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Read Between The Lines Series | Pastor Eric Ingwerson (10/18/26) — Transcript

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0:00Hi, I'm John Davidson, lead pastor of
0:02Evangel Temple. Thank you so much for
0:03tuning into the message today. I hope
0:05it's a blessing and an encouragement to
0:07you. If it is, leave us a note in the
0:09comments. We'd love to hear from you. I
0:11hope you enjoy this message from God's
0:12word today.
0:13>> We're going to be continuing our Read
0:14Between the Lines series. This is week
0:16two.
0:17Pastor John kicked us off last week
0:20talking about the uh reliability, the
0:22authoritative view of scripture. But
0:25today, we're going to kind of start to
0:27dive into what God's word is because
0:29that's what this whole series is all
0:31about. It's about like, what is God's
0:33word? What is this Bible and how do we
0:35engage with it? What's going on in
0:37there? Because
0:38I don't know about you. Have you ever
0:39read the Bible before and you've gotten
0:41like into it a little bit and you're
0:43like, what in the world is going on
0:45here? All right? Yeah, anybody else?
0:48Just me. All right.
0:50Okay, I'm going to assume that you guys
0:53are liars instead.
0:55Um no, I'm just kidding. All right, so
0:57we're going to have some fun here uh
0:58getting into the story of the Bible.
1:00That's what we're going to be talking
1:01about is this one unified story
1:04around Jesus. And that's what the whole
1:06Bible is and I hope to sort of show that
1:09to you a little bit today.
1:11And the reason that we're in a series
1:13like this even to begin with is just uh
1:15because here at Evangel Temple, um we
1:17have a core value that says this, that's
1:20uh scripture is our starting point. So,
1:23it all starts right there for us. It
1:25filters through everything for us begins
1:29with scripture. And so, that's why this
1:31is really such a key series for us. And
1:33let's start with our key verse that
1:35we've been referring to
1:37starting last week and that we will
1:38continue to refer to is 2 Timothy 3:16.
1:42All scripture is inspired by God and is
1:45useful to teach us what is true and to
1:48make us realize what is wrong in our
1:50lives. It corrects us when we are wrong
1:52and teaches us to do what is right. I
1:55love that it says uh that it teaches us
1:58what is true. True is sort of a squishy
2:00concept in today's society. Have you
2:02ever heard this phrase, "Oh, that's just
2:04your truth." or that's just my truth.
2:07Now, I think I know what they're trying
2:08to say. Often times it's like, "Well,
2:10this is what I think." is what we're
2:12trying to say. But, it's interesting
2:13that our culture has chosen to use the
2:15term, "This is my truth." The But,
2:17scripture is pointing us towards a
2:20truth, the truth, helping us to see the
2:23real truth um that um we ought to
2:26interact with and know. Now,
2:29to start to uh give us a picture of why
2:32this is important, the the the concept
2:35of us understanding that this is one
2:37unified story around Jesus, um I have a
2:40puzzle picture of a puzzle here to help
2:42us kind of understand this.
2:43So, you see it here. And you see a bunch
2:45of disoriented puzzle pieces there. Now,
2:48are there any puzzle people out there,
2:49any puzzlers?
2:51Yeah, okay. It's okay to raise your
2:52hand. You can be proud. There's only a
2:54few of you, but go for it. All right, be
2:56proud about it. Yeah, my wife's a
2:58puzzler. If she had her way as it
3:01relates to a date night, sometimes after
3:02the boys go to bed, um we do like a
3:05little mini date night in bed together.
3:06So, we'll make some food together, and
3:08we'll watch a movie. We'll get like
3:09special drinks out, and we don't have to
3:10share those drinks with boys who are
3:13going, "I want to drink. I want to
3:14drink." And it's like, "Oh, I get my own
3:16drink." which is great. And so, we'll
3:18sit in bed, and then Melissa will go,
3:19"Hey." Sometimes, she hasn't done this
3:21for a while, probably cuz she knows I
3:23hate puzzles. I hate them. They're
3:26terrible. I don't get it. I don't
3:28understand how this is fun
3:30finding these random pieces and trying
3:34to figure out how they fit together.
3:35It's disorienting
3:37for me. All right, so disorienting. But,
3:40you have this puzzle, and Lord bless you
3:42people. Like, you guys look at that, and
3:43you're like, "Oh, that's fun." This is a
3:44very simple puzzle. It's only 50 pieces,
3:46okay? But, it's very For such a simple
3:49puzzle, surely somebody can tell me what
3:51it is.
3:53No? Oh, see, none of us can really know.
3:56Even on simple puzzles, we don't know
3:59what all these pieces by themselves are.
4:01How about the next picture?
4:04Okay, starting to see a couple of things
4:05come together, a couple of pieces. Does
4:07anybody know what it is yet, though?
4:10No, like even even there with a with a
4:1250-piece puzzle, for crying out loud,
4:14we've got like a some pieces put
4:16together, but we still don't know what
4:17it is. How about the next picture?
4:19Okay, we're starting to see some pieces
4:21come together now. All right, like I
4:23don't know exactly what it is, but we
4:25can start to see the shapes and that
4:27there's some symmetry. Obviously,
4:28there's like four quadrants along the
4:30top and the bottom. Okay, so we're
4:32starting to see some stuff come
4:33together, but still even that, I don't
4:35know what it is. All right, how about
4:37the last picture here? Ah, okay, so now
4:40we see almost a completed puzzle here,
4:43where it's like we can see it. Okay, um
4:46it's an abstract piece of art. Now, I
4:48wish it was a different object or
4:50something like that, but you know what?
4:52This is what YouTube gave me. And so, um
4:55we've got this abstract piece of art.
4:57Now, you can at least see how it comes
4:58together. You see the beauty in it.
5:00You're like, "Oh, okay, that's great."
5:01And even without one piece missing, you
5:04can still make out The whole puzzle
5:07doesn't fall apart for you. It's not
5:09disorienting anymore because you see
5:11mostly how it all comes together, and
5:12that's how it is with God's word, right?
5:14Even though we're constantly growing in
5:16our understanding of God's word, there's
5:18always going to be things that we need
5:19to see more of, but if I can see the
5:21whole picture, even the one or two
5:23pieces that are missing, I can still
5:26grasp it. I can still push in on trying
5:28to find those last couple of pieces,
5:30even as I understand the whole. The
5:33point is this, okay?
5:34We've got to be able to understand how
5:37all the pieces, when we're reading
5:38scripture, we've got to understand how
5:40all the pieces come together. We will
5:42never be able to understand the entirety
5:45of the text. We're never going to
5:46understand and see the full worth and
5:48beauty of it if we can't see how the
5:51pieces come together. All right, and so
5:53the unfortunate thing is this is that
5:55this is kind of how we read scripture
5:57typically. We approach it as in
6:00fragments. In the pieces. We see the
6:03puzzle all separated and we see all the
6:05fragmented pieces and that's just how we
6:07approach our our our our coming to the
6:10text. We go, I read this piece, I read
6:11this piece, I read this piece. But we're
6:13so disoriented still because we don't
6:15see how it all comes together. Um I got
6:18a little stat here for you. Let's put
6:19that up on the screen.
6:21It says this, "Of those who say that the
6:23Bible has changed their lives, 64% said
6:26that they've read most or all of it."
6:28And then
6:29um of those who say that the the the
6:31Bible is uh manipulative or controlling
6:36or they don't consider it authoritative
6:38in their life, obviously, 60% of those
6:41people said that they've read little or
6:42none of it.
6:44So, what does this tell us?
6:45The higher degree of fragmentation that
6:48you approach the text with, the less
6:50authoritative it is in your life. If
6:53we're going to really see the Bible
6:54start to change and transform us, then
6:57we've got to understand the entirety of
7:00the text. We've got to see how it fits
7:02together and this is all the more
7:03important because here's what also
7:05happens. Not only do we read it in
7:06fragments, but we read it at sporadic
7:09times.
7:10So, we might like read this verse of the
7:12day one day and then 3 days later we we
7:15read a different verse of the day and
7:16that's just kind of how we approach the
7:18Bible. No wonder we're kind of like,
7:20"Oh, what's happening?" cuz I don't
7:22really remember the last thing I read.
7:24How does that fit with this thing? And
7:25then to top on top of that is that our
7:28culture is pretty individualistic and so
7:30we read ourselves into all these tiny
7:33little fragments that we read instead of
7:35allowing the text to shape us and
7:38transform us. Do you see the difference
7:40between those two things, right?
7:42So, that's why this is so so important.
7:45Now, I've got a a lot to say cuz what
7:48I'm doing essentially is taking a
7:50semester-long Bible class and I'm going
7:52to jam it into the next like 30 minutes,
7:55okay? And so, you're going to have to
7:56listen fast and the Lord's going to help
7:58us and it's going to be great.
8:00But, we've got this one now unified
8:02story that leads to Jesus. If somebody
8:06came to you and said,
8:08"All right, boil all that down. 66 books
8:12of the Bible, boil it down to one word."
8:14You don't have to say it out loud,
8:16but what would what what would that one
8:18word be that you would choose?
8:21For me,
8:22I chose the word redemption.
8:25This word redemption. Now, you go, "What
8:26does that mean?" That's not really a
8:28common word that we use in today's
8:30speech anymore. But, the word redemption
8:32means to release something by payment or
8:36to free something by ransom being paid.
8:40And so, that's what we see unfolding
8:42throughout the biblical narrative and
8:44the best way I know to kind of break
8:46down this concept of God's redemptive
8:49plan that he's been working out since
8:51the beginning. He's working to redeem
8:53all of creation and us to himself. How
8:56is he doing it? That's the story of the
8:58Bible.
8:59So, the best way I know to do that is to
9:01break it down into four acts.
9:03Four acts in this um
9:06story. Act one is creation. Act two, the
9:10fall of mankind and the fracture of the
9:12universe. Act three, redemption and
9:15God's unfolding of the plan that he's
9:17working. And then, act four, the renewal
9:20of all things. And so, let's jump into
9:23these one by one and
9:25um see what the Lord will have to speak
9:28to us. Act one,
9:30creation. Genesis 1 says that in the
9:34beginning,
9:35God.
9:37Not in the beginning, it just always has
9:39been or the universe always was. In the
9:41beginning God created
9:45the world. He created all that is.
9:47Everything is contingent on him. And
9:48then throughout the creative process, if
9:50you've read through Genesis 1, you kind
9:52of remember that throughout the creative
9:54process, what did God say again and
9:56again and again? He said, "It is good."
9:58He created this and it is good. He
10:00created and it is good. So God made
10:02things good.
10:04He created all things good. But why?
10:06Have you ever thought about that? Have
10:08you ever asked that question? Like, why?
10:10Okay, if creation is the first act of
10:12all these things, why did he choose to
10:14do it? Because the very definition of
10:17God, by by definition God is complete.
10:20He needs nothing. He is not lacking in
10:23anything. He has He is completely
10:25relationally satisfied and needs nothing
10:28from anybody. He's complete within
10:30himself. So why would he create at all?
10:33Well, remember what he said whenever he
10:35created humankind, he goes, "Let us make
10:39man in our image." Now there's a lot
10:41packed in that little phrase. He goes,
10:44"Let us make man in our image." So
10:47already starting to
10:49uh uh
10:50speak to
10:51God's nature in that he is triune and
10:55complete uh
10:57complete relationally and uh has a
10:59complete love within himself.
11:03And then he makes this as the pinnacle
11:05of his creation. He makes this
11:07humankind and he says that we're going
11:09to make them in our
11:11image. I'm going to I'm going to share
11:12qualities. I'm going to share certain
11:14characteristics that are only unique to
11:17me that I'm going to place in them. And
11:19now what am I going to do? I'm going to
11:20because they're in my image, I'm going
11:22to invite them into relationship with
11:24myself. I'm going to invite them into
11:26the divine relationship. And that's what
11:29we see then happening. Adam and Eve
11:31walking in the cool of the day and
11:33they're in Eden their in their present
11:35right there walking with God. And you
11:38go, "Well, why did God do that?" God
11:41wanted to share himself.
11:43He wanted It is the nature of God. It is
11:45just what God's love is like in that it
11:48overflows in him wanting to invite us
11:52into it.
11:53It's a beautiful thing. I can think of
11:55no higher calling. Come I mean think
11:57about this.
11:58The God, the creator God, sustainer of
12:00all things, he makes us unique in his
12:02image and then he goes, "Come into this
12:05this relationship.
12:07This divine relationship that's existed
12:09and always has been and always will be,
12:12but I'm going to let you come and be a a
12:13part of it." Jonathan Edwards put it
12:15like this.
12:17It is no argument of emptiness or
12:19deficiency of a fountain that it is
12:22inclined to overflow. What is he saying?
12:25He's saying that this is nature the
12:26nature of God. It just overflows and
12:30that's what it is.
12:31And so that's why he creates. But then
12:33we come to act two and everything goes
12:35wrong.
12:36Act two, the fall and the fracture of
12:39the universe. We see sin enter into the
12:42perfect world that God has made. Sin is
12:44simply put It's a word that we use a lot
12:48and that that people we assume are
12:50familiar with, but sin simply put is
12:52missing the mark of God's perfection or
12:55missing his standard.
12:58And at the root of it,
13:00the root of sin, what is it?
13:02It's rebellion.
13:04At the
13:05at the at the very root of sin is
13:07rebellion. Us seeking to be our own
13:10master rather than allowing God to be
13:12our master. We don't want to submit to
13:14our creator God. No, we go, "I'm going
13:16to do it my way. I will be my own
13:18master. I won't submit
13:20to your way or your rule." And then
13:23somebody might say, "Well, no, I don't
13:24want to be God." I Yes, you do. Yes, you
13:27do. And yes, I do, too. Um whenever you
13:30tell a lie, that's you saying, "I don't
13:32want to do it your way. I'd rather do it
13:34my way. I'm placing myself in the
13:37position of God rather than trusting
13:38your way is right and good." Anytime we
13:41steal something, I'm saying, "No, I'm
13:43not going to trust you and your way. I'm
13:45going to do it my way." And whenever
13:47anytime we we fudge our taxes, I'm
13:49saying, "I'm going to do it my way and
13:51not your way." And so, we're seeking to
13:54be our own masters. And then, how does
13:56it happen? Genesis chapter 3, verse 1.
13:58The sin the seed of sin starts
14:01with the serpent. And he comes and he
14:03says, "Has God really said?"
14:07Like this sort of mocking of God. This
14:08diminishing of God's word God's word.
14:11Has he Has he really said? I don't I
14:14don't know about that. Bringing distrust
14:17and doubt. And then, sin moves further
14:20than that. In verse 4 and 5, "You will
14:22not surely die, for God knows that when
14:25you eat, your eyes will be opened. And
14:28you will be like God, knowing good and
14:30evil. You will You will have more than
14:33what you have now. What you have is now
14:35kind of diminished. God has been
14:37withholding from you. God doesn't He's
14:40not giving you everything.
14:42Surely this couldn't be harmful for you.
14:45In fact, you'll gain." This is where the
14:47seeds of sin start.
14:49And the seed of our rebellion begins.
14:53And so, the the root problem with
14:55humanity is not a political issue or a
14:58social issue uh
15:00a self-esteem issue um a relational
15:02issue. The root of our problems is the
15:05the key problem underneath every other
15:07problem that we experience is this thing
15:10called sin. It's what fractured
15:13everything from the time of Adam and Eve
15:15and that we still wrestle with today.
15:18And not only does it alienate us from
15:19each other relationally, but the primary
15:22alienation that it brings into our life
15:24is this vertical alienation that we were
15:27made for God and to be brought into this
15:30divine relationship. We were made for
15:32Eden, so to speak.
15:34But,
15:35we brought sin into the world and
15:38thus now there's this fracture in our
15:41relationship. We are now alienated from
15:43the one that we were made for. We've
15:45rebelled against him. Well, one might
15:47say, "Well, can't God simply just
15:49forgive and we can move on and it's just
15:51like and everything will just be all
15:52right, right? Can't God just kind of
15:53like sweep it under the rug?" No. His
15:57holy nature requires that he hate sin,
16:00that he judge sin, and that in his
16:03perfect justice he does something about
16:05sin. He has to. This is his nature. He
16:08is true to himself and that he must be
16:11just. And then somebody might say,
16:14"Well, I I'd much rather prefer just to
16:16have this idea of God being loving."
16:19Can't God just kind of just be loving
16:20and
16:21Yeah. Okay, trust me. You don't want a
16:24God who's not just.
16:26You don't. But think about it for a
16:28moment. If somebody wrongs you, somebody
16:30sins against you, is God being loving to
16:33you by letting that person off the hook
16:36and just saying, "Ah, it's okay. Well,
16:38let's move past it." No, we know that
16:41that's not how this works.
16:43So now the the tension that we are left
16:45with in the Bible at this point is what
16:48is God going to do about this sin
16:51problem? Because if he's going to be
16:53just and do and deal with sin, that
16:55means he's going to have to deal with
16:56me, too. If he's going to get rid of
16:58sin, then that means he's going to have
16:59to get rid of me, too. How is he going
17:01to be perfectly loving and perfectly
17:03just at the same time?
17:05Well, look at what happens here next.
17:08Genesis 3:8.
17:10When the cool evening breezes were
17:12blowing, the man and his wife heard the
17:14Lord walking about in the garden, and so
17:16they hid from the Lord among the trees.
17:19Once they were walking with him, but now
17:21they're hiding. Guilt and shame, these
17:24two concepts that were foreign to their
17:26existence. It was foreign to the world
17:28before that, but now guilt and shame
17:30have been entered in and they're hiding
17:33from the Lord. And
17:35the Lord being perfectly just can't just
17:37sweep it under the rug. He must judge
17:39sin.
17:41And so he must deal with it. And so he
17:43pronounces judgment on the serpent, but
17:45humanity is not exempt from
17:47consequences.
17:49Genesis 3:23
17:51and 24, the Lord then the Lord God
17:53banished them from the garden of Eden.
17:56After sending them out, the Lord God
17:58stationed mighty cherubim to the east of
18:00the the garden of Eden. And he placed a
18:03flaming sword that flashed back and
18:06forth to guard the way to the tree of
18:09life.
18:10What's happening?
18:12There's now a chasm in the relationship
18:14between humanity and God.
18:17God can't simply just go about things
18:19the way that they were, so he must
18:21remove them from his presence. He has to
18:23remove them from Eden. He And then
18:26there's no way back in. God places a
18:28cherubim and a flaming sword to get back
18:30into the garden of Eden. There's no way
18:33back in unless you go under the sword.
18:35So there's So it would do you no good.
18:37They've been separated. How is it that
18:39they will get back into Eden? They were
18:41made for Eden, but now there's a sword.
18:45There's only death that that must be the
18:49price to pay for this rebellion to get
18:52back into Eden.
18:54One might not like this outcome, but I
18:57think we know it's true. We know that
18:58this is how sin works. You go, "Hmm, I
19:01don't really like the idea of this. This
19:02sounds a little Sounds like God's a
19:04little harsh, maybe." Well,
19:06um we know it's true on a human level.
19:08What happens on in uh the nature of a
19:11human relationship when somebody sins
19:13against you, right? Now, there's a
19:15chasm. Now, there's a debt. Now, there's
19:18a distance in that relationship that you
19:20know and they know it's there. You might
19:22not be able to, you know, put your
19:24finger on it, but you know you can't
19:26just go about like things are normal.
19:28You know you can't just sweep it under
19:30the rug. There's a distance now because
19:32that person has created a debt and it
19:34has to be paid for the relationship to
19:36move forward. There's no way for that
19:38relationship to be restored unless that
19:41debt is made right. Now, there's two
19:42ways that that can be made right.
19:44Either that person has to pay the debt
19:47and that they've created. They have to
19:50pay that debt somehow. So, if somebody
19:51wrecks your car, they even they have to
19:53fix the car or you as the owner of the
19:56car have to absorb the cost.
20:01And same thing with relationships.
20:02Either that person pays or the person
20:04who is um offended pays.
20:07But somebody's got to pay. And what do
20:09we call that? We call it forgiveness.
20:11When that offender
20:13is the one who goes, "I'm going to
20:15absorb the debt
20:17instead of making you pay.
20:19I'm not going to make you pay and nor am
20:21I going to force that payment on you and
20:23I'm going to try to draw that payment
20:25out of you. That's a lot of times what
20:26we do relationally, right? That's how
20:28revenge and that's how these cyclical
20:30patterns of dysfunction work. But
20:31instead, you're going to go, "No, I'm
20:33not going to do that. I'm going to
20:34absorb the debt."
20:36And you feel it, don't you?
20:38Yeah. You feel it every time you forgive
20:40that person. You feel it every time now
20:42you see that person. It's because
20:44you forgave them. It's because a debt
20:47has been absorbed. And how if that's how
20:50it works in human relationships, how
20:51much greater of a chasm has been made in
20:54a divine relationship, a human to God
20:57relationship? How much greater could
20:59that chasm be to a perfect and holy God?
21:03This is
21:04what's happening with sin. And
21:06furthermore, it's not just like sin is
21:08this thing that has been done once and
21:10that we can leave in the past. No, it's
21:12a it's something that now has been
21:14released into the universe. It's this
21:17power now that's released in our lives.
21:21And Tim Keller points this out well.
21:23He goes, "Look what happens when you
21:25continue to sin with your mind. What
21:27happens? It shrivels up your rationality
21:29and clouds your judgment, making you
21:32more and more beastly. What happens when
21:35you sin with your emotions? You
21:38again and again you sin with your
21:39emotions, you will
21:41begin to
21:42lose your emotional depth and capacity
21:45and regulation and maturity.
21:48What happens when you sin with your
21:49will? You lose willpower. You lose
21:52self-control,
21:54right?"
21:55This is what happens and this is why
21:56Keller says,
21:58"Sin is the destructive power of the
22:00self against the self. It is the
22:03unraveling of yourself more and more
22:06that you live in it."
22:07And so,
22:09this is the state that humanity finds
22:10itself in. Since Adam and Eve, sin has
22:13entered into the world and it's this
22:15self-destructive power of the self
22:17against the self. We're unraveling.
22:19Surely God will not leave his creation
22:22in this state. What is he going to do
22:24about it? Act three is redemption.
22:28God is going to work something out. He
22:30is going to be at work to not leave
22:33humanity in that state. He has purposed
22:36from the beginning to bring about his
22:38ultimate plan through the messy, sinful
22:42history that now
22:44is human history and the history of our
22:46world. And then throughout the whole Old
22:48Testament, throughout all of it, we're
22:50now given these glimpses, these little
22:53glimpses of God saying, "This is how I'm
22:55going to work. This is what I'm
22:57purposing to do. Look forward to it."
23:00And we don't even get out of the story
23:02of Adam and Eve without God making a
23:04promise that he will one day deal with
23:07sin
23:08in some way. So, let's begin. Let's look
23:11at some of those things. Let's look at
23:12the way God has begun to unfold some of
23:16that redemptive plan throughout the Old
23:18Testament. We see right there in Genesis
23:203:15, God pronounces judgment on the
23:23serpent and he says, "And I will cause
23:25his hostility between you and the woman
23:29and between your offspring and her
23:30offspring. And he will strike your head
23:33and you will strike his heel."
23:35Commentator Derek Kidner on the on the
23:37Genesis story, he goes, "This is the
23:39first glimmer of the good news about
23:43Jesus, right here." And it's remarkably,
23:45he goes, "makes its debut on a judgment
23:48that's passed against the enemy." He's
23:51saying, "There will one day be, you
23:53watch, you watch, serpent, there will be
23:56one day one who's going to come that I
23:58will send and he will crush your head
24:00and it will be done. Evil will be dealt
24:03its final, fatal blow. It's coming."
24:06Now, they didn't know what it looked
24:08like. They didn't know how God was going
24:10to do that, but that promise was right
24:13there from the beginning.
24:15And then second, you have this whole
24:16thing with Noah. Sin continues to
24:19corrupt and humanity continues to
24:22unravel itself. And so, God um does this
24:26cleansing flood, but he rescues out of
24:29this Noah and his family. And we can
24:32remember likely how that story goes,
24:35right? But this is kind of like
24:36beautiful, what happens at the end.
24:38Right? The imagery would have not been
24:40lost on um the original hearers of the
24:44Genesis story because they were much
24:46more in tune with the symbolic than we
24:48are. Uh we read it and we're like,
24:50"Yeah, okay, great. There's a rainbow."
24:52Okay, fun. No, they No, it's so much
24:55more than that. Let me read it to you
24:57from the Jesus Storybook Bible, the
24:58little section here about what happens
25:00after the flood.
25:02Um it says this, "And there in the
25:04clouds, there was just where the storm
25:07meets the sun, was a beautiful bow of
25:10light.
25:11It was a new beginning in God's world.
25:13It wasn't long before everything went
25:15wrong again. But God wasn't surprised.
25:18He knew this would happen. That's why
25:21before the beginning of time, he had
25:22another plan, a better plan, a plan not
25:26to destroy the world, but to rescue it.
25:30God's anger against hate and sadness and
25:33death would come down once more.
25:36It would,
25:38but not on his people or his world. No,
25:40God's war bow was pointing uh was not
25:44pointing down at his people. It was
25:47pointing up into the heart of heaven.
25:51This is the the picture of this bow.
25:54This war bow, God's war bow being set on
25:57its on in its place. No longer cut
26:00pointed down, no longer to bring
26:02judgment. God says, "I will faith I'll
26:04be faithful to not bring that kind of
26:06judgment on the world again."
26:08But how is God not going to bring that
26:10kind of judgment on the world again?
26:11It's not as though humanity is suddenly
26:13just going to become sinless. No, this
26:15is our constant struggle. He goes, "No,
26:18it's pointed up."
26:20I myself, God is saying, "I myself at
26:23one point am going to take the blow of
26:26justice from this bow.
26:28It will happen. Uh you know, the How do
26:30we get back in the Eden? Only somebody
26:32who can go under the sword is allowed
26:34back in the Eden. And how will that
26:36happen? God himself is saying, "At some
26:38point I'm going to go under the sword
26:41for you, on your behalf."
26:43Again, we get a glimpse of this again uh
26:45next in this little redemptive plan. God
26:48picks out, not because he was great, not
26:51because he was awesome, but because God
26:52is glorious, and because he wanted to
26:54make his name great, he chooses this guy
26:56named Abram, who would eventually become
26:58Abraham. Guys, know the song, right?
27:00Little
27:01Abraham had many
27:03Yeah, you guys remember. All right, so
27:04had many sons, and then I don't remember
27:07the rest of the song cuz I
27:08I didn't grow up singing it, but you
27:10know. So, we've got this Abraham, and
27:12then you've got this interaction that he
27:14has with God, and God makes this
27:16astounding promise to Abraham. It's like
27:18far greater than he could have hoped or
27:20imagined. I'm going to make your family
27:22like the sand of the seashore,
27:24outnumbering the stars of the sky, and
27:26I'm going to give you this land for your
27:28people.
27:30And then Abraham goes,
27:32"How are you going to do that? How do I
27:34know?" So, read with me. Look at it in
27:36verse 8 through 10.
27:38Abram asked the Lord God, "How can I
27:40know that the land will be mine?" Then
27:42the Lord told him, "Bring me a
27:433-year-old cow, a 3-year-old female
27:45goat, a 3-year-old ram, a dove, and a
27:48young pigeon."
27:49So, Abraham obeyed, or Abram, excuse me,
27:52obeyed the Lord, and he cut the animals
27:54in half and laid the two halves um of
27:58each animal opposite each other on the
28:00ground.
28:01Anybody else lost?
28:03This is like, "What are you doing,
28:05Abraham? Abram?" So, he's cut these
28:07animals up, and now he's got them lining
28:09this path. It's almost like, you know,
28:11imagine like um there that half an
28:13animal at each of these pews, and then
28:15like something's happening here in the
28:17middle of this pathway.
28:19Well, here's what happens next in verse
28:2017. Sometime after sunset, when it was
28:23very dark,
28:25a smoking cooking pot and a flaming fire
28:29passed between the two halves of each
28:32animal. It went right down the aisle
28:34between the two. Now, we go, "What in
28:37the world's going on?" Well, this wasn't
28:39exactly very foreign to Abram. He knew
28:42what was going on. Um this is how
28:44ancient covenants and agreements worked.
28:46They didn't have a piece of paper and
28:48signed their names to the contract like
28:50we do, okay? No, they're saying we're
28:52making an agreement. We're going to cut
28:54these animals in half and we're going to
28:56walk through these animals as if to say,
28:59"If I break my agreement with you, may I
29:01be like these animals? May I be like
29:04these animals cut in half, torn to
29:06pieces, going under the sword? May I be
29:09like them? Now, Abraham would have fully
29:12expected God, after he did that, he
29:14knows what's going on. He's waiting for
29:16God to tell him to walk through those
29:19animals. But then what happened?
29:23God, this smoking pot, this fire that
29:27represents God's presence.
29:29Abraham sees it
29:31go through. And Abraham doesn't go
29:33through. The pot, the fire goes through
29:36as if to say this to Abraham. Are you
29:38starting to see it?
29:41I'm going to fulfill the promise.
29:43Even where you fail, for any
29:46deficiency in your ability to live up to
29:49what I've called you to, to live up to
29:51the standard, to live up to my holy
29:54character that I've called you to. For
29:56any deficiency there, I will fulfill the
29:59promise. I will go between these smoking
30:01pots and may it be even though
30:04it's going to be a great cost, I'm going
30:06to I'm going to be torn to pieces. I'm
30:09going to be going under the sword
30:12to be able to fulfill this agreement.
30:15I'm going to make it happen. And so,
30:18we're seeing glimmers of this happen
30:20over and over again and God's not
30:22brushing off the significance of
30:24judgment or disobedience to his
30:25covenant. Instead, he's saying, "I'm
30:27going to be the one that will go under
30:29the sword. I will make a way back to
30:31Eden where there was no way for you."
30:34And then we see it continue, okay? So,
30:37um you guys remember that this like
30:38crazy little book in the Old Testament
30:40called Leviticus?
30:41Right? Yeah. Okay, so you go to read
30:43that and you're like, "Whoa, what's
30:45going on?" Well, God institutes this
30:47provisional way of interacting with him.
30:50It was this way of him going, "I need to
30:52recognize, both for myself and God's
30:54people, we need to recognize the state
30:56of our relationship.
30:58And that it's fractured. And so God
31:00creates this provisional, temporary way
31:02for being able to interact with him, and
31:05for them to be able to recognize, God's
31:07people to recognize the seriousness
31:10of their sin and their brokenness and
31:12the the seriousness of his holiness.
31:17And so he goes, "As a provisional way of
31:19covering your sin and atoning for your
31:22sin, you can sacrifice an animal and its
31:25life will act as a substitute for yours.
31:29Instead of your life, the animal, cuz
31:32that's what your sin requires.
31:35But you Somebody's got to go under the
31:36sword. Somebody's got to pay the debt.
31:38But in order as a provisional way for
31:40your sin to be covered and atoned for,
31:42the the blood of this animal's going to
31:44be poured out and its life is going to
31:46stand in place for yours." Again, the
31:47symbolic image for them would have been
31:49again and again them recognizing that
31:52God requires
31:55holiness before him and to be in
31:57relationship with him. But it wasn't
32:00Surely this wasn't the end all be all.
32:02Surely this wasn't the way that God was
32:04going to leave their relationship,
32:06right? Because even then,
32:08go Nobody's interacting and like going
32:11into the most holy place. That's only
32:13happening one time a year where the high
32:15priest can go in on the day of
32:17atonement, where he can go into the most
32:20holy place. And that's only after he's
32:22made himself ritually clean. And so it's
32:24this whole thing like surely God's not
32:26going to leave it here.
32:28Right? The whole point of it all was
32:30that and the purity laws of the purity
32:32laws about like don't touch this, don't
32:34eat this, don't interact with dead
32:36bodies, don't touch mold. Like those
32:38were symbolic images for them to
32:41recognize that
32:43um that you have to you can't just come
32:45waltzing into God's presence in any old
32:47way.
32:48He's These were symbolic images of death
32:51where he's saying no, cleanliness,
32:53purity, that represents life. And so in
32:55order to be in my presence, you've got
32:57to be clean. And it's not as though God
32:59was saying, I know that you're not going
33:00to interact with these things. Um
33:02impurity only lasted for a certain
33:04period of time and then they could be
33:06clean again to worship God. But all of
33:08it was supposed to point towards this
33:13one decisive act
33:15of sacrifice that in the end that God
33:17would do.
33:18He's going
33:20even the even the writer to the Hebrews,
33:21right? Even the writer to the Hebrews in
33:2310:4, chapter 10:4, he goes, "For it is
33:26not possible
33:28for the blood of bulls and goats to take
33:30away sin."
33:32No, these repetitive offerings were to
33:34be a shadow of the ultimate sacrifice
33:37that was to come and permanently cleanse
33:40God's people. And that's why now you
33:42have the prophets throughout the Old
33:43Testament. They're looking forward and
33:45saying of a day to come. You have
33:47Jeremiah 31:31, "The day is coming, says
33:50the Lord, when I will make a new
33:52covenant with my people Israel and
33:54Judah." What is that new covenant? Well,
33:57in verse 33 he says, "I will put my
33:59instructions deep within them. I will
34:02write it on their hearts. And I will be
34:04their God and they will be my people.
34:06I'm not going to have it on tablets of
34:07stone here anymore. No, no, it's going
34:09to be written right on your hearts." As
34:12if to say, "I'm going to be within you."
34:15And then Ezekiel 36:26, "I will give you
34:17a new heart. I will put a new spirit in
34:21you. I will remove your heart of stone
34:24and give you a heart of flesh."
34:26So there's all of this anticipation
34:29that's building within the Old Testament
34:31to finally that they're wondering what
34:34is it that you're going to do God? How
34:36is it that you're going to free
34:38us from
34:39this sin?
34:41Well, Mark chapter 10 verse 45.
34:45Mark Jesus quotes the prophet Isaiah and
34:49he says the son of man did not come to
34:51be served but to serve and give
34:55his life as a ransom for many.
34:58Give his life, the key word ransom.
35:01There it is again. This payment that has
35:03to be made in order for freedom.
35:05Someone's got to absorb the debt in
35:07order for this chasm to be crossed and
35:10this this is it. This is how God
35:13purposed for all the way and what he was
35:15promising all the way from the beginning
35:16of how he was going to make this debt
35:20right and this is why Jesus had to die.
35:22God we had a God-sized debt. Who else
35:25could make this debt right other than
35:27God himself? He had to be the one to
35:30come and live the perfect life on our
35:32behalf for us. We can't live we couldn't
35:35live the perfect life. We couldn't if we
35:37wanted to. We're so even when we're
35:39doing something right, we're doing it
35:40with the wrong motive half the time. And
35:42so God's going how is it that I'm going
35:45to make it right? I'll write myself into
35:47the story and I'm going to live the life
35:49that they should have lived and I'm
35:50going to I'm going to live it for them
35:52so that now that when God sees them if
35:55they're if if I'm if they're in
35:57relationship with me now it's as though
35:59they see the life that Jesus lived that
36:02perfect life for us. And then he goes to
36:05the cross and he defeats sin once and
36:07for all that payment is done. His life
36:09poured out for hours in our place as the
36:12ultimate substitute for us so now that
36:15that payment that sin that cross that
36:17that chasm can now be crossed.
36:21God's holy perfect justice can finally
36:24be satisfied
36:27through this
36:29God-man. Jesus, who came and did for us
36:33what we couldn't do for ourselves.
36:36This is what it was all pointing to, and
36:37this is what the New Tes- Testament is
36:39always pointing back to and saying, "Now
36:42that Jesus has accomplished this for us,
36:44what does this mean for us? How do we
36:45live this new life in Christ? What does
36:48this look like?"
36:50But then that brings us to act four, the
36:52renewal of all things. So,
36:55he broke the chains of sin
36:58that evil had on us.
37:00There was this chain that we couldn't
37:01get out. We were broken in it, we were
37:03stuck in our sin. We were dead in our
37:06sin is what the New Testament says.
37:08We were dead. We were stuck there.
37:10But then it's as though
37:12a new Adam has come. Paul says that
37:15where the old Adam uh sin entered the
37:17world, and there was now fracture from
37:19that point on, brokenness from that
37:22point on, Paul is saying, "It's kind of
37:24like as though there's a new Adam has
37:26come. He came, and now sin is dealt
37:29with, and it's done, and it's broken,
37:31and it's not just for this life, it's
37:33for the life to come, it's for the
37:35renewal of all things." Look at the
37:37bookends
37:38of how this works, in Genesis 1-3 and
37:41Revelation 21-22 and how they mirror one
37:44another. You have a garden
37:47a garden in the beginning and a garden
37:49city in the end. The tree of life was
37:51lost, but now it's restored. A curse
37:55entered in Genesis, but now in Genesis
37:58Revelation 22, there's no more curse.
38:01God walks with his people in the
38:03beginning,
38:04and then he lives with them in the end,
38:07in that garden city.
38:10And so, one might ask,
38:12um
38:13why why does
38:15does this really account and uh
38:18does this really account for all the
38:20time and the sin
38:22that we've experienced. Like, why?
38:24Why all this?
38:26Have you ever asked that? If you're like
38:28me, like, you know, you like to ask
38:29questions and you go, "Why?"
38:31Um
38:33The And the
38:36The only way I I know to answer that is
38:37from 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 54
38:40and 55. There's a spot where Paul quotes
38:42the Old Testament.
38:44And he says,
38:45"Death
38:46will be swallowed up in victory. O
38:49death, where is your victory? O death,
38:51where is your sting?"
38:55Whenever something's swallowed up,
38:58it's made more full because of having
39:00swallowed up that thing, right? So,
39:02whenever you go and eat a good meal,
39:04some of you, you're going to go eat a
39:05big lunch today or something, and you're
39:07going to be swallowing things up and
39:09you're going to be made more full
39:10because of what you brought into
39:12yourself with that meal.
39:14In some way,
39:16that God has He could have chose to make
39:18a different world, but he chose to make
39:20the world that he did so that his glory
39:21might be made great and for our good,
39:24that our good might be the fullest it
39:26could be. And so, in some way, it's as
39:28though us death being swallowed up by
39:31victory, now victory in the end is
39:33somehow more full and more sweet because
39:36of the way that he's laid out redemptive
39:38history.
39:40Eric, what am I supposed to do with all
39:41this?
39:43Uh the band, come back up as we begin to
39:45close here.
39:46Um
39:50My goal for you was that we could
39:53highlight the redemptive plan in such a
39:55way that it would stir up your desire
39:58and your affections for the God word of
40:01God and that you would be driven to go,
40:03"Ah, what a
40:05what a beautiful storyline and that I
40:07see the redemptive plan laid out. How
40:10much more do I want to long to be in it?
40:12How much more do I want to understand
40:14it? It's like the biblical text, if the
40:17more you read it, the more you love it,
40:19the more you the more you obey it, the
40:21more you want to obey it. The more you
40:23submit to it, the more you start to hear
40:25his voice not just only through the
40:27revealed word of God, but also through
40:29his spirit speaking to you. A lot of
40:31times we're going, "Oh, I just wish that
40:33God would speak to me." And and and he's
40:35going, "Yeah, I did. Just Just go and
40:37look at it." And the more we look at
40:38that, the more we begin to hear him
40:41speak to us by his spirit. But he's
40:43going, "Be faithful with what I gave
40:45you, and then you'll be faithful with
40:46more."
40:47Right?
40:49But what what I hoped is that you just
40:51be stirred up to long and to look at it
40:54and to dive into it and to not let it
40:56just be a dusty book on yourself. John
40:59Piper kind of says it like this, and
41:00it's kind of like heavy, okay? So, just
41:02hear me out for a second first.
41:04Satan devo- Satan devotes 168 hours a
41:08week trying to deceive you.
41:10Do you think that you can maintain a
41:12renewed mind with a 10-minute glance at
41:15God's book once a day?
41:17All right. Now, I know it's like a
41:18little like
41:20But you know when you hear it.
41:22It did that for me.
41:24The The point is to not guilt you or
41:26shame you, okay? I don't want anyone to
41:28feel Guilt's a a motivator for like 2
41:31weeks, but then it tapers off. Guilt
41:32will not be a good motivator for you.
41:34But my goal, my hope would be that
41:37we
41:38sense from that quote the seriousness
41:41of staying connected to God's word.
41:44It's the truth. It's a lamp into our
41:46feet. It's beautiful, and it'll
41:47transform us
41:49if we're in it and if we're submitting
41:52to it and if we're going to it and
41:55it operates with a delegated authority,
41:57okay? The word of God is not God. God is
42:01the one who works, but he works through
42:03his word.
42:04You got to be in it.
42:06I got to be in it.
42:09And so,
42:11I'm going to just ask you with
42:14eyes open, all of us looking at one
42:16another.
42:18This morning, if you even from last week
42:21to this week, if you're going, "Yeah,
42:24I'm stirred
42:27to make sure I'm engaging with God's
42:29word, and I'm not going to leave it
42:30here. I'm going to put things in place.
42:33I'm going to prioritize. I'm going to
42:34get up earlier, I'm going to stay up
42:35later, or I'm going to stop scrolling on
42:37my phone so that I can open up my Bible
42:40app, or whatever you got to do to like
42:42get into God's word more this week."
42:45If you're if that's you that this
42:47morning, you're going, "Yeah, I want to
42:49do that. I feel God drawing me into
42:51that." Would you just raise your hand
42:52high enough for me to see it?
42:54Okay, awesome. I'm with you. Me, too.
42:57What we're doing here, you can put your
42:59hands down.
43:00What we're doing
43:01is we're
43:03we're letting action follow our faith.
43:05And we're saying, "Yes, I'm
43:07People can see me raising my hand. Um
43:10I'm committing to something."
43:12So, I I hope that you do that this week.
43:15Do whatever you got to do. Get into
43:17God's word this week.
43:21For some of you others in this room,
43:23you're going,
43:24"I I have not entered into that
43:27redemptive plan that you're talking
43:29about. I have not accepted that work
43:32that Jesus has done on my behalf. I'm
43:34still living in my sin. I'm still my own
43:36master. I'm still doing things my way.
43:38I've not submitted to his ways.
43:41But, I want to.
43:43Cuz my ways are the unraveling of
43:46myself.
43:47I'm destroying myself.
43:50And you know it if you're living there.
43:52You know it.
43:54Maybe you're a good church person. Maybe
43:56you've been coming to church for a long
43:57time, but you've been depending or
43:59depending on religious acts to save you,
44:01and showing up to church to save you.
44:04And you know your life is unraveling. It
44:06even though it looks good on the
44:07outside, you're unraveling on the
44:09inside.
44:12I want to pray for you this morning.
44:14Would you bow your heads with me?
44:16Over in this room, let's
44:19take a moment where we're just between
44:20us and God, us and Jesus for a moment.
44:23Jesus, I pray for those who
44:25in this room are experiencing that
44:27chasm. They are far from you. They are
44:29not walking with you or in submission to
44:32you. Lord, but
44:34your burden is easy and your yoke is
44:35light. If only we would follow you.
44:37You're saying, "Come. I've got I've got
44:40beauty and and plans and purposes for
44:43you."
44:44If we would only just come.
44:47So, in this moment, I pray for those who
44:49are far.
44:52With the heads bowed, nice clothes, I
44:54just want to ask this question to you.
44:56If you are far from him
44:59and you don't want to be,
45:01you don't have to be.
45:03So, I'm going to ask you to raise your
45:04hand, too.
45:05I'll count to three. If you're knowing
45:07that that's you and you want to submit
45:09your life to Christ, raise your hand
45:10just in this moment. It's just a way of
45:12saying, "Yes, that's me." Thanks. I see
45:14that hand. Thanks.
45:16See that hand.
45:17Any others? You go, "Yep, that's me."
45:22I've been living my own way, but I'm not
45:23going to anymore. I'm submitting to his
45:25ways and his purposes.
45:29Let's stand together
45:31and say a final prayer.
45:35If you raised your hand, I want to
45:37celebrate with you. That is the most
45:39awesome decision you could ever make.
45:41It's wonderful. I'm I'm so excited for
45:44what God's going to do in your life, how
45:45he's going to transform your life. Can
45:46we cheer on those who
45:48did that, made that step this morning?
45:50That's awesome.
45:52Look, if you made that If you If you
45:54made that commitment, you raised your
45:55hand. Look, you're only a prayer away
45:58from entering into that walk with Jesus.
45:59And so, I'm going to pray a prayer and I
46:02invite you to pray your own prayer,
46:03okay?
46:04Um how uh there's no formula of words to
46:07that like, "Okay, you said the right
46:09things, check.
46:10You checked the box, you get in." No,
46:12that's not how it works. It's a heart
46:14that's submitted to him through faith.
46:16So,
46:17I'm going to say a prayer, you say your
46:18own prayer.
46:19And if you submitted your life to
46:21Christ, I'd love to talk with you. There
46:22are a couple of you that raised your
46:23hands. I'd love to just to talk with
46:24you. Um
46:26give you some material,
46:27help you start this journey, and let you
46:29know that we're for you, okay?
46:31Jesus,
46:33we submit our lives to you this morning.
46:34We recognize our need for you.
46:37You are holy and just, but you are also
46:39perfectly loving, and so that's why you
46:42did for us on the cross what we could
46:44never do for ourselves. You crossed the
46:46chasm for us, and you say, "Now come.
46:50Now come. I've made the way open." And
46:53so, we submit our lives to you, we
46:54accept your forgiveness, and we
46:56recognize the great cost that it costed
46:58you.
47:01We love you, but only because you first
47:03loved us.
47:06We submit our lives to you. And then,
47:07for all of us, Lord, as we go today,
47:09that you would inspire us and empower us
47:11to go and live for you, that we would
47:13leave this room changed, walking in the
47:16power of your spirit, not the same, not
47:18having just gone through motions, but
47:19Lord, we would walk out and walk in your
47:22purposes this week. And we pray in
47:24Jesus' name. Everybody said, "Amen."
47:27Amen. Well, we love you. We'll see you
47:29next Sunday. Go with the power of the
47:30Lord this week.
47:34Thanks again for watching the service
47:35today. I hope it was an encouragement to
47:37you. We'd love to hear from you. So, if
47:39you'd like to leave a note in the
47:40comments and let us know what you
47:41thought about the message, we'd love
47:42that. And if you're ever in the
47:44Springfield, Missouri, area on a Sunday
47:46morning, we'd love to have you join us
47:48for church. You can attend our 8:00 a.m.
47:51classic service, or you can join us for
47:53church at 9:30 or 11:00.

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