WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.000 Welcome to the Church of the Advent. Very glad you're visiting us if this is your first time. 00:00:08.580 --> 00:00:15.460 I am Dan Beelman. I'm an assistant pastor here. Our senior pastor, Tommy Hinson, is halfway through 00:00:15.460 --> 00:00:21.519 a well-deserved month of vacation in the month of July. In the month of July, we are going through 00:00:21.519 --> 00:00:32.179 Psalm 100, verse by verse. Now, last week, Kevin Antlitz preached for us, and he threw down a 00:00:32.179 --> 00:00:39.420 couple gauntlets for me. The first is he had the whole thing memorized. We would encourage you in 00:00:39.420 --> 00:00:45.739 this month of July to memorize Psalm 100 as we go through it. And so I had a month, I thought, but 00:00:45.739 --> 00:00:50.159 Kevin comes his first time and has it memorized. I don't have it memorized for you. I can't recite it. 00:00:51.520 --> 00:01:00.300 So, point for you, Kevin. Good job. The other way he threw down a gauntlet is he kept his sermon 00:01:00.300 --> 00:01:12.159 to under 15 minutes. Having mercy. I hate to break and see it. Two points. I'll do my best. I'll do my 00:01:12.159 --> 00:01:20.140 best tonight. So, Psalm 100. We don't know who wrote Psalm 100, so I'm going to refer to the writer as 00:01:20.140 --> 00:01:26.760 the psalmist. And the psalmist is calling God's people to worship. Last week, Kevin preached on the 00:01:26.760 --> 00:01:34.879 first two verses. So, we talked last week about joy, service, singing. Today, we're going to look 00:01:34.879 --> 00:01:39.960 at verse three. If you could go forward two slides. There it is. Thank you. Today, we're going to look 00:01:39.959 --> 00:01:46.919 at this verse. This answers the questions, why should we come singing? What exactly should cause 00:01:46.919 --> 00:01:54.059 such joy when we worship? And the psalmist replies, because we are his. Like, you can see those words 00:01:54.059 --> 00:01:59.799 repeated twice. The end of the second line, we are his, and then we are his. That's probably a good clue 00:01:59.799 --> 00:02:10.159 that this verse is about us being his. Perhaps being the possession of someone or something makes 00:02:10.159 --> 00:02:16.719 you uncomfortable, understandably. You know, I was talking to a woman about a few years back at a 00:02:16.719 --> 00:02:23.379 different church I served in, and she was there with her father, and I, in making small talk with her 00:02:23.379 --> 00:02:28.639 father, said, thanks for giving us your daughter these last couple years. And she did not like that. She 00:02:28.639 --> 00:02:36.039 said, I'm not anybody to be given away by anybody. Like, oh, I'm so sorry. And I get that. I mean, 00:02:36.099 --> 00:02:46.500 the history of human civilization is sustained with the sins of humans laying ownership to other humans. 00:02:48.139 --> 00:02:54.539 But is this different being God's possession? Our culture would say, no, it isn't any different. 00:02:54.539 --> 00:03:02.959 The goal of each human being should be to be a buffered self. That is, to have complete 00:03:02.959 --> 00:03:12.439 independence from any person or persuasion, from any religion or tradition, from any enchantment or any 00:03:12.439 --> 00:03:20.579 kind of external moral code, and definitely from any kind of being we would call God. And yet, 00:03:20.580 --> 00:03:28.620 the Bible says, everything is God's, including you. So, how does that make you feel? 00:03:32.800 --> 00:03:37.220 How does it feel to hear the claim that you are not your own? 00:03:40.100 --> 00:03:47.540 The psalmist here says, this realization brings joy and gladness and a desire to serve him. 00:03:47.539 --> 00:03:53.959 So, let's look at verse 3 to see why. We're going to see that we are his because he made us, 00:03:54.340 --> 00:04:02.840 because he rescues us, and he unites himself to us. We are his because he made us, he rescues us, 00:04:02.899 --> 00:04:05.939 and he unites himself to us. Let's pray. 00:04:05.939 --> 00:04:19.759 Father, we would come as your treasured possession. Since you treasure us, Lord, would you speak to us? 00:04:21.579 --> 00:04:28.939 Could you open our eyes and our ears to see and to hear your word? Open your word to us now. 00:04:28.939 --> 00:04:32.800 We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. 00:04:34.240 --> 00:04:39.180 Okay, before we do anything else, I'd like to do two things. The first is I'd like to do what's called 00:04:39.180 --> 00:04:46.079 catechism. Do you know what catechism is? It's like a question and answer format by which we learn and 00:04:46.079 --> 00:04:51.519 teach. And there's a really great one called the children's catechism, and I've done parts of this 00:04:51.519 --> 00:04:57.259 with my children. They have the first three questions down pretty good. I'd like to do that 00:04:57.259 --> 00:05:01.839 with us right now, all right? So, the first question is, and you can answer this out loud, 00:05:02.439 --> 00:05:11.919 who made you? Good, good, good. What else did God make? God made all things. Complete sentence. 00:05:12.019 --> 00:05:20.099 Great job, Elizabeth Sally. Which is right. The third question is why did God make you and all things? 00:05:21.519 --> 00:05:26.680 For his own glory. That's right. Good. Let's do that again. Who made you? 00:05:27.359 --> 00:05:34.259 God. No. What else did God make? God made all things. Why did God make you and all things? 00:05:34.959 --> 00:05:37.979 For his own glory. We're going to come back to that from time to time. 00:05:38.479 --> 00:05:42.899 The second thing I'd like to do is to make an observation. Last week, Kevin pointed out that 00:05:42.899 --> 00:05:47.979 verses 1 and 2 alluded to the book of Genesis, namely the first two chapters. We're going to see 00:05:47.980 --> 00:05:54.100 that verse 3 alludes strongly to the book of Exodus, which is my own gauntlet I'm throwing down to Kevin. 00:05:54.580 --> 00:05:58.800 Next week, he gets to show how verse 4 alludes strongly to Leviticus. So, good luck with that. 00:06:00.600 --> 00:06:05.560 Okay? So, let's review the book of Exodus really quickly. 00:06:05.560 --> 00:06:12.180 God's people who are members of one family, the descendants of Jacob, who was the grandson of Abraham, 00:06:12.579 --> 00:06:17.959 had been living in the land of Egypt for 400 years. During that time, they had become enslaved. 00:06:18.660 --> 00:06:25.500 Moses is called upon to confront Pharaoh and demand their release. Pharaoh's heart is hardened. He refuses. 00:06:25.699 --> 00:06:33.259 But after 10 plagues, Pharaoh relents. Moses leads his people out of Egypt, only to be pursued by the 00:06:33.259 --> 00:06:39.259 Egyptian army. The Red Sea is parted for the Israelites. They pass through it safely. And when 00:06:39.259 --> 00:06:44.399 the Egyptian army attempts to pass through, the parting collapses and the army is destroyed. 00:06:45.180 --> 00:06:53.019 Now, this story is central to Israel's identity and self-conception. In this story, God names himself. 00:06:53.620 --> 00:06:58.659 When Moses says to God, if I come to the people of Israel and say to them, the God of your fathers has 00:06:58.659 --> 00:07:02.740 sent me to you, and they ask me, what is his name? What shall I say to them? 00:07:03.259 --> 00:07:12.939 God says to Moses, I am who I am. And God said, say this to the people of Israel, I am has sent me to you. 00:07:13.279 --> 00:07:21.240 Now, I am is his name. In Hebrew, that name sounds like Yahweh. Yahweh is the name that God 00:07:21.240 --> 00:07:29.000 communicates to the people of Israel. In the English Old Testament, whenever you see the word 00:07:29.000 --> 00:07:37.540 LORD, and it's in all caps, that signifies that the Hebrew is using that name, Yahweh. In Exodus chapter 5, 00:07:38.000 --> 00:07:40.800 Moses and his brother Aaron tell Pharaoh, 00:07:42.000 --> 00:07:44.600 thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, 00:07:45.259 --> 00:07:48.779 let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness. 00:07:49.379 --> 00:07:50.600 But Pharaoh says, 00:07:50.600 --> 00:07:52.600 who is Yahweh, 00:07:53.379 --> 00:07:56.020 that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? 00:07:56.540 --> 00:07:57.980 I do not know Yahweh. 00:07:58.580 --> 00:08:01.460 And verse 3 of this psalm seems to answer 00:08:01.460 --> 00:08:02.920 Pharaoh's question. 00:08:04.439 --> 00:08:05.040 Who is Yahweh, 00:08:05.120 --> 00:08:06.920 that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? 00:08:07.020 --> 00:08:08.000 I do not know Yahweh. 00:08:08.140 --> 00:08:10.160 Well, know that Yahweh, 00:08:10.560 --> 00:08:11.660 he is God. 00:08:12.640 --> 00:08:14.360 And Yahweh claims 00:08:14.360 --> 00:08:16.480 ownership of his people. 00:08:16.780 --> 00:08:18.320 Let my people go, yes? 00:08:18.319 --> 00:08:24.399 He claims ownership of his people over and against Pharaoh's claims of ownership. 00:08:25.920 --> 00:08:28.300 Now, why does God claim ownership? 00:08:28.579 --> 00:08:30.099 Well, because, first of all, 00:08:30.860 --> 00:08:32.399 it is he who made us, right? 00:08:32.559 --> 00:08:33.120 Who is God? 00:08:33.279 --> 00:08:34.319 Excuse me, who made us? 00:08:35.000 --> 00:08:35.919 God, good. 00:08:36.279 --> 00:08:37.299 It's keeping us awake, right? 00:08:38.620 --> 00:08:40.080 And what else did God make? 00:08:41.240 --> 00:08:44.860 And why did God make you and all things? 00:08:45.960 --> 00:08:46.759 Good, good. 00:08:46.759 --> 00:08:49.259 But Pharaoh believed himself 00:08:49.259 --> 00:08:50.639 to be a God, 00:08:50.879 --> 00:08:53.240 one who could create and give life. 00:08:53.860 --> 00:08:55.379 Pharaoh says in the book of Ezekiel, 00:08:55.639 --> 00:08:57.700 my Nile is my own. 00:08:58.100 --> 00:08:59.840 I made it for myself. 00:09:00.539 --> 00:09:01.379 Pharaoh says that. 00:09:01.480 --> 00:09:02.319 It's absurd, right? 00:09:02.580 --> 00:09:03.919 Because who made you? 00:09:04.779 --> 00:09:06.059 And what else did God make? 00:09:06.679 --> 00:09:08.279 And why did God make you and all? 00:09:08.340 --> 00:09:08.960 Oh, come on, everybody. 00:09:09.159 --> 00:09:10.539 Why did God make you and all things? 00:09:11.159 --> 00:09:12.220 For his own glory. 00:09:12.340 --> 00:09:12.700 Thank you. 00:09:12.700 --> 00:09:16.259 And so to demonstrate that God created all things, 00:09:16.460 --> 00:09:18.220 has ownership of all things, 00:09:18.560 --> 00:09:22.840 God sends ten plagues to directly challenge the authority of the Egyptian gods. 00:09:23.500 --> 00:09:26.320 The Egyptians believed there to be a god of the Nile, 00:09:26.480 --> 00:09:28.640 so God turns the Nile into blood. 00:09:29.120 --> 00:09:31.360 The Egyptians believed in a goddess of fertility, 00:09:31.560 --> 00:09:32.660 who had the head of a frog, 00:09:32.800 --> 00:09:35.200 so God caused frogs to come up out of the Nile River. 00:09:35.640 --> 00:09:38.940 The Egyptian goddess of love and protection had the head of a cow, 00:09:38.940 --> 00:09:41.780 so God strikes down the livestock of Egypt, 00:09:41.920 --> 00:09:43.720 and so on, and so on. 00:09:44.020 --> 00:09:48.140 God is very intent for us to know that he made all things, 00:09:48.320 --> 00:09:51.140 which is a good place to start when you write a catechism. 00:09:51.200 --> 00:09:52.500 Remember, one last time. 00:09:53.700 --> 00:09:54.440 Who made you? 00:09:55.520 --> 00:09:56.700 What else did God make? 00:09:57.180 --> 00:09:58.460 God made all things. 00:09:58.600 --> 00:10:00.020 Why did God make you and all things? 00:10:01.320 --> 00:10:01.960 Thank you. 00:10:02.840 --> 00:10:04.300 But though he made all things, 00:10:04.300 --> 00:10:07.700 he treasures us above everything he's created. 00:10:07.700 --> 00:10:11.600 In Exodus 19, God tells Israel, 00:10:11.960 --> 00:10:17.020 Now, therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, 00:10:17.879 --> 00:10:20.820 you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, 00:10:21.200 --> 00:10:22.780 for all the earth is mine. 00:10:23.740 --> 00:10:26.379 Because he treasures his people, he rescues them. 00:10:26.800 --> 00:10:29.100 And that's the second reason why we belong to God. 00:10:29.360 --> 00:10:32.140 He made us, and he rescues us. 00:10:32.660 --> 00:10:36.140 Now, where do we see that in Psalm 100, verse 3? 00:10:36.139 --> 00:10:39.580 Again, naming God as Yahweh, 00:10:39.699 --> 00:10:42.720 the psalmist is evoking the story of the Exodus. 00:10:43.500 --> 00:10:46.059 Names conjure histories. 00:10:47.139 --> 00:10:50.299 For example, when we hear the name Abraham Lincoln, 00:10:51.139 --> 00:10:54.299 we think of not just an unusually tall president 00:10:54.299 --> 00:10:55.659 with a stovepipe hat, 00:10:56.159 --> 00:10:59.699 but also we think of the story of our nation, 00:10:59.700 --> 00:11:02.100 and it's struggle to live out the conviction 00:11:02.100 --> 00:11:03.960 that all people are created equal. 00:11:06.140 --> 00:11:07.680 Similarly to the Israelites, 00:11:07.900 --> 00:11:12.780 the name Yahweh conjures up more than just the idea of the one God, 00:11:12.900 --> 00:11:16.040 but also his particular deeds in creating Israel 00:11:16.040 --> 00:11:19.940 and rescuing Israel from slavery in Egypt. 00:11:20.300 --> 00:11:21.320 Now, to drive this point home, 00:11:21.400 --> 00:11:23.920 the psalmist compares us to his sheep. 00:11:24.520 --> 00:11:26.759 And this was a way to refer to the Exodus. 00:11:26.759 --> 00:11:30.039 The psalmist does this elsewhere in Psalm 77. 00:11:31.139 --> 00:11:31.819 There we read, 00:11:32.679 --> 00:11:34.240 Your way, O God, was through the sea, 00:11:34.539 --> 00:11:36.319 your path through the great waters, 00:11:37.000 --> 00:11:38.399 yet your footprints were unseen. 00:11:39.019 --> 00:11:42.899 You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron. 00:11:44.139 --> 00:11:46.299 So we belong to him because he created us, 00:11:46.980 --> 00:11:48.460 because he rescues us, 00:11:48.779 --> 00:11:51.759 and third, because he unites himself to us. 00:11:51.759 --> 00:11:55.319 When the Israelites recalled the founding of their nation 00:11:55.319 --> 00:11:56.399 in the book of Exodus, 00:11:56.740 --> 00:11:59.840 they recalled not just the deliverance 00:11:59.840 --> 00:12:01.840 from the hand of Pharaoh, 00:12:02.379 --> 00:12:05.799 but also their nation's charter. 00:12:07.000 --> 00:12:09.659 And we call that charter the Ten Commandments. 00:12:10.080 --> 00:12:12.059 And we often misunderstand the Ten Commandments 00:12:12.059 --> 00:12:13.980 as being merely just a set of rules, 00:12:14.399 --> 00:12:16.600 but the Ten Commandments was a covenant 00:12:16.600 --> 00:12:19.480 binding Yahweh to his people. 00:12:19.480 --> 00:12:22.300 And it's very much like the covenants made 00:12:22.300 --> 00:12:25.180 in the ancient Near East between kings. 00:12:25.379 --> 00:12:28.060 Here, too, God is revealed as a king. 00:12:28.659 --> 00:12:29.899 And comparing us to sheep, 00:12:30.080 --> 00:12:31.639 it's implied that God is the shepherd. 00:12:32.039 --> 00:12:34.320 And that's how the Old Testament refers to kings. 00:12:34.539 --> 00:12:35.840 Whether the king of Persia, 00:12:36.000 --> 00:12:36.860 or the king of Syria, 00:12:37.080 --> 00:12:38.539 or the kings of Israel and Judah, 00:12:39.019 --> 00:12:40.560 kings were thought of as shepherds, 00:12:40.600 --> 00:12:42.600 either good shepherds who were responsible 00:12:42.600 --> 00:12:44.340 and took care of the sheep and fed them, 00:12:44.340 --> 00:12:47.120 or bad shepherds who were irresponsible 00:12:47.120 --> 00:12:50.700 and did not feed or take care or protect the sheep. 00:12:51.960 --> 00:12:54.960 So in a covenant made between kings 00:12:54.960 --> 00:12:56.360 in the ancient Near East, 00:12:56.860 --> 00:12:58.700 these two kings were called the suzerain, 00:12:58.960 --> 00:13:01.280 who was the overlord or the superior king, 00:13:01.800 --> 00:13:02.840 and the vassal, 00:13:03.200 --> 00:13:05.160 which is like the inferior king, 00:13:05.240 --> 00:13:07.320 who pledges fealty to the suzerain. 00:13:07.320 --> 00:13:09.780 In a covenant between two kings, 00:13:10.240 --> 00:13:12.000 the two parties would be named. 00:13:12.000 --> 00:13:13.899 And that happens in the Ten Commandments. 00:13:14.139 --> 00:13:16.320 God says, I am Yahweh, your God. 00:13:18.139 --> 00:13:20.940 The covenant would include the deeds of the suzerain 00:13:20.940 --> 00:13:22.279 on behalf of the vassal. 00:13:23.120 --> 00:13:24.700 That's spelled out in the Ten Commandments. 00:13:24.799 --> 00:13:27.220 Who brought you out of the land of Egypt, 00:13:27.419 --> 00:13:28.860 out of the house of slavery. 00:13:30.320 --> 00:13:33.720 The covenant would lay out the expectations of each party. 00:13:34.019 --> 00:13:35.120 It'd be clearly stated. 00:13:35.620 --> 00:13:37.179 And that happens in the Ten Commandments, right? 00:13:37.620 --> 00:13:40.039 You shall have no other gods before me, etc. 00:13:40.039 --> 00:13:44.079 And then there would be the punishment spelled out 00:13:44.079 --> 00:13:47.039 for the vassal who breaches the covenant. 00:13:48.120 --> 00:13:50.939 Now implicit in a covenant is the promise 00:13:50.939 --> 00:13:53.719 that the suzerain would defend the vassal 00:13:53.719 --> 00:13:55.059 from all of its enemies. 00:13:56.120 --> 00:13:59.939 And so too does God come to our rescue 00:13:59.939 --> 00:14:02.240 against all of our enemies. 00:14:02.659 --> 00:14:06.179 He's joined himself to his people, to us. 00:14:06.179 --> 00:14:08.299 And because we are joined to him, 00:14:08.859 --> 00:14:11.579 our enemies have become his enemies. 00:14:12.079 --> 00:14:14.219 So what are your enemies? 00:14:16.279 --> 00:14:17.319 Is it loneliness? 00:14:19.399 --> 00:14:23.279 Is it futility in your vocation? 00:14:25.419 --> 00:14:26.739 Is it infertility? 00:14:26.740 --> 00:14:32.379 Is it addiction? 00:14:34.639 --> 00:14:36.759 Is it the struggle to forgive someone? 00:14:39.919 --> 00:14:43.460 So these enemies are God's enemies. 00:14:43.759 --> 00:14:45.680 Your enemies are his. 00:14:45.759 --> 00:14:47.659 And I think he hates them more than you do. 00:14:47.659 --> 00:14:52.659 So imagine prayer in light of this 00:14:52.659 --> 00:14:55.600 as your enemies being God's enemies, right? 00:14:56.740 --> 00:15:00.779 You are besieged on all sides. 00:15:00.879 --> 00:15:02.319 And prayer isn't just a wish 00:15:02.319 --> 00:15:05.259 that he might come through and send some aid. 00:15:05.639 --> 00:15:07.799 Prayer is putting the suzerain 00:15:07.799 --> 00:15:10.579 in the vice of his own promises. 00:15:10.580 --> 00:15:17.040 God, I am besieged on all sides by loneliness. 00:15:18.800 --> 00:15:22.400 The futility and frustration I feel at work 00:15:22.400 --> 00:15:25.020 has all of its artillery aimed at me. 00:15:25.340 --> 00:15:26.360 I am helpless here. 00:15:28.259 --> 00:15:30.500 There is no way I'm going to forgive that person 00:15:30.500 --> 00:15:31.460 without your help, God. 00:15:31.800 --> 00:15:33.080 You need to help me. 00:15:34.300 --> 00:15:35.440 That's what he wants. 00:15:35.820 --> 00:15:39.360 To put the king in the vice of his own promises. 00:15:39.520 --> 00:15:40.220 That's prayer. 00:15:41.340 --> 00:15:42.720 Our God wants us to do that. 00:15:45.379 --> 00:15:46.400 He helps us. 00:15:46.460 --> 00:15:48.020 He delivers us from our enemies, 00:15:48.139 --> 00:15:50.780 including our ultimate enemies, 00:15:51.020 --> 00:15:52.960 sin and death. 00:15:55.060 --> 00:15:56.920 Let's go back to a different covenant, 00:15:57.379 --> 00:15:59.860 one that God made, not with Israel, 00:15:59.960 --> 00:16:03.100 but before that, with Israel's ancestor, Abraham. 00:16:04.620 --> 00:16:06.540 God made a promise to Abraham 00:16:06.539 --> 00:16:13.339 to provide innumerable descendants, 00:16:13.559 --> 00:16:15.439 as innumerable as the sand on the seashore, 00:16:16.099 --> 00:16:18.179 to bless him and through him all nations. 00:16:19.759 --> 00:16:22.259 And the covenant is ratified. 00:16:22.480 --> 00:16:25.360 And there's a ceremony that is enacted, 00:16:25.480 --> 00:16:28.199 not dissimilar to a ceremony that you found 00:16:28.199 --> 00:16:30.879 between other kings of the ancient Near East. 00:16:30.879 --> 00:16:33.919 Various animals were cut in half, 00:16:33.919 --> 00:16:37.220 and those carcasses were laid into the house. 00:16:37.639 --> 00:16:39.240 And there's a path that goes down the middle. 00:16:39.799 --> 00:16:41.299 The idea is these two kings, 00:16:41.439 --> 00:16:42.559 upon ratifying the covenant, 00:16:42.679 --> 00:16:44.600 would walk through the carcasses. 00:16:44.600 --> 00:16:45.899 The idea being, 00:16:46.220 --> 00:16:48.360 if I fail as one of these kings 00:16:48.360 --> 00:16:50.659 to live out my part of this covenant, 00:16:51.180 --> 00:16:53.279 may this happen to me, 00:16:53.379 --> 00:16:55.580 what happened to these animals. 00:16:57.019 --> 00:16:59.159 Now, when God does this with Abraham, 00:17:00.420 --> 00:17:01.779 and in effect his people, 00:17:02.879 --> 00:17:07.660 it's only God in the form of a flaming fire pot 00:17:07.660 --> 00:17:10.360 that passes through the carcasses. 00:17:11.440 --> 00:17:12.759 And what does that signify? 00:17:12.759 --> 00:17:17.440 Well, it signifies that Abraham and his descendants 00:17:17.440 --> 00:17:20.940 would ultimately not have to suffer 00:17:20.940 --> 00:17:24.379 the consequences of their breaking the covenant. 00:17:24.759 --> 00:17:25.440 God is saying, 00:17:26.019 --> 00:17:28.359 when the law is broken, 00:17:28.500 --> 00:17:31.680 I'm willing to take the punishment for that. 00:17:31.740 --> 00:17:33.059 And what does that point forward to? 00:17:33.559 --> 00:17:35.799 That points forward to the cross. 00:17:35.940 --> 00:17:36.819 Thousands of years ago, 00:17:36.940 --> 00:17:38.500 God promised that his people 00:17:38.500 --> 00:17:40.579 would never have to face the wrath 00:17:40.579 --> 00:17:41.920 they would ultimately deserve 00:17:41.920 --> 00:17:43.340 for breaking the covenant. 00:17:44.060 --> 00:17:45.840 And that would be fulfilled on the cross, 00:17:45.880 --> 00:17:49.300 where our covenant with him is ratified. 00:17:50.259 --> 00:17:51.440 And so on the cross, 00:17:51.480 --> 00:17:52.740 there's an exchange made. 00:17:54.740 --> 00:17:57.019 I'm his, he is mine. 00:17:58.180 --> 00:18:00.300 I get all of Jesus's obedience, 00:18:01.060 --> 00:18:01.860 all his goodness, 00:18:02.600 --> 00:18:03.340 his record, 00:18:03.480 --> 00:18:05.460 all the love that the Father has lavished on him 00:18:05.460 --> 00:18:06.539 since the beginning of time. 00:18:08.039 --> 00:18:09.100 And in exchange, 00:18:09.259 --> 00:18:10.000 Jesus takes 00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:12.400 our stuff, 00:18:12.720 --> 00:18:14.299 our brokenness, 00:18:14.799 --> 00:18:16.640 the wrath that we deserve. 00:18:20.299 --> 00:18:21.759 The apostle Paul says, 00:18:21.980 --> 00:18:24.360 death is swallowed up in victory. 00:18:25.019 --> 00:18:25.880 Oh, death, 00:18:25.940 --> 00:18:26.980 where is your sting? 00:18:27.140 --> 00:18:27.700 Oh, death, 00:18:27.799 --> 00:18:28.779 where is your victory? 00:18:28.779 --> 00:18:31.599 The sting of death is sin, 00:18:31.839 --> 00:18:33.759 and the power of sin is the law. 00:18:34.059 --> 00:18:35.220 But thanks be to God 00:18:35.220 --> 00:18:36.379 who gives us the victory 00:18:36.379 --> 00:18:38.059 through our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:18:40.379 --> 00:18:41.720 Because he created us 00:18:41.720 --> 00:18:42.940 as his treasured possession, 00:18:43.200 --> 00:18:44.359 because he rescued us 00:18:44.359 --> 00:18:46.200 from sin and death 00:18:46.200 --> 00:18:47.440 and all of our enemies, 00:18:47.539 --> 00:18:49.339 and because he unites himself to us, 00:18:49.460 --> 00:18:51.339 we can make a joyful noise 00:18:51.339 --> 00:18:51.879 to the Lord. 00:18:51.960 --> 00:18:53.000 We can serve him 00:18:53.000 --> 00:18:54.200 with gladness. 00:18:54.420 --> 00:18:55.839 We can come into his presence 00:18:55.839 --> 00:18:56.579 with singing. 00:18:57.059 --> 00:18:58.419 We can know and acknowledge 00:18:58.419 --> 00:19:00.139 that he is our God. 00:19:00.539 --> 00:19:01.359 In the name of the Father, 00:19:01.500 --> 00:19:02.019 and of the Son, 00:19:02.079 --> 00:19:03.019 and of the Holy Spirit. 00:19:03.639 --> 00:19:03.939 Amen.