WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.400 We're going to read together from Galatians chapter 1, just a few short verses, verses 3-5. 00:00:07.060 --> 00:00:08.480 And Paul the apostle writes, 00:00:08.480 --> 00:00:23.600 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. 00:00:24.420 --> 00:00:24.920 Let's pray. 00:00:24.920 --> 00:00:34.820 Lord, we do ask now that for just a few minutes, as we think about what Paul is teaching us here through this letter, that you would be with us and that you would open our hearts. 00:00:35.920 --> 00:00:38.240 We ask, once again, meet us where we are, Lord. 00:00:38.340 --> 00:00:40.439 We want to understand more of the gospel. 00:00:40.620 --> 00:00:43.439 For some of us, we want to hear the gospel afresh. 00:00:43.579 --> 00:00:45.740 For some of us, maybe for the first time. 00:00:46.500 --> 00:00:52.520 For some of us, maybe we don't yet know that we need this message, the good news of Jesus. 00:00:52.520 --> 00:00:56.580 So, we do ask that you would help us to receive your word tonight. 00:00:56.820 --> 00:00:58.300 And we pray that in Jesus' name. 00:00:58.680 --> 00:00:58.920 Amen. 00:01:00.500 --> 00:01:06.859 Just a few minutes, thinking through these few verses, Galatians is the earliest New Testament book. 00:01:07.000 --> 00:01:12.180 And so, this is one of the very first things that was ever written and put into the New Testament that we just read. 00:01:12.400 --> 00:01:18.159 And it was written just a couple of years after Paul planted some churches in a region called Galatia. 00:01:18.159 --> 00:01:22.000 And this region, Galatia, is today in southern Turkey. 00:01:23.019 --> 00:01:28.959 And he writes here because of an explosive issue that was taking place in this whole region. 00:01:29.479 --> 00:01:36.560 And that's that there were people coming and they were teaching a message and saying that Christianity was the message Paul taught, 00:01:36.659 --> 00:01:43.219 what we call the gospel, plus good works, plus all sorts of types of behavior, plus what we call works of the law, 00:01:43.219 --> 00:01:48.179 things that came from Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy in the Old Testament, 00:01:48.640 --> 00:01:53.879 that they were expecting people who were Gentiles, not Jewish, to behave according to Jewish custom. 00:01:54.379 --> 00:01:58.260 And they were adding things to this gospel message that Paul had come in with. 00:01:58.260 --> 00:02:04.780 Now, if you read about Christianity in the public media, if you listen to your children, 00:02:04.840 --> 00:02:09.020 if you have children talk about what they said at the RHSP class at school, 00:02:09.340 --> 00:02:14.939 one of the things I know I consistently hear is that when people in the public talk about Christianity, 00:02:15.460 --> 00:02:16.580 they say things like, 00:02:16.680 --> 00:02:20.099 Christianity is following Jesus' moral commands. 00:02:21.080 --> 00:02:24.580 Christianity is trying your best to be like Jesus. 00:02:24.580 --> 00:02:26.960 And that's a regular refrain. 00:02:27.280 --> 00:02:28.920 It's been around for 2,000 years. 00:02:29.160 --> 00:02:31.040 It shows up right here in this letter. 00:02:31.160 --> 00:02:32.200 It's something Paul was addressing. 00:02:32.939 --> 00:02:37.360 And Paul comes to write this little letter to treat something so explosive, 00:02:37.620 --> 00:02:43.300 and that's a corruption of the message, the central message, the essential message of Christianity, the gospel. 00:02:44.140 --> 00:02:48.120 Sometimes today people will say that if you want to follow Christianity, 00:02:48.220 --> 00:02:50.160 if you want to be a Christian, you've got to be like him. 00:02:50.220 --> 00:02:51.500 You've got to practice the way. 00:02:51.500 --> 00:02:56.240 Even language like that gets used, and practicing the way, following Jesus is a good thing, 00:02:56.580 --> 00:02:57.879 but it's not the gospel. 00:02:59.020 --> 00:03:01.379 The essence of Christianity is slightly different than that. 00:03:02.180 --> 00:03:06.960 And so here we've got a little text about that, and I'll just spend a couple minutes on it. 00:03:08.620 --> 00:03:14.000 Charles Spurgeon, in the 19th century, he was preaching on a different passage, and he told a story. 00:03:14.000 --> 00:03:21.860 He talked about how many people in his generation were still coming thinking that you could come to God by way of your good deeds, 00:03:22.400 --> 00:03:25.500 and you could earn a place before the Lord by way of good works. 00:03:25.680 --> 00:03:31.159 And so Charles said, you can feed the hungry, you can clothe the naked, and you can think you're doing it all for God. 00:03:31.219 --> 00:03:32.199 And then he told a little story. 00:03:32.539 --> 00:03:33.219 This was the story. 00:03:33.740 --> 00:03:37.319 He said, once long ago there was a kingdom in a far, far away land. 00:03:37.319 --> 00:03:41.959 And there was a gardener in that kingdom, and he grew carrots. 00:03:42.500 --> 00:03:45.699 And the gardener grew the best carrot that he had ever grown. 00:03:45.919 --> 00:03:48.139 And so he decided, I'm going to take this carrot to the king. 00:03:48.799 --> 00:03:51.819 And he brought it to the king, and he gave it to the king, and he said, 00:03:52.019 --> 00:03:56.859 out of love and respect and awe for you, my king, I want to give you the best thing I've ever done, this carrot. 00:03:57.759 --> 00:04:01.919 And the king said, the king was really moved, actually, by it. 00:04:01.919 --> 00:04:09.979 And the king said, I'm going to give you an entire field, so much acreage so that you can make your harvest even greater. 00:04:10.459 --> 00:04:11.939 And the man was really blessed by it. 00:04:12.079 --> 00:04:15.859 And at the same time there was a nobleman in the court that heard this conversation. 00:04:16.339 --> 00:04:22.779 And the nobleman came, and he said, big land, lots of acreage for just a carrot. 00:04:24.000 --> 00:04:24.959 I'm going to bring a horse. 00:04:25.139 --> 00:04:28.659 So he brought a horse, and he brought a horse to the king, and he brought a black stallion. 00:04:28.659 --> 00:04:31.159 And he said, this is the greatest horse in all of the kingdom. 00:04:31.920 --> 00:04:34.520 And the king took it, and the king said, thank you. 00:04:34.600 --> 00:04:36.360 And the king started to ride away. 00:04:37.060 --> 00:04:40.140 And the man, the nobleman, said, where's my land? 00:04:40.220 --> 00:04:40.920 Where's my crown? 00:04:41.040 --> 00:04:42.319 Where's my status and title? 00:04:42.939 --> 00:04:44.040 And this is what Spurgeon says. 00:04:44.340 --> 00:04:45.840 He puts these words into the king. 00:04:45.920 --> 00:04:49.120 He says, the gardener was giving me the carrot. 00:04:49.860 --> 00:04:51.480 You gave yourself a horse. 00:04:51.480 --> 00:05:00.780 And what he meant by that was if you approach God presenting your good deeds, your good works before him at all, 00:05:00.879 --> 00:05:03.860 your treasure, your horse, your carrot, anything that it may be, 00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:10.480 without discerning your neediness, that you can never earn his favor at something that's only given. 00:05:10.819 --> 00:05:11.700 It's a gift. 00:05:11.860 --> 00:05:13.080 It can never be earned. 00:05:13.660 --> 00:05:16.160 It can never be exchanged by you at all. 00:05:16.160 --> 00:05:19.720 If you don't come discerning that, then good works are for nothing. 00:05:20.740 --> 00:05:21.460 And that's what he meant by it. 00:05:21.460 --> 00:05:28.840 Now here Paul gives us in verses 3, 4, and 5 that we read the whole gospel in just a couple little sentences 00:05:28.840 --> 00:05:32.400 in such an explosive moment for the Galatians when they're hearing, 00:05:32.840 --> 00:05:34.320 you've got to come in by your good deeds. 00:05:34.420 --> 00:05:36.300 You've got to come and earn this by your good works. 00:05:36.740 --> 00:05:37.640 And this is what he says. 00:05:37.840 --> 00:05:39.220 He focuses on this one line. 00:05:39.220 --> 00:05:40.100 Now I want to focus on it. 00:05:40.100 --> 00:05:47.580 He says Jesus is the one who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from this present evil age, 00:05:47.640 --> 00:05:49.280 to deliver us is the language he uses. 00:05:49.840 --> 00:05:51.420 Let me tell you three things about the gospel. 00:05:51.600 --> 00:05:57.260 First, we learn here from this little line, we all have a great need. 00:05:58.260 --> 00:06:02.860 And the language Paul uses is Jesus came so that we would be delivered. 00:06:03.140 --> 00:06:08.620 And the word delivered there is a translated word, and it's just the word also that could be rescued. 00:06:09.220 --> 00:06:14.860 And delivered, rescued, sometimes it's translated plucked out or pulled through or go across, 00:06:14.900 --> 00:06:18.820 like going across a river, all sorts of ways like that. 00:06:19.120 --> 00:06:21.340 And it's very simple what he's saying. 00:06:21.660 --> 00:06:25.940 He's saying that when it comes to the good news of being saved, of coming into God's presence, 00:06:26.040 --> 00:06:30.060 being reconciled to God, the one you were made for, you don't earn it. 00:06:30.180 --> 00:06:31.180 You can only receive it. 00:06:31.460 --> 00:06:32.720 In other words, you need to be rescued. 00:06:32.860 --> 00:06:33.720 You need to be delivered. 00:06:33.820 --> 00:06:34.860 You need to be brought across. 00:06:35.280 --> 00:06:36.520 You need a status change. 00:06:36.519 --> 00:06:38.819 That's why he chooses this word. 00:06:39.859 --> 00:06:43.379 Imagine for a second that you are a hostage to a terrorist. 00:06:43.899 --> 00:06:44.519 A scary thought. 00:06:44.919 --> 00:06:51.259 And in this situation, you know, MI6 comes, I think, I don't know, do they actually exist? 00:06:51.359 --> 00:06:51.819 I think so. 00:06:52.240 --> 00:06:56.039 And the CIA, that's American, but it's just an illustration. 00:06:56.240 --> 00:06:57.120 We can mix it all up. 00:06:57.659 --> 00:06:59.500 The police, everybody comes, everybody. 00:06:59.500 --> 00:07:05.139 And they come to you, and you know what they don't do? 00:07:05.199 --> 00:07:11.139 They don't say to the terrorist, listen, we're going to send in a hostage negotiation manual. 00:07:11.660 --> 00:07:14.899 And if you'll just give it to the hostage, it's about 300 pages. 00:07:15.680 --> 00:07:17.319 And tell them, just read through it. 00:07:17.319 --> 00:07:25.079 You know, and if you really kind of ingest it enough, over time, you will be able to negotiate your own way out of this. 00:07:25.540 --> 00:07:26.920 It's a very probable chance. 00:07:27.040 --> 00:07:31.180 You know, if a man is drowning, you don't throw him a manual, an instruction manual on how to swim. 00:07:32.480 --> 00:07:36.819 And in the same way, Paul says, the gospel is not something you earn. 00:07:36.899 --> 00:07:37.779 You don't learn it. 00:07:37.959 --> 00:07:38.800 You receive it. 00:07:39.759 --> 00:07:41.139 It's a status change. 00:07:41.180 --> 00:07:42.300 It's being delivered. 00:07:42.439 --> 00:07:43.279 It's being rescued. 00:07:43.680 --> 00:07:44.800 So that's the first thing he tells us. 00:07:44.800 --> 00:07:51.939 Secondly, Christianity tells us, secondly, the essence of the Christian message is, how does this happen? 00:07:52.000 --> 00:07:52.720 How do you get rescued? 00:07:52.939 --> 00:07:53.660 You know, you need a hero. 00:07:53.780 --> 00:07:57.080 You need a redeemer, not just a teacher. 00:07:58.100 --> 00:07:58.540 And so how? 00:07:58.980 --> 00:08:02.560 And he says, Jesus gave himself for our sins. 00:08:02.639 --> 00:08:05.660 So the little important word there is the preposition for. 00:08:06.019 --> 00:08:07.879 He gave himself for our sins. 00:08:07.879 --> 00:08:12.639 And there's lots of prepositions in Greek that can be translated as for in English. 00:08:12.639 --> 00:08:14.899 But this one means on behalf of. 00:08:15.860 --> 00:08:17.800 And so this is the language of substitution. 00:08:18.680 --> 00:08:20.120 That he took our place. 00:08:20.300 --> 00:08:22.800 That he exchanged something with us. 00:08:22.839 --> 00:08:25.519 And it doesn't just say here that he gave something. 00:08:25.639 --> 00:08:26.659 It says he gave himself. 00:08:26.839 --> 00:08:29.419 He exchanged himself for us. 00:08:29.779 --> 00:08:32.539 Meaning that before the Lord, our life is owed. 00:08:33.679 --> 00:08:36.539 But Jesus Christ exchanged himself for us. 00:08:36.620 --> 00:08:38.399 He went in our behalf. 00:08:38.399 --> 00:08:39.980 So this is talking about the cross. 00:08:40.399 --> 00:08:42.340 The cross of Christ where he was crucified. 00:08:42.480 --> 00:08:43.079 Where he died. 00:08:43.779 --> 00:08:51.240 And what it's teaching us is that in Jesus' death, God could not simply overlook the guilt of humanity that we bear. 00:08:52.860 --> 00:08:55.740 You might say if he did, it would be loving. 00:08:56.319 --> 00:08:57.959 But it certainly would not be holy. 00:08:58.840 --> 00:09:00.139 It certainly would not be justice. 00:09:00.139 --> 00:09:06.960 And at the same time, at the same time, he did not leave us to die for what we deserve. 00:09:08.100 --> 00:09:16.559 And so what we learn about here on behalf of his substitutionary work is that at the cross, God's justice and his mercy kiss, as the Psalms tell us. 00:09:17.699 --> 00:09:21.639 He satisfies the justice that we deserve, that our sins deserve. 00:09:22.000 --> 00:09:23.919 And yet he kisses us with mercy. 00:09:24.299 --> 00:09:26.519 His justice and mercy kiss in that moment. 00:09:26.960 --> 00:09:28.259 It's an expression of his love. 00:09:28.319 --> 00:09:29.779 The demonstration of his love. 00:09:29.779 --> 00:09:30.899 That's what the cross is. 00:09:31.339 --> 00:09:33.879 And some of us come tonight, perhaps, and we're still trying. 00:09:34.899 --> 00:09:38.079 Some of us may come tonight, and you've been in church for a long time. 00:09:38.259 --> 00:09:39.759 Or maybe not very long. 00:09:39.839 --> 00:09:41.100 Or maybe this is the first time. 00:09:41.699 --> 00:09:49.879 And whatever our condition, it could still be the case that we're trying to negotiate our way with God out of a spiritual conundrum. 00:09:49.879 --> 00:09:52.199 And that's that we feel the weight of guilt in our lives. 00:09:52.980 --> 00:09:57.079 And yet we actually do, in the bottom of our souls, long to be in God's presence. 00:09:57.080 --> 00:10:00.000 So we want reconciliation with God. 00:10:00.259 --> 00:10:02.600 But at the same time, we know we have a guilt problem. 00:10:04.040 --> 00:10:06.520 And here we see the message of the gospel. 00:10:06.879 --> 00:10:09.020 It's entirely received, not earned. 00:10:09.139 --> 00:10:11.900 It's that Jesus stood on your behalf. 00:10:11.980 --> 00:10:13.160 He died on your behalf. 00:10:13.639 --> 00:10:18.680 His justice, the justice poured out to him, satisfied the justice that we deserve. 00:10:18.679 --> 00:10:22.459 It's absolutely essential to the Christian message. 00:10:22.899 --> 00:10:28.539 Some of you, most of us know, all of us know, I think, the story of Chernobyl, the disaster. 00:10:28.899 --> 00:10:35.579 And in 1986, there was a famous story that came after Chernobyl about the three young divers. 00:10:36.679 --> 00:10:38.919 They had filled up the reactor. 00:10:39.099 --> 00:10:42.319 I'm going to talk like I know anything about nuclear physics or whatever this is. 00:10:42.320 --> 00:10:47.860 I don't, but they had filled up the reactor, the core, I think, in Chernobyl with water. 00:10:48.500 --> 00:10:59.680 And they desperately needed that water to be drained or the explosion that was about to take place would be far more devastating than it ended up being, even though it was absolutely horrific. 00:11:00.440 --> 00:11:04.220 And these three young men at Chernobyl simply volunteered themselves. 00:11:04.440 --> 00:11:07.040 And they said, we will go down and we will drain the reactor. 00:11:07.260 --> 00:11:11.140 And they probably saved, the estimates are, millions of people's lives. 00:11:11.139 --> 00:11:14.519 And they knew that the water was radioactive, that it was certain death. 00:11:14.759 --> 00:11:17.639 And they went and they did it and they gave their lives away for it. 00:11:18.419 --> 00:11:19.439 It was an exchange. 00:11:20.360 --> 00:11:23.000 They gave their life away so we didn't have to give ours away. 00:11:23.659 --> 00:11:25.460 Jesus Christ gave himself away. 00:11:25.840 --> 00:11:28.120 He died so we wouldn't have to before the Lord. 00:11:28.220 --> 00:11:29.179 We could be reconciled. 00:11:29.620 --> 00:11:32.539 We could have real reunion, real reconciliation with the living God. 00:11:32.600 --> 00:11:40.740 The only difference, many differences, one of the main differences in the Chernobyl divers and Jesus Christ is that he also rose. 00:11:41.539 --> 00:11:44.340 Jesus Christ not only died on your behalf, he rose on your behalf. 00:11:44.340 --> 00:11:54.259 And that means, and we don't have time to flesh it out right now, but that means that he secured your acquittal fully in his resurrection. 00:11:54.820 --> 00:11:58.440 Because he was raised, you can be pronounced clean, forgiven forever. 00:11:58.820 --> 00:12:00.560 That's at the heartbeat of the gospel. 00:12:01.300 --> 00:12:05.780 Paul tells us here, and I'll move to the third thing, but Paul tells us here why God did it. 00:12:05.879 --> 00:12:11.440 In this verse 5 he says he did it for God's glory, that it was all about God's glory. 00:12:11.440 --> 00:12:13.240 Boy, you know what that means? 00:12:13.340 --> 00:12:19.520 That means that he didn't look down and think sometime in history some people are going to deserve this. 00:12:20.620 --> 00:12:24.420 Sometime in the future it could be the case that someone will deserve this. 00:12:24.700 --> 00:12:26.180 No, he did it for his glory. 00:12:26.300 --> 00:12:26.960 It was all grace. 00:12:27.380 --> 00:12:31.800 He did it simply out of love and for his own glorification. 00:12:32.820 --> 00:12:33.940 That's what makes it good news. 00:12:33.940 --> 00:12:40.940 Now third, finally, Paul says that Jesus bore our sins in his body. 00:12:41.340 --> 00:12:45.200 He gave himself for us to deliver, to rescue us. 00:12:45.500 --> 00:12:49.080 And then the last little line, from this present evil age. 00:12:49.660 --> 00:12:52.620 And the question here is just simply, when is this salvation? 00:12:52.620 --> 00:13:01.500 And we think, we look at that from this present evil age, and we can think about the fact that life is messy, life is suffering. 00:13:03.019 --> 00:13:06.220 The evil all around us, the evil in our world, the evil in our news. 00:13:06.340 --> 00:13:11.299 And we say, I want, do you want, I want deliverance from such a broken world, yes. 00:13:12.080 --> 00:13:14.480 And he is saying that, but that is not all he's saying. 00:13:14.480 --> 00:13:20.879 When he says that Christ came to deliver us from this present evil age, it is a present tense reality. 00:13:21.639 --> 00:13:24.379 And Paul points to this all across his epistles. 00:13:25.399 --> 00:13:26.899 He's saying, yes, this is talking about heaven. 00:13:27.019 --> 00:13:28.620 Yes, this is talking about new creation. 00:13:29.220 --> 00:13:34.759 But Paul is saying, if you come with neediness today, he has already delivered you. 00:13:35.539 --> 00:13:36.240 That's the message. 00:13:36.779 --> 00:13:41.600 He's delivered you presently from this present evil age, is one way to say it. 00:13:42.039 --> 00:13:43.120 And just think about it. 00:13:43.120 --> 00:13:52.679 But this evil age, this evil age we live in, is any age in the New Testament where you center your life around anything but the real God. 00:13:53.100 --> 00:13:54.419 That's part of the evil age. 00:13:55.659 --> 00:13:59.000 Things aren't, evil just simply means things are not the way they're supposed to be. 00:13:59.580 --> 00:14:04.240 So when you center your life around anything but the real God, that's part of the present evil age. 00:14:04.240 --> 00:14:06.279 It's deep down in the bottom of our souls. 00:14:06.279 --> 00:14:15.579 Maybe for you it's deliverance from the anxiety that keeps you up at night because you are chasing something in this life that's never going to satisfy you. 00:14:15.959 --> 00:14:20.959 Maybe it's deliverance from walking into every room wanting everybody's approval. 00:14:21.100 --> 00:14:24.939 Maybe it's deliverance from the fear of death that hangs over every single one of us. 00:14:24.940 --> 00:14:37.780 And it's saying that by the power of the cross and resurrection, when Christ unites you to himself and reconciles you to God the Father, he actually delivers you now, today, from your heart, your guilt, your pride. 00:14:38.240 --> 00:14:40.460 He delivers you today from the grip of idols. 00:14:40.600 --> 00:14:47.800 He delivers you today from a meaning that is searching for a meaning that is entirely situated within circumstances. 00:14:48.460 --> 00:14:49.420 He rescues you from that. 00:14:49.419 --> 00:14:50.379 He gives you freedom from that. 00:14:50.620 --> 00:14:55.000 He can deliver you today from so many issues of the present evil age. 00:14:55.059 --> 00:14:57.360 And so here's the scandal, and I'll finish with this. 00:14:58.620 --> 00:15:04.579 You really only need one thing to receive this message, this gospel, reconciliation, true reconciliation with God. 00:15:04.919 --> 00:15:07.059 And the thing that you need tonight is nothing. 00:15:08.419 --> 00:15:14.059 The only condition by which you can come to receive this message is that you come without any conditions. 00:15:14.120 --> 00:15:14.719 You come empty. 00:15:15.699 --> 00:15:17.480 You come and you bring nothing at all. 00:15:17.480 --> 00:15:18.519 You come needy. 00:15:18.519 --> 00:15:19.779 That's the only condition. 00:15:20.159 --> 00:15:21.399 It's not a condition at all. 00:15:21.460 --> 00:15:22.919 It's just an expression of your neediness. 00:15:23.039 --> 00:15:25.579 You come and look to him by faith for rescue and hope. 00:15:25.639 --> 00:15:26.319 You come empty-handed. 00:15:27.340 --> 00:15:28.699 Martin Luther said it like this, 00:15:29.240 --> 00:15:34.699 All you bring to your salvation is the sin from which you need to be redeemed. 00:15:35.539 --> 00:15:39.480 So we have no qualifications before him tonight, yet in love. 00:15:40.500 --> 00:15:41.319 He wants to know you. 00:15:41.379 --> 00:15:42.039 He wants to meet with you. 00:15:42.120 --> 00:15:43.600 He wants to reconcile himself to you. 00:15:43.960 --> 00:15:44.840 And he's done it. 00:15:45.079 --> 00:15:47.819 He has delivered us from this present evil age. 00:15:47.820 --> 00:15:48.920 And so it's so simple. 00:15:49.760 --> 00:15:57.440 And yet to come by faith tonight really is, for some of us, it's been a lifelong call maybe that's gone out and out and out and out. 00:15:57.920 --> 00:16:05.379 But it's actually felt so hard, so difficult to come before God in any real moment with your neediness. 00:16:05.379 --> 00:16:08.480 And to say, Lord, I actually know who I am. 00:16:08.519 --> 00:16:09.299 I want to be rescued. 00:16:10.200 --> 00:16:13.679 But tonight's an opportunity, so I'll ask you to join me in prayer in a moment. 00:16:14.100 --> 00:16:15.840 It's an opportunity to pray exactly that. 00:16:16.480 --> 00:16:22.580 C.S. Lewis said that the grace of God does not calculate. 00:16:23.179 --> 00:16:24.539 It does not keep a balance sheet. 00:16:25.320 --> 00:16:27.080 He doesn't measure you by your deeds. 00:16:27.080 --> 00:16:31.160 He wants to pour his love upon you. 00:16:31.200 --> 00:16:34.160 He has in the cross of Christ and the resurrection of Christ. 00:16:34.660 --> 00:16:35.240 Let's pray. 00:16:35.340 --> 00:16:40.040 Father, we come to you and express our neediness. 00:16:40.580 --> 00:16:46.340 We feel the weight of our guilt, the shame that we brought onto ourselves in this life. 00:16:46.440 --> 00:16:47.040 We are sinners. 00:16:47.039 --> 00:16:47.199 sinners. 00:16:48.519 --> 00:16:53.259 We were made by you and for you, and yet we ran away. 00:16:53.939 --> 00:16:55.559 We choose everything but you. 00:16:56.179 --> 00:16:58.299 We want ourselves to be God. 00:16:58.379 --> 00:17:03.759 We build golden statues of ourselves in our hearts and bow down before them. 00:17:04.099 --> 00:17:07.259 We are self-glorying, self-divinizing, prideful people. 00:17:07.680 --> 00:17:11.220 We struggle with lust and greed, and all of it brings shame. 00:17:11.220 --> 00:17:15.619 And yet, Lord, you've been pursuing us from the foundation of the world. 00:17:15.619 --> 00:17:19.279 You've been rescuing us from the very beginning moment where we first sinned. 00:17:19.359 --> 00:17:20.639 And we thank you for that tonight. 00:17:20.759 --> 00:17:28.039 I do pray, Lord, that you would help some folks in this room, all of us perhaps, to see the bounty of the gospel, the fullness of it, 00:17:28.379 --> 00:17:32.859 how it really can treat every single problem, but especially our sin. 00:17:33.339 --> 00:17:43.099 Lord, and perhaps as we sing our closing songs tonight, you would show us that without being reconciled to you, we are empty. 00:17:43.259 --> 00:17:44.659 We have a big hole in our hearts. 00:17:44.660 --> 00:17:47.259 We will never have what we really need. 00:17:47.500 --> 00:17:50.460 And so teach us, Lord, that you are who we need. 00:17:50.820 --> 00:17:53.019 You and Christ are who we have. 00:17:53.160 --> 00:17:55.120 And we pray that all in Jesus' name. 00:17:55.759 --> 00:17:56.060 Amen.