. The only scriptures that were had at the time of Jesus were the Old Testament. So in that theme, we're gonna continue to not exactly unpack the full story. Like I said, we'll still tell you about the cross, the death and the resurrection, because we do every Sunday. It would be terrible if we didn't. That's the gospel message. But we're gonna go back. We're gonna go back to the Old Testament and look at the cross. The cross was in the Old Testament. Numbers chapter 21, verses four through nine. They journeyed from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea to go around the land of Edom. And the soul of the people became very discouraged on the way. Who's ever been very discouraged? Yeah. Well, they were very discouraged because, well, you'll see it here. We'll just keep reading. And the people spoke against God and against Moses. Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?

They're not right, but that's what they believe is the case. For there is no food and no water, also not true. And our soul loathes this worthless bread. So the Lord sent fiery serpents, think poisonous venom, among the people. And they bit the people and many of the people. of Israel died. God is merciful, but God is also just. Because he's merciful, there is forgiveness of sins. Because he's just, there are consequences of sins. And yet he wipes away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. We've got to get to know this God of love and justice, or we don't know the true God. Therefore the people came to Moses, because they were dying, desperation, and said, we have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord that he take away the serpents from us. It'd be good to be the kind of person that someone says, would you pray for us? Because if you do, everything's gonna change. They knew Moses to be that kind of man. You can be that man or that woman. Pray to the Lord that he take away the serpents from us. That means they knew the merciful father, even though justice was happening for their sin against God. They knew that he would take this away. They just didn't know him like you and I get to know him,

and like Moses knew him. We can know him better than Moses. We'll get to that. So Moses prayed for the people. Here's what happened. Then the Lord said to Moses, make a fiery serpent. That is a poisonous snake. Hold on your seat belts. Strange story, right? If this is the first time you've heard it, you're going, what in the world? Make a fiery serpent, like go into a tent in a blacksmith shop out in the wilderness and start hammering out bronze. And set it on a pole, and it shall be that everyone who is bitten when he looks at it shall live. Say live. Live. So Moses made a bronze serpent and put on a pole. And so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived. When he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived. I was sharing this with my children, and one of them said, well, what if you were too far away to see it? What would happen? I said, if I was too far away to see it and I was dying of venom in my body, what would you do? Well, but Dad, you're really heavy. I said, you would find a way.

Wouldn't you? The law of first mention. Let's look at where we first see the word live in the scriptures. Remember, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived. The word is, you ready? Hayah in the Hebrew. Say it with me. Hayah. Okay, you'll remember it. Genesis 3.22 is the first time we see this word. And here's what it says. And take also of the tree of life and eat and hayah forever, live forever. Maybe this is about more than snakebites, but it's definitely about snakebites. A good piece of wisdom I received when I was younger, it's proven to be true so far, is the scriptures always mean exactly what they say and more, nevertheless. So it's absolutely about snakebites and healing physically. But maybe there's more going on as well. See, the Israelites knew Deuteronomy 21. It was part of their culture. They knew the scriptures. And what did it say? It said that cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. Paul writes the Galatians 3.13, he also references that. He says, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. So when they saw the thing which was biting them

on the tree, go ahead and roll that picture of it. When they saw the thing that was biting them on the tree, what did they think? Cursed. Cursed. We have a beautiful painting of it with Moses, if you have that photo, there it is. They were good painters back then. No, I'm just kidding, that's probably a recent rendition. But maybe it looked something like this. And there was a bronze serpent, and when they saw that, you can picture it gleaming in the hot desert sunlight, you know, six million people out there, and maybe from the very back of the pack, if you're in the furthest tent encampment, and you looked over there, you'd see this shimmering, and you would hear the message, and you would say, oh, I'm okay now. It's by faith, it's not a magic trick. To prove that humans turn things into magic tricks, let me tell you this, we see this same pole with a bronze serpent on it 700 years later in the scriptures, only one place. So a little trivia, who knows what book it's in? That's right, I didn't either. Second Kings, chapter 18, verse four. And it's King Hezekiah, he was a pretty good king, wasn't the worst, most of them were terrible. So 700 years later, that would be the equivalent of the year 1300 to now, that's a long time ago.

That this happened, now we're fast-forwarding 700 years, and we see this again. And it's called Nehushtan, they've named it now. Generally not good. Don't name a thing. It means the bronze snake. And they're now worshiping it. Man. Isn't that messed up? So if you got a little cross around your neck or your earrings or your shirt or something, that's beautiful. But you wouldn't worship a stick. You wouldn't worship bronze. We worship the living God. And yet humans do that. So picture this. This is just a fun image. As the people of Israel entering into the promised land, what do you think they had with them? Wow. As they're marching around Jericho, they probably had it with them. Because they did 700 years later, and they were all together. They weren't strung out yet. They were all together. They're marching around with a cross, the people of Israel. And the temple's built.

David commissions his son Solomon. The temple's being built. There's a cross. With the very thing that was killing them now cursed on a tree. Wow. You know, the World Health Organization, if you looked at their logo, you would see something. You would see a snake on a pole. That's today. That's right now. You look at ambulances, various medical practices, over 50% have some form of this snake on a pole. Around 900 years after this event, still 500 years before Jesus arrives on the scene, Zachariah wrote this. He's prophesying. They will look on me whom they have pierced, and they will mourn for him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly for him, like the bitter weeping over a firstborn. Look up. Look up. As we move forward into our second point, please understand, this isn't just a cute metaphor. It was physical. They're dying from actual venom in their bodies,

but if they looked, they were healed. The Old Testament isn't just stories. It happened. It's history. John 11 happened. There's a man after four days that was raised from the dead named Lazarus, but it's not a spiritual metaphor. It happened. A man rose from the dead, and we get to walk as Jesus Christ. Let's look at point number two. The kingdom is now. Amen. I am so glad that after my heart stops beating, I continue on. But that was not the message of Jesus Christ. Predominantly, he was talking about a kingdom that is present, that is right now. Right now. Not someday. Not later. When we leave this terrible place. No, he said, bring that place to this place. Let's go forward. We're gonna continue with this snake on a pole, and we see Nicodemus and Jesus having an evening chat. Maybe it was on a rooftop somewhere, and Nicodemus is trying to get his head around

this whole thing. You might have seen a beautiful scene in The Chosen looked something like this, and he's saying, wait, wait. I have to be born again. I have to crawl back inside my mom, and Jesus goes, whoa, buddy. Yeah, no, not that. But then Jesus does something fascinating. Let's look at John 3. You think I'm gonna say 16, and I am, but let's look at 14 and 15 right before John 3, 16. Let's see what Jesus is talking about. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. Did you know that was there in John 3? That whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world. Say this with me. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. What and when is everlasting life? Well, I greeped out for you, and that word is ionios, ionios. It's where we get eons, on and on and on. It goes and goes and goes. And it's the same Greek word we see in John 17, 3.

Jesus, now in the garden, he's praying right before he goes to the cross, right before the snake, the curse, the sin, the venom of the world is all thrown upon himself. He's praying, and here's what he prays. Now, please say now. John 17, 3. Now, this is, ionios, life, eternal life, that they, hold on, might die someday and go to a better place. No, that's not what it says. That they may know you, him talking to his father, the only true God in Jesus Christ whom you have sent. Jesus filled with the spirit, a man who's God, filled with the spirit, praying to the father. And he says the definition of eternal life, knowing God. Let me make sure that you see that I'm not. Picking certain things to try to make a point. It's all through the scriptures It's everywhere Hebrews 11 one says now faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen Mark 1 15 the first red letters in the book of Mark Jesus says this the time is fulfilled and The kingdom of God is at hand repent and believe in the gospel It'd be good to know what that gospel is is it four points does it have five points? Does it have this is it creation fall redemption restaurant? What is the gospel? We should know The time is fulfilled the NLT says it this way the time promised by God has come at last Man, that's good news Matthew 10 7 says as you go preach saying the kingdom of God is at hand Please hold your hand out. Take your other hand and smack that hand. Okay, the kingdom of God is at hand You'll remember how close it is now Luke 17 21 Nor will they say see here and see there for indeed the kingdom of God is within you. That's pretty close 2nd Corinthians 5 17 you can say it with me if you know it in the NKJV

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation old things have passed away Behold all things have become new you say we have to behold the Lamb you behold. It's kind of like a wake up Hey, hey pay attention. All things have become new if you're around us Christians long enough Sometimes you can get stale and get musty and that new that new believer some of you in here in the room and you're the ones Going whoo-hoo, right, but that new believer you they come in they go. All things are new. This is great news. This is amazing You know, we got you know, little eye boogers and we're kind of waking up and we go What we're not not like not like all things. I mean, you know, we're just you know, we're gonna get into that We're gonna get into why does that happen? but first 1st John 4 17 Love has been perfected among us in this that we may have boldness in the day of judgment because as he is Say as he is So are we in this world and now say this world? That's just great news My question is and I've been thinking about this for you with you think about this something Why isn't that walked in this if this is true? Why isn't that walked in? Here's one answer people haven't heard Romans 10 14 says how can they hear about him unless someone tells them, right? Got a second story for you happened on January 1st 1863 Abraham Lincoln signs the Emancipation Proclamation Boy, that's good news in his own words That all persons held as slaves are and henceforth shall be free. Can you say amen to that? Now here's the sad story not everybody heard If you ever seen on your little Apple calendar a thing it says Juneteenth You probably just kept scrolling at that. I don't know what that is. I don't know who put that on there It's pretty neat. It's a new holiday. But but here's what it actually represents. Here's what actually happened on June 19th Major General Gordon Granger is sent to Galveston, Texas. Do I have anybody from Texas? Not a big representation little person in the back. Hi there and you too. All right now they're coming out perfect Galveston, Texas. All right. It's a good story. It ends positively But he has to come this major-general sent by Abraham Lincoln with Calvary That's horses and arms guns to enforce the proclamation

He had actual military orders From the president of the United States and look what they were his message is that all slaves are free He had to come though to these people who had no idea after a year and a half that they were free And he had to come with authority and power say authority and power Okay, you couldn't have just one or the other if he has Authority which is a badge, but no gun. What are they gonna do? Yeah, what a good Texan does is somebody steps on their land, right? Exactly. And so then they're not gonna get the message. You've got to have the power of God with the authority of God. I Like to say if you can remember it this way no offense to any mall cops appreciate that what you do but nobody's as scared of you, you know, cuz Sorry, no pistol no power But you have a badge Now our sheriff's out here. They got both. I'm scared of them. Holy fear. Yes, sir. Thank you for service, right? But if you have no badge and a pistol and you use it around that's called a gangster you're going to jail Let's get to the part where we talk about how we get out And if you're watching from jail right now, and you may or may not know that you're getting out, there is freedom for you in the gospel. Complete freedom, not partial freedom. This verse is for you, it's Luke 10, 19, in the Amplified Classic. You ready? There's some extra words in there. Behold, there it is again, I have given you authority, that's exousia, and power to trample upon, wait a minute, what is it? Serpents, snakes again. I have given you authority and power to trample upon serpents and scorpions

and physical and mental strength and ability over all the power that the enemy possesses. And nothing, that'd be enough, you ready for the rest of the verse? And nothing shall by any means harm you. Nothing by any means will harm you. Well, that would make you feel kind of invincible. I don't think Jesus was scared walking around town. So why wouldn't you look up? We're talking about beholding the lamb. Why wouldn't you look up, it's right there, right there. He's right here. Maybe because you're in pain, your soul hurts, your body hurts, sickness, disease, you go, man, when I get through this, I'm gonna face him. When I get through this next work challenge, because, you know, work's really bad right now. Actually, no, work's really good right now, and because of that, I can't, because I got too much to do, and so. Or life's just not going better for you even though you came to Jesus. Oops. How is life going for Jesus, walking around town? He had to give up his life, he chose to. But he didn't get a bigger house and a bigger car. We gotta get the right gospel, right? Knowing God is the thing. Great abundance, great fruitfulness comes from knowing him. We gotta define what that might look like.

Last thing I wanna look at is wars. The body of Christ, there's so many of us in war zones right now. Depending on how you slice a war, 92 countries could be classified as at war right now. Not the least of which is Israel, the Gaza Strip, Sudan, Myanmar, Nigeria, Ukraine, and Iran. Fastest growing church in the world, right? Iran, right now. We're praying for them, aren't we? Yeah. Luke 21, 28, here's what Jesus says about that exact thing. "'Now when these things begin to happen, look up "'and lift up your heads, because your redemption "'draws near.'" We've talked about Jesus hung in your place, we've talked about the kingdom is now. I wanna look at this final point, that Jesus gave you his righteousness. So there's great mercy expressed by the Father on the cross. There's the message of Jesus that all of this is available right now, but part of what's available is the grace, mercy and grace. The grace that he would not only take your death on himself, that would have been plenty. Take your sentence, but then he gave you his life. That's his righteousness. Thank you, Jesus. First John three, verse seven. Listen closely to what this says.

"'Little children, let no one deceive you. "'He who practices righteousness is righteous.'" So who is righteous? The one who practices righteousness. See, children can understand this stuff. That's why it says little children, reminding us you cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven unless you come like a little child. "'Let no one deceive you. "'He who practices righteousness is righteous "'just as he is righteous.'" Say just as. Just as he is righteous. This sounds like a fairy tale. It sounds too good to be true. But maybe it's the truth that's worth dying for. Maybe that's the reason for the missionaries. Maybe that's the reason you've given up your life because you've actually started to see this to be true. Unmerited favor. We could call grace unmerited favor lavished on us that is not just not receiving the penalty but being given what we don't deserve. That's amazing. Open your Bibles or look up on the screen with me to Galatians 2. Verse 20 is famous and it should be. It's a wonderful verse. We're gonna read the two after it as well. You ready?

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. That's the exchange life. That's my death to him, his life to me. But look at the next verse. I do not set aside the grace of God, look what it's connected to, for if righteousness, grace of God, righteousness could be gained through. the law, Christ died for nothing. What he's writing, when he's writing to the Galatians, they were starting to think, you know, if I should probably add this, I should, you know, do some stuff here in circumcision and these other things, and that'll cause me to be right with God. And he's saying, no, no, you add anything, Jesus plus anything is nothing. Jesus plus nothing is everything. So he's writing to the Galatians, and then this is what he says in the next verse. Because, you know, it's the next chapter, but it's just, boom, just the next verse in his letter to the Galatians. That's chapter three, verse one. You foolish Galatians. Now I'm telling you that right now, because that's what's written down,

but if I stepped up here and I said, you foolish people, I mean, ooh, he's hot. He's not happy. Why is he not happy? Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes, Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. Now from the studies I've done, these Galatians were not at the crucifixion scene. So he's saying, my proclamation to you was so clear that it's as if Jesus Christ was crucified in front of you, and something has changed your thinking. What is going on? Now we don't use the word bewitched. I mean, raise your hand if you do. Okay, we'll deliver you. No, just kidding. Okay, she uses it. I just don't use that word, so I looked it up. I said, what are the synonyms? What are the synonyms? Enchanted, fascinated, charmed, captivated, enthralled, spellbound, mesmerized, entranced, and beguiled. Now I'm going, okay, okay, I get what he's saying. Here's the etymology of that word. The term originates from the late 14th century, derived from the literal sense of subjected to the influence of witchcraft. It's from be in witch. Okay, so that's kind of a big deal.

Let's look at it a little bit further. How would this apply to your life? If, in fact, we've been bewitched? Because if it's not you, it is your friend. It is somebody else at church. This is a really common thing, that we love the mercy of God. We actually don't like the grace of God. It's called the scandal of the kingdom. Write that down and read Dallas Willard's book. Great one. Scandal of the kingdom. This is not okay, and yet all of the parables had to do with this very thing. The scandal, the guy that comes at the last hour, having not worked all day, and he gets paid the same. That is wrong, and we're mad at God for being so gracious. Bewitched sounds like something. Well, this side of heaven, this is just how it is. That's not the gospel I was preaching. That's not what we're reading. Where did that come from? Pain, heartache. After reciting all the promises of God, well, I'm not gonna get my hopes up. Bewitched. And yet, the gospel says, get your hopes sky high. At least as high as the cross. Up above, look up. Look up, lift up your heads, O you gates.

Look up. After a statement of who we are in Christ, which we're diving into right now, well, that may be true, but you know, brother. You don't know. And you never, they never finish the sentence. I say they, I've done this. We, we don't finish the sentence. We just. Because it's not true. There's an enemy that's after the true gospel. Because it's really, really good and sets people free. So after discussing the 222 times, please say 222. Okay. That the word saint is used in the New Testament. I did that research myself. Talking about us in Christ. Huh. After I share that, and someone says, well, I'm just a sinner saved by grace, you know, brother, like all of us. Did you, did you read the 222 verses? We just, how did you just? Now, I know it's quiet in here, because I know I'm right. I'm on to something, and I'm not mad. I'm encouraging you. But when we're bewitched, we like to stay there. And only the power and authority together of the gospel, that is the present Holy Spirit with the proclamation,

can set you free to believe the truth. Mercy and grace. Last service didn't get this. I got one more verse for you on this topic. You ready? Colossians 2, eight through 10. This is so powerful. The prior verses are talking about it being established and rooted in God, established in Christ. Here's what it says. Be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, based on human tradition. Based on the elements of the world rather than Christ. For the entire fullness of God's nature dwells bodily in Christ. And you have been filled by him. Say filled by him, please. Who is the head over every ruler and authority. Wow, we could just be done right there. John 1, 29. This is so good. The next day, John saw Jesus coming. toward him and said, behold, there it is again, behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. The Old Testament prophets said, there's one who's coming, there's one who's coming. And in a nutshell, all of them are saying, he's coming. And then John's the bridge

between the Old and the New Testament. He says, he's over there, behold, he's over there, on the other side of the Jordan. What's our message? What do we say? Matthew 11, 11, Jesus says about his cousin, John, John the Baptist, among those born of women, I think that's everybody, there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist, but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. That's the scandalous thing to say. Well, you know, brother, I mean, I'm not better than John. Jesus Christ says, you're greater than John the Baptist. That's not my idea. It sounds funny saying it. But how in the world is that possible? I'm gonna present one possibility. Old Testament prophets say, there's one who's coming, there's one who's coming. John is the bridge to the new and he says, he's over there. And we have the message. It's not about us, but our message is far greater than theirs. And it is, he's right here. He lives in me. Wow. Out of you will flow rivers of living water, John 7, 38. The kingdom of God is within you, Luke 17, 21. Colossians 1, 26 through 27,

answers a question, more or less, brought up in Ephesians 3. If you're taking notes, Ephesians 3, 8 through 12. Check it out. It's absolutely amazing. It's talking about the mystery of the gospel. Not because you can't know it, because it's just so good, there's so much there. So Ephesians 3, 8 through 12, check that out. And then here's what happens next in Colossians. Colossians 1, 26 through 27, the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to his saints, say saints with me. To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. The mystery is revealed. The secret's out of the bag. Yet it wasn't a secret. It just couldn't be revealed until the Son of Man was hung on a tree, and the venom of the snake and the snake himself were crushed when he was crushed. Some of you are royalty. A lot of you are. Some of you are not. I don't know, but you do, because you know if you know him,

and if you're not really sure if you know him, you probably don't know him. So keep seeking him, and you'll find him. But some of you who are royalty, what I'm about to tell you could be your story. It's about a good king again, perfect king, actually. And that king and his wife conceived and had a wonderful son in this beautiful kingdom. And that son was about one year old when an evil kingdom came, and they captured the one-year-old. Terrible story. And took him away to the evil kingdom, the dark kingdom. They put him in a cage, and they'd throw food every week or so just on the ground, and hey, good luck. But the good news in the story is there's an older brother. No one knows where he came from. And he says to the father, Father, I have a younger brother? And the father says, oh, yes, you do. Keeps me up at night thinking about him. And the son says, I gotta go get him, Dad. The father says, son, that'll cost you everything. I mean, it's bad out there, it's crazy. They could kill you. Hey, guys, it's worth it. I gotta go get my brother. So that elder son looks at the father and says, what do I need to know?

And the father says, you know enough, because you know me. In fact, I'm gonna put myself in you. We're one, son. I'm gonna give you all the power you need, all the authority you need. Go get him. And the son goes off, like he's going to some of you in prison right now. And the son goes to get him. But when he gets there, the younger brother, having grown up for 30 years in this terrible state, doesn't know his own name. Some bad names, but he doesn't even know his name. He hardly eats food, he's malnourished. So they just have to pick him up, they just have to grab him, bring him back to the royal palace. The father greets him with a big smile. Welcome home, son. You've always belonged here. He goes, no, I don't. They feed him at this royal table and he takes it back to his room. He grabs everything he can, takes it back to his room, begins to eat off the floor. And the father says, what are you doing? He said, I don't belong here. They give him his bed. It's too soft. He sleeps on the floor. You get the idea, but the thing is, some of you are royalty.

The mercy of God has been applied to your life. You're redeemed. But the grace of God that you would be called sons and daughters, you would be royalty? That's too much for you, but it's not. It's not too much. You just need to learn how to walk as royalty. It's called discipleship. It's called discipleship. We preach the gospel, we make disciples, and we serve our community, right? That's what we do. If you're new, welcome to Rio Revolution Church. That's what we do. So the making disciples is you. Many of you in this room saying, you know, that guy, I've been kind of one of the servants in the palace looking at him and going, man, he doesn't belong here. He's crazy. He's beating his head against the wall. He doesn't know what his name is. You're the one that's supposed to tell him. Look at these three points one last time. Jesus hung in your place. That's the mercy of God. The kingdom is right now. And Jesus gave you his righteousness. That's his grace. The mercy and grace are available right now. I understand there's a lot going on. And I understand, like Martha, you're busy making fish tacos for Jesus that he didn't order. But he's asking you to be merry and behold the one we have pierced.

This is pretty clear. So if you go, nah, not today, then you're actually telling God, I do not want you. And there is a place for those people. It's awful. Not because you were really bad, but because you chose not to come. There's a party. There's a feast. And you're invited. Jesus told a story about that. Some of you know. Because the people who were invited didn't come. They had to go into the byways and highways and hedges and bedges. Made that word up. And they had to go grab people that weren't even on the first invite list and go get them because the people invited didn't come. You're invited. I don't care if it's the invitation for the first time or the 100th time. When you behold the lamb, everything changes. If you believe that, can you raise your hand? Everything changes. I'm going to end with this. Some of my favorite scripture in the whole Bible. 1 Peter 2, 20 through 25. Prayer team, if you would come forward, that would be awesome. 1 Peter 2, 20 through 25. My kids are going to quote it because I put them to sleep to this stuff. But when you do good and suffer. Listen to that. But when you do good and suffer. You're like, no, no.

If I do good, everything will be good. When you do good and suffer, if. Please say if. If you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. For to this you were called. Oh, is my calling in life? Yes, it is, brother. For to this you were called because Christ also suffered for us. Leaving us an example that you should follow his steps. But there's life here. This is great news. Who committed no sin nor was deceit found in his mouth. That's a lot of righteousness. He gave you that. He gave you that amount of righteousness. Who committed no sin nor was deceit found in his mouth. He was reviled, did not revile in return. The kingdom living looks like something. They revile you at work. They cut you off in traffic. Ha, ha, ha. You know, flick them off, whatever. No, no. That's not okay in the kingdom. It's not okay. We're not after behavioral modification. We're after receive the gift of his grace and you're a new person. And no, it's not overnight. That's why we make disciples. And if you're not making them, there's someone who needs to be discipled.

Now you can go make disciples. Reach out to them. They probably won't reach out to you. It's hard to know where to start. Go find people. 1 Peter 2, 23, 25. I'm just going to jump to the end. Who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness. Wow. By whose stripes you were healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls. Unless you haven't, then you can. Today's a good day. As we sing this last song, please come down front. Look at this army of soldiers right here. Can you just wave your hands real quick? Look at these amazing people. Let's clap for them. People who love Jesus more than their own life, they love Jesus more than their husband or wife, they love Jesus more than their children, because they're disciples. And they didn't do it because they worked really, really, really hard, though it can be hard. They did it because they received his mercy and didn't have to receive the death sentence that's due because of sin, and they received his grace, which is a radical gift that makes no sense,

but if you listen long enough, you'll start to believe it. And surround yourself with people like this, you'll start to believe it. And it'll look like something. It'll look like a kingdom from another world coming to this one. If you think that's good news, can you put your hands together and clap for us? Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And I, if I am lifted up, and I, if I am lifted up, will draw all peoples to myself. You get to lift Jesus up when you behold the lamb, when you look at the cross. Next time you see a little cross on your own earrings or somebody you know, a little cross, think, wow, all the venom, all the stain of sin, all the poison, how that's affected my soul, my mind, will, emotions, my body, my family, my generations, all of that according to Jesus and his work got swallowed up and cast into the sea. But it's only appropriated by believing it's true, which is a choice.

And it takes him to help us believe it's true. So let me pray for us. And then we're gonna go into this last song. Father in heaven, we come as sons, but we also come as desperate ones. If you don't do it, nothing will happen. We are busy. We have many things going on and we're thinking about the next thing, some of us already. Would you teach us how daily to behold the lamb, to become obsessed with this amazing story, this amazing person in this present kingdom? We know because we smacked our own hand, the kingdom of God is at hand and I pray we never forget it right here. That's why we can lay our hands on the sick and they shall be healed. They'll recover. We pray for the sick physically and in their soul to be healed today. We pray for those who are lost to be found, that is their spirit being healed today, going from darkness to light. We pray for this time of ministry that you have your way and you do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask, think or imagine according to your power that works in us. As the verse stamped out in front of the church, Ephesians 3.20. So do that today, Lord, for your glory, for your purposes.

We love you, we thank you. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Come now. ♪ I'm caught up in your presence ♪ ♪ I just wanna sit here at your feet ♪ ♪ Caught up in this holy moment ♪ ♪ Never wanna leave ♪ ♪ Oh, I'm not here for blessings ♪ ♪ Jesus, you don't owe me anything ♪ ♪ More than anything that you can do ♪ ♪ I just want you ♪ ♪ I'm sorry when I've just gone through ♪ ♪ The motions, I'm sorry when I just sing another song ♪ ♪ Take me back to where we started ♪ ♪ I open up my heart to you ♪ ♪ I'm sorry when I've gone with my agenda ♪

♪ I'm sorry when I forgot that you're enough ♪ ♪ Take me back to where we started ♪ ♪ I open up my heart to you ♪ God up in your presence, I just wanna sit here at your feet, God up in this holy moment, I never wanna leave, oh I'm not here for blessings, Jesus you don't owe me anything, more than anything that you can do, I just want you, I just want you, nothing else, nothing else, nothing else will do, I just want you, nothing else, nothing else, nothing else will do, I just want you, nothing else, nothing else, Jesus, nothing else will do, I just want you, nothing else, nothing else, nothing else will do, I just want you, nothing else, nothing else, Jesus, nothing else will do, I just want you, nothing else, nothing else, nothing else will do, I just want you, nothing else, nothing else, Jesus, nothing else will do, I just want you, I just want you Lord, I thank you Father, I truly do, for everything that you've done, for everything that you continue to do for me, Lord I just want you, you are enough, you will always be enough Lord, Lord I just wanna pray over this congregation Lord and everyone that's in here Lord, I pray for healing, I pray for your salvation to be over them Lord, I pray that they can lift you up Lord, I pray that they can continue to worship you outside of here, Lord I pray that it's not just a Sunday, Sunday faith Lord, that it can be a Monday morning and a Tuesday and a Thursday and a Wednesday and a Friday, every single day Lord, I pray that your third faith can continue to grow every single day, and that it's not just left in this building, but it walks out with them, Lord I just pray that as they go out into this week Lord, that you walk before them, that you keep them safe, that you lay your hand on them, we thank you Jesus, and in the mighty name of Jesus we all say Amen, God bless you all, you have a fantastic Sunday and a great week.