The Best News

How are we doing today? It's good to see you. Oh, would you stand with us as we worship Jesus, as we worship our God, as we respond to the good news that He has transformed our lives. Let's get our hands together. Let's celebrate in this house. Come on, if you've experienced the goodness of God, let's worship. Hey, let's sing this out, Wandering. ♪ Wandering into the night ♪ ♪ Wanting a place to hide this weary soul ♪ ♪ This vagabond, this hate ♪ ♪ And I tried with all my might ♪ ♪ And I just can't win the fight ♪ ♪ I'm slowly drifting, a vagabond ♪ ♪ And just when I ran out of road ♪ ♪ I met a man I didn't know ♪ ♪ And he told me that I was not alone ♪ Come on, you pigs. ♪ He picked me up, turned me around ♪ ♪ He placed my feet on solid ground ♪ ♪ I thank the Master, I thank the Savior ♪ ♪ Because he healed my heart, he changed my name ♪ ♪ Forever free, I'm not the same ♪ ♪ I thank the Master, I thank the Savior ♪ ♪ Oh, I thank God, hey, yeah ♪ ♪ Oh, we thank you, Lord, I cannot ♪ ♪ I cannot deny what I see ♪

♪ Got no choice but to believe my doubts are burning ♪ ♪ Like ashes in the wind, come on, so so long ♪ ♪ So so long to my old friends, hey ♪ ♪ Burning bitterness, you can't just keep them moving ♪ ♪ No, you're not welcome here yet, come on ♪ Sing it out, from now. ♪ From now till I walk the streets of gold ♪ ♪ I'll sing of how you saved my soul ♪ ♪ This wayward son has found his way back home ♪ Let's celebrate. ♪ He picks me up, he turns me around ♪ ♪ He places my feet on solid ground ♪ ♪ I thank the Master, I thank the Savior ♪ ♪ Because he healed my heart, he changed my name ♪ ♪ Forever free, I'm not the same ♪ ♪ I thank the Master, I thank the Savior ♪ ♪ Oh, I thank God, oh yes, we thank you, Lord ♪ Come on, take them this morning. Oh, yeah. Come on, let's celebrate this to sing. ♪ Hell, lost another one, I am free, I am free, yeah ♪ ♪ I am free, hell, lost another one, I am free, come on ♪ ♪ I am free, hell, lost another one, I am free, yeah ♪ ♪ Oh yes, we are free, oh yes, sing out that truth ♪ ♪ Hell, lost another one, I am free, I am free, yeah ♪ ♪ Hell, lost another one, I am free, I am free, oh yes, yeah ♪ ♪ Hell, lost another one, I am free, I am free, come on ♪ ♪ Oh yeah, he picked me up, he picked me up, he turned me around ♪ ♪ He placed my feet on solid ground ♪ ♪ I thank the Master, I thank the Savior, that he healed me ♪

♪ He healed my heart, he changed my name, forever free ♪ ♪ I'm not the same, I thank the Master, I thank the Savior ♪ ♪ Oh, I thank God, oh yeah, we thank you, God ♪ ♪ Oh, I thank God, yeah, oh, we thank you, Jesus, come on ♪ ♪ Oh, I thank God, come on, let's give a praise in this place ♪ ♪ As we respond to his good news, he's healed our hearts ♪ ♪ And he's changed our name, let's continue to worship the name of all names ♪ ♪ Oh yes, Jesus, we worship, oh, we're grateful, oh yes, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ I'll follow your love, cover my shame ♪ ♪ I've heard you say, you love me anyway, I will draw near ♪ ♪ Through all of the pain, cause I know you're here ♪ ♪ I've seen you move, how only you do ♪ ♪ God you are faithful, your promises are true ♪ ♪ Lord we are here, we're ready for you ♪ ♪ So come move like you do ♪ ♪ In your presence, there is freedom ♪ ♪ You have broken every chain ♪ ♪ In your presence, there is healing ♪ ♪ You call bones to life again ♪ ♪ Jesus, Lord we're here, we're ready for you ♪ ♪ We're here for you, Jesus ♪ ♪ Your name is higher, my one desire ♪ ♪ So I will lift my voice and sing, Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus, Lord we're here, we're ready for you, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ No other name, no other name, Jesus they are here for you ♪ ♪ I've seen you move, how only you do ♪ ♪ God you are faithful, your promises are true ♪ ♪ Lord we are here, we're ready for you ♪ ♪ Come move like you do, ooh, ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ In your presence, there is freedom ♪

♪ You have broken every jail, yes you have ♪ ♪ In your presence there is healing ♪ ♪ You call bones to life again, Jesus, Lord we're here, we're ready for you, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ Jesus, Lord we're here, we're ready for you, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ Jesus, Lord we're here, we're ready for you, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ Your name is higher, my wonder's higher ♪ ♪ So I will lift my voice and sing, Jesus, Lord we're here, we're ready for you, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ Jesus, Lord we're here, we're ready for you, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ We lift our voice to you, as you sing about your name, Jesus, Lord we're here, we're ready for you, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ I will never stop, I will never stop ♪ ♪ Chasing your glory, telling your story ♪ ♪ I will never stop, I will never stop ♪ ♪ Chasing your glory, telling your story ♪ ♪ I will never stop, I will never stop ♪ ♪ Chasing your glory, telling your story ♪ ♪ I will never stop, I will never stop ♪ ♪ Chasing your glory, telling the story of Jesus ♪ ♪ Telling the story of Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ Your name is high, my heart is high ♪ ♪ So I will lift my voice and sing ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh yes ♪ ♪ Oh yes ♪ Jesus, Jesus Oh yes, Jesus Oh yes, Jesus We're here for you, Jesus Oh yes, we're here for you, Jesus Oh yes

I cast my mind Come on, sing it out I cast my mind To Calvary Where Jesus bled And died for me I see His wounds His hands, His feet My Saviour That cursed the tree Oh yeah His body bound And drenched in tears They laid Him down In Joseph's tomb The entrance sealed By heavy stone Messiah still And all of Oh praise the name Come on, sing it out Oh praise the name Of the Lord our God Oh praise His name Forevermore For endless days We will sing Your praise Oh Lord, oh Lord our God Then on the third, come on let's celebrate it Then on the third

At break of dawn The Son of Heaven rose He rose again Oh trampled death Where is your sting? The angels roar For Christ the King Sing it out, praise Oh praise the name Of the Lord our God Oh praise His name Forevermore For endless days We will sing Your praise Oh Lord, oh Lord our God For endless days We shall return In robes of white The blazing sun Shall pierce the night And I will rise Among the saints My gaze transfixed On Jesus' face Oh yes Oh yes Come on, we are here to respond to that good news That He has died and resurrected That He has given us freedom and life But that He will once again come

And we celebrate in that truth We celebrate in that goodness So whatever our trouble is Whatever our concern is, our worry is In His presence there is freedom In His presence there is joy As we fix our mind That the battle is His That the victory is His And that victory has been won already So come on let's worship, let's praise the name Above all names, praise the name That is worthy of our attention Of our love, our affection this morning Oh we praise You We want more of You Jesus We want more of You Oh praise the name, come on sing it out Oh praise the name of the Lord our God Oh praise His name forevermore For endless days we will sing Your praise ♪ Oh Lord, oh Lord our God, yeah ♪ ♪ Oh praise the name of the Lord ♪ Oh we praise you Jesus. ♪ Praise His name forevermore ♪ ♪ For endless days we will sing, sing our praise ♪ ♪ Oh Lord, oh Lord our God, one more time oh Lord ♪ ♪ Oh Lord, oh Lord our God, come on if you believe us today ♪ ♪ Give a praise in this house, Jesus we praise you ♪ ♪ We lift your name above all, yeah, we're grateful Lord, amen ♪

Come on church, let's clap that up, that is good. Praise the name of the Lord our God, amen, amen. So good to see you all this morning, pray with me. Father, thank you. Thank you for that song, Lord. Thank you for the words. Thank you Father, for the fact that you are God. Thank you for the gathering of your church, the gathering of your people. Lord, we know where we are, you are there in our midst. And we're so grateful. Father, people have brought all kinds of things in, worries, cares, concerns. Lord, they brought their faith too. But Lord, so many people are burdened with other things. And Father, I just pray that with worship like that, God, that we feel free to lay all of those things down at the feet of our God. Praise the name of the Lord our God. Praise your name forever. So Father, thank you for worship today. Thank you for the word, Lord, that we're going to experience. Father, again, thank you for the blood and the body of Christ that we will celebrate today that makes it all possible. In Jesus' name we pray, amen and amen. Amen, church. Come on, let's give the Lord another hand clap of praise. So good to see you today. You may be seated.

I love our worship team. I tell you what, they take us there, don't they? I mean, that is such a great song. It takes you right there. And it makes it easy for me to come up and to preach. Hey, I hope you guys feel as good as you look because I was watching some of you guys walk in and joy on your face. And so it's good to be here with you today. My name's Johnny. I'm one of the pastors here at the local church. Hey, thank you. Happy birthday. Yeah, it was actually Tuesday, but thank you, Diane. I appreciate that. Yeah, the big 60 is not old anymore. It's funny, you get there and you're going, oh, that's not so bad. Let's see if we can't do some more. But hey, it's good to be here with you today. Pastor Eric is out, okay? So listen, if you're visiting with us, we always want to say thank you for being here. We will greet you formally here in just a little while. But it's so good that you're here. But do me a favor. Pastor Eric is out. Come back next week, okay? You wanna hear Pastor Eric. He's gonna start a brand new series next week

on the Holy Spirit. And so here's what I tell guests if I'm ever teaching is this. Come back and hear our lead pastor, Eric, and hang with us through three or four weeks of a series. See if we're a good fit for you. Get to know us a little better. We can get to know you a little better. And so Eric and Jessica have been out. They've been celebrating. I think they may be here today, but they've been out most of this weekend, celebrating Jessica had a birthday, and they experienced a miracle. Jessica turned 29 again. So praise God, praise God. We don't know how that happens, but we're so glad. Yes, we're so glad that it did. And here's what I love about this church is we let, and you've heard this before, we let Eric be married to Jessica and Jesus be married to the church. So if Eric needs to take some time off to be with family, we give him that time gracefully. And you've always been really, really good about that church. So today, we're finishing this series today. We're closing it out today. It's called The Good News. And man, we've had more than any other series I can ever remember, we've had such good response

to this particular series. Here's what it is. We've made much of Jesus through these several weeks that we've been in this series, much of Jesus. And we know that when Jesus was here, he did good. He did good. The good news of Jesus came with him doing good. He created new realities in people's lives, healing. and blessing and everywhere he went there was good. So we wanted to recreate some of that. We wanted to make some of our own good news. And so we gave away $100,000 over this series. I've never been part of a church that's given away $100,000. Now, you know, we did it. We did a reverse offering where we gave you envelopes with 20 or 50 or $100 in it for you to either keep if you need it or bless someone and create a God story. We've also given away scholarship money. We've given away food, like a year's worth of growth or six months worth of groceries to hurting families. We've given away two cars. We gave away merchandise, cameras, and guitar to people who are just a blessing to us. We wanted it to be a blessing right back to them. And in Hollywood, we just put, I say we, I wasn't up on the roof doing this, but licensed contractors were, that put a roof on and knew heat and air for a home that needed a roof

or they were gonna lose the house to insurance in January, or, and they'd never had heat and air. So listen, you've done all that. Yeah, absolutely. That's because of your generosity. And so today I'm gonna borrow from the words of Paul. Do you remember in the book of Acts where he said, silver and gold have I none? That's cause we gave it all away. Okay, so we don't have it. We don't have it. Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have, give I thee. And so today we're just gonna talk about the best news, which is Jesus himself. That's what we're gonna focus on today. The very best news, Jesus himself. It reminds me, I got a phone call about two and a half weeks ago. I was in the office and it was a young lady. We hit it off because she was a nurse and nursing runs all through my family, but she had a question. And listen, I don't know that we get enough questions from you guys. Questions are okay. She had a question, so she called. Why did Jesus have to die the way he did? Why couldn't he just simply, again, she had no qualms about Jesus,

about him being the son of God, the savior of the world, all of that, but why a cross? Why couldn't he just come, live that perfect life for us that we couldn't live and then die a natural death? Why the cross? And so we unpacked some of that in that conversation. And that's what we're going to talk about today. As we talk about the best news, Jesus himself, what did it mean? What impact did the cross have and why did he have to die a death like that? And so we're gonna jump in. We're gonna go fast. If you're taking notes, one of the best ways to do that is on your phone, the church app. If you have it, but you haven't been on it in a while, just hit the refresh. It'll take you right to this week. You can follow along, fill in the blank, all of that. But you're gonna wanna take some notes today. Here's our first big thought as we jump in. What we messed up, God cleaned up. What we messed up, God cleaned up. Now think big picture here. Okay, you gotta think big picture. You gotta think humanity here as a whole. I'm not talking about necessarily individual messes that we make for ourself,

although it's always nice when God comes behind us and sort of cleans up our little mess that we make. But I'm not necessarily talking about your speeding ticket, okay, if you just can't keep your foot off the gas or your high cholesterol if you can't push away from the buffet. But what we messed up, God cleaned up, humanity-wise, think big picture. What our first parents, Adam and Eve, messed up and infected us with and inflicted upon us that we now pass down to every generation, that's what I'm talking about. What we messed up, God cleaned up. And before there was good news, there was bad news. So I want us to look at this story. I want us to just follow along the narrative. Here's what I wanna point out. And I tell this to people who are going through things all the time. It wasn't created this way. It won't end up this way. But right now, it's a fallen world. So we're gonna see how it was created perfect, and we're gonna look at creation and some chaos that happened. Look at Genesis 1, 1. My favorite book in all of the Bible, Genesis 1, 1, is in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

In the beginning, God, now that's Elohim. Okay, that's Elohim. That's the name for God that's big. It's majestic. Now the Elohim, the I am, is plural. So it can have a meaning of plural, which is where we get Trinity from, but it's one. It's one God that's big and majestic, and he is creating here. In the beginning, the creator of everything was creating everything. And there's a wonderful cadence. to it. It's rhythmic almost. It's poetry really. He says let there be this and there was this. Let there be that and there was that. Let there be light and there was light. Let the earth bring forth this and it did. And let it bring forth that and it did. And let there be land animals and let there be sea creatures and then creeping things to crawl on the earth. I know, I think I know why he did it but I could have done without the creeping things on the earth. But listen, God is creating Elohim, majestic, big, wonderful, glorious God is creating everything that your five senses will experience. God is creating in Genesis chapter 1 and it's beautiful. And then in Genesis chapter 2 it's a myopic. Now a myopic is just where you pull something out and you look at something, a detail of something. It's a myopic of the creation of the humans. So he's creating everything and then he's going to create humanity. He's going to create some humans here. And so Moses pulls out in Genesis chapter 2 for us to look at this creation of the humans. And it's interesting because it goes from Elohim in chapter 1, God, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, to Lord God in Genesis 2. When he creates humanity he becomes personable. He becomes knowable. It becomes Yahweh Elohim, the personal God, the knowable God. And it's an interesting thing. He creates Adam and

then he lets Adam name all of the animals. Do you remember that? And that's really so. He did it on purpose and he did it so that Adam would see that there was nothing like him. Everything else had something. Everything else had a mate. The animal kingdom, they all had something that, there were two of them. They all had something for themselves. There was a mate there. But for Adam there wasn't one. And the Bible says something very interesting. It's not good that man should be alone. And every man in the room say it. Amen. We know that's not true. I mean that's true. It's not good that man should be alone. And so he creates Eve. He causes this deep sleep to fall upon Adam. Okay, a deep sleep. Think about what you're gonna be doing about two o'clock today in that easy chair, right? That's Adam. And he takes something from his side. And most scholars believe that it was probably a rib. Because later he says, this is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman. Or she should be called Eshah, for she was taken from Esh. She shall be called woman, for she was taken from man. And I want you to understand, it was perfect. They were in a perfect setting. They were created perfectly. There was Adam, there was Eve, and there was nothing in between them. There was no credit card debt yet to fight over. You know, I'm sure they got offers from Visa and MasterCard in the mail. But there was no, there was no, no credit card debt. There was no conflict. There was nothing in between them. There weren't even kids yet. Okay, there was no conflict between kids. Eve never looked at Adam yet and said, I could use a little help around here. And I'm sure you guys have never heard that. Or, you know, I hate always being the bad guy. You could help with a little discipline around here. That hadn't happened yet. There was perfection. Listen, there wasn't even clothing between them. That was on purpose. Life was supposed to give way to life. That be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth was what they were supposed to do. And here's an amazing thing. This amazing creator then puts the blueprint inside of each one of them. The DNA, the blueprint, so that they could be part of the creative process going forward. It was a masterful, beautiful, wonderful plan. But then we get

to Genesis chapter 3 and something happens that's horrific. We're gonna read this. Genesis 3 verses 1 through 6. We're gonna read 1 through 8. Let's read it together. I'll read it. You listen. Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field, which the Lord God had made. Make no mistake, that is Satan. Whether he was in the form of a serpent, whether he was an actual serpent, it doesn't matter. That was Satan. And he said to the woman, has God indeed said you shall not eat of every tree of the garden? You mean God's put you in this beautiful place and you can't eat of any of this? Mark it down, church. Satan's job, his main purpose, is to get you to doubt the goodness of God. You mean God's put you in in this place and you can't eat of any of it? Is that what God said? No, that's not what God said at all. Verse 2. And the woman said to the serpent, no, we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, that one right back there, the tree of the life of, or the tree of the knowledge. Is there good and evil that one? She said, we can't eat of it, nor shall you touch it lest you die. Did he say not to touch it? No, he didn't say that. So think about this. Eve's already sort of leaning in to the wrong way here. Then the serpent said to the woman, you surely will not die, for God knows that in the day that you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God knowing good and evil. Again, striking at the word of God, at the goodness of God. God knows, God's trying to trick you. He knows that when you eat of this,

you're gonna be like him. Verse six, and when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, it was pleasant to the eyes, and it was desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and she ate. Right there is the first instance of the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life that John talks about in his epistle, 1 John. We see the very first instance of it right there. She ate, she also gave to her husband with her, and he ate, and I might add, he ate very willingly. Verse seven, here we go. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together, and they made themselves coverings. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife ran to God, confessed their sin, and leaned into his grace and mercy. No, Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Let's unpack this a little bit. Here's what happened. We may not know exactly how, but we know that it did happen. When they ate of what they weren't supposed to eat of, that very first disobeying God,

because God created creatures, humans in his likeness and in his image, but he gave them free will. He still does. You have that today. When they exercised that free will towards lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, and the pride of life, they sinned. When they sinned, the evil that was outside of them, in some way, shape, or form, comes inside of them. Because it says, their eyes were opened, and they knew that they were naked. This is the first mention of sin, of fear, of guilt, of shame, of running from God. Everything that we still do today, the first mention of it is right here in Genesis 3. In fact, I would say that the battles that we fight today are really ancient ones. And you can trace most all of them back to right here in Genesis chapter 3. So sin is not just what we do. Sin is now, because of our first parents, it's who we are. And they began to die physically. So that now we know, it wasn't supposed to be that way, but now we know the death rate is one per person. I'm not a mathematician, but that is the ratio. It's one per person. No one gets out alive. They begin to die spiritually.

They begin to die physically. And so whatever you wanna call that that came inside of them, and my good Baptist friends and I, we call it a sin nature. Some people call it a sin force. Some people call it depravity. Some people call it original sin. Some people call it the fall. Whatever it is, it's in us. And Paul in Romans 7, 21 says this, it's a law. That's how much we know that every single human has this. It's a law. Look at Romans 7, 18 through 21. And as I read this, they're gonna talk about the human condition, because I've just explained that every single human has this inside of them. So wall to wall, side to side, front to back, as we read this, see if this doesn't describe and define your condition. For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, Paul writes, nothing good dwells. For to will to do good is present with me, but how to perform what is good, I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I don't do, but the evil that I will not to do, that I do. Now, if I do what I will not to do, it's no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. I find then a law that evil is with me or within me,

the one who wills to do good. Listen, this is Paul. This is the Apostle Paul. This is the premier pastor, evangelist, church planner, missionary, known to man, the greatest known to man. And he's saying that the will to do good is within me, but oftentimes I don't do that. The evil that I don't want to do, instead I end up doing. There's a law that evil, it feels like there's evil within me sometimes. Does anybody else besides me have that feeling? Okay, eight of us. Good. Eight of us have that feeling. Eight of us have that feeling. Again, whatever you want to call it, I know it's universal. I know. I've spoken with enough people over these years, and I've counseled enough people, and I've been with you enough times. I know this is universal. So whatever you want to call it, you call it a sin force, a sin nature, you call it the fall, original sin, depravity, whatever you want to call it, it's here. We trace the call, and it's coming right here from within the house. We've traced it, and it's coming from within our inner man or our inner woman. That's why, listen, I can spend so many hours on this thing. I can become all culturally woke to where now I know how to do the best for me. I'm getting rid of all the negative people, all the negative energy, all the negative circumstances, positive vibes only. I'm going to follow my heart. I'm going to do what makes me happy. It's me time, everything I'm told on here to do. But if I don't take care of this, I'm going to be jacked up. That's a theological term, jacked up. You just will. That's why you can do all of those things, and it almost seems like it's worse than before, because I did follow my heart, and look where it got me. I did pursue happiness, and I should have found it because I wanted this, but now I'm really deeply not happy. It's because we've traced the call, that evil is present within me, the one who wills to do good, that sin nature, that sin force, that whatever you want to call it, depravity, all of it,

it's within each one of us. Here's our second big thought for the day. If we don't understand the depth of our sin, we won't appreciate the depth of God's mercy. Listen, if you only take one thing home, if you're like at Publix and you do what I do, I grab the basket, even if I know I'm going to need the cart, I try to shove a bunch of, if you just grab the basket this morning, you didn't get the cart, I'm not listening too much, I'm only going to take one thing home, take this home. If we don't understand the depth of our sin, we will not appreciate the depth of God's great mercy. Look how Paul sums it up in these next couple of verses. Romans 7, 24. Now listen, here's what he's done. He's just created this universal feeling that we all have. The good that I will to do, I don't do. The evil that I want to do, I don't want to do. That I end up doing way too often. I know that there's a law that evil is present within me. Right after that, O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? And listen, God sometimes delivers us through things, we know that. In the Greek, this is deliver me out of. Who will deliver me out of this body of death, O wretched man that I am. This is so much more than doing more things good and less things bad. This is so much more than just, I'm just going to try to be a good person. I'm going to try to turn over a new leaf. I'm going to try new habits. I'm going to try to be kinder. I'm going to, listen, all those things are good this way. I'm not saying don't do those things, but way too often, that's how we think that God is. That's how we think that we get to heaven, is I'm going to do more things good and less things wrong. And then when I get there, they're going to put those scales up and it's going to be real close. But man, at the end of my life, I did just enough to get in. Unfortunately, I'll just share that. Unfortunately, that's the way most of the people who attend church believe. Polls show it, that most of the people who are in church this morning all across the globe believe that it's still, I'm going to do more things good than bad. I go to heaven. And I want to invite you, if that's what you're today, it's not just the shallow end of the pool. It's the wrong pool. It's not just the shallow end. You're in the wrong pool. So listen to the lifeguard today, get out of the pool. Don't even dry off, run over and jump in this pool that we're talking about today. You need to get in the right frame of mind. It's not just a faith and salvation is not outside in. The more good I do out here, I'm going to somehow become righteous and right before God have right standing here. That's not the way it works. It's not an outside in thing. I can't do good and become good.

in God's eyes. It's faith and salvation, it's an inside out thing. It's an inside out thing. I become saved. I become the righteousness of God in here through Jesus Christ. And then I begin to do good out here. It's not an outside in thing. And so this body of death, and here's why it's not an outside in thing. Paul talks about this body of death. It's very, very interesting. It's only used here. And it's a euphemism, it's a moniker, it's a name for a way that Rome used to put people to death. It's a name for capital punishment that according to Spurgeon, and according to a couple of other scholars that I like to read, and an old ancient Greco-Roman poem, it's a manner of death in a certain time and in certain areas of Rome for capital murder, the body of death. And here's how it worked. Now, you know, Rome was expert at putting people to death, at torture and death. I mean, just think crucifixion, right? It's where we get the term excruciating from. So they knew what they were doing here. And so it was a manner of capital punishment

where if you were to kill somebody, they would affix, strap, or shackle the dead body back to back to yours. So here's how, if your goats got into my garden, and we talked about it before, and I got mad before, but this is how I feed my family, you know? But your goats get into my garden and they eat all the produce there and I can't feed my family and I get mad and I hit you over the head with a rock and I kill you. They could, in certain times, in certain days in ancient Rome, strap your corpse to me, affix it, shackle it to me, the victim to the perpetrator. And listen, I know this is Sunday morning and this isn't pleasantries, but remember, if we don't understand the depth of our sin, we won't appreciate the depth of God's great mercy. Paul himself says that this sin we have within, that this punishment that we have coming, this eternal punishment, because of this sin is a body of death. Who will deliver me? Who will take me out of this punishment that I have coming? And so for the next few uncomfortable moments, I want you to just think about what that would be like, to have a body, to have a corpse affixed to you, to have it shackled to you, to where over the next 30 days, think about what the next 30 days would be like as the processes that begin to decay that body slowly begin to work on yours,

to where it makes you sick and eventually you die. It was a slow, protracted death for these people. So again, as you are just thinking about what that would be like, I want you to understand that every single human has this death sentence hanging over them, every single human. So whatever else we try to make Jesus mean in this culture, no, I think Jesus is very interested in this over here. Well, no, he's this over here. And sometimes we politicize that to our shame. No, he's definitely in this over here. Listen, the main mission of Jesus Christ was said by John, who laid eyes on him and said, behold, the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world. That's the main mission of Jesus, because every single human has this body of death affixed to them, you and me. And I want us to see the first humans, they attempted to do something about it. Look at Genesis 3, 7. Genesis 3, 7 says this. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together, and they made themselves coverings. They knew that they were naked, they sewed fig leaves together, and they made themselves coverings. Now, why fig leaves? That's what they had, that's what they had on hand.

That's why they used fig leaves, whatever they had. But listen, that's us today. We know that something's wrong. We know we're jacked up. We know that there's something not right inside of us. And we'll paper over it. We can paper over it with our money. We can paper over it with degrees. We can paper over it with success. We can paper over it with religion. We can paper over it with any number of things that we have handy, but you know what? It still stinks and it still kills. Maybe this is where you are today. Maybe you've known something was not right. You go to church and you worship and you can feel a pull, but you've never said yes to Jesus. You've never stepped over. I wanna show you what that looks like. I wanna show you what happens here because the first humans tried to make excuse. Maybe you've been making excuses. The first humans tried to paper over it and act as if it wasn't there. Maybe that's you, but man, God stepped in. They put fig leaves hoping that would do it, but God stepped in. He covered them with animal skins. That's the very first instance that we see of sacrifice for sin in the Bible.

God covers them with animal skins. He atones for them. Atoning is just a covering, and that's how they would do it until Jesus the Christ appeared. They would atone by covering with the blood of animals, and so God stepped in for these very first humans. Here's our good news today. Here's the good news of Jesus himself is that God still steps in for us. I mean, imagine that you're shackled to this body of death. Imagine, again, 30 days, what that would be like for you, and then imagine that to your amazement and surprise as you call out to the name of Jesus Christ, as you call out to God, you feel those shackles coming off, and your euphoria as it drops to the ground behind you, and you are suddenly free. I mean, just imagine what that feels like. The weight is gone. It's gone. It's like, I don't even know what, I'm surprised I'm euphoric. It's fallen. I thought that that was going to kill me. I thought I was going to die with that, and then imagine further your surprise when you look, and Jesus not only has unshackled you, but he's shackled it to himself because your sin, your punishment, your sentence wasn't just commuted.

It was paid in full. Jesus paid it all. He not only shackled himself to it, he nailed himself to it. We'll put this on the screen. That body of death that was on your back became the cross on his. That body of death, that sentence that you had upon you, that death sentence that you had upon you became the cross on him, and again, he not only shackled himself to it, he nailed himself to it. He who knew no sin became sin for you, that you could become the righteousness of God in him. Now, how do we know that this has paid it all? How do we know? Well, Paul continues the story. Right after, oh, wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? Look at Romans 8.1. There is now, therefore, no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. No condemnation means that there's not condemnation for those who are in Jesus, but it means there is condemnation for those who aren't in Jesus. Well, there's no condemnation. He's paid your price. Those who cry out to God, those who cry out to Jesus, find no condemnation,

because he, again, nails himself to the cross. He takes that body of death that was on your back upon himself. Look at Romans 10.13. For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Church, it's simple, but it's profound. I acknowledge, I acknowledge my sin. I acknowledge that I have this body of death on me. I acknowledge I can't save myself. It's shackled to me. I'm serving a sentence. It's a punishment. I get it. I cannot save myself. I believe that Jesus is the Savior. I believe he's the Son of God. I believe that he came to take that from me. So I cry out to him. It's ABCs. I cry out to him. I confess him as Lord and Savior. Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. It's simple, but it's profound. And so my invitation to you today, if you've never called upon the name of the Lord, you need to do that now. If you've never cried out to God, if you are still carrying that sin burden around, today's the day. Maybe it's you've never seen it before.

Maybe the Holy Spirit has never really pulled you before, but he's pulling you now. Listen, the most important decision you can ever make is that one, to call upon the name of the Lord, to find that saving grace in Jesus Christ. And so I'm gonna just pray a prayer. If you've never prayed that prayer, pray it today. Pray this, Heavenly Father, I know that I am a sinner. I know that I cannot save myself. I believe, Jesus, that you came to die for me. I believe you're the Son of God. I confess, Lord, with my mouth, that you are my Savior. I commit my life to you. I will live for you from this day forward in Jesus' name. Amen and amen. Hey, if you said that today, welcome to the family of God. Amen. Amen. That burden's been lifted. The sentence hasn't just been commuted, it's been paid in full. And we're gonna do something now that I absolutely love, which is take communion together. We've just heard about what the blood and the body of Christ has done for us. We've heard how it has purchased us. But we're gonna take this together. You should have gotten it when you came in. Did everybody get one? Okay, good, good, good, good.

And the worship team is gonna come out. And here's what I want us to do. Lewis, if you'll put that last slide up. I want us to think about this. As you guys are, peel that top little film off first. Just the very, very top film where you get the wafer. And then you can pull the thicker part off where you're gonna drink the juice. But very quickly, we've talked about some deep stuff today. Here's what Jesus has done for us. Through his death, his burial, and his resurrection. And by the way, I wanna encourage you with something. Only Jesus did this. The universe didn't do this for you. Buddha didn't do this for you. Nothing else in the world ever claimed to do it for you. Don't make other things mean what they never meant. Jesus alone said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. He sent the Son of God on a mercy mission. And through his death, the blood that was shed, and him taking that body of death on himself and nailing himself to it in the form of a cross, he's restored that relationship that was broken between you and God. Have you ever had a relationship with somebody you hadn't spoken to them for a long time, and all of a sudden that's restored?

That's what happened. Jesus, the mediator between man and God, restored that with his own life. He reconciled us. That's an accounting term. We had insufficient funds. Anybody ever have insufficient funds before? I have. We had no righteousness on our own. We had no right standing with God. The account was way off. Our account was empty. But he who knew no sin became sin so that we could become the righteousness of God in him. He imputed righteousness and right standing into your account. He says he redeemed us. He bought us back out of sin and death and hell in the grave. He bought you back with his blood in his body. He regenerated you. Once the old life falls off, the body of death falls off, there's lightness, there's grace, there's euphoria. He fills you with his spirit. It's a little down payment on eternity. He gives you himself in the form of the Holy Spirit. And all of that is rescued. That's good news. God rescued you. Church, we've been rescued. We've been rescued.

It's good news. It's the best news ever. The best news is Jesus himself. And so on the night, Paul writes this, on the night that he was taken, Jesus in the upper room with his disciples, he broke. the bread, and he gave it to each one, and he told them, this is my body that's going to be broken for you. As often as you eat it, eat in remembrance of me. Church, let's eat together. Paul says this, in the same manner, he took the cup, very interesting. He said, this cup represents a new covenant that's in my blood, no longer animal skins, no longer animal sacrifice, it's a new covenant. It's the blood of the Lamb of God. It's a once for all, forever sacrifice. Jesus paid it all. As often as you drink it, drink in remembrance of me. Church, let's drink together. Father, thank you. Thank you for Jesus. Thank you for our sacrifice. Thank you for loving us enough, God, to send your son on a mercy mission. Lord, we're not worthy. But God, you knew that before you came. You died for the unworthy. Lord, you took our sin, our guilt, our shame.

Lord, we don't have to run from you now. God, we can run to you, because Jesus paid it all. We're thankful for the blood and the body of Christ that's restored us. We love you, in Jesus' name. Say it with me, amen and amen. Amen, come on, would you stand with us as we respond in praising the name above all names. Let's sing this together, sing this out. Oh, praise the name of the Lord our God. Oh, praise, yes, we respond in worship to him. In gratitude and thankfulness for all that he has done. For endless days, we will sing your praise. Oh, oh, oh, celebrate with us, church. Come on, sing our praise. Oh, praise the name of the Lord our God. Oh, praise his name forevermore. For endless days, we will sing your praise. For all, all our lives. Yes, it's all, all our lives. Come on, we give a praise today. Thank you, Jesus.