Are and we just want to welcome them come on guys give them a warm welcome and I’m going to let uh yeah Drew tell more about him so you great good morning church good morning it’s good to be in slow this morning it’s a little chilly
But maybe you can get warmed up in here at least the spirit will warm your heart and soul um it’s a delight to be here uh I got to know John um about a year ago almost we were in the school of Ministry for Europe we’re both being trained to
Be PL uh pastors and uh in my case Church Planters and uh it’s been awesome to get to know him and I got to know Sam a little bit and I quickly knew that this lady’s got it together you know she’s organized she’s detailed she’s so
Friendly and it’s been awesome to get to know your pastors I’ve got to know Greg I actually led the team from uh most of them were from West kin but to Cardiff back in in October and so I’ve known Greg for a little while but it was great
To be with them seeing what they’re doing so we pray blessings on them today what a special day to launch a church in Cardiff um but I’m excited to be with you as my friend said shared that uh you’re hearing this American accent and it’s from the southern part of the us
And at since I’ve been here I’ve never heard this before but they’ve told me it’s it’s uh it’s rather soothing to hear and I I guess that’s a compliment uh but if I hope it doesn’t just soothe you and ease you back into sleep mode that’s my only prayer I hope it
Encourages you this morning um and so this is a a picture I think we have some slides here um but I did I have a photo of uh My Wife and Kids I think it’s the next slide there and so this is my wife
Ble over here and um I have a son Eli uh he is two and my daughter Josephine is in reception she’s in four she’s with the kids back there so this is our family um and you’re probably like well why in the world Why move here uh you
Heard a little bit about that earlier but you know when when God starts stirring something in your heart it’s hard to deny it right and if we keep hearing it for consistently and we don’t obey the word of God then that becomes sin right that becomes some issues that
We have with God and so um for the last 10 or so 10 or so years we’ve been in Nashville attending an every nation Church there called bethl World Outreach church if you ever read God’s Not Dead Pastor rice wrote that book that’s the the church that he’s a part of Pastor
James L is the pastor there and that was our introduction to every nation and we’ve absolutely loved getting to know this spiritual family is beautiful and while I was there I was working in the um Global Every Nation office helping our North American churches get on
Mission and so how do we help go on short-term trips to the Nations and then also how do we send missionaries that feel called to go to the to the Nations how do we get them sent trained up funded those type of things and so that
Was the work I’ve been doing and doing that I came to Europe a few times and God was like yeah I’m calling you here and then I had to of course consult my wife I said hey hey how you feel about this and she’s like honestly I feel it
Too and I’m like woo praise God that’s a good thing because you need to be equally yolked right you don’t need one to fill it and not the other and so I was excited about that and so we moved over to the UK in May uh we’ve been a
Part of West Kensington there I’m a pastoral resident that just means that I’m doing this Grand internship where I get to do discipleship and evangelism and learning about church ministry and it’s been awesome being there I’m now doing a lot of the executive function of the church how do we build systems
Processes how do we make the church be the church how do we help the church do that of course God builds his church but he needs laborers and so we’re answering that call I also get to serve on the missions team and so a lot of you know
Tracy who was in this congregation for a long time I served with Tracy and fron Olivier and RL and we get to think about missions and supporting church planning around Europe so I get to do that part of my time and then supporting the church in West Kensington the other part
Of the time and I absolutely love it people like how do you like the UK I’m like I don’t know ask me again in February when it’s still dreary but we really enjoy it my wife is uh also employed in the marketplace she is an accountant by trade so it was helped us
Actually get visas to get over so she’s working full-time I’m working full-time in the church and we are just honored to be in the UK loveing life and excited about what God is up to in this nation and what a great spiritual family that
We get to be a part of uh greater part of every nation London and our our Every Nation Global family we were part of a fast right anybody remember that a few weeks ago praise God I love a good fast but I am glad when it ends you know
Because I want to hear from God I desire to hear from God but also I’m ready to eat some food to be honest that there’s such a spiritual nourishment that comes but also the physical nourishment that comes after that hearing God’s voice what’s next what is he doing what a
Special time and so I’m continuing today the series that John started a couple weeks ago our our global series that we’re doing called the pattern and it is a a wonderful series we talked about how two weeks ago John talked about how God is Holy which is my next slide we
Believe that God is perfect and he’s holy right he’s good and he created Mankind in His image that he somehow desired this relationship with us from the beginning we see this in the garden right that in the early part of Genesis uh the first few chapters there that
This is how God created things and how he meant them to be it was the perfect beautiful pattern that God designed this for life and for human flourishing and we were free to enjoy relationship with God talks about how we walked with God in the cool of the day
We were also free to enjoy relationship with one another that we were naked and unashamed I don’t know what that looks like and feels like but I know it’s a it’s a beautiful thing that God created right to be vulnerable to not be worried
To be free we are also free to enjoy a relationship with creation that God gave us purpose and meaning to Steward to rule and reign with him over creation it was a beautiful thing the only problem is that it didn’t last for very long it was short live right that this thing
Called sin entered the world that Adam and Eve had the freedom to choose just like you and I have the freedom to choose which meant that they could choose God or they could reject God but they listen to the voice of the enemy right they listen to the voice of Satan
They doubted God’s goodness they thought that they knew better they sinned they missed the mark and they disobeyed and that’s what John was talking about last week right how sin is it causes this Brokenness in the world that you and I are broken and just like Adam and Eve
Made decision to sin in the garden they a distortion in God’s pattern occurred and they passed it on right we see their kids Cain and Abel what happened sin murder we see this widespread and wickedness continuing throughout scripture and the Bible honestly is full of pretty horrific stories Beautiful
Stories too but really difficult sinful stories you think about David’s acts of adultery and then ultimately murder to cover that adultery we think about how Moses even disobeyed God that evil king after evil king after evil King in the Old Testament and finally we get to Jesus we’re like Hallelujah there’s a
Good man among us right but is all over the Bible but it when I open my um BBC app or whatever news source you get you know I also know that it’s trouble we’re facing trouble here too that sin just wasn’t a Biblical thing it’s a now thing
That we have wars and rumors Wars breaking out all over the world there’s unjust systems and that perpetuate evil and marginalize women and children we have corporations and businesses that unfortunately have deceived Us caus in families to to be broken difficulty in our financial situations cost of living
Crisis that stems from all this injust systems we’re in a pickle right maybe that’s an American saying we’re in trouble you know we’re broken but some would even argue that well there are bad people but aren’t there really good people in the world well humanism would actually say that they would tell you
That people are inherently good and that’s our cultural milu our cultural Outlook that most people in our society well people are inherently good but yeah there are some bad people but the Bible could not be uh paint a different story very clearly opposed to humanism that people as Believers we
Believe that people are created with dysfunction in their hearts that we are all capable of wickedness that here we see the problem that we all face that where the world is broken that we are broken and that’s what John was talking about last week right but what
Can we just pause for a moment and say what if there’s a better way what if yes God is Holy we know that we are broken but what if a loving God even despite our sin kept wanting to make way to come and be with us what if that was the case
And how beautiful of a story would that be and that’s what we want to talk about today the pattern revealed so we talked about the perfect pattern we talked about the pattern broken and today I want to talk about the pattern revealed and if you’re worried if I’m going to be
A Biblical guy and read scripture I am but hang on tight I want to take you on a journey first let’s talk about the pattern reveal that in in the story we see starting in Genesis 12 that God called Abraham from one country to the next country and said come follow me and
He made he said I want to make you uh abundant in the Nations and he chose Abraham to be a father of the nation to reveal himself to him to his family so that their family could reveal God to the Nations that was God’s perfect plan his perfect pattern that God told
Abraham he was going to be a blessing to the Nations your Offspring will like be like the sand on the seashore and God wanted to be able to dwell with his people again right he wanted to come he wanted to be with us this is a huge
Theme in the Bible that we we’re talking about today the Crux of the message is that despite our Brokenness despite our separation from God that God continues to choose to be among his people always it’s his heart and so when we look at the the family of Abraham it can it extends
Through Genesis into Exodus we see this beautiful story of Abraham having a son um Ishmael but we know that Isaac was the son of promise we know Isaac had Esau and Jacob and we know the wrestling and all that story and Jacob ultimately wrestles with God and becomes Israel he
Has 12 sons who will ultimately become the 12 tribes of Israel and one of those Sons uh was sold into slavery um went to Egypt from by the rest of his brothers and what was evil God turned into good he brought Joseph into Piper’s house he
Was lied on got put into prison but God didn’t forget about Joseph like he doesn’t forget about us and God ultimately raised him up to to interpret the dreams of pharaoh and then ultimately elevated to be the ruler over over Egypt in a crisis moment right
Famine was coming but yet God raised up he remembered his promise to Abraham right I’m going to make your family a nation for others to to look at to reveal myself to the Nations and so Joseph came ultimately provided food for this famine this crisis uh Jacob Israel
His whole family moved to Egypt and before long their family grew and grew and grew and over several hundred years there was hundreds of thousands if not millions of descendants of Abraham in Egypt but what happened they got pulled into slavery phoh brought them into slavery and went and of course it was
Horrific but what did they do they said God get us out of slavery and we know what happened is that they cried out to God God sent Moses back all the plagues came and ultimately God delivered them in this beautiful Exodus moment right they came out of Egypt they went to the
Red Sea they’re like what are we going to do of course God delivered them out of the Red Sea Into the Wilderness and I’ve always wondered why the wilderness I don’t have a good answer for you but that’s where God brought them and that’s where we find ourselves today that as
Just as God brought his people who were supposed to reveal himself to the Nations there’s only one problem they were so sinful themselves that as they got to the Wilderness they were unsatisfied they’re like send us back to Egypt right God provided quail and mana and everything
That they needed and they’re like send us back they started making this golden calf you know this sin after sin after sin and the nation that was supposed to reveal God to the Nations was unfortunately living in sin they couldn’t get away from their Brokenness but God but God had a
Solution what was his solution is to give them a written pattern to follow that if they live within these guidelines that they will be restored and that’s where we get to today about God revealing his perfect pattern through the law the the levitical law are these rules God gave the Israelites to deal
With their sin and impurity so that God could once again live among them so you’re seeing this back here I’m going to unpack this in just a moment the law was meant to be a pattern for them to follow so they could be restored to what
The exact same things we see in the garden the first was a relationship to God the law would allow that to happen the second thing God would restore them to himself they so they could be perfect relationship with one another within Israel but also within the Nations
Around Israel and of course God wanted to restore them to others and or to Creation excuse me to be stewards over creation so what is the law you can see this back here uh just is a a memorable device for you there was three types of
Law when we talk about the law we break it down into three categories the first was the Civil laws that’s what we often experience in the UK today how do we drive on the road what are these National laws that we follow so Society can function in a good way inheritance laws penal
Laws Health laws sanitary codes and the second type of law was the moral law of God and this is what all we think about when we think about the Ten Commandments this is how to be pure through our actions and choices and the first bit of those Ten
Commandments are how we relate to God and the second bit of those are how we relate to one another we are familiar with these type of laws as Believers as Christians today we follow these laws but God knew ultimately that as as as wonderful as as people are they’re going
To be sinful they’re going to not be able to live to the moral law of God so they would never be able to make enough good choices or be pure enough to live in God’s presence so what does God do he gives them the ritual laws what many of
Us know as ceremonial laws that these are pretty much un unless you’re an Old Testament scholar or read your Old Testament quite a bit pretty unfamiliar right when need to go look at these and see what they are but God gave them to the Israelites to atone for things to
Make right um when they would fail the moral law of God these would be things like sacrifices or the sacrificial system this would be religious feast and the Sabbath this would be sin offerings and grain offerings rituals health and dietary laws and ultimately a priest would come along and hold these
Ceremonies these ritual ceremonies so that the people could be atoned for and to be honest these ritual laws contain a lot of blood it was very bloody if you look around every every other verse and you go through Leviticus and Deuteronomy it’s like sacrificing this animal to for
The blood to be put on the mercy seat and on the horns of the Altar and it’s blood blood blood I’m like woo it’s a bloody time right what to be a priest thank God I am not there right but this is what the children of Israel were
Doing this is the role of the priest to function in the ceremonial laws to make them right so the idea here is that by following these laws the Israelites would be following God’s intended pattern living according to the ways of God but we know they couldn’t do it
Right they sinned and fell short of meeting the law and any time God’s pattern is that if someone falls short of his his standard they are in sin and that sin and obedience demand punishment it demands punishment because you have to remember that God is both holy and just on the one side
And fully love on the other side and so sin has to be punished he loves us so much he wants a relationship but the sin his Holiness and sin cannot match so there’s a problem that God couldn’t be hypocritical that’s not in his nature he
Can’t look on the wicked way and say you know what that’s okay in this situation or for you we’ll make an exception he he that’s not his character God is fully holy and he’s fully loving so in his Holiness sin has to be made right it has
To be punished so in order for the Israelites to to have a chance he came up with a way to punish their sin without punishing them in that way that pattern was through animal sacrifices more blood right animal sacrific is the way that God could do that so that when we talk
About these ritual laws that these rituals where the sin and impurity is transferred from the animal that is slaughtered um who is killed as punishment and the blood of the animal washes the human clean the Israelites clean so if you can imagine with me just for a moment here’s what
The setup in Israel was like God wants to live among his people so he tells them to build a temple a tent of meeting for him and he called this the Tabernacle and he said wherever you camp in the wilderness put this thing right
In the middle I want to be in the center of the camp but he didn’t just say kind of just do it figure it out he gave them incredible detailed instructions I mean specific things about how long the tent of meeting was going to be how wide what
Type of curtain the material to be used how to identify Craftsmen um where to put the candles where to put all the different pieces that were going to be in there how to do the I mean it was incredibly detailed so if you can imagine just for
A moment you’re in the Israelite camp this Tabernacles in the middle so we have to locate ourselves right here in the middle of the space that is people are trying their best to follow after God and he’s giving them the rituals to cover up their failures so this brings us to our scripture
Today that we find ourselves at the day of atonement now if you’ve ever seen movies or various things day of atonement can be kind of a scary thing and uh I I’m not g to make it scary at all today but it is a very important piece of
Scripture when I think about Leviticus I’m like how quickly can I get through Leviticus so I can continue on with with my Bible reading for the year but in reality Leviticus 16 where we’re going to read from today is like the Good Friday of the Old Testament or the Good
Friday of the old Covenant it’s incredibly important and when we talk about atonement what we mean here is that atonement means the action of making amends for a wrong or injury or it means a reparation for sin it’s the day that sin there’s reparation for it
So this is where we find ourselves if you could turn in your Bibles to Leviticus 16 it will also have it here on the screen this is Leviticus 16 starting in verse we’ll do 1-5 20- 22 and 29-30 so Leviticus 16 starting in verse one says the Lord spoke to Moses after
The death of of the two sons of Aaron who died when they approached the Lord the Lord said to Moses tell your brother Aaron that he has not to come whenever he chooses into the most holy place behind the curtain in front of the atonement cup are in the ark or else he
Will die for I will appear in the cloud cover Cloud over the atonement cover verse three this is how Aaron is to enter the most holy place he must first spring a young bull for a sin offering and a RAM for a burnt offering he is to
Put on the sacred linen tunic with linen undergarments next to his body he is to tie the linen sash around him and put on the linen turban these are sacred garments so he must bathe himself with water before he puts them on from the Israelite Community he is to
Take two male goats for a sin offering and a RAM for a burn offering now we’re going to fast forward to verse 20 verse 20 says when Aaron has finished making atonement for the most holy place the tent of meeting and the altar he shall bring forward the live goat he
Shall lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess it over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites all their sins and put them on the goat’s head he shall send the goat away until the Wilderness in the care of someone appointed for the task
The goat will carry it on itself all their sins to a remote place and the man shall release it into the Wilderness and then verse 29 this is to be the lasting ordinance for you on the 10th day of the seventh month you must deny yourselves and not
Do any work whether native born or Foreigner residing among you because all this day atonement will be made for you to cleanse you then before the Lord you will be clean from all your sins that’s our scripture for today so we see this this depiction of the day of
Atonement let me walk you through this briefly this is a ritual that happened once per year to atone for the people sins for the whole uh previous year and it was performed by the high priest this was something that took a lot of preparation um it took a lot of careful
Understanding of what to do how to do it because the priest had to be careful because as you can see this image up here there was a few things going on the what was on the the left side here uh behind the curtain was the holy of
Holies and if the high priest were to go into the holy of holies and not having atone for him and his family sin unfortunately he would fall dead and so you can imagine uh they’ve created a strategy to put rope around the high priest that in case he fell dead they
Could pull him out without having to go into the holy of holies this was a serious thing that sin for God was a major major thing and so this is where we find ourselves and so the priest took this very seriously he attone for his sins
His family sins and then the people of Israel sins and so the place again behind the curtain was the holy of holies the Ark of the Covenant was there it was a special place where God’s presence dwelt he chose to do it in that way and you can see the curtain there it
Separated the holy of holies from the rest of the tenta meeting the holy place and it symbolized the separation of God’s presence and his Holiness from the rest of the world it’s a very special place so this is the the place where all of this that
We just read is taking taking place so if you think about the goat if you would go to the next the next slide there the SEC this this first goat that we talk about you can see the high priest in the middle you see the two goats the first goat pictures the
Atonement this is the theological truth that God has restored our broken relationship with him and paid for our sins that they no longer have a claim on us the second goat was called the Azazel the Hebrew word that means the goat departs otherwise in our English known
Scapegoat I know a lot of there’s a lot of connotations for scapegoat but this is where it originates that there was a scapegoat um that God created so God so the high priest would lay both of his hands on the scapegoat and confess all of the sins the nation sins and this
Symbolic act transferred the transgressions of the people onto the scapegoat then a chosen Israelite would take the scapegoat out into the Wilderness and release it and the the goat would wander off and presumably die now the second goat here pictures the result of atonement we see what has
Become of our sins that they’re now gone forever when the man returns from taking the scapegoat out into the Wilderness you get this beautiful celebration ation that he informs all the people the people gather he says the skate go has been is gone the people clap their hands
They celebrate because their shame their guilt is now all gone for the next year beautiful picture and this is the cleansing that we’re talking about of atonement the theological truth that God pays for our sins and removes them as far as the East is from the West that it
Didn’t matter just what the people had done the sacrifice that had covered their sin and gave them righteousness this beautiful right standing before God rightly clothed but the thing is this was supposed to be how the Israelites revealed God to the world this was God’s plan but it didn’t work it didn’t work
Because we’re human and we could not live up to the moral law of God that the Israelites maybe like us decided to do what was right in their own eyes and if you read the rest of the Old Testament coming from Leviticus and exodus and the
Kings you see this pattern of sin repent punishment rep and blessing you see sin repentance and then blessing and it’s it’s this continual theme that the the Israelites just couldnot get it right and if we stopped there it would be a pretty sad story wouldn’t it it
Would be a very bad s cycle it’ be a terrible story but thank God he had another plan amen that we now know that God sent his son Jesus who was fully God and fully man that Jesus was able unlike us humans and the Israelites to live the
Perfect moral life that he he was perfect he never broke a single law he completely fulfilled the moral law of God that we were talking about earlier in fact his teachings took the moral law moral law of God to the next to the next place that instead of you know he he
Gave the command to turn the other cheek and and if somebody asks for your your shirt you give them your coat also was like wooo raising the bar Jesus come on right that he that’s what he did he F completely fulfilled the moral law of God and said hey this is actually a
Beautiful thing let me do this for you but Jesus wasn’t just didn’t just even mean to be our example that God also sent him not just to fulfill the moral law of God but to also be a ritual sacrifice on our behalf that he took all
Of our sin on him all of it that God poured out all his wrath and judgment onto us that he was the perfect lamb that was slain for us that his blood covered and atoned for all of our sins that he completely fulfilled the ritual law of God and what’s beautiful about
This is that God settled our debt through the death of his sinless son which was an event prefigured in the death of the innocent goat and though it’s impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins which we re read about in Hebrews the Israelites who
Had faith in God had their sins taken away by the lamb who was slain from the creation of the world what a beautiful picture thank you Jesus for coming fulfilling the moral law of God for us fulfilling the ritual that was U that God that God gave us
Amen amen and if you stop and think about this when Jesus did this for us at the same time Jesus died the Jews were still offering sacrifices in the temple this was still going on this is a permanent Tabernacle that they had built that the moment that Jesus died the
Bible tells us that that curtain that we just looked at was split into that the holy of holies that had become this special place where God’s presence was was able to come out because of Christ’s atoning work the presence of God could fill the Earth in a beautiful and
Special special way the curtain tore in two that God’s presence could go out into the world and not destroy it that Jesus rose from the dead and was able to make this happen so folks today that’s why we we see the life in person of Jesus he told
His followers what are we to do what are his followers to do do we follow these old rituals the ceremonial laws he’s like no no no no that’s not what I’m asking you to do Jesus requests of his disciples and of us today is that we would believe in him simple belief and
That once we believe that his sacrifice could once and for all wash us that’s what Jesus asked that those who believe in Jesus are now righteous just like when the the blood of of the goat was spilled it made the the Israelites clean the blood of Jesus also makes us clean
It makes us righteous it makes us holy before him that we are made rich richly pure what amazing how amazing is that and don’t take my word for it we’re going to read in Hebrews to to bring the word of God to this Hebrews chapter 9
Starting in verse 11 says so Christ has now become the high priest over all the good things that have come he has entered the greater more perfect Tabernacle in heaven which was not made by human hands and is not part of the created world with his own blood not the
Blood of goats and calves he entered the most holy Place once for all time and secured our Redemption forever verse 13 under the old system the blood of goats and Bulls and the ashes of the hepher could cleanse people’s bodies from ceremonial impurity just think how much more the blood of
Christ will purify our consciences from sinful Deeds so that we can worship the Living God for by the power of the eternal spirit Christ offered himself to God as as a perfect sacrifice for our sins woo amen that is the gospel is it not the foundation of our faith amen
Amen that’s in Jesus God has made a permanent way for us to be made right with him it wasn’t temporary like in a levitical law but it is now offered to all which brings us to ask the question what is the purpose of the law for us
Now what is the purpose of the law why do we read Leviticus why do we read the Old Testament why does it still matter well first the law reveals the significance of Jesus’s sacrifice and that’s what I’ve been trying to preach to you today that Jesus wasn’t just a
Man who laid down his life and went up to a cross and you know that’s a beautiful thing in in of itself but no he literally fulfilled the law fulfill the moral law of God what’s our ritual sacrifice and we can understand that that this was a beautiful ful thing that
Jesus did to fulfill all of those things number two the law reveals God’s perfect pattern for living that we know the moral law is still good and it reveals God’s heart to us the Ten Commandments still matter to us today but the thing is we know that the law can never make
Us right we know that then number three what is the purpose of the law for us the law reveals our sinfulness that guys ladies we are absolutely more sinful than we could ever imagine me you we all struggle with these things and we see this in Romans
Chapter three starting in verse 19 it says the Law’s purpose is to keep people from having excuses and to show that the entire world is guilty before God for no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands the law
Simply shows us how sinful we are and as we go on in verse 21 but now God has shown us a way to be made right with him keeping the requirements of the law as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago we are made
Right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ and this is true for everyone who believes no matter who we are verse 23 for everyone has sinned we all fall short of God’s glorious standard yet God in his grace freely makes us right in his sight
He did this through Jesus Christ when he freed us from the penalty for our sins for God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin people are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrified his life shedding his blood and then in verse 27 can we boast then that we have
Done anything to be accepted by God no because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law it is based on faith so we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law amen thank God it’s not up to us is it it’s about what Jesus has
Done so as I’m moving to a close here I have to ask you a question as you thought about this if you heard God’s word go forth today what should our response be how do we respond to this well the first is to receive the gift of righteousness by faith that if
You don’t NE yet know Jesus if he’s been something that you’ve read about thought about curious about Christianity the invitation to know him is available today that if if you’re like me sometimes this feels like a hard thing why is it so hard to believe you
Know that’s why we see in scripture Lord help my own belief right the Lord help me to believe help me daily believe that what you did is enough that the pardon God issued on the day of atonement must be rece received by faith and if we think about the levitical law if an
Israelite did not believe in God’s work work of Grace on the day of atonement he would not receive the pardon that God offered the same is true today quick story in 1829 George Wilson robbed the US male jeopardizing a male man’s life now he pleaded guilty for the charges and the
Court sentenced him to death by hanging now remember it’s 1829 okay and so friends arranged for President Andrew Jackson to issue Wilson this guy a pardon and the US president can do that but when but when offered the pardon Wilson refused this pardon and the case
Went all the way up to the Supreme Court which is the highest court in the US Chief Justice John Marshall wrote the official ruling for the court he said a pardon is an act of Grace the validity of which is not complete without acceptance it might be rejected by the
Person to whom it was offered and the court could not force it upon him the court cannot give the prisoner the benefit of the pardon unless the prisoner claims the benefit of it guys we cannot receive the benefits of Christ’s atonement unless we receive it and claim it by faith so if that’s
You today God offers that for you to receive our second response maybe you’re a Believer maybe you’re trying to figure out this this with Jesus the second response is to reject legalism and what I mean by that really quickly is that legalism is when we believe that our Salvation our
Relationship with God is dependent on our performance and hard work that may look a couple different ways for you legal legalism leads to us either feeling a couple different ways depending on how good or bad we feel our spiritual for performance is going at the time the first way is
Self-righteousness that when things are going well and you’re doing well spiritually somehow we run the risk of becoming self-righteous that is the idea that somehow we’ve through our own efforts gotten closer to God or earned his favor or gotten a blessing because we’ve been doing well couldn’t be
Further from the truth right that when we when we do this we become even if we’re unaware of it we become self-righteous when we we lose sight of what Jesus did and begin to take credit for what he did on the cross or we become proud or thinking that we’re
Self-sufficient that we we got it or we become judgmental of others and I know I’ve I’ve had to repent of that many times so maybe that’s you have you are you putting more effort on what you can do and thinking that you’re drawing somehow closer to
God and then the second part of this maybe you’re the opposite legalism for you may look like when we fail or we sin and we believe that our actions have the power to stop God from loving us or to Drawing Near to us this is also sin that
We hold too tightly to our sinfulness that because I’ve been so bad how could God ever love me I’m how how I’ve done too many bad things that we reject God’s offer of forgiveness that we stop ourselves from living for God and obeying him obeying
Him and I can tell you as a parent I’ve got a four-year-old and two-year-old this has made a lot more sense to me that you know my daughter Josephine would come home and she star student of the day and had several things I’m like wow I’m proud
But I had to realize that I’m not I don’t love her more because of what she did I love her because she’s worth loving and even when she has bad days and made mistakes and lied to me and all this stuff I don’t love her less there’s some corrections some conversations that
Need I’m going to love her and what love looks like is having the hard conversations in truth and in love but I don’t love her any more or any less I love her the same and so if you’re struggling with that then know that God loves you no no matter what no matter
What so as we close today what camp do you find yourself in is today the day that you need to make right with the Lord has he been drawing you has Jesus been knocking on the door of your heart and you want to give your life to him and say tell me
What does it mean to follow Jesus or maybe for you today it’s saying you know what I’ve been too proud I’ve been actually trying to figure this out on my own or maybe you’re like how don’t feel lovable how could you ever be worthy well today God wants to remind you that
You are worthy that you are worth loving by by Jesus and by his church I can tell you I’m getting to know this church better this is a loving community that will love you through thick and thin that’s what we do as the Believers of Christ and so I’m going to pray and
Invite Lawrence back up to to close this out for us so bow your head with with me and just let’s pray together father God we love you so much God you are so good to us God throughout scripture you have always desired to be in relationship with us
Despite our sin despite our shortcomings despite us striving and being proud or not feeling lovable God you’ve always pursued us with your love this ever this never changing always always loving love that you offer us oh God and so God we invite you into this place you’re
Already here but God speak to us open our eyes to see your ears to hear what you’re what you’re saying and what you’re speaking to us or what are you doing and so God I pray that as we’re all thinking about God what you what what you’re speaking to us today open
Our heart to hear Holy Spirit if there’s someone here that needs to be reminded that you love them no matter what I pray that they would hear that today let they mercy receive it today Lord if someone needs to know you to to to find you for
The first time we’re ready to receive God you’re ready to receive them so God come do what you can only do bless this word in Jesus name we pray amen