No Payment is Ever Enough

[0:00] sometimes when we sin ourselves we would chuck everything into what we physically can to try and redeem ourselves as Christians and so sometimes it might be I know I will sign up to every single church rota possible and just to kind of redeem myself to show that I'm working for God's kingdom is that really what God is calling us into it could be that we would be really kind to lots and lots of people and find ourselves getting really really stuck in conversations and really getting held up in things going on in our lives etc and so we try and redeem ourselves and that's just not possible no payment is ever enough there's nothing that we can do to be completely forgiven and and for us that's a really hard concept especially being British as well even to apologize or even to accept an apology that's even still quite difficult because we don't like to admit that we're wrong and yet we've got this bible we've got this lovely book that has got God's word in and it says that we are wrong and there's nothing we can do about it and when you understand the concept of grace that's that's really difficult but let's go back a minute and let's look at the word sin okay sin is a nasty label it represents everything evil physically possible and so just to understand what sin is sin is an action that we actively decide to partake in that separates us from God okay so that's kind of terminology that a lot of Christians use let's unpack that a bit so

[2:12] God obviously intended to be in communion in relationship and have friendship with us it's actually called kinship which means it's like an adoptive um stance that God has chosen you no matter what even if you don't choose him he has chosen you okay and and so that's what kinship that's what our relationship is like with God and so he has paid the price for us by sending his son it's only him who can pardon us because he can't be with sin in the ancient world especially in the slave trade if a slave was to be set free a ransom would have to be paid and of course as part of this ransom there would be some costs that would need to be covered that happened that the owner would have um occurred and would obviously put some interest on top of that for the trouble of letting this uh slave go and that's exactly what we were we were a slave and our full bodies were completely slaves to sin and that is until God has said enough and he sent his son to die for us on that cross i remember going to um soul survivor who's heard of soul survivor at all a few of you have um so it's a youth festival that was born out of new wine and um and it used to have like 30 000 young people meet a year and i remember um a speaker danielle stripland come and speak and she spoke about an anaconda that was sweeping across the churches and taking them completely whole and she said um when she when God was speaking to her about this she she went on a um uh a trip out into the bush and she was given a little leaflet that told her how to survive a snake attack um if an anaconda comes anywhere near you you are to lay completely dead still on the floor act like you're dead let it consume you all the way up to your waist well i don't like snakes so i'm already not a fan of this um and then when right at the moment and of course when you're doing this it's really important that you have a sharp knife in your pocket okay if you forget if you're listening to this and you forget about the sharp knife god bless you um because i think you're going to be a bit stuck and when the time is right and the snake comes up to your waist she said get the knife out and stab it right in the head and you'll kill the snake um the disclaimer is i've never actually obviously done that so i don't know if it works or not so i don't imagine i would just say run personally um and and she went on to describe the snake that the snake comes over to kill still and destroy and that's exactly what satan is doing sin is something that makes us completely separate it harnesses us it makes us completely um guilty guilty and the fact is is that no matter what we have done as long as we keep coming back to jesus he is the one who has paid the ultimate price not for your past stuff but also for everything in the future that's really difficult to get your head around another way of looking at it is um i went to a christening last weekend and the the vicar was uh explaining to a con a congregation who weren't christians who probably haven't been to church mostly in their life and he was explaining what sin is sin is spelled s-i-n and it can't be spelled especially without the i and the i stands for me as an individual sin cannot be um it it cannot happen without me because i actively take a decision to sin and i felt that was really really good to hear that actually we partake in sin when we choose to sin and so two things that both the poor and the rich have in common does anyone know what that is anyone they both will die and they both stand before god completely naked with none of their riches with none of their possessions with none of their what have you done on earth so to speak there's none of that they stand before god and they are completely blameless they are completely in full of love that god has for them and in forgiveness so there's nothing that we can do here on earth if we have the riches to save our souls from anything other than to believe in jesus so i'm going to land with this because i don't want it to be all doom and gloom imagine this you go out with your family to a restaurant think of your favourite restaurant think of the favourite things that you like to wear you have your favourite dishes a free course meal obviously or more depends if you want more puddings etc your favourite glass of wine as well comes to payment time so you do that very British thing you know you either wave to the waiter or you do that special nod or haven't mastered that yet and you get your card out and you put it in the card machine and then the waiter turns around and says payment is declined we've all been there at some point or at least witnessed someone else be in that situation that's difficult it's embarrassing and it makes you feel like every single person is looking at you and that is exactly what sin is like and then unbeknown to you someone turns around and taps you on the shoulder and you have no idea who they are and they offer to pay for you imagine what kindness that is like that a payment has been made on your behalf by a complete stranger but someone who cares and loves for you

[10:25] Satan is the bartender who has told you that your payment is rejected the stranger is Jesus the one who is who is unknown who is caring and who loves you and so if you go from this church today know this that sin is designed to entrap us to enslave us and it is Jesus who is the one who set us free from that not just from yesterday's sin not just from today's sin but also tomorrow's sin and on and on and on and the only one thing that we could do every single time is just come back to Jesus that's it that is it and so if you feel guilty if you feel shameful or any of them other things that are to do with sin that's not of God because we know a God who is full of love forgiveness and who cares that is Jesus who has paid the ultimate price and there's nothing that we can do to accept that or pay for it other than just to worship him

[11:40] Amen I did say that this would be fun and so I'm going to ask you to stand if that's okay if you're able to if you could just close your eyes and have your hands out in front of you and if there's anything that you are struggling with to do with sin or anything at all in your mind just place that item in your hand in front of you and when you are ready to hand it over to God to say I can't do this anymore turn your hands down to the floor as if it were to fall out of your hand and let him have the control because we're returning back to him in worship so Holy Spirit we give thanks for you being here today give thanks for everyone being here and we pray that you stir our hearts to come to you more and to know you more may you be with us today and forever and in weeks ahead be with us in the storms and in the sunshine be with us in the loud and quiet moments in your precious name

[13:46] Amen Amen Amen