[0:00] Let us bow for a moment of prayer. Gracious and most loving Father, it is Thine own holy, inspired, and infallible Word which is open before us.
[0:12] For we know that we are but poor creatures of the dust, and we cannot discern the deep and wonderful truths of God without the help of Thy Spirit. And so we pray that Spirit and Word tonight may work wondrously in harmony, and that Thou wouldst feed our souls with this Thy Word, and that Thou wouldst enlighten and enlarge our hearts with Thy Spirit.
[0:35] Open our eyes that we may see, and unstop our ears that we may hear the voice of the living God, and enlarge our hearts that we may love Thy truth, and that Thou wouldst feed our souls now with this the bread of life, Thy living Word.
[0:51] For we ask it in the holy name of Jesus Christ our Lord, whose Word this is, and for His sake. Amen. At such a stage in a communion season, it is traditional for folk to look at themselves and their own condition, and to see our great need of repentance.
[1:13] Our need of repentance from sin. Sin is the whole reason for our fallenness. It is the whole reason why our Lord needed to go to the cross. And therefore it is the reason for the sacrament, which we will, within a couple of days, be remembering.
[1:29] Sin is everywhere in us and through us. It is like the air we breathe. All that we do in our fallen state, we do in a state of sin.
[1:40] This is one reason why the confession of faith is so right when it says that even when we do the best things that we can, if we do them in a state of unbelief, they are by definition sinful, because everything we do as fallen sinners is sin.
[1:57] And yet to neglect to do these things is even worse. It is a worse category of sin. We continue in such a state of sin until we are in a state of grace.
[2:09] And even then, of course, we fall into sin time and again. Part of the warning in the chapter that we read from Hebrews chapter 3 here is warning believers, and it is directed in the first instance to Jewish believers, but it is equally applicable to all others as well, is warning them against falling back into sin.
[2:32] That the privilege of having known the Lord, the privilege of following the Lord or being called to follow him, is by no means a guarantee of our completing the journey without being dependent upon his help day by day, without confessing our sin day by day, without acknowledging the hold that sin has upon our lives and upon our very nature.
[2:56] He uses the analogy of the children of Israel in the wilderness. And how, although so many multitudes came out of Egypt with Moses, not all of them by any means entered into the promised land at the last.
[3:10] In fact, none who were adults when they came out went in at the end of the day into the promised land. They fell through what this verse here tells us is the deceitfulness, verse 13, of sin.
[3:25] And the apostle warns his readers to take heed, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God, but exhort one another daily while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
[3:44] Sin is, of course, the wedge that gets between us and the Lord. It is that which ultimately, if it is allowed to continue, will destroy our hope of salvation.
[3:56] So I want us to think this evening upon some of the dangers in sin itself, of the deceitfulness of sin, as we have it in this verse, of the destructiveness of sin, and of the demands of sin.
[4:13] Now we measure in sin not because that is what we are all about, but because particularly on this day, and at this stage in the communion season, it is necessary for us to recognize our great need of the Savior.
[4:27] That what we come around the Lord's table to commemorate is not simply an idol or traditional ritual. It is the very stuff of life and death, of eternal life and eternal death.
[4:41] Because except we be redeemed from eternal death, we continue in a state of sin. The deceitfulness of sin is what we are warned about in verse 13. Exalt one another daily while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
[4:59] Now the only other use of the word deceitfulness in the New Testament is in the parable of the sower, which of course our Lord relates and is recounted in at least a couple of gospel accounts.
[5:13] Matthew chapter 13, for example, verse 22, we read, He also that receives seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word, and the care of this word, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.
[5:31] Likewise again in Mark 4, verse 19, The cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.
[5:43] In that instance, it is talking about the deceitfulness of riches. Our passage is talking, of course, about the deceitfulness of sin, but the two are not unrelated. Riches are very deceitful in the first instance because they deceive us into believing that they will make us happy in and of themselves.
[6:05] Once a colleague in my former work, he wasn't a Christian by any means, but he certainly hit the nail on the head when he said, Riches or money won't make me happy. They just mean that I can be miserable in greater comfort.
[6:19] And this is so true of riches in and of themselves. They do not make us happy, and yet they are the elusive pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. That we think, if we only have this wealth, if we only have this little bit more in our bank balance, if we only have this possession, or this house, or this car, or this thing, then we will be fulfilled, then we will be happy.
[6:41] It is deceitful, because it is never the case. You knock your pan out, and you give sweat, blood, and tears in order to achieve these things, and find at the end of the day they do not satisfy.
[6:54] Ultimately, that which satisfies is that which the Lord gives freely, not that which ends up costing us so much. The deceitfulness of riches is not unlike the deceitfulness of sin, because the promise of sin is that somehow giving way on this or that little point will make you happy.
[7:14] It deceives you into believing that it will make you happy. Or, if it will not make you happy, at least it deceives you into thinking that even if you do this or that, it is not all that bad.
[7:29] It does not make you a bad person. Surely it is not as bad as that old book the Bible tells you. Surely it is not as bad as you might have been led to believe.
[7:40] It will deceive you into thinking it is not that serious. Think of the serpent in the garden. They said to Eve, Oh, surely you won't die. God doesn't want you to die.
[7:52] God knows that in the day that you eat of this fruit, your eyes will be opened. You'll be like God yourself. It's not that bad. The deceitfulness of sin.
[8:04] Beware lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. It deceives you and it encourages you. Once you sin, it encourages you always to look at others.
[8:18] Not to look to others, but to look at others. to be comparing ourselves with others. And if we happen to find somebody that when we compare ourselves with them, we don't end up looking quite so good that we find somebody else to compare ourselves with so that by comparison with them, we feel better about ourselves.
[8:37] It will always encourage you to look at others. To be comparing yourselves positively with them. To make you think, they are not so good as me. And so more sin gets in.
[8:48] The one thing sin will never encourage you to do is look to God. Look to Christ. The deceitfulness of sin will never encourage you to look to Christ.
[8:58] Will never encourage you to look to God. Because the whole purpose of sin is to separate between you and God. To drive that wedge between you and the Lord whose grace you need.
[9:13] The deceitfulness of sin is to tell you it's not that bad. To tell you just a little more of it will actually make you happy. Will tell you you're actually an awful lot better than an awful lot of other people.
[9:24] In fact, you're not bad at all. It will never encourage you to look to Christ. Where you will see perfection in all its holiness. And then you'll see in yourself what you are.
[9:36] What I am. It's wretched and poor and blind and naked. Like our Lord said to the Lord, I see us. And yet for them too there was hope if they would yet turn to Him.
[9:46] The whole purpose of the deceitfulness of sin is to separate you from God. To deceive you into believing you will somehow be better off without Him but with this or that or whatever the temptation may be.
[10:00] To separate you from God. Not look to Him. Not draw near to Him. Not seek your forgiveness and salvation in Him. And finally the deceit of sins.
[10:12] The deceit of despair. That you will then come to believe well even if I wanted to look to the Lord now it's too late because I've done this and this and this I can't possibly now go back to the Lord.
[10:24] This is the deceitfulness of it. It will cause you to believe you're so far gone now it doesn't matter. Now if you think I'm talking in abstracts here now maybe we can't think in terms of sin so much but think of for example let's say you try to do something New Year's resolution or whatever like a diet.
[10:42] Let's say you're very good at your diet and you stick on your fruit to your nuts or vegetables or whatever and you stay away from the chocolate and the sugar and the carbohydrates and you're doing so well for so long and then something happens and you eat one little cake or one little bar of chocolate or whatever.
[11:00] Let me ask you in your mind does that then make you think oh it's only one now I'll go back to the strictness of my diet now I'll go back again it was just a blip it was just a mistake now I'll go back to the rigor of the food diet now I'll return again to what I was meant to be doing what it makes you think rather is oh well that's blown it now I might as well pig out completely I might as well blow the diet absolutely might as well eat my chocolates and cakes and everything for you because I've now blown it now I've punctured it so I might as well go the whole hog might as well be hanged for a sheep as for a lamb this is part and parcel of what sin does tells you there's no point trying to go back there's no point trying to return you've done it now you've sinned you've fallen nobody is going to want you now least of all God the deceitfulness of sin is always seeking to separate between you and the Lord what the Lord in his grace and his mercy seeks to do is to gather you to himself sin seeks to separate the Lord seeks to gather the unbridgeable distance between us and the Lord that has opened up since the fall where God is in heaven and we are in a fallen earth we could never bridge that divide it is almost as wide as the gulf that separates in eternity that we read about in Luke 16 with Abraham and Lazarus on the one side and the rich man and all the lost on the other side he says it is an unbridgeable gulf chasm between you and us we can't cross over one to the other we could never get up to heaven to the Lord we would be separated for all eternity from him except he himself would come down and this he has done in the person of his son he has come down in order to reconcile men and women to himself
[12:51] God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself that is God's plan to draw men and women unto himself sin's plan is to separate between you and God the deceitfulness of sin and the further we go on in it the more hardened we become in it and we know that from experience too don't we that what may seem like a terrible thing to do the first time we do it the second time we do it yes it's still pretty bad the third time we do it yes it's bad the fourth time or fifth time or sixth time it's not all that bad I've done it plenty of times before and the heavens didn't fall and God didn't strike me down with lightning so maybe it's not all that bad after all and before we know it it's commonplace this is but a symptom of the hardening of the heart in sin lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin that which fools us deceives us into thinking
[13:51] God does not know or God does not care or God is not bothered or God is more to think about than these little things that little you and your little heart are doing the deceitfulness of sin will lie to you the truth of God is that you are infinitely precious in his sight that you are so important as a sinner that he is willing to come from heaven to earth from the vastness of heaven's glory to the constriction an infinitely small situation of a babe in the womb of the virgin to be born to be helpless to have to have everything done for him as an infant to grow with the constrictions of a body on earth not to be able to be all places at all times as he is in heaven's glory that fills the vastness of the universe it means that when he is in Galilee he cannot be in Judea when he is in Jerusalem he cannot be in Nazareth he is constricted as a human being he voluntarily chooses to do this he voluntarily chooses to lay down his life so that he might die on the cross so that we might be reconciled to him that is how infinitely precious individual sinners are to Christ
[15:14] God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish and have everlasting life for God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved the deceitfulness of sin tells you you don't need saving you're not that bad God loves you anyway he'll bring you into heaven anyway that is pure deceit and we are very good at it and the devil is even better but exhort one another daily while it is called today lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin then we have the destructiveness of sin you see part of the deceit of it is that it will tell you that it's not that bad it's simply it's just you and your life and your choice it is never simply a matter of my life my choice my consequences when we are drawn into sin sin always has wider consequences and they are always destructive the consequences of sin are never positive they are always destructive it may not be so right at the beginning but they will become so as the gulf between
[16:38] God's intention and sin's choice widens and widens and the paths diverge the destructiveness of sin there are always consequences for sin they are always destructive and they always have ramifications for far more people than just me in my little world consider if you want an example of a terrifying outcome of Numbers chapter 16 turn with me if you will for a moment here we find Korah the son of Ishael the son of Kohath the son of Levi and Daphon and Abiram the sons of Eliab and Orm the son of Pellet sons of Reuben took men and they rose up before Moses with certain of the children of Israel 250 princes of the assembly famous in the congregation men of renown and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron and said to them ye take too much upon you seeing all the congregation are holy every one of them and the Lord is among them wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the Lord and when Moses heard it he fell upon his face who do you think you are in other words and these are not just riffraff these are not just the bottom of the
[17:54] Israelite heap these are princes of Israel these are princes from the most senior tribe Reuben and these are Kohathites from the tribe of Levi the privileged priestly tribe from which the priests are drawn these are those who are if you like the cream of the crop these are the ones telling Moses who do you think you are you can't possibly be God's only mouthpiece and don't we hear this time and again whenever one seeks to follow the Lord and his word in truth and in faithfulness you'll get ups from within the outward congregation of the Lord who do you think you are you're not the only people who are Christians you're not the only people who are in the Christian church you're not the only people that have any kind of priority or any sort of option of being the only ones that God speaks through you don't have any monopoly on God's spirit we too are just as important as you we've got just as much access to God's grace you take too much upon you and some of the most hurtful attacks come from within the number of God's people and that's what's happening here in number 16 but what do we see then when Moses says at verse 5 he spake unto
[19:12] Korah and all his company saying even tomorrow the Lord will show who are his and who is holy and will cause him to come near unto him even him whom he hath chosen will he cause to come near unto him and if we fast forward a little to verse 25 Moses rose up and went unto Dathan and Abiram and the elders of Israel followed him and he spake unto the congregation saying depart I pray you from the tents of these wicked men touch nothing of theirs lest ye be consumed in all their sins in other words choose this day whom you will serve stick with them if you want if you dare or separate from them so that you won't be mixed up in their sins so they got up from the tabernacle of Korah Dathan and Abiram on every side and Dathan and Abiram came out and stood in the door of their tents they couldn't very well go anywhere or flee they were the ones who had been in rebellion but here is the heart rending bit they stood in the door of their tents and their wives and their sons and their little children and Moses says hereby ye shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works for I have not done them of mine own mind if these men die the common death of all men that if they be visited after the visitation of all men then the Lord hath not sent me but if the Lord make a new thing in the earth open her mouth and swallow them up with all that appertain unto them and they go down quick into the pit then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the Lord and it came to pass as he had made an end of speaking all these words that the ground clave a thunder that was under them and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up and their houses and all the men that appertained unto Korah and all their goods they and all that appertained to them went down alive into the pit and the earth closed upon them and they perished from among the congregation and all Israel that were round about them fled at the cry of them not simply at what happened but the awful sound of the cry as they went down for they said lest the earth swallow us up also and they came out of fire from the Lord and consumed the 250 men that offered incense now okay we can probably be pretty hardened about those who rebelled themselves and were destroyed their choice their consequence it's far more than that isn't it like we read they came out and stood in their tent doors fair enough and their wives and their sons and their little children all of them go down into the pit sin has consequences far more wide than just me myself and my life and my consequences some people will be offended at the idea that all these other souls should go down with those who rebelled themselves against the Lord did God do all that to those poor little innocents truthfully no God didn't do it sin did it they were perfectly at peace before they were carrying on their lives in the camp of Israel as the sons and daughters and little children and grandchildren of these men princes of Israel but they took rebellion upon themselves they took it upon themselves to sin against the Lord and they brought consequences down on themselves and all their loved ones sin did that not the Lord sin did it it brought them into conflict with the Lord and there can only be one outcome when we take on the Lord
[22:56] God cannot be defeated God cannot be overcome he cannot be bettered if we choose to make him our enemy then we can only be destroyed sin has consequences they were perfectly happy and at peace before now they are destroyed through the sin and rebellion of those who ruled them those to whom they were entitled to look for protection for help for provision these were the men who should have been looking after their families who should have cared for their families who should have protected them instead they lead them into a conflict they cannot win and from which destruction is the only certain outcome now perhaps slightly less dramatically we can look to ourselves and our own homes and our own example and question whether or not we are setting the example for our sons and daughters and children and little ones whether or not we are leading them in the ways of prayer in the ways of worship in family worship in personal example in Christian witness and testimony or whether we are abandoning them to indifference to ultimately a conflict with the Lord which they cannot win they on the day of judgment may have looked to us and said why didn't you tell me why didn't you make it clear to me you were the head of my family you were my father or my grandfather you were my parents you were those
[24:27] I looked to for provision why didn't you tell me why didn't you make it clear that I was in a collision course with a holy God against whom there is no victory they were perfectly at peace as part of the commonwealth of Israel and then sin reared its head not maybe in their own hearts but in the hearts of those who ruled over them their covenant heads and so they all went down with them just as we the entire human race have gone down in the pit of original sin because our covenant head Adam sinned and so we as his posterity are tainted with that same fatal terminal illness at the back of all this hardened unrepentant sin which cost the lives of so many in inverted commas innocence at the back of it all is the most subtle and silent and deadly of all sins we might refer to the stealth sin and that is unbelief is that not ultimately what did for the rebels in number 16 they didn't actually believe that God would do anything to them they didn't actually believe there would be any consequences they didn't actually believe the earth would open and swallow them up and it's tempting human nature being what it is that all those who scattered from their tents and drew back weren't so much thinking
[26:04] I don't want to be involved in whatever happens to them were probably thinking well if there's going to be any spectacle here I want a good seat so I can be further back and see all that happens and I'll be able to see it clearly for myself that's human nature right enough but this is the consequence of the most subtle sin of all unbelief people don't actually believe that God means what he says in his word people don't actually believe that God will open the ground and swallow up the unrepentant and the rebellious people don't actually believe that a kind merciful God could actually send anyone to hell they don't believe what he says in his word they don't believe when you point out that Jesus is the one who talks about hell more than anybody else this is the destructiveness of sin that the most powerful silent subtle stealth sin of all unbelief is what is at the back of it all this is what we find here hardened by the deceitfulness of sin into an evil heart of unbelief there we have it at verse 12 take heed brethren lest there be in any of your evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God verse 19 so we see that they could not enter in that is into the promised land because of unbelief isn't that the problem in number 16 isn't that the problem for the human race in the days of
[27:37] Noah why is he building a boat nowhere near the sea if Noah says well he's a preacher of righteousness he says the Lord is going to destroy the world by water he's going to send rain and flood and we're all going to perish unless we're in this they didn't believe it right up to the last minute we're told they were buying and selling and marrying and giving and managing and going about their business until the day the rain fell and the floods came and they were destroyed unbelief they didn't actually believe it was going to happen is that not what condemned Jerusalem at the end it's interesting you know when it says at verse 10 wherefore I was grieved with that generation and said they do all we err in their heart they have not known my ways now talking about the 40 years and the wilderness there there are some commentators who take it that in a New Testament context that the Jews of Jesus' generation also had their 40 years and they take that from the destruction of the temple in AD 70 and count back to when the gospel first began to be preached amongst them because they take it in
[28:50] Luke 3 23 you know Jesus himself began when he began his public ministry to be about 30 years of age which by the traditional counting we would take as AD 30 now we know that that is not actually an accurate system of counting nowadays but if we take it from AD 30 Jesus himself began to be at 30 years of age the destruction of the temple finally AD 70 that's your 40 years when earthly Israel had their chance to come to the Messiah to believe in him to repent and believe as I say some commentators take it you could stretch it a wee bit as a point but the point here in verse 10 is they do all we err in their heart they have not known my ways now that doesn't mean they are ignorant of my ways it means they have chosen not to recognize them it's in the sense in which you have in Exodus where Moses and Aaron go to Pharaoh and Pharaoh says chapter 5 verse 2 who is the
[29:50] Lord that I should obey his voice to let Israel go I know not the Lord neither will I let Israel go he doesn't mean I've never heard of the God of the Hebrews he means I know not I do not recognize I do not accept the authority of the God of the Hebrews I know not the Lord now this is what he means he says they have not known my ways they don't recognize or accept I want anything to do with my ways this is the problem for Israel and Jerusalem this is the problem for the human race in the days of Noah this is the problem in our beloved Scotland I do not believe that God will actually do what he says he will do the destructiveness of sin it always has consequences beyond our own selves it is not enough simply to say well I don't mind too much about my own life and what happens to me what about your loved ones what about your children what about your nieces and nephews what about the consequences for them because if they take a lead from you well so and so doesn't do it you know uncle so and so he doesn't bother or mum or dad they don't bother with the
[31:02] Lord why should I they go with what they've been brought up they're good people they're not bothered with the Lord why should I bother with the Lord the example they will take from us this is part of what the Lord means when he says that the sins of the fathers are visited upon the children to the third and fourth generation of them that hate me now that doesn't mean that innocent children are punished wrongfully for something they didn't do I would suggest to you that one understanding of this news is that if a man or woman for that matter turns against the Lord perhaps having been brought up to know the Lord perhaps not they themselves turn against the Lord then their children are brought up with this hatred of God that is their default position so that is what they in turn pass on to their children and generation after generation becomes ardent in the deceitfulness and destructiveness of this is the norm it's not how it's meant to be friends what God intends it to be is a nation and a people and families covenanted with him trembling before the ark of
[32:10] God trembling before the majesty of God humbled before the sacrifice of the cross thankful and grateful for such a savior and so overflowing with love to him and fear of his name that they desire to conform their lives as near as possible to his laws and commands and teachings and gospel of course we sin of course we fail but we fail trying to do his will and he what the blood of christ cleanses us from all sin for there is always as well as the deceitfulness of sin and the destructiveness of sin there is always the demands of sin and the demands of sin must be met the price of sin must be paid we find that quite simply at the end of Romans 6 for the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord the wages will be paid God pays his bills God is no man's debtor that means he pays his wages bang on the nail and if the wages of sin are not to be paid by the
[33:19] Savior then they must be paid by the sinner Christ pays once and for all on Golgotha on the cross but we are not God the Son our death sacrificial or otherwise will not atone for anything it will take us an eternity to expiate our sins because we have sinned against an eternal God we have committed eternal sin against an eternal God and therefore we will spend an eternity expiating that sin the demands of sin will always need to be met the wages of sin will always need to be paid and they will either be paid by you and me or they must be paid by somebody else now nobody else has the ability or the wherewithal to pay that price except Christ Jesus that's why it's very important that we always complete the verse whenever we quote it the wages of sin is death but the gift of
[34:30] God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord there is no other way for the price to be paid the suffering of our Lord upon the cross had yours been the only sin in all the world he would still have had to go to the cross for it and if of yours being the only sin you were the only sinner in all the world and your sin had only been one sin in your entire life he would still have had to go to the cross for it because that is the price of sin the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord and I would just want us also to think on this that if you consider Jesus Christ is one way of salvation but you know all religions are ultimately trying to lead people to God so maybe it would be just as okay for people following their own particular religion to get to
[35:35] God that way God is broad minded and tolerant and he's an open minded guy far more so than we are so of course he's going to be willing for all these other ways you really think he is somebody might say oh yes yes I believe that consider what you are saying that God was willing for his only beloved son to become human constricted and confined in such a way as he didn't need to be to live out a sinless perfect life on this world remember with all the temptations to which he would have been exposed in this world and to live it sinlessly and to die the excruciating agony of the cross to put his beloved son through that now I could go into great detail about the agonies of crucifixion but I won't tonight but God was willing to put his son through that and he didn't need to because you know if Islam is just as good or Hinduism will get you there just as well or some other philosophy or religion these are all equal ways to God why in the world would a loving father not said you don't take one of these go by one of these ways you don't you don't have to take my son you don't have to go to the cross then why would he why would he put his only beloved son through that unless it was absolutely 100% necessary and if it is necessary then there can be no other way there can be no other means there's no other sacrifice for sin except the blood of our
[37:12] Lord Jesus Christ on the cross the demands of sin must be met the wages of sin shall be paid either by you and me or by somebody else it is either the saviour or the sinner who will pay in the end and let none of us be under any emotions that somehow well God will overlook you sin God will wink at it he'll just pass it by no he won't the price is always going to be paid somebody picks up the tab somebody pays the bill at the end of the day there may be such a thing as a free lunch but there is certainly no such thing as a free salvation that somebody doesn't pay for free to you and me but that's only because somebody else pays for it who pays for your sin at the end of the day the deceitfulness of sin is one thing the destructiveness of sin is another but the demands of sin will never be silenced except by the blood of Christ it cleanseth us from all sin or by the eternal punishment of those who have committed it
[38:28] I won't say it's your choice because ultimately it's not down to our will it is down to God's free grace who moves us and draws us to him but let us make no mistake he draws us because he knows we are needy he knows we are doomed without his precious sacrifice on the cross the demands of sin will be met the price of sin must be paid the wages of sin is death and it must be paid by you and me or it must be paid by somebody else the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord when we think on sin and all its effects we could become very downcast if that is willest oriented but powerful as it is deceitful destructive demanding as it is we should think of it rather like that mountain that is seen in Daniel's vision where the stone cut out without hands rolls down smashes into the base of the man destroys everything else in its path and that is the power of
[39:46] Christ against sin he smashes the power of sin he destroys it by his death upon the cross as Satan had known what Jesus was actually achieving on the cross he would have got Judas not to betray him but to take him to the other end of the country entirely out of harm's way Christ alone pays the wages of sin or else you and I must sin in its deceitfulness sin in its destructiveness sin in its demands all of which is met only in and through the blood of our Savior that is why we must gather at his table that is why we must remember his death that is why we must focus on the only remedy for sin and recognize that it is freely offered to us and we will never be worthy and we will never be right enough with God to merit acceptance we must come as we are because this is a gift for sinners deceived destroyed demanded by all the powers of hell all that sin demands
[41:07] Christ is able to meet and he freely offers and he freely invites to come unto him all who labor under its burden all who are heavy laden and he will give them rest because the price has been paid by him let us pray won't come later to meet at theres of s to beCDC was to be