Hey, good morning everybody.
Good morning.
Good morning, thanks.
If you are new to Watermark, you don't know me, my name is Kevin, one of the leaders here.
It's great to be with you this morning.
I saw a couple of familiar faces, some faces we haven't seen for a while.
It's great to see friends, old and new.
We are a couple of weeks out from Easter.
And so for the next few weeks we are going to be looking at various portions of scripture that help us think about Easter.
If you are new to church or Christianity, you may think Easter, that's about Easter eggs and chocolate things.
And that's like a western holiday, I get some public holidays.
But actually Easter is all about Jesus of Nazareth.
And about his death on the cross.
What we are going to do over the next few weeks is we are going to work through some passages of scripture in the Old Testament
that show us or that shed light on what Easter is all about.
That help us understand the meaning of Easter.
I don't know if you have ever played this game, maybe when you were a kid.
You shine a spotlight and you make shapes out of your hands, right?
So you are like, oh, it's an elephant and it's a dog and you make these shapes, a shining spotlight
and the people behind you have to see the shadow and guess what animal it is.
Do you know what I'm talking about?
Okay.
In some ways, much of the Old Testament is like that.
There are these stories and these narratives that shine a light
and they kind of give the outline of who Jesus is and what the gospel is all about and Christianity and Easter.
But they don't fill it in detail or in color.
We are going to look at some of these passages of the next few weeks that give a bit of an outline, a shadow
of what Easter is all about in the Old Testament
and how the Old Testament foreshadows Jesus on the cross.
So today we are looking at this very famous passage in the Old Testament, Exodus 32 to 34.
It's a long reading, so thank you Raymond and Soda.
Now the context is this.
Just a few weeks before this event that's taken place,
God has just rescued his people out of Egypt.
This amazing, great deliverance.
By the blood of the Lamb, Passover has happened.
They've been saved and rescued.
And now they are traveling between Egypt and Canaan.
Canaan is this land, this area of land that God promised to Abraham.
He would give his descendants.
And they're traveling in the wilderness that disappeared between Egypt and Canaan.
And on this way, God has provided everything for them.
He's given them food, he's given them water, he's given them clothing.
Everything they've needed, God has provided.
And they come to a place called Mount Sinai, about halfway on the journey.
There's some hills.
And at this place, God tells Moses, the leader, the representative,
to go up on the hill.
And God establishes a covenant,
which is like a special relationship with his people, via Moses.
So Moses is on top of Mount Sinai,
and God establishes this covenant relationship.
And he gives Moses the terms and the conditions of the covenant,
which are largely the Ten Commandments,
plus some other instructions.
And God's people, remember,
the Israelites are not just religious people or spiritual people,
they are God's covenant people.
It means they belong to him.
They've entered into a special dynamic relationship with God.
It's kind of like marriage, right?
Marriage is a form of covenant.
And when you get married, you say to your spouse,
all that I am, with all that I have,
I give myself to you.
I now forsake all others, and I belong to you.
You enter into this very special relationship.
It's like, when I was married to Claire,
my job is to love all people,
to love all male and female,
but I have a special love for Claire,
that is reserved for her, right?
That's a covenant relationship.
And so God's people are his covenant people.
So Moses goes up to Mount Sinai,
receives the Ten Commandments,
the covenant terms and conditions.
But while Moses is up there,
things down below are falling apart.
Because the people of Israel
don't know what's happened to Moses.
He's up on the mountain,
and they start to wonder,
what's happened to the guy?
He's taking a long time.
Maybe he's died.
Maybe something's happened to him.
If something's happened to Moses,
how are we going to follow God?
How are we going to know God's will for us?
And so they start to scheme in the plan.
They come up with a plan.
They go to Aaron, who's the second in charge,
and they say, Aaron,
make a golden idol for us.
It's something that we can bow down and worship.
It's not so much that they want to replace God,
they just want a representative of God.
They want something they can touch,
something they can feel.
It's a bit hard following God
that you don't know where he is or what he's like.
And so they want something tangible to feel and touch
and look to and say,
God is in our midst.
And so they say, Aaron, make us this calf.
And Aaron does that.
He produces this golden calf-like structure,
and they bow down, they worship,
and they celebrate,
and they make a feast.
And what they think is a brilliant idea
soon ends catastrophically.
Look at chapter 32, verse 7.
I'm going to have most of the scripture on the screen,
but you can look at your bulletin.
God says to Moses,
Go down,
for your people,
whom you brought up out of Egypt,
have corrupted themselves.
They've turned aside quickly,
out of the way I commanded them.
They've made themselves a golden calf.
They've worshipped it.
They're sacrificing to it.
They've said,
These are your gods,
O Israel,
who brought you up out of Egypt.
Now therefore,
leave me alone.
Let my wrath burn hot against them,
that I may consume them.
So it's hardly been one month
since they've left Egypt.
They're in the wilderness,
and already things are falling apart.
Their covenant relationship
is in deep jeopardy.
It's been threatened.
Because they haven't even,
you know,
Passover,
and the Exodus,
is fresh in their minds.
It's only a few weeks from there.
And already,
this special relationship
that they've got with God,
is under threat.
It's falling apart.
Their covenant vows,
they've broken them.
And so now the relationship
is under threat.
And it's kind of like,
imagine,
you're going to get married,
right?
So you go to Hong Kong Park,
you go to the marriage center there,
and you get dressed up,
and you're in your very best,
and you go in,
you make your appointment,
you go in,
and you're so excited,
and you've got a photographer there,
and the marriage officer comes,
and he leads you in saying your vows,
and you say your vows,
and your spouse says their vows,
and he says,
right,
I now legally pronounce you
before the government of Hong Kong,
you are married,
husband and wife.
And you put your hands over each other,
and you take photos of the rings,
and it's also nice,
and you go outside,
and you say to your wife,
I'm just going to go get the marriage certificate,
just wait here.
And you go inside,
you get the marriage certificate,
and you come out,
and your wife is behind the trees,
with the photographer,
kissing and cuddling,
and the ink hasn't even dried on the paper,
and already the vows are broken.
Or imagine even worse.
I mean,
it sounds funny,
but it's not funny,
right?
You go on honeymoon,
and you say to your husband,
I'll meet you downstairs now,
and you go downstairs,
you're in the Maldives,
you're on honeymoon,
and you see your husband
slipping his phone number
to somebody across the bar,
saying,
call me later.
It's like,
you've just made the covenant.
It's only just begun,
and already you're breaking it.
And that's what's happening with Israel here.
They've only just left Egypt.
Moses is up the mountain,
busy getting the terms and conditions,
and Israel already worshipping other gods.
They're going after other lovers.
And friends,
the Bible says that actually,
in some ways,
this is a picture of what all sin is like.
Sin at a fundamental level,
at a deep heart level,
it's actually a form of idolatry.
It's a form of saying,
there's something else that's going to become,
that's become more important to me than you,
God.
I'm going to,
I'm going to say no to you,
and I'm going to give myself to something else.
Something other than the God who's created us to know him,
and love him,
and be in a relationship with him.
You know,
Martin Luther,
a famous pastor,
500 years ago,
said,
nobody breaks any of the 10 commandments,
especially the latter half,
like,
do not steal,
do not lie,
do not commit adultery,
do not commit murder.
Nobody breaks any of those,
unless you first break the very first commandment.
And the first commandment is,
don't have any other gods before me.
And he's right,
right?
When you,
when I,
when I do something,
let's say I lie to a colleague,
to protect my reputation,
my reputation.
What am I actually doing?
Something's become more important to me than God in that moment.
What people think of me,
my reputation before others,
is more important to me than God.
So,
so I do that,
because actually,
God is not that important.
Or let's say I,
lie in my tax return,
right?
I tell the government,
this is what I earned this year,
but actually there's a whole lot of other stuff on the side,
I don't really want to tell them.
What's happened?
Something else has become more important to me than Jesus Christ,
than God.
That's actually become my God.
I say,
Lord,
I'm going to look to you,
I'm going to trust in this,
this thing will make me happy.
And so Martin Luther was right,
when he said,
whenever we,
whenever we sin,
when we do these things,
we always try to look to some other God,
whether our reputation,
whether our face,
our financial security,
our pleasure,
our comfort,
something else has taken the place of God.
And we're loving,
and worshipping,
and looking to that thing,
to give us security,
and meaning,
and peace,
and hope.
And that means,
in a way,
all sin is a kind of covenant unfaithfulness.
A kind of covenant breaking.
A way of saying,
God,
I know I should love you,
but I'm going to love something else.
more than you.
This thing has become more important to me than God.
And so,
look what happens in our passage,
chapter 33,
verse 1.
The Lord says to Moses,
okay,
go,
depart from here,
you and the people,
that you brought out of the land of Egypt,
go to the land that I saw to Abraham,
to Isaac,
and Jacob.
In other words,
go to the promised land.
I will send my angel before you,
I will drive out your enemies,
Canaanites,
Amorites,
Hittites,
Perizzites,
et cetera.
But I,
I'm not going to go with you,
lest I consume you along the way,
for you are a stiff-necked people.
In other words,
you are a stubborn people.
So God says,
Moses,
the marriage is over.
The covenant is over.
He says,
you can still go,
and actually,
I will send my angel,
I will help you,
I will send my blessing ahead of you,
I'll clear out the way,
you can go and live in the promised land,
but I'm not going to be with you.
This relationship,
I'm no longer going to be your people,
you're not going to,
you're not going to be my people,
I'm not going to be your God.
This relationship is over.
It's kind of like,
in a marriage,
right?
Someone says,
this marriage is over.
You can keep the house,
the furniture we bought,
you can keep that,
the engagement ring,
you can have that,
but I'm not moving in with you.
Our relationship is,
is over.
And the reason is,
he says,
if we go on this journey together,
and you Israelites,
keep on behaving like that,
my justice,
my integrity,
my commitment to my holiness,
is going to destroy you.
Because the consequences for sin,
is always death and destruction.
Always.
You know,
friends,
when we sin,
when I sin,
let me use myself as an example,
somewhere deep in my heart,
I'm always doing a cost-benefit analysis.
Okay,
this is the cost,
this is the benefit,
okay,
it's worth it,
I'm going to go for it,
right?
Now that happens at a deep subconscious level.
Friends,
sin always,
always,
costs us more than we expect.
Always costs more than you bargained for.
And the consequences are always,
death and destruction.
And so God says,
this is not going to work.
This relationship needs to come to an end.
Now here's a quick question,
on the side note,
question for us.
I wonder how we would feel,
if God said this to us.
If God said to us,
this morning,
you can go,
and have all of my blessings,
I will send my angel before you,
I will clear the path to you,
I will open up the way,
I will,
you can have all my blessings,
you can have heaven,
and everything you want,
but I'm not going to be there.
How would we feel?
I think if we're honest,
we'd be tempted to say,
that sounds like a great deal.
I mean,
I can get all the good life,
all the blessings of God's favor,
and I don't even need to keep this relationship with God.
That sounds like a good deal.
But actually friends,
it's a terrible deal.
And look what happens here,
verse 4.
When the people heard this disastrous word,
they mourned,
they grieved.
Because this is terrible,
terrible news.
It's traumatic.
God says,
I am no longer going to be your people.
You are no longer going to be my God.
Sorry.
I think I've got that wrong the whole morning,
right?
You are not going to be my people.
I'm not going to be your God.
Now they are without God.
They are without hope.
They are without purpose.
They are without meaning.
They are without identity.
They are without security.
They are without peace.
In a world,
bobbing along on their own.
Without God.
Friends,
if you're not a Christian this morning,
this may sound really strange to you.
But I want you to see that
the divine being,
who created everything that exists,
that we call God,
He created you
to know Him,
and love Him,
and be in relationship with Him,
and to experience peace,
and security,
and identity,
and meaning,
and wholeness,
in relationship with Him.
And just because you don't believe in Him,
doesn't mean that He doesn't believe in you.
And that He doesn't have a purpose for you.
This is what it means to be a human being.
To be in relationship with the God
who made you to know Him.
And yet the problem is,
things always get in the way.
Things always get in the way.
And so,
look what Israel do.
They grieve,
and they mourn.
It's like somebody has died.
Because actually,
the most important thing about them has died.
Their relationship with God has died.
And so,
Moses,
in the rest of the chapter,
Moses begins to intercede.
Look at verse 12.
He goes,
and he says,
Lord,
we need you.
He says,
God,
us going into the promised land,
enjoying all of the good life,
without you being there,
is meaningless.
There's no point.
We are your people.
That's our identity.
That's who we are.
If we go in,
and you're not with us,
there's no point in us even going in.
God,
this is who we are.
This is what it means to be your people.
And so,
eventually,
God says,
okay,
fine.
I will make it work.
Look at verse 17.
The Lord said to Moses,
this very thing that you have spoken,
or that you have asked for,
I will do for you.
For you have found favor in my sight.
God says,
okay,
Moses,
I will find a way to still keep my covenant relationship with my covenant people.
Now,
the question is this.
How can this work?
God says,
I can't go into the promised land with you because of your sin.
Okay?
You are stubborn people.
I can't go in.
The relationship is broken.
As a commitment to my own holiness,
I will consume you.
Listen,
your sin and your rejection of me,
your rejection of your covenant unfaithfulness,
means that I can't go in with you.
But then he says,
but I will go in with you.
So,
how do these two things come together?
The other way of saying it is,
how can God both take our sin and covenant breaking seriously,
and yet overlook it at the same time?
There seems to be this paradox involved somehow.
And friends,
this is still a question for us today.
Because,
this isn't just theoretical or philosophical.
This is deeply practical.
Because this week,
friends,
you and I are going to sin.
This week,
you and I are going to do things.
Other things are going to become more important to us than Jesus Christ.
Friends,
friends,
this week,
we are going to sacrifice our relationship with God
on the altar of comfort,
or financial security,
or pleasure,
or people pleasing.
You and I are going to break relationship with God
and worship other gods.
And so,
how do we maintain a relationship with God?
Why doesn't God just say,
okay,
fine,
go your own way,
do your own thing?
How is this,
how is this going to work?
And it seems to me like Moses himself
is grappling with this question.
Because,
in verse 17,
God says,
fine,
I will go with you.
I will still maintain relationship.
And the next verse,
verse 18,
Moses says,
God,
show me your glory.
Show me your glory.
Now,
the word glory,
sorry if I'm in the way,
the word glory literally means weight.
Weightiness.
But the idea is substance.
Okay?
If something has a lot of glory,
it has substance to it,
weight to it.
What Moses is saying is,
he's saying,
God,
I want to see the substance of who you are.
I don't want to just see your,
I don't want to know you superficially.
I don't want to just see the facade,
the outside.
I want to know the substance of who you are.
God,
I don't see how these things can come together.
You are holy and righteous and perfect,
and yet you are forgiving of your people.
Show me who you are.
Show me how these things work.
And so God says,
I will show you my glory.
Verse 19,
I will make all my goodness pass before you.
I will proclaim to you my name.
Chapter 34,
Verse 5.
So the Lord descended in the cloud
and stood before him there
and proclaimed his name.
The Lord,
the Lord,
a God merciful and gracious,
slow to anger
and abounding in steadfast love
and faithfulness.
Keeping steadfast love
for a thousand generations.
Forgiving,
iniquity,
and transgressions,
and sin.
But who will by no means
clear the guilty.
Visiting the iniquity of the fathers
on the children,
and the children's children,
the third and fourth generation.
So Moses says,
God,
I want to know you
for who you really are.
Show me.
And he says,
this is who I am.
And he doesn't show Moses a picture.
He doesn't say,
okay,
you'll see me.
He describes his truest attributes.
And how does he describe himself?
Merciful and gracious.
Abounding in steadfast love
and forgiveness.
To a thousand generations
forgiving,
transgression,
iniquity,
and sin.
And yet,
who by no means
will clear the guilty.
Now in a sense,
that doesn't really answer our question,
does it?
The problem still persists.
How is it that God is gracious
and merciful
and yet doesn't clear the guilty?
How is it that he forgives sin
but he doesn't clear the sin?
How does that work together?
Next week,
Niels is going to answer the question.
Kind of.
I'm not going to give us
the full answer today.
Next week,
we're going to look at half of it
and then the following week,
Oscar is going to tell us
the full answer,
okay?
But,
I want us to feel the tension.
But,
in this passage,
there are two things
that I think to look at
that give us a clue.
Two shadows
that are going to paint
the outline of the picture.
What happens between
chapter 32
when God's judgment comes
and chapter 34
where God renews the covenant.
Because in chapter 34,
God reinstates the Ten Commandments.
Something,
two dynamic things happen
in between these two chapters.
The first one
is the people do something.
The people do something.
The first thing is
the people repent.
Look at chapter 33,
verse 3 to 5 with me.
God says,
Go to the land
for the land of milk and honey,
but I will not go with you
lest I consume you along the way
for you are a stubborn people.
Verse 4,
When the people heard
this disastrous word,
they mourned,
and no one put on his ornaments.
For the Lord had said to Moses,
Say to the people of Israel,
you are a stubborn people.
If for a single moment
I will go with you,
I will consume you.
Verse 6,
Therefore the people of Israel
stripped themselves
of their ornaments
from Mount Horeb onward.
They did that.
Now,
the ornaments here,
it's kind of jewelry,
it's also maybe
special clothing,
it's special garments
that they're wearing.
Most commentators think
what this has to do with
is some kind of idol worship.
There are things
that are like maybe
bracelets or bangles
or rings or earrings.
There are things
that they are keeping with them
that help them worship
the various gods
and the idols around them.
In Genesis earlier on,
Jacob,
who is the grandson of Abraham,
at one point
he encounters God
and he renews
the covenant with God.
And he says to all
his family,
his wives and his children
and his servants,
take off your ornaments.
And they dig a big hole,
they bury them in the ground
and they move on.
It's kind of their way
of recommitting themselves
to God.
The same thing
is happening here.
God says,
I'm not going to be with you
and the people mourn,
they grieve.
And so they take off
their rings to this God
and that God,
they throw them down
and God says,
remove them
and says they strip
themselves of them.
It's kind of like
they can't get rid of them
quick enough.
I don't know if you've ever
walked in on somebody
who's doing something wrong,
right?
And they can't get away
from the situation
quick enough, right?
They're on their computer
looking at something
they shouldn't be
and they quickly
close the computer
or you tell your kid,
don't eat the cookie
and you walk in
they're eating the cookie,
you know,
and it's like,
they couldn't,
they can't get rid of it
quick enough.
That's what they're doing here.
They're stripping themselves,
they're taking off their chains,
they're getting rid of
the ornaments.
They're grieving,
they're mourning,
they're repenting.
It says,
verse 6,
they stripped themselves
from Mount Horeb onwards.
In other words,
they left them behind
and they moved on.
And in the Old Testament,
this,
this passage here
where God says
He is gracious
and merciful,
slow to anger
and abounding in love,
this verse is
kind of like a creed.
It becomes a statement
that in the Old Testament
they say again
and again and again.
But often,
it's used
to call people
to repentance.
So for instance,
in Joel chapter 2,
Joel is calling God's people
back to himself.
And he quotes this passage,
look at what he says here.
He says,
Yet even now declares the Lord,
return to me with your heart,
come back to me.
Why?
Return to the Lord.
Why?
For He is gracious
and merciful,
slow to anger
and abounding
in steadfast love.
And that's the point here.
Who are those
that God forgives?
It's those
who come to Him
in faith and repentance.
It's those who
turn to Him.
Friends,
it's not the perfect
because none of us
are perfect.
It's not those
who only commit small sins
that God forgives
because all sin
is deadly serious.
Friends,
who does God forgive
and is gracious towards?
It's not those
who can pay God back somehow
because,
friends,
none of us
can pay God back.
So who is it
that God forgives
and is gracious
and merciful to?
It's those
who see Him
as a gracious
and merciful God.
It's those
who turn to Him
in faith and repentance.
It's those
who see themselves
as sinners
in need of grace
and say,
God,
have mercy on me,
a sinner.
Friends,
none of us
are perfect.
None of us
only commit small sins.
None of us
can pay God back.
But all of us,
all of us
can get on our knees
and say,
God,
I need you.
Friends,
have you done that?
Why don't you do that today?
Don't leave this place.
Why don't you draw near
to the living God,
gracious and merciful,
slow to anger
and abounding
in steadfast love,
forgiving iniquity
and sin
to a thousand generations.
This God is so good.
So the first thing
is the people repent.
But there's a second thing
that's going on here.
And that is,
let me not give it away.
What is the determining factor
between chapter 32
and chapter 34?
There's one determining factor.
There's something
that's going on here.
It's a man, right?
There's one person
that's involved.
Who is it?
It's Moses.
And what does Moses do?
He mediates
for the people.
Moses stands in the gap
and mediates
on behalf of the people
before God.
The big difference here
is that there is a mediator
who is righteous
and God-fearing,
who is full of God's favor,
who can intercede for them
and plead on their behalf.
Listen to Psalm 106.
It describes this passage
and it describes it so well.
It says this,
The people of Israel
made a calf at Horeb.
They worshipped
the metal image.
They exchanged
the glory of God
for an image
of an ox
that eats grass.
I mean,
that's meant to be humorous,
right?
They forgot God,
their Savior,
who had done great things
for them in Egypt.
Therefore,
He said,
He would destroy them
had not Moses,
His chosen one,
stood in the breach,
that means stood in the gap
before Him
to turn away God's wrath
from destroying them.
God's wrath
would have destroyed them,
but there was a man
who stood in the gap
who said,
God,
please,
please God,
be merciful and gracious.
He stood on their behalf
and interceded
and prayed for them
and pleaded
and petitioned God
on their behalf.
They had a mediator.
And you notice
how many times
the passage spoke about
Moses has found favor with God.
Let me just read a few of them to you.
33 verse 12,
Lord,
you have said to me,
you have found favor in my sight.
Now therefore,
since I have found favor in your sight,
God,
please show me your ways.
Verse 17,
the Lord said to Moses,
this very thing that you ask,
I will do for you.
Why?
For you have found favor in my sight.
34 verse 9,
the Lord,
then Moses said,
God,
since I have found favor in your sight,
please,
go in the midst of us.
the passage again and again and again
says this,
the people are stubborn
and stiff-necked,
but there is one person
who has found favor in God's sight.
There is one man
who is God-fearing
and honorable
and righteous
and wants to do the right thing.
And God looks upon that man
and says,
on the basis of your goodness,
I will treat them well.
Do you see that?
Friends,
do you see what God
is wanting us to see here?
What you're not meant to see
is this,
if only we have a good
and righteous pastor,
our church will go well.
Friends,
that's not what you're meant to see here.
What you're meant to see here
is this,
that we,
just like Israel,
are stiff-necked
and stubborn,
prone to sin,
covenant-breaking idolatry,
and yet we have a mediator.
And his name is not Kevin.
His name is Jesus.
There is a mediator,
one who is righteous
and finds favor in God's sight
and is always God-fearing
and always does the right thing
and is just and holy
and he could stand in the gap,
in the bridge
between a holy and righteous God
and a stubborn and sinful people.
He could stand in the gap
and say,
God,
because I have found favor in your sight,
treat my people well.
You could take Psalm 106
and substitute Jesus' name in
for Moses.
Look at how it reads.
The people,
they exchanged the glory of God
for false gods and idols.
They forgot their God,
their Savior,
He who had done great things for them.
Therefore,
God would have destroyed them
had not Jesus,
His chosen one,
stood in the gap before Him
and turned God's wrath away.
Friends,
this is Jesus,
our mediator,
our advocate,
who petitions God
on our behalf.
And if you know
the book of Romans
in the New Testament,
Romans is all about
the good news
of the gospel of Jesus.
Romans chapter 1
does that.
Paul quotes Psalm 106
except he substitutes
Jesus' name in
for Moses.
Listen to how he writes it.
He says,
For the wrath of God
is revealed from heaven
against all ungodliness
and unrighteousness
of mankind.
For though they should have
known God,
they did not honor Him
as God who gave thanks to Him.
They exchanged the glory
of the immortal,
eternal God
for images
and other gods.
For there is no distinction
for all people have sinned
and fall short
of the glory of God.
And yet,
all people are able
to be justified,
that means forgiven,
declared not guilty
through the redemption
that is in Jesus Christ,
the eternal sacrifice
for our sins.
Friends,
do you see what's
happening here?
In Exodus 32 and 34,
we have a picture,
a shadow of the gospel.
This is Christianity.
This is our hope this week.
That in Jesus Christ,
we have a mediator,
an advocate,
one who stood in the gap
for us,
one who didn't just go
into the tent of meeting
and petition God,
one who went into
the very throne room of God,
Jesus Christ,
the Son of God Himself,
who could intercede
and plead for us.
Friends,
Jesus went to the cross,
He died,
He shed His blood,
He paid the price,
so that now God's wrath
was poured out on Him
and not on us.
Friends,
no one can be saved
or forgiven
based on what they do.
We are all too sinful.
Maybe it's your first time
you've ever stepped in a church.
Maybe you've been here
a thousand times
with you either
passed in the front
or you're hung over
at the back.
Friends,
none of us can save ourselves.
But we have a Savior,
a mediator,
an advocate,
Jesus,
the Son of God,
who goes before us.
And so here's the question,
is He your mediator?
Is He your Savior?
Have you come to Him
in faith and repentance
or are you still trying
to save yourself?
Friends,
where are you looking
for hope,
for redemption,
for meaning,
for purpose,
for joy,
for peace,
for security
this week?
The things of this world
will fail you.
They will let you down
and they will cut you off
from the living God,
the God who made you
to know Him
and find those things
in Him.
Friends,
turn to Jesus.
He is the one
that we need.
He is the one
that I need.
He is the one
that we all need.
In a few minutes time,
we're going to sing this song
and I want to leave you
with these words.
Jeremy,
you want to come on up.
Listen to these words
as we close.
When Satan tends me
to despair
and tells me
of the guilt within,
I put out look
and see Him there
who made an end
to all my sin.
Because the sinless
Savior died,
my sinful soul
is counted free.
For God,
the just,
the holy,
the righteous,
the pure,
is satisfied
to look on Him
and pardon me.
Let's pray together.
Oh Lord Jesus,
the gospel,
the Bible
is so full of the good news,
of the wonder
of what you did
on the cross.
Jesus,
thank you so much
that you are
our perfect mediator,
our perfect interceder,
the one who stood
in the gap
on our behalf.
Jesus,
thank you for coming
and not only coming,
for dying
and in our place
that we can
know you,
that we can be reconciled,
that our current
relationship
can be restored.
God,
I pray for each one of us
to pray that we will
go from this place
this week
deeply secure,
satisfied,
full of you,
our eyes fixed on you.
And God,
for those of us
who don't know you,
oh Spirit of God,
won't you
draw us near to you,
give us faith in our hearts
that we can
come to you.
I pray these things
in your good
and your gracious name.
Amen.