Kingdom: Tabernacle

[0:00] Open your Bibles to Exodus chapter 25. Exodus 25, and you're probably going to want to get to Leviticus chapter 1 at some point as well.

[0:11] We're going to look at that. Let me just, as you're turning there, just kind of give a big picture of where we are. You know, God is the creator of the universe. He's created all things, both visible and invisible, whether thrones, dominions, powers.

[0:26] He has created all things by the power of His Word, and He's done so for His own glory. And in creating all things for His own glory, He made man in His image, and made man to live under His rule and reign, to live under God's command.

[0:47] And Adam failed to do so. He failed to do so. He rebelled against God, and when he rebelled against God, we all fell in Adam. One of the things we have to always keep clear is that the reason sin is in the world is not because we've got a choice, but the reason sin is in the world is because we've inherited sin from Adam.

[1:06] Now, we get a choice, and we sin because of our own natures, but we are inheriting from Adam both guilt and corruption that causes us to need Christ.

[1:22] There was a promise then in the garden that God would Himself separate man and woman from Satan. He would bring that hostility back in that should have been there, and He would do so through the seed of the woman, the one who would come to crush the head of the serpent.

[1:41] And that seed, you can follow it all the way through the Bible as it's inherited off from Seth to Noah to Sham to Abraham to his descendants to David and to Joseph to Jesus.

[1:58] And so, as we come to looking at what we're looking at today, the tabernacle, the whole reason that we're doing this is to understand better Jesus' death on the cross.

[2:10] Because we know it. We know the story. We know the things that are there. But oftentimes, we don't understand all the nuance and all the power and all the things that are going on underneath that.

[2:20] And what's interesting is that in our passage today, as we come to the tabernacle, here's what you have. You have, in Exodus chapter 1 through verse 14, you've got this God delivering His people from Egypt.

[2:34] And then 15 through about 19 is sort of their march away from Egypt to Sinai. But then in chapter 19 through 24, this is what's called the Old Covenant.

[2:47] The Old Covenant. And the moral law of God in the Ten Commandments is the beginning of that Old Covenant. And the reason that God gave them this Old Covenant is because they're going into the Promised Land.

[3:00] And if they wish to stay there, they've got to obey God. And here's what's fascinating to me. The tabernacle is not a part of the Old Covenant.

[3:17] See, here's what's going on. As they come to chapters 19 through 24, Moses has received from God this Word. He gives it to the people. It's all of these instructions about how they ought to live.

[3:30] It's primarily moral and civil law. There's some ceremonial, not much. But as He's giving them this law and this covenant, you come to chapter 24 and verses 1 through 8, the people say, We agree.

[3:43] We agree. We will do by this. We will obey you. We will do what it is you've called us to do. And the very next chapter is the tabernacle.

[3:55] Why is that? Because they're going to fail. They are not going to be able to obey God. They're not going to be able to keep His law.

[4:06] They're not going to be able to do the things that He's called them to do. So He is setting up the tabernacle ahead of time, knowing that they're going to need forgiveness. And He wants to teach them, what does God's redemption and forgiveness really look like?

[4:25] And so as we come to the tabernacle today, we're going to look at two lessons, two big, huge, broad lessons from the tabernacle. And listen, I know there are people that like to take the tabernacle apart and say the 50 golden rings or this and the blue hoops.

[4:44] By the way, how many of you knew that there were blue hoops in the tabernacle? Yeah, just a few of you. Most of us don't even know that, right? But my point is, is that when we dive in and look at the minutia and try to make everything mean something, we miss the big picture.

[5:00] And it's the big picture that we really need to get after. So I'm going to read from Exodus chapter 25, verses 1 through 9, just to sort of set the stage. And then we'll look at the two lessons from the tabernacle.

[5:13] Beginning in verse 1, Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying, Tell the sons of Israel to raise a contribution for me. From every man whose heart moves him, you shall raise my contribution.

[5:26] This is the contribution which you are to raise from them. Gold and silver and bronze, blue, purple and scarlet material, fine linen, goat hair, ram skins, dyed red, porpoise skins, achia wood, oil for the lighting, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, onyx stones and the setting stones for the ephod and for the breast piece.

[5:53] Let them construct a sanctuary for me that I may dwell among them. According to all that I am going to show you as the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furniture, just so you shall construct it.

[6:13] Let's pray. Now Father, we come to you because we need to grasp and understand your word because we need to know more about you.

[6:25] But Lord, we don't need to just have an educational moment. We need to be convicted of our sin and we need to be empowered by your spirit to live in such a way that pleases and glorifies you.

[6:40] And so I pray, Lord, you would help us right now to understand your word in Christ's name. Amen. So I'm just giving you some snippets here.

[6:50] Like we are flying at this thing at like 50, maybe 60,000 feet. All right. But the two lessons that we learn from the tabernacle are number one, that we're separated from God and number two, that we are brought near to God.

[7:07] We're separated from God and we're brought near to God. And what I'm going to do is I'm going to show you sort of the tabernacle. In this first point, we're separated from God.

[7:20] There are four separations. Now, if you didn't pick up a sermon note page, then you probably want to pick one up on your way out because the verses that I'm referring to are written there. I'm not going to read them for the sake of time because it would be a lot longer sermon if I read all of it.

[7:35] But I'm going to trust you to go do your study and go read the verses yourself. You understand? But everything I'm saying comes right out of these verses. So we're separated from God in the tabernacle.

[7:48] And I want us to look at the separation under four headings. Number one, the first separation is the courtyard. So, all right, let's see if we can do this. I've got a, okay, I have a little laser pointer.

[8:01] I've never used a laser pointer before. Okay, so this is the courtyard fence right here. Okay, all of this is the courtyard out here.

[8:12] So I'm just going to walk through real quick and show you things and then I'll get back to it, okay? So this is the gate you come into. This is where you'd come to slaughter your animals over here.

[8:22] Can y'all see that little dot? Because that's so much fun. Okay. Then you have the bronze altar and you have the laver. All right? And then this part is the tabernacle proper.

[8:33] And it has two rooms. Megan, let's go ahead and go to that. All right, so this is the two rooms. The first room is right here.

[8:43] On the front, you've got table of showbread. You've got the lampstand, altar of incense. The back room is the Holy of Holies. That's where the Ark of the Covenant is, okay? So that's just the structure of it.

[8:55] You got that in your head? Because I can't talk and use this little thing at the same time. All right, let's go back to the first one. So the first separation is the courtyard. Exodus chapter 27, 9 through 19.

[9:06] This courtyard is made of about 100 pillars. It's linen draped over the structure. It's a structure that's just enough to keep out well-wishers.

[9:18] In other words, it's about the size of a privacy fence. About the only thing you could see is Wilson, right? Is somebody just peeking over. Just enough to kind of see what's going on without being able to see clearly what's going on.

[9:31] And this fence around the courtyard was there to keep out anyone who was not a Jew. If you were not a Jew, you could not go into the courtyard.

[9:44] So I'm just saying right here, right now, unless there's something about you I don't know, none of us would be allowed to go into that courtyard. Okay?

[9:54] So that's the first separation. The second separation is the bronze altar and the bronze laver. Exodus chapter 30, verse 17 through 21. Exodus chapter 27, verses 1 through 8.

[10:07] Here's what's going on here. First of all, let's talk about the laver. The laver is this big bronze bowl that's full of water. And the reason that it's there is for the priest to wash himself.

[10:19] He would wash himself on two occasions. He would wash himself in order to go to the bronze altar to do the sacrifices. But he would wash himself to be able to go into the tabernacle before God.

[10:32] The bronze altar is like a square box that is sort of hollow on the inside with a great sort of like a big grill or something in the middle.

[10:46] And this bronze altar, this is where the sacrifices were brought once they were already slain. And they would put them on this thing in order to burn them up. Right?

[10:56] And so the reason it's hollow is for the ashes and things to fall underneath. But here's the thing. The reason this is a separation is because only one of the Levites could come up to the bronze altar and offer anything on the altar.

[11:12] And it couldn't be just any Levite priest. It had to be a Levite priest who had washed himself before he came to the bronze altar. The third separation is what you call the holy place.

[11:26] That's that first room. That first room in which there's the three pieces of furniture. This room is overlaid with gold. And in this room there's the table of showbread with 12 loaves of bread.

[11:37] They change them out weekly. The loaves represent each one of the tribes of Israel. And the priest, as they change them out, the old bread goes to the priest as their food for their service in changing out the bread.

[11:54] But it represented God's presence and God's provision to his people. Then to the other side is the lampstand that has the seven candlesticks or the seven wicks.

[12:06] They would put oil in it with wicks in order to light it. It was to be trimmed and kept lit all the time that the tabernacle was set up. And you can just imagine this room overlaid with gold and silver.

[12:16] And you got the candle burning. It sort of lit this place up very brilliantly, right? It's just a beautiful, beautiful sight. This was the presence of God, the spirit of God with his people as he lit their way.

[12:31] And then right in front of the veil was the altar of incense. It was shaped similarly to the altar outside, the bronze altar, but it was smaller. And on it they would burn incense, which as they prayed, it's as though their prayers go up to God in the smoke of the incense.

[12:51] And so the priest on duty would come and deal with the bread, deal with the lampstand, go to the altar, burn the incense, the smoke of the prayers of the people rising up to the Lord.

[13:04] This is where Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, was when he saw the angel that told him he was going to have a son. He was on duty.

[13:15] Because not just any Levite priest could come and do this, because this was going to be a time in which maybe once in your lifetime you would be chosen for this duty.

[13:27] Now, different priests would come through here and do this, but for you this was probably Zechariah's once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be in the holy place, to do this service before the Lord.

[13:39] Not just any priest could come, but one who was chosen for that duty. Then you come to the final separation, and this is the holy of holies, or the most holy place.

[13:52] There was a veil that separated the holy place from the most holy place. And inside the most holy place was the Ark of the Covenant, a box. It was overlaid with gold, and inside the box there was Aaron's staff that budded.

[14:07] There was a jar of manna, and then there were the Ten Commandments laid inside of this box. Then on top of, covering the Ten Commandments, was the mercy seat.

[14:26] It was basically the lid to the box. And on this lid, on this mercy seat, were two angels, cherubims, facing one another, with their wings outstretched towards one another.

[14:41] And God says it is there between the wings that he would meet his people. And it was into this place that not just any priest could come, not just any washed priest, not just any on-duty priest, but only the high priest.

[15:04] And only one time a year. And before he could even come into this place, the front room had to be prepared, and the altar of incense had to be lit in order for the prayers of the people to go up, in order to fill the most holy place with the smoke of the incense of the prayers of the people, so that when the high priest goes in, he did not see God.

[15:29] And as the high priest would enter into this place, he would bring the blood on the Day of Atonement, and he would sprinkle it there on the mercy seat between the wings. And if God were pleased with the sacrifice, he would forgive his people of their sins done in ignorance.

[15:46] But if God was not, the idea was that he had a rope tied to his ankle, bells on the fringe of his garment, God would strike the high priest dead, and since no one could enter it but the high priest, they would pull him back out.

[16:02] This was the fourth separation. As a matter of fact, Hebrews gives us some of this. In chapter 9, verse 6, it says, Now when these things have been so prepared, the priests are continually entering the outer tabernacle, performing the divine worship.

[16:19] That's the holy place where Zechariah was. Verse 7, Now here's the question.

[16:35] Why the separation? I mean, you can kind of look at this thing and get this feel that you're walking into a throne room, right?

[16:50] You got dirt and ground outside and in the courtyard. You start to get the bronze mixed with that. And when you get to the holy place, you begin to get the gold that's there. But when you get to the most holy place, only God is there.

[17:03] It's the throne room of God. Why the separation? Why does he separate himself out from his people? Didn't he redeem them?

[17:14] Didn't he rescue them? Didn't he choose them through Abraham, their father? Didn't he give them his law? Didn't he give them a covenant? Didn't they agree to follow this covenant?

[17:26] Why the separation? Because although God rescued and redeemed them out of Israel, although God redeemed them and rescued them out of Egypt, that was an external redemption.

[17:50] It didn't change hearts. And so as they go into this new land, what they need to be learning all the time is that what has happened on the outside is something that needs to happen on the inside.

[18:07] And to have God's law and God's covenant constantly in front of them, they are going to begin to see that they have sin still in their heart. That even though they've been taken out of Egypt, Egypt has not yet been taken out of them.

[18:20] And there needs to be a heart change in his people, so he sets up the tabernacle to show them that even though he's rescued them, you still cannot just approach me however you want.

[18:32] You still must come by the blood of the Lamb. They need to see their sin. They need to see that God is a God of standards. That God is a God that we cannot just be approached any time that we want to approach Him.

[18:48] You see, this is the lesson that we today still need to learn. This is the lesson we need to teach to people who are not Christians. And I would just say, maybe there's somebody here who does not know Christ.

[18:59] You've never trusted Christ. Maybe you're religious and you know the stories, but you've never really had your heart changed. You're just like an Israelite who's been taken out of Egypt, but Egypt hasn't been taken out of you yet.

[19:11] Let me just talk to you for just a second because I want you to understand that God is a holy God. He is other than us. And we cannot just approach Him however we want to.

[19:25] He is a God with standards, and those standards must be met in order to be in His presence. It's kind of like this. Like, I'm never going to go to the opera.

[19:37] It's not because I don't understand it, and it's not because I don't appreciate it. It's because I don't have a tuxedo.

[19:50] And I just think it's impractical to buy one right now for me. But there's a standard. If you're going to go to one of those things, there's standards for how you have to dress. And all I'm saying is that God is a God of standards.

[20:06] He is not like some sort of grandpa sitting there with more money than he knows what to do with, just waiting to dole it out upon someone. He's not sitting around to soothe our hurts, waiting for us to just come pawing at Him.

[20:20] He is a God that we are separated from because He is holy. He is righteous altogether. He is purity perfected. The foundation of His throne is justice and righteousness.

[20:32] And there is nothing that you and I have or can do that can ever be with God, period.

[20:42] Our only hope is to admit that we have nothing that God wants.

[20:55] Nothing that meets His standards. And then turn to Jesus who meets the standard for us. And you know, that's how I would apply that to somebody who's not a Christian.

[21:12] But let's talk about Christians for just a second. We see this separation in the tabernacle. How do we need to apply that to our lives? What do we need to think about in this?

[21:23] And here's what I would say. Christians, we need to remember that we were once separated from God. If you have repented of your sin and trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ and you know if you were to die today you would be in heaven for eternity, then here's the thing.

[21:41] As a Christian, you need to remember how you were once separated from God. You need to go back and rehearse that. You need to think about that. You need to remember how you were an outcast from God's presence, deserving nothing but death and hell.

[21:57] And this is what Paul says in Titus chapter 3. Paul talking to Titus, telling them what to teach the church, says, remind them to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good deed, verse 2, to malign no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing every consideration for all men.

[22:26] One translation reads, showing all courtesy, or having all courtesy to everyone. And here's why, verse 3, for we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.

[22:51] In other words, God demands that His children treat sinners with peaceableness, with gentleness, with every consideration, with some sort of humility.

[23:02] We're to treat every sinner that we come in contact with, with this humility and with this gentleness, because we were once enslaved ourselves. You know, I counseled a Christian man once who had gradually grown in his anger.

[23:23] His anger blew up one day with his family, and I remember that this blow up was almost uncharacteristic to some degree.

[23:33] He began to berate and yell and scream. And in that moment, the question is, how should his wife treat him?

[23:52] Taking in the idea that there was no danger to her physical person, what should be her response to being sinned against by her husband?

[24:09] I know what the world teaches us. The world teaches us that that woman ought to teach that man a lesson. The world teaches us that it's okay to get even and do something ugly if you've been treated in an ugly way.

[24:26] But what does the Bible teach? The Bible teaches that that woman was once foolish and disobedient and enslaved herself. So she ought not to malign her husband.

[24:38] She ought not to live in unpeaceful way with her husband. She ought to show gentleness in every single courtesy she can. That's hard.

[24:52] That's hard because we're steeped. We are steeped in the world that tells us, pats us on the back when we get back at somebody or we teach them a lesson or we avoid them in such a way that saves and preserves our own selves and casts them aside.

[25:14] We have to remember that we were once separated like everyone else. Christians, it is our responsibility to remember that we were separated and to treat sinners with grace and humility and kindness.

[25:37] I know that they're not going to treat us that way. Jesus promised that. But we have a responsibility to obey the Lord.

[25:51] Well, that's the first lesson from the tabernacle. Let's talk about the second lesson from the tabernacle. And here, I want you to turn to Leviticus chapter 1. We're going to just look at verses 1 through 8. The second lesson is that we were brought near to God because we can see that separation clearly there in the tabernacle.

[26:07] So then how can we be brought near? How is the tabernacle a place of grace and forgiveness? Leviticus chapter 1.

[26:18] I'm going to read through these eight verses, stop a couple of times and make some comments and then we'll make some application of this because the tabernacle is there for them to do sacrifices.

[26:29] And this is just one of the sacrifices. We could go in depth on all of them but like we just don't have the time. So just using this one to give us kind of that glimpse into what we really need to be understanding here.

[26:40] Leviticus chapter 1, beginning of verse 1, says, Then the Lord called to Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting saying, Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, When any man of you brings an offering to the Lord, you shall bring an offering of animals from the herd or the flock.

[26:57] If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer it a male without defect. An animal sacrifice.

[27:08] Why an animal? Here's what I think. I think it's an animal because it's not a moral creature.

[27:22] It has what I would call a negative righteousness. In other words, an animal is without the capacity to have or not have righteousness.

[27:33] righteousness. They have never once rebelled against the Creator. It is the only thing on the planet that's blood could be shed for man to stand in man's place.

[27:53] You couldn't take a human and sacrifice him because you're sacrificing something with its own sin. So the lamb had to be without defect in order for it to be as close to righteous as possible.

[28:13] So the sacrifice had to be without defect. We'll keep reading right there in verse 3. He shall offer it at the doorway of the tent of meeting that he may be accepted before the Lord.

[28:25] He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering that it may be accepted for him to make atonement on his behalf. In verse 5, he shall slay the young bull before the Lord.

[28:36] Stop right there for just a second. So he's to come to the doorway of the tent of meeting. So he's not to go to the bronze altar because he's not a priest, but he's going to come into that courtyard. He's going to bring this animal and when he brings this animal, he himself is going to lay his hand upon the head of that animal and he's going to confess his sin to the Lord.

[28:58] He's going to talk about his lust. He's going to talk about his anger. He's going to talk about his greed. He's going to talk about all the things that he's done in the laws that he's broken before God and that sin is going to be transferred or imputed to the lamb, to the animal.

[29:13] And then he himself must slay it. He can't let the priest slay it for him. This lamb stands for him. His sins deserve death and he's transferred his sins to the animal and he himself must slay it.

[29:40] Picking back up. And Aaron's sons, the priest shall offer up the blood and sprinkle the blood around on the altar that is at the doorway of the tent of meeting.

[29:51] Now why are they sprinkling the blood? Because when the animal dies that is not forgiveness. That's justice.

[30:10] Do you understand? We've sinned. We've broken God's law. Justice must be done. Punishment must be meat out. Right? So he slays the lamb.

[30:22] Justice is done. But that's not forgiveness. They catch the blood. And they sprinkle with the blood because in the blood is where the forgiveness of sin is.

[30:36] Because there's life in the blood. Verse 6 He shall then skin the burnt offering and cut it into pieces. The sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire on the altar and arrange wood on the fire.

[30:51] Then Aaron's sons the priest shall arrange the pieces. The head and the suet over the wood which is on the fire that is on the altar. They would then take this sacrifice and offer it on the altar.

[31:05] The bronze altar. They would burn it up completely. Burning it up doesn't help forgiveness. What does the burning up do? The burning up is this idea of complete dedication.

[31:15] complete giving over. Complete surrender. A complete commitment to God. And when God sees or smells the burning aroma of the burnt offering it's called a sweet smelling aroma.

[31:36] Think about this. you've broken God's law. Justice has to be done. You deserve death. We give death to the animal.

[31:48] Punishment substituted. The blood is caught and sprinkled. Forgiveness is given. What about this full dedication?

[32:02] Is that the worshiper dedicating himself to the Lord? Sort of. But it's really about the sacrifice being fully devoted to the Lord.

[32:19] Let me summarize it this way. And I've put these statements on the little handout. Through the death of the sacrifice, the punishment that the sins deserved is counted to the sinner.

[32:34] In other words, the lamb is the substitute for the sinner. And the punishment is given to the lamb and therefore not to the sinner because true justice has no double jeopardy.

[32:45] You do not punish twice. Secondly, through the blood of the sacrifice, forgiveness is won for the sinner. And through the burning up of the sacrifice, the obedience or full devotion of the sacrifice counts for the sinner.

[33:08] You see, do you see what that is? Like, I hope you see that. Maybe you don't. Maybe I'm the only one that sees this. Like, that is so mind-boggling to me and so exciting to me because here's the thing.

[33:19] We cannot be with God because He has standards. Right? The foundation of His throne is justice and righteousness. And Psalm 24 says, who can ascend the hill of the Lord and who can be in His holy place?

[33:31] And it's only those with clean hands and pure hearts. And none of us have clean hands and pure hearts. None of us are fully devoted to the Lord. So none of us could ever be there.

[33:41] So we need Jesus not only to take our place because we've broken God's law so He has to take the punishment for us, but we need Jesus to be forgiven of what we've done. So we need His blood, but we need His righteousness because just having the substitute and just being forgiven is not righteousness and we have to have righteousness to be able to be with God.

[34:07] And so the full burning up of the sacrifice is the righteousness or the image of the righteousness that we need. This is what Hebrews chapter 9, 11-14 that was playing a while ago is saying.

[34:21] It says, but when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater, more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation.

[34:36] So it's not this tabernacle that we're talking about. It's this spiritual image or thought in the heavens with the Lord of a tabernacle. And He doesn't enter it through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood.

[34:50] And He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. redemption. So whereas the blood of bulls and goats, you've got to go every year and do this thing.

[35:01] With Jesus, it's once for all. Verse 13, for if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled, sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, so if that helped them then, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

[35:27] The point is, is that as that was there in the Old Testament, it taught the people to look forward to what Jesus was going to do. And Jesus, the true sacrifice, the true high priest, He is the one who has made the way clear for us to be brought back to God.

[35:48] Christ took our sins, took our place, He took it upon Himself, He shed His blood for us, His life was consumed with a devotion to the Lord.

[36:01] And this is a place where we have to live as a Christian. As a Christian, you should live in this gospel moment of recognizing how much your sin deserves, but understanding what Christ has done for you and living in that moment.

[36:18] God could save her. Why should we do that? Go back. We've got to remember what it was like for us so we can look at what Jesus has done for us.

[36:31] And we need to remember that, one hand, so we can understand how to treat sinners. But why should we think about this? I had a secretary once, she used to tell me that if God could save her, God could save anybody.

[36:45] here's the question, how much has God forgiven you of? What did you deserve?

[36:57] What sins has He forgiven? How has He covered you? How has He rescued you? Because here's the truth of this whole thing, being brought near to God.

[37:10] Here's an application, if you will, that since God so forgave, us, we also ought to forgive others.

[37:23] Ephesians chapter 4 verse 32, Paul says, be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ has also forgiven you. Think back to how you've treated Jesus.

[37:37] Think back to how you've struggled with your anger, with your lust, with your despair, how you've broken the commandments, how you've been disobedient to your parents, how you've had idols in the heart. Think how you have failed against God.

[37:51] Think about how many times He has forgiven you. Think about how many times you've gone to Him in prayer and saying, Lord, please forgive me again. Lord, please forgive me again. Again. if He's forgiven you that much, then how much should you forgive your spouse who sins against you?

[38:16] How much should you forgive your children who disobey you? How much should you forgive your parents who sin against you in their anger?

[38:35] If Jesus forgives them, what right do you have to hold a grudge? but the other thing is that you're not going to be able to look at your spouse's sins in the same way anymore.

[38:57] I mean, when a spouse sins against us, we have a tendency to think about us. My wife sins against me, I have a tendency to think about me and go like, hmm, I don't like that and that's uncomfortable and I'm going to get even and I'm going to whatever it is, the thought that's going to happen.

[39:15] I don't ever think that, by the way. Her sin would be first and foremost against God, not me.

[39:32] You know, when our children would disobey us, one of the things that I would try to teach them is that their disobedience, their sin and that disobedience was not primarily against me but against God.

[39:49] If He has brought us near by His blood and forgiven us and gotten this eternal redemption, then how can we think otherwise? And it's not just that Jesus' death is an example for how we ought to live, it's that His death, in His death, He pours out, or He gets the right, because of His death and resurrection, He gets the right to pour out the Holy Spirit on all His children so that He has purchased for us the power that raised Him from the dead to be able to be poured out in us so we can forgive when we're sinned against in a grievous manner.

[40:30] And I'm not saying that forgiveness means that you just act like it didn't happen. I'm not saying there shouldn't be consequences and things to happen to people who sin and commit crimes. What I'm saying though is that we can't live with a bitterness that eats us from the inside out.

[40:46] That if He has forgiven us, we also ought to forgive them and the power to do so is not pulling yourself up by your bootstraps or being some sort of conservative person.

[40:56] The ability to forgive comes by the work of the Holy Spirit in the heart. you have been brought near to God by the blood of the Lamb.

[41:09] So live in forgiveness. Live in grace. Live in mercy. And if you're not a Christian, there's coming a day of God's wrath.

[41:24] And what's going to stand between you and God's wrath? you can try to make it be your good behavior, and that's going to just get burned up.

[41:37] You can try to make it whatever you want to, but there's only one thing that can be between you and the wrath of God and for you to live eternally in heaven with Him, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ.

[41:52] So I call you today, no matter where you are, no matter what sort of background you have in religion or God or whatever, that if you've never trusted Christ, if you were to die today and you would not spend eternity in heaven with Him, if you don't know where you would go, then today, I call on you, beg you, I plead with you, please, trust Christ.

[42:14] Turn away from your sin, turn away from self-righteousness, turn to Christ, let Him be the boss of your life, commit yourself fully to Him. And just by wanting to do that, you can be assured, He has saved you.

[42:37] Let's pray. Let's pray.