The Mathematics of Mercy: How One Man Outweighs the World | Robby Gallaty

Amen, good morning. Welcome to Long Hollow, thank you for choosing to worship with us today, you could worship anywhere you want, but you're here and we're grateful for that, if you're online, our Gallatin Campus, if you're watching in a living room, or maybe incarcerated, I don't know if you know this, we have around 40,000 men and women incarcerated who worship with Long Hollow every week on the Pando app, is that not crazy to think about, yeah. So we praise the Lord, we welcome you here, and our local jails and prisons as well. Today I wanna talk to you about the mathematics of mercy. The mathematics of mercy, and I wanna describe to you how one man outweighs the whole world. To do that, we need to understand the judicial system today in which we live, and if you know anything about every courtroom in America, it operates under one principle, and that is this. The punishment you commit must fit, or the punishment you receive must fit the crime you commit. You do the crime, you what? You do the time, right. But the punishment fits the crime, meaning when you steal a car, you don't get the death penalty, thank God, right? When you commit a murder, you don't get a fine. In a sense, the punishment has to match what was done. So here's what I want us to wrestle with this morning.

If God is truly just, which the Bible says he is, and we believe that, then sin has to be punished. Like when you commit a sin, there is a debt to pay for that sin. Every lie, every act of pride, every broken relationship, every act of rebellion against God, every transgression you have ever committed must be accounted for, and the question is this. The question isn't whether God's gonna judge sin. He will do that. The question is, who pays for it? Either you, don't miss this, you pay for it, or someone else pays for it. Today, you're gonna leave as we look at Exodus 12 and 13, or actually 12 into 13 next week, we'll read, but we're gonna see as God is going to show us how the judicial system of heaven works, we have to go back 4,000 years to see how God addresses sin from Adam and Eve and then into mankind, and I'll give you a hint. It starts with a lamb and a doorpost and a knight that changed everything. If you have a Bible, turn with me to Exodus 12, and what we're gonna see here is when God addresses sin, he doesn't grade sin on a curve, he grades sin on a cross, amen? Aren't you glad of that? He grades it on the cross of his son. Exodus 12, verse one, we like to say word because we know we get in the word

until the word gets into us, and so Exodus 12, verse one, say word if you're there. Word. Say it like you mean it. Word. Amen, amen. No excuses at 11. The word of the Lord. The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, this month is to be the beginning of the months for you. It is the first month of the year, or your year. By the way, people missed this, but Passover was, the Jewish calendar is different than our calendar today. The first month of their year is basically April when the first moon of that period starts, not January, and in the first month of the Jewish calendar is the first festival of Passover. Isn't that interesting? So Passover, one of the first festivals is Passover. So in the first month of the year, tell the whole community of Israel that on the 10th day of this month, they must each select an animal of their flock according to their father's families, one animal per family. If the household is too small for a whole animal, the person and the neighbor nearest their house are to secure one that is based on the combined number of people.

You should apportion or separate the animal according to what each person will eat. Now, here's what I want you to see. I'm gonna give you three parts to this sermon, but this is bigger than a sermon outline. Every one of these parts is a storyline of how God weaves the Old and New Testament together. So if you're taking notes, I encourage you to do so. Here's the first insight I want you to get. It's a three-step process. First step of Passover was to select a lamb or the selection of the lamb. I mentioned earlier, the biblical calendar revolves around the lunar cycle of the moon. So when you have the first full moon, that's the beginning of the month, and then from that point on, you start counting the days. Passover always happens on a full moon. That's just the way it works. And so you back up, and the process starts on the 10th day of, the Bible says, Nisan. Just a sidebar, it's not an automobile company that you drive around, okay? Nisan is normally the month of April. Lock this in, there'll be a test in a moment, just prepare for it. The 10th of Nisan is the day you select the animal. Then from the 10th of Nisan until the 14th of Nisan, that month, you are to test the animal over the course of that time,

and then on the 14th day, you offer up this spotless, without blemish, animal to the Lord, and then on the 15th day, which is that next day, is Passover, does that make sense? So 10th day selection, 10 to 14, actually four days, but five, you count the first one, but you have that process there of testing, and then the 15th is Passover, everybody clear? This is yes, this is no, okay, clear as mud, okay. Fast forward now, 1,500 years. I wanna take you to the city of Jerusalem. On that day, a man, if you look in the distance, is riding a donkey into the city of David, which is Jerusalem, on the exact same day, you're gonna love this, as the selection process of the lamb. Now, a lot of people miss this, but I wanna show you in your Bible, go to John 12, and I wanna show you the process, how it works. John and Mark are specific with the days they tell us. John 12, one, look at the screen if you don't have the Bible. Six days before the Passover, so 15th, 14th, 13th, 12th, 11th, 10th, this is the sixth day before. So six days before Passover is the ninth of Nisan, okay? 10th is the selection day, ninth is the day before. Six days before Passover, Jesus came to Bethany to meet his friend Lazarus, who was the one Jesus raised from the dead.

Bethany, if you know a map, is right outside of Jerusalem. It would be like saying, I'm in Westmoreland, or I'm in Gallatin, right outside of Hendersonville. So Jesus comes to Gallatin, gonna roll into Hendersonville on a donkey, right? Not really, but Bethany, he's going into Jerusalem on a donkey, and Mark 11, 12 says, the next day, when they went out from where? Not everybody at once, try it again. When they went out from where? Bethany, Jesus entered what? Jerusalem. Notice what the people do the moment he shows up. Matthew 21, verse nine. The people start, the crowds go ahead of him, and they start screaming and shouting, Hosanna, Hosanna, Son of David, blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the one who's coming from the highest heaven. You know what Hosanna means? Save us. When they say that to Jesus, they are saying to Jesus without saying, you're gonna love this. In a real sense, here's what they're saying. The people are saying to Jesus, just like every family in the town is selecting an animal on this day to sacrifice on Passover,

the crowd says, Jesus, you're our lamb. You're the one for us. That's what they're saying in a very real sense. Now you know, once they, well we know that because it's Messianic language, but you know, once they select the lamb on the 10th day, then there comes a process for the next four days. What did I tell you happens? From day 10 to 14, what happens? They test him. Number two, after they select the lamb, they scrutinize, or there is scrutiny over the lamb. Write that down. The scrutiny of the lamb. Pop quiz, what are they testing for? They gotta be perfect. Gotta be blameless. According to Leviticus 22, this lamb has to be unblemished and spotless. Put a pin in this. If you're applying that metaphor, that image to a human, that means that man or woman lives in a way that is upright with integrity. That's what it means. So if I say this man is blamed, that means he lives with integrity, and that'll come into play in a moment. Now God tells the Israelites back in Exodus, look at verse six, chapter 12, he says, all right, after you select the lamb,

you are to keep the lamb until the what day? Lively crowd today, by the way. To the 14th day of the month, then the whole assembly of the community of Israel will do what? Slaughter the animal at twilight, when the sun goes down, or before the sun goes down, you're supposed to slaughter the animal. The key word here in this text is the word keep. Circle that word. That word keep is another word for to test, or observe, or investigate for blemishes. Now let me just pull over for a second. I don't know if you know this, but trying to keep a wild animal, a lamb or a sheep, from bruising its body, or getting a spot, or a blemish is pretty hard. It takes a lot of TLC, amen? I have two dogs. Keeping them from hurting each other is a big task. Anybody with me? I have two boys. That's another story, but anyway, from hurting each other, you gotta tie him up sometime, right, you gotta get, not anymore, but used to. But the reality is, to get this, I mean, no spot, no bruise, no blemish, and so there's a process from the 10th to the 14th where you're examining this lamb, and if they thought the lamb was acceptable to God,

perfect, then they would offer this lamb up. Now, this is exactly what started in Egypt, and it's gonna carry all the way through until the day of Jesus, and on this day that Jesus is entering on the 10th, here's the question, does Jesus get tested or investigated to see if he is without spot or blemish? And the answer is yes. I know what you're thinking, well, I've never heard this before. I was first introduced into the Jewish Roots Hebraic Renewal Movement 23 years ago by a man named Arnold Frichtenbaum. Anybody heard of that name? Yeah, Arnold Frichtenbaum, okay, two of us. Wildly popular guy, as you can tell. Now, he actually is an interesting, love this guy. I've read almost all his stuff. A-R-I-E-L.org, Ariel.org if you're interested. But Arnold Frichtenbaum is a Jewish theologian, graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary, one of the foremost Jewish theologians in the country. Here's what he says about Jesus coming into town. As the Passover lamb, Jesus was set aside on the 10th day of the month with the triumphal entry. The triumphal entry is when Jesus mounts the donkey and rides into town, Palm Sunday. You know this, triumphal entry. The purpose of the triumphal entry was not so much to present Jesus as the King of the Jews.

Now, brace yourself, you never heard what I'm gonna tell you, at least I hadn't until not long ago. The purpose of Jesus riding into town was to set himself aside as the Lamb of God. And then he was, from the 10th of the month to the 14th day of the month, Jesus was tested by four different groups. Now, you're gonna know, every one of these groups represents the religious leadership of the nation of Israel. The Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Scribes, and the Herodians. Now, you're probably saying, show it to me in the Bible. I'm glad you asked. Turn to Mark chapter 11, watch this. After Jesus enters, triumphal entry, Mark 11, right away he's tested. Now, you gotta understand, these people are interrogating him not to get an answer, they're trying to trip him up. Like a prosecuting attorney trying to trip the person they're interviewing or interrogating up, or interrogating to slip up. Okay, the first question is, by the priest and the elders. If you take a note, you can just write this down, look it up later. Mark chapter 11, verse 27. The first question they ask is, by what authority do you, who do you think you are? Who sent you? That's the first question. The second question is asked by the Pharisees

and the Herodians in Mark chapter 12, 13 through 17. Now, if you know anything about the Herodians, which would be nationalists of the country, and the Pharisees, who would have been the pastors, they don't normally get into the proverbial bed together. And yet, these two diametrically different groups are partnering together. And they're gonna ask Jesus, let me ask you a question, boss, is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar? Now, if you extrapolate the answer options for that question, you realize it's a lose-lose for Jesus. But Jesus evades or answers the question in a way that stumps them. Then we get to the third group, the Sadducees. The Sadducees in Mark chapter 12, 18 through 27. If you know anything about the Sadducees, they don't believe in the resurrection, which is why they are sad, you see, right? Yeah. Been sitting on that one since seminary. But anyway, they're sad. So they ask Jesus a question, naturally, about the resurrection. Okay, a woman's married to a man, and he dies, and she marries another brother, and then another man, and then another man. Which husband is hers in the resurrection? Jesus answers that question. The final question is reserved for the preachers, if you will, the priests, the prophets,

the hottie-tottie, the PhDs of the world. These are the elite, the Pharisees, Mark chapter 12, 28. They say, Jesus, of all the commandments, 613, which one's the best? And at the end of this four-day interrogation process, by every group in all of Israel, we get to Mark's words, which are the most chilling, sobering words for the crowd. Mark chapter 12, verse 34. I want you to see these words. It says, after they questioned and interrogated Jesus, no one dared to ask him another question. Now, here's what they're saying, but I wanna read between the lines. Here's what they're saying without saying. We have questioned him, we have investigated him, we have interrogated him, we have seen, is he a man of integrity? And now at the end of it, we are here to say, Jesus is an acceptable sacrifice. There's no blemish, there's nothing in him that would disqualify him. Now you know the scenario here, because you remember the numbers. On the 10th day is the day of what? Selection. From 10 to 14 is what? Testing. And then at the day 14, after you've tested the lamb, before it's dark, twilight, getting dark, you should what?

Sacrifice the lamb, which is the third aspect. Selection, scrutiny, number three, substitution for our sin. The substitution for our sin. Let's go back to verse six, and let's look at what God says to do with this lamb. You're to keep it until the 14th day of the month, and then the whole assembly of the community of Israel will slaughter the animal at what time? Twilight, not total darkness, but when it's getting dark. And then you must take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of your home. You know what he's saying? Take blood and apply it to a piece of wood in the Old Testament. We know where this is going in the New. Take the blood, apply it to the doorposts and the lintel of the home where they are to eat. If you've never understood the blood sacrificial system, lock in for a moment here. The system of killing an innocent animal set up by God to cover for the sin of the world was instituted all the way back in Genesis. So you have to understand, Exodus 12 is not the first introduction of this system. In fact, the first time we see this is in the garden back in the Old Testament. And it's not where you first think. Here, let me say it this way. Let me ask it this way.

Where do we first see the first murder in the Bible or the first death in the Bible or the first bloodshed of anything dying in the entire Bible, frankly, in the entire world? Where does it first happen? Now, some people may say Cain and Abel, but it's before that. Yeah, you're right, Genesis 3, 21. After Adam and Eve sinned, God made clothing, here's what the Bible said, from skins of what? Animals for the man and woman, so he covered them or clothed them because of that. Let's just take a moment here to take this in. I've thought about this a lot. Prior to this animal dying in front of the whole Garden of Eden, in front of the first couple, in front of the animals, in front of the birds, in front of all the livestock, I want you to imagine, prior to this death, nobody had ever experienced loss or seen blood or experienced any kind of killing at all. Perfect tranquility, absolute equilibrium, in harmony with your Creator, intimacy with the Father. Can you imagine the horror seen as, in my mind, I just imagine animals running as God is killing this animal and blood is every, and these people are really like, what did we just do? Write this down, this is the cost of sin. I want you to write this down. Sin, God is showing us from the beginning,

sin always comes with a cost. Every time you sin, look at me, every time we sin, it comes with a cost. There is a sin debt that is accrued in our life, and here's the reality, the only question we have to answer is this, whether it costs you something or someone else is gonna pay for your sin, that's it. Either you're gonna pay or someone else is going to pay. You know, I've often wondered if every time you sin, or better yet, would you stop sinning if every time you did sin, an innocent animal had to die because of it? Every time you looked at porn, somebody dies, innocent animal. Every time you're angry, every time you disrespect, imagine this, next time you lie, Annie is dead. We have to kill Annie. I mean, that's our golden doodle 12. Okay, we don't wanna kill Annie, but the next time you're angry, Tubby's gone. He's out, and he's bad, so he needs to go. But anyway, no, I'm playing. I'm playing, I'm playing. But you're like, wait, imagine that was your dog, right? You're like, wait a minute, what do you mean? Why would the dog, you probably wonder. I mean, that sounds like God is some kind of sadistic father who loves death and bloodshed. Actually, let me recorrect that thinking.

God is just the opposite. God is a loving father who knows how bad sin is for you, that he wants you to have life and life abundantly. This is why God has set up a system to address. Sin, see, God is just, and in order to be a just God, he has to punish sin. Here's what just means. Justice means when you and I stand before the Lord on Judgment Day, and God says to you, why should I let you in my heaven? And you say, because of the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross, what you don't want God to say is this. Oh, I'm sorry, golly. Did we not send a memo down? It's not Jesus anymore, we've gotta believe in Joey. Did you know it was, it's a joke, but think about it, you don't want God changing his mind. That's justice. But at the same time, God can be both just and gracious. God, the same God, don't miss this, that has said there is a punishment for your sin has also created a process for reconciliation. Isn't that good news? The same God that says you're gonna be punished for sin also gives us a process to be right with him. Now, in the Old Testament, it was offering animals and innocent lambs and goats every day in the temple and every year on the Passover. But aren't you glad?

One day, 2,000 years ago, on the cross of Calvary, God himself took matters into his own hands by making the payment himself by putting his son on the cross. Isn't that not good news today, amen? That's what he did. And some of you are wondering, like I did years ago, how is it possible? Are you telling me, Robbie, that one man, Jesus, on Calvary, hanging for six hours on a cross can atone for the sin of the world and at the same time keep millions from eternal judgment? You ever thought about this? Like really, that guy hanging on that cross, one man is going to provide for the sin of the world and give eternal life to millions of people? See, here's the reality. This is why that one man can do that. Look at me. It's because that one man is worth infinitely more than every man or woman who's ever walked planet Earth combined. Here's the way to think of it. Imagine there's a scale in my hand, like a six, seven scale. No, I'm playing. Every time I do that, you just can't not. That's for my boys who are crawling under the seat now. Anyway, what age do you not become cool to your kids?

I don't know what it is, but I'm in that stage right now. Can I get an amen? Anybody, any parents with me? You know? Yeah, I still think I'm kind of cool, but no, Lauren's not cool at all. But anyway, for my boy. Okay, where were we? Scales, okay. So if you have a scale with two sides, I want you to imagine this. If you put everything ever created on this side of the scale, okay? Just follow me here. Every animal that has ever roamed the Earth, every bird that has ever flown in the sky, every planet that's in the heavens, every star that's in the sky, along with every person on planet Earth now, in the past, in the future. Every person who's poor and rich, every person who's white and black, every American, every Chinese, every Russian, every educated, every uneducated, every man, every woman on this side of the scale. And then you put Jesus Christ by himself on the other side. He outweighs them all. Why? Because Jesus is infinitely greater

than every person combined because he's the creator of every created thing. And this is how Paul could say in Ephesians 1, 7, in Christ, you and I, all of us, have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of all of our sin. Isn't that good news? 2 Corinthians 5, 21, he made him who knew no sin to become sin for who? Us, so that you and I might become the righteousness of God. This is how Peter could say in 1 Peter 1, 18, you were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or without spot. The writer of Hebrews chapter 13, verse 12, Jesus also suffered to make people holy by his what? By his blood. Look at me. The sinless one who died on the cross that day took all of your sin and mine upon himself. And in exchange, he offered us freedom and life. I don't know about you. That's a pretty good deal. Amen? What a savior. What a savior. January 13th, 1982, Air Florida flight 90 was about to take off from Washington, DC, the national airport in DC, on a very cold, gray, wintry morning.

The people had not been allowed to board the plane because of the frigid weather outside. It was delayed for hours. And then they finally let people board the plane. As the passengers settled. into their seat that morning, they looked out the window and noticed the wings were being de-iced. The stewardess told everyone to buckle in, they were gonna take off in just a few moments, and right after they took off, 74 seconds later after takeoff, the plane slammed into the 14th Street Bridge and plunged into the Potomac River. It was January, and the weather caused the water to be 35 degrees. Of the 79 people aboard the plane that day, only six had survived, and they were hanging on for dear life to the tail of the plane, which had been broken off. There was rush hour traffic that morning, everyone came to a standstill on the bridge above as they looked below as the people screaming for rescue, they couldn't do anything, they looked helplessly on, and then all of a sudden, the police department deployed a helicopter. The helicopter hovered over the six passengers, they threw a lifeline, just kind of dangled a lifeline down to those who would grab it, they could take them to the shore for safety.

The first person to grab onto the rope that day was a 46-year-old banking investment banker from Atlanta by the name of Arlen Williams. Now you don't know Arlen Williams, and nobody knew him at the time, there was nothing special about him, he was a nobody in a sense, he was nobody famous really, he'd never done anything remarkable up to that point, at least not up to that point. Arlen Williams, when he first grabbed the line, instead of him grabbing hold and taking it himself, he decided to grab the line and he passed it on to the person next to him, he said, you take it, and the person grabbed the line and the helicopter pulled the survivor to shore. When the helicopter came back, Arlen again grabbed the line and passed it to the person next to him again, and again, and again, and again. The five people that were hanging on to the tail were rescued and taken to the shore, and every time that the line would drop, he would look at a total stranger he'd never met in his life before, and he would take the line and he would say, no, you take it, I'll wait and take it next time. Five times, Arlen Williams gave the rope to someone else, and when the helicopter came back and returned to receive him for a sixth time,

Arlen Williams had died. He had succumbed to the freezing cold waters, he had plunged under the surface, they actually didn't find his body until a few days later when he came to the surface again. We hear that story, it's really hard to wrap our mind around why would one man try to save the lives of five complete strangers, makes no sense. Five lives in that moment he decided were more important than his. One of the survivors from the wreckage said a couple of days later, she said, I didn't even know his name until I saw it on the news a few days later. You see, on that day, Arlen Williams died as a hero for strangers. He became a hero, but he did it for people he never knew. Friends, 2,000 years ago, feel the weight of this. Jesus Christ, who was God, not only died for strangers who were estranged to him, Jesus died for his enemies. The people Jesus came to save didn't want him. This is why the Bible says, Jesus came to save us while we were yet still sinners, Christ died for us. The people Jesus came to save didn't want him. This is why the Bible says, Jesus came to save us while we were yet still sinners, the people Jesus came to save didn't want him, and yet he still died.

Here's the point. Jesus didn't just pass the lifeline on Calvary, Jesus became the lifeline. Jesus didn't pay for our punishment, Jesus took on our punishment, amen? He took on our sin and the judgment and the condemnation and the death sentence that was reserved for us. Jesus said, Father, give it to me. Jesus, in a real sense, brother, sister, look at me, is holding out a lifeline for you today to take. And you don't ascend this lifeline by being a good person or meritorious works or trying to pull yourself up to be better. You don't ascend the lifeline by saying I went to church all my life or I did all these good deeds, no. You receive the lifeline by accepting the sacrifice of what Jesus did on the cross of Calvary for your life. See, we started of how a judicial system works and I wanna end there and I want you to feel the weight of this. There are only two ways in this world to settle a debt, whatever debt we have. There's only two ways. Number one is you pay the debt yourself or someone pays the debt for you. And friends, we have a savior who already went to the cross and wrote the check in our name. And the only question we have to answer today is this, will you cash the check that Jesus already sent in the mail

for your soul by accepting the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross for your sin? Now, I don't know where you are today, but I'm gonna pray right now. We're gonna ask the Lord to do a work in your life, and then I'm gonna turn it over to Pastor Russell at Gallatin, return it over to Pastor Danny and Tommy at our prisons or one of our jails in town, and they're gonna invite you to respond, but I'm gonna pray right now in the moment, and here's what I wanna do. I just wanna pray for God to prepare your heart to just respond whatever way God is leading you to respond. If you're in person, you're in line, you're incarcerated, join me for a moment. Just bow your head for a moment. And I'm gonna allow you to pray to the Lord. I want you to say, just bow your head, and you probably say, well, I don't know what to pray. Just say something like this. God, would you soften my heart, my hardened heart right now? God, would you give me ears to hear your voice and eyes to see you? Father, speak to us now we're listening. In Jesus' name, amen. With every head bowed, before we close, I just wanna pray over you individually. We don't have a lot of time, but I just wanna pray. If you would say right now,

if you and I were talking face-to-face, Pastor Robbie, that really touched me. That was a message for me. I needed that. It was as if you spoke directly to me in a room full of people like this. I needed that. You spoke to me, and I wanna surrender my life to Christ. I need to do that now. Would you just slip your hand high? I'm not gonna call you out, but I do wanna pray over you personally. Just slip it high, no one looking but me. Just say, Pastor Robbie, would you pray for me? Thank you in the back, hands up already. Anybody else, Pastor Robbie? Just raise it high so I could see. Pastor Robbie, pray for me. Thank you, sister. Thank you, anyone else? Just high so I could see. Don't be ashamed. Maybe in the back, in the balcony. I see you, little brother. Anyone else? I see you in the back, praise God. Anyone, I see your hand, praise God. You could put your hand down. Thank you, brother in the back, I see you. Father, I pray right now for those

who had the courage to respond, and I pray, God, before they leave, they would not be ashamed to tell someone about what you're doing. And I pray, God, you give them the courage to come to our Next Steps area and receive a gift we have for them to help them walk in the Christian life so they don't have to do it alone and they don't have to feel like they have to do it by themselves. We love you, Jesus. Thank you for the cross. Thank you for Calvary. Thank you for dying for our sin. We ask it in Jesus' name. And everyone said, amen.