It's a little loud. Good to see you all this morning. It's to say the very least, it's been a very distracting morning. Just see, stuff like this happening.
Yeah, not just today. It's kind of been going on for a little bit. So last night, it was very, very late. I was working on PowerPoint, which I'll be able to see there.
But you won't be able to see anywhere. And I thought, OK, so maybe what I'll do is I'll work as much as possible so I can just work from my PowerPoint notes. And you'll be able to see it and kind of follow along. And then I get here.
And that projector thing is a doorstop down. So a quick email to the guys who are in here on Tuesday telling me all the things that they need to do with this, saying, you can't get here soon enough because we don't have a projector today. And hopefully they will get it. So I'd like you to turn your Bibles first of all, please, to the Gospel of Mark.
Gospel of Mark, Chapter 15. Mark, Chapter 15. I'm going to try to get PowerPoint open in front of me here as well if I can. I got to say, the singing.
I was away last week, so I couldn't tell here singing was last week. But your singing this morning was great. And two weeks ago was really great as well. So I don't know what John put in that beef that he put on the bun for us.
But I got to tell you, that night that we sang outside, it was like a New Year's Eve for us. It was just energized. And if you weren't able to be there, I can't wait till we do it again sometime. So it was just a great encouragement to be together.
And to be with the Lord's people. Kind of cool. I have all my grandchildren here today. All six of them, two of them are yet to be hatched.
But they're all here today. So that's really neat. So you want to talk about distractions of this stuff. And I don't mean crying babies.
I just mean distractions of like hugs and stuff like that. And I've got the little Q and E down in front of me here. So if I wander off, that's why. So I want to continue with the Master theme of the Bible as we have been doing the study of the Lamb.
First, before we go any further, I'd like to just look to the Lord in prayer. I'd like to thank you this morning that we can be together. I pray our focus is on the Lord Jesus. It's not on our lack of technology or our problems.
It's not on me. It's not on ourselves. But Lord, that you would turn our eyes to the Lord Jesus. We looked yesterday in the men's study of the work of the Holy Spirit.
And Father, I pray that He comes today and helps us. And that He points us to the one that He is coming to point to, the Lord Jesus Christ. And that our eyes will be focused on Him. And not anything else this morning.
That we will behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. In His name, amen. So we've been going through the master theme of the Bible. You can go to the next slide if you want.
And maybe I'll just do this. And that'll, instead of saying, next slide, next slide. So this is the book that kind of loosely based on this where my outline comes from anyway by J.S. Iglobaxter.
And then here's kind of where we've been. A rescue where we'd come. In Genesis chapter 3, verse 15, we looked at that. And then a Lamb was a necessary sacrifice as we saw in Abel's offering.
And then a Lamb provided as a substitute. Remember when Abraham offered his son Isaac on the altar and God provided a substitute in a Lamb for Isaac. And then in Exodus chapter 12, we looked and we saw that a Lamb is slain. The Lamb had to die.
And that was seen in the Passover. And the blood was applied. And when the blood was applied, the first board in that home was to be spared, to be saved. And then further, we got to this very interesting passage in Leviticus chapter 16 where this whole ceremony was put together.
In fact, the Day of Atonan, I believe it's in this week. I believe it's on the calendar for this week or next week. The Day of Atonan, where a goat is offered for sin, is in Leviticus chapter 16 as a sin offering. And then a goat offered for the expiation of sin or to remove sin to take it away.
And this goat was released into the wilderness called a scapegoat. And then we saw, as we progress along, that the Lamb is actually a person. Isaiah chapter 52 and 53, we saw it's a suffering servant. The Lamb is now personified.
It's not just a Lamb as an animal or an it anymore. It's a he. And then the last time about a month ago, we looked and the Lamb is explicitly identified in the Lord Jesus Christ. When John the Baptist said, behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world in John 1 29.
So this morning, I'd like to look at the final offering of the Lamb, the final offering of the Lamb. So in Mark chapter 15, oh, yeah, sorry. So to kind of break this out to remember, if anybody wants to see the PowerPoint, I can send it to you as a PDF afterwards. So it doesn't clog up your computer.
So just email me and I will send it to you. So we have a Lamb for sin, Genesis chapter four. We have a Lamb for an individual. In Genesis chapter 22, that was for Isaac.
A Lamb for a family at the Passover in Exodus chapter 12. A Lamb given for the nation in Leviticus chapter 16. A Lamb for the many, as it is said in Isaiah chapter 53. And John says, a Lamb for the whole world.
And what I want to read this morning is points to a Lamb for all time, one Lamb for all time. So Mark chapter 15 and verse 22. And they brought him to the place called Gatha, which is translated the place of the skull. And they gave him wine mingled with myrrh to drink, but he did not take it.
And when they crucified him, they divided his garments, casting lots for them to determine what every man should take. Now it was the third hour and they crucified him. And the inscription of his accusation was written above, the king of the Jews. With him they also crucified two robbers, one on the right hand and one on the left.
So the scripture was fulfilled, which says he was numbered with the transgressors. And those who passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads, saying, save yourself, come down from the cross. Likewise, the chief priests also mocking among themselves with the scribes said, he saved others himself, he cannot save. Let the Christ, the king of Israel descend now from the cross that we may see and believe.
Even those who were crucified with him reviled him. Now in the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And in the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, Lamis Abakthini, which has translated, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Some of those who stood by when they heard that, sorry, can you go back?
Sorry, no, no, sorry. Some of those when they stood by when they heard that said, look, he is calling for Elijah. Then someone ran and filled a sponge full of sour wine and put it on a reed and offered it to him to drink, saying, let him alone. Let us see if Elijah will come and take him down and Jesus cried out with a loud voice and breathed his last.
Then the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And so when the centurion who stood opposite him saw that, he cried out like this and liked it, that he had cried out like this, breathed his last. He said, truly this man was the son of God. There were also women looking from afar, among whom were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, the less and Joseph and so on.
And also who also followed him and ministered to him when he was in Galilee and many other women. And many other women came up with him to Jerusalem. Technology, I'll tell you, it's crazy. I'm trying to read this from an iPad, which cuts off the bottom line of what I'm seeing here.
So it's one of those days, sweaty hands. So I want to look today at the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. So if you would turn in your Bibles to a passage in the Old Testament to Psalm chapter 22. Psalm chapter 22, Psalm 22, to me, is probably the most significant prophetic scripture in the Old Testament.
Isaiah 53 points to a suffering servant. It points to the Lord Jesus as we can see, looking back, we know who it is. But when we actually read Psalm 22, the accounts that are given here are so clear and so concise as to who they are speaking of. It's like no other passage of the scripture.
It is an amazing passage of the scripture. It points to the cross. One writer, John Stott, said, I could never myself believe in God if it were not for the cross. In the real world of pain, how could one worship a God who was immune to it?
God stepped into our world of pain, and that's the God for me. God became a man in the Lord Jesus Christ for one purpose and one purpose only to go to a cross. In fact, as Christians, that's what we're all about. It's the core of who we are.
1 Corinthians chapter two verse two says, for I determined not to know anything among you, except Jesus Christ and him crucified, said the Apostle Paul. It's the only thing I can boast about in my stand with God. I can't boast in anything that I've done. I can't brag about what a great neighbor I've been.
I can't brag about what a great guy I've been or an employee or a student or anything else. I only have one boast when it comes to stand before God. It's the cross of Jesus Christ. Paul said that very, very clearly in Galatians chapter six verse 14, he says, but God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me and I to the world.
It's the theme of the Old Testament Scriptures. Abraham and Isaac foreshadowed it. The Passover visualized it and pictured it. The Levitical sacrifices all depicted and pointed to this sacrifice on the cross.
And the prophets so clearly predicted it, even to some of the most minute details as David, the king, but the prophet does in chapter 22 of Psalms. Now most people recognize the cross as a symbol of Christianity. You see it on people's, they wear it on chains around their neck, they put it on church buildings. It's people have tattoos of crosses.
People have crosses on their cars. And then finally people put it on their heads down. And at all points to one cross, the cross of Jesus Christ. You see the death of Jesus on the cross is not the end of the story.
Someone like to think that's the well, that's the end of the story. This poor guy met well, good teacher and died on a cross. No, that's not the end of the story. It's the theme of the story though.
It is the story for the Christian. The cross is the story. However, there's more to it. Because the one who was on the cross is now alive, forevermore.
The cross was what satisfied God in the offering of the great sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The theme of the cross is even more striking as you get into the New Testament. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John devote between 20 and 40% of their writings to the final days of Christ. It's amazing we're doing a study in the book of John in our men's study.
And while you think you're just getting ramped up and ready to go and then you realize, oh, wait a minute now, I'm finally into the final week of the life of the Lord Jesus. He's going to the cross in days and there's so much more of the book to be studied. The writers of the gospels, they built up and they focused the writings on the final days leading to the cross. Psalm 22 opens and closes with two statements of Jesus on the cross.
Now Psalm 22 is very, very interesting. First of all, it was written by David, King David, but it's not about David. There's not much in that, you can say, well that, yeah, I remember reading in Kings or in Samuel or anywhere else, I read that about David. No, a lot of what he wrote in this chapter is written by him, but not about him at all.
In fact, it depicts someone dying and suffering. And when you read the description, it cannot be any other way but crucifixion. But you see, David wrote this a thousand years before Jesus Christ came to this earth, a thousand years. He wrote in graphic detail of what it is to die on a cross.
I say, well, okay, so he saw crucifixions going on. No, crucifixion wasn't even invented as a form of torture and death until 600 years after David lived. This tells me that he was inspired by God to write about the death of the Son of God. It's very, very clear that this is a prophetic writing and pointing to one person in Acts chapter two, verse 31, it says, and he, speaking of David, foreseeing this spoke concerning the resurrection of Christ that his soul was not left in Hades nor his flesh see corruption.
David wrote the writers of acts, the apostles knew that he wrote concerning Christ. So that's what David was focused on. So I have three points this morning, that's a long introduction, but anyway, I'll go through the points. Three points, one, the abandonment of the cross versus one to five, the anguish of the cross and the accomplishment of the cross.
First of all, the abandonment of the cross. I wanna read through this passage as we go through here. In Psalm 22, verse one, it starts this way, it says, my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? Now does that sound familiar to you?
We just read that, didn't we? Where do we read that? In Mark's account of Christ on the cross. That was a cry of Jesus Christ from the cross.
So I'll read the first five verses here. My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? Far from my deliverance are the words of my groaning. Oh my God, I cry by day, but thou does not answer.
And by night, but I have not no rest. Yet thou art holy, O thou who art enthroned upon the praises of Israel. And in thee, our fathers trusted, they trusted, and thou does deliver them. To thee, they cried out and were delivered.
In thee, they trusted and were not disappointed. Here he is on the cross, the Lord Jesus. He cries out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? You know, on the way to the cross, many of us would know that there are seven sayings of Christ from the cross.
It starts with Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. And then there's the time when he looks down, he sees John, the disciple, and his mother Mary, and he says, woman, or behold, behold, I'm rattled here. Behold, I'm rattled here. Behold, I'm behold, I'm my son.
He spoke to the two of them. In the first sayings of the Lord Jesus on his way to the cross, he is focused on others. On the way to Golgotha, he stops and he tells them to weep for themselves. He is focused on what's going on around him, about the nation and the state of things.
He is focused on forgiving those who have nailed him to this cross. Everything he said was focused on others, not on himself. He was suffering, but he was focused on the needs of others. And then up to this point, he had never addressed the Father as God.
You don't read Jesus saying God. He says Father, he calls him Father. But at this point, all of a sudden, fellowship has been broken. So this passage focuses on three dark hours when the Son is blotted out.
The Son of God is on the cross. He has separated from his Father. To the point that he feels like, I don't feel like, it's like the connection is broken. I'm not his son.
He is not my Father. He is my God. And he is crying out my God. Why have you forsaken me?
It's a cry of almost like disbelief, or not disbelief, but disorientation. You see, he had never experienced this before. In John 10 verse 30, he says, I and my Father are one. They're so united.
They're one. Everything about them is in one purpose. In John 11 verse 42, at the grave of Lazarus, he said praying to the Father. He says, I know that you always hear me.
But because of the people who are standing by, I said this, that they may believe that you sent me. The Father always heard the Lord Jesus, always listening to him. So he was separated from the Father in these three dark hours. And this anguish, this cry of anguish, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
If you ever wonder for a minute what your sin is like, this will tell you, it is so hideous. It is so great that it caused the Son of God to be separated from the Father in this time, as he bore your sin. He has substituted by the Father. He became our sin bearer, Isaiah 53 verse 6.
You see, the cross really displayed the holy character of God. Here is his Son bearing our sin on his own shoulders. It's all placed upon him. God is holy and can't look upon sin.
Can't have anything to do with impurity. We sing the song, the Father turns his face away. What horror that is? That's your sin.
That's why, because your sin was placed upon the Lord Jesus. It was so troubling that God had to turn away. And Jesus bore that sin feeling forsaken by God. The Lamb of God taking away the sin of the world.
When people say, I'm going to come to God on my own terms, I'm thinking how foolish to say that. Look at Calvary for a minute. Look at the cross. Look at what happened.
Look at three hours of darkness, because your sin was placed on a pure Lamb of God. You have no terms to come to God. You can only come, as Paul said, that I boast in the cross of Christ. Jesus was perfect.
He was the one who could substitute himself for all of us. He was impeccable. In 2 Corinthians 5 verse 21, says, God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us. And so now, as believers, because he bore our sin, because he took our place, he was our substitute, we now have an imputed righteousness that comes from God by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ.
When you believe on him, when you accept that sacrifice for you, and that's the only way to heaven, you now have a righteousness that is given to you, not of your own. You have no intrinsic righteousness in and of yourself. None. I know what I am.
I kind of chuckle some people and say, well, God knows my heart. Well, you know what? That's not a good thing to say. Because he does know your heart.
And he knows my heart. There is no righteousness found anywhere, not in the smallest corner of my heart. But I have a righteousness that comes from Jesus Christ because he died for me and took away that sin. It was given to us, not earned by us.
And it's because of this abandonment on the cross. Secondly, we have the anguish of the cross. He was despised by people. In verse 6 to 8 in chapter 22, it says, But I am a worm and no man, a reproach of men, despised by the people.
All those who see me ridicule me, they shoot out the lip, they shake the head saying, he trusts it in the Lord. Let him rescue him. Let him deliver him since he delights in him. Wait a second now, didn't we just read that in Mark?
If you're the Christ, come down from the cross. Or he's calling for Elijah. Or let's see if he comes to deliver him. In Matthew 27, verse 43, he says he trusted in God.
Let him deliver him now if people have him. For he said, I'm the son of God. What a cry from the cross. I am a worm and no man.
Again, you want to know what your sin did in that moment. It brought the God of heaven. The humility of just becoming a man is great enough. But at this point in time, he doesn't even feel like a man.
He feels like a worm bearing your sin. It's interesting. The worm is considered probably one of the loneliest of creatures on the earth. I'm walking on the trail.
I walk around them because he just kind of grossed me out. But here he is claiming to be that. But the interesting thing is, the word that is used here for worm is the word tola. The Hebrew word tola.
There's another word for worm that's found in the Old Testament. It's rema. But here it's tola. Do you know the tola means something else?
It means crimson. It means scarlet. It's the same thing. You see, in Isaiah chapter 1, verse 18, it says, though your sins be like tola, they shall be as white as snow.
Though they be red like tola, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be as tola, they shall be as wool. It's the same word. What's with this word, tola?
It refers to this little worm called the crimson coch crocus. The die was used for very expensive garments. It was very, very expensive. They would extract the die by crushing this little worm.
And when they crushed this worm, a red die would come out. And they would use it to die the garments of royalty. In fact, when it dies, it fastens itself, if it dies naturally, it fastens itself to the tree. And it's not interesting.
It's fastened to a tree and can't be removed. And then it gives birth to its little ones underneath it. And excretes this red die and covers the youngsters. I'm calling worms youngsters.
I can't believe it. But it makes these little, the baby worms are covered with this red die that they carry their whole lives. This crimson, it's called. Crimson from the crimson crocus.
So when it does this, the motherworm dies in giving birth. Now I don't know about what you think, but I think that's an amazing illustration or a great picture. One fastened to a tree and dies oozing crimson, blood-like, gives birth to many who are now washed and stained forever with that blood. That's an amazing, amazing creation.
Don't get me started on where that comes from out of random chance. It just cannot. It cannot. This is a design by God.
Jesus was like that starlet worm. He's crushed. He's beaten. His blood became the source of life.
Not to change the color of someone's clothing, but to change the soul and heart of sinners for eternity. He was distressed by pain. How could David have known 1,000 years exactly what would take place? He says he was poured out like water.
Those who have studied, there's doctors that have studied what happens in crucifixion. One of the things that happens is profuse sweating, profuse sweating in agony. It started in the garden. It says he sweat as it were great drops of blood.
There's a medical term for that. There's a medical condition. I won't go into it because of time. He says he poured it like water because of the trauma.
All my bones are out of joint, says, in Psalm 22, verse 14. During a crucifixion, they're suspended by four wounds, two in their hands, two in their arms, and they're hanging on this cross at each breath. They have to get themselves up. And then finally, they can't get any more breath.
And they slump. And when they slump, the shoulders go to joint. The hips go to, everything goes out of joint. This speaks clearly of the suffering of one on the cross.
How could David have known this a thousand years earlier under the inspiration of God he did? The victim would just, finally, their bones would be dislocated, their joints, and they would suffocate. My tongue clings to my jaws, this isn't verse 15. I thirst the Lord Jesus said from the cross.
Intensity hydration from the trauma. They pierce my hands and my feet. They never pierce David's hands and feet. They pierce the hands and feet of the Lord Jesus.
They divide my garments among them. And for my clothing, they cast lots. I thought about this. And I thought this here's something that really, really proves the authenticity of the scriptures.
Who gambled for his clothing? Romans. Did Romans read the New Testament? No.
Did Romans read the Psalms and say, you know what? We came across this thing where they gambled for my clothing. So let's gamble for his clothing. No, they would not have done that.
But prophetically God said they will gamble for the clothing of my son when he's on the cross. And they divided it. Normally what they do at the time of crucifixion, they would take whatever clothing they've got. They would either steal it or they would give it to the family.
In this case, because the scripture said so, they gambled for his clothing. An author, Ralph Muntaster, he was a former atheist. It's funny, when former atheist studied the scriptures, they're no longer atheists, they're former atheists. He said, there are 23 specific details from Psalm 22 that are fulfilled in the New Testament.
It's amazing. Finally, I want to talk about the accomplishment of the cross. As you get to the end of verse 21, there's a change. There's an obvious change.
Up to this point, it's all about suffering. At the end of verse 21, you read, you have answered me. It's about a resurrection. It's about a change.
It's no longer focused on the suffering. It's no longer focused on the pain. It's no longer focused on the death. It's focused now on a change you have answered me.
And the last section from 22 to 31 is a section on praise. The first is a prayer of one person. The second is salvation of many people you will see. Something happened between verse 21 and 22.
I believe it's the resurrection. It's not stated, but it's implied by the language, by the change in the way, the tone of this passage is written. And then you have an expansion. Hebrews chapter 2, verse 11 and 12, reference this.
This is where I put things in PowerPoint that I thought I would just be able to read to you. It says, for both he who sanctifies, and those who are sanctified are all from one father, for which reason he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will proclaim your name to my brethren in the midst of the congregation. I will sing your praise. That's directly from Psalm 22.
The writer of the Hebrews put that in. It's interesting. It refers to the expansion step by step from this. In verse 22 it speaks of brethren.
I'll go to my brethren. How can a dead person go to their brethren? Unless they're not dead anymore. He's alive.
He's risen. First he goes to his brethren. And then in verse 23, it's to the descendants of Jacob. Who's that?
That's the nation of Israel. The nation of Israel. Verse 25. And then as you continue on, you will see how this further expands.
All the ends of the earth. All the families of the nations. Oh, I'm so glad that we're nations is in there. Because you know what?
Most of us are included. I don't think there's a lot of Jewish people in here, in this room. I know one, but I don't think that there's a lot. Sorry, Michelle.
Well, you kind of threw it out to us when you laughed. But the nations, Gentiles, I look around. we're Gentiles without hope and without God in this world. But it says here, the promise is that it'll be to all the ends of the world, all the families of the nations.
And then it says in verse 30, apostarity, to the next generation. Oh, not just to that generation, but to the next generation. And I love what it says in verse 31, to a people who will be born. Do you know why I love that?
Because I'm in that. You're in that. Isn't that amazing? The cross was for his brethren, for his nation, for the assembly of the nation, for the people outside the nation, the nations, the goyam, the Gentiles, for the next generation.
And now for you and I, people that were not even born at this time. Kind of a strange illustration, but I read this week, and I thought I'd have to share. There were these soldiers in the war, first or second world war. I can't remember which one.
And their buddy got shot and killed. So these two soldiers took their buddy on a stretcher, and they said, we can't just leave him here to just rock the field or whatever is going to happen. We have to know what happens to him. Let's give him a proper burial.
So they walked, and they walked, and they're hearing their friends. And they came to a church, and went up and knocked on the door. They had a cemetery right next to it. And they said to the clergymen in the church, they said, our friend, he's dead.
He's killed in the service of his country. He's killed in action. We want to give him a proper burial. Can we bury him here?
He said, well, what's your denomination? And they said, it's this. That's what he is. Yeah, but we're that.
Yeah, but he's dead. We just want to bury him. We want to give him a decent burial in a place where people can come and see where his grave is. Yeah, no, no, sorry, but he's not of our denomination.
We can't have that. We can be started on that. But anyway, they're going to walk away. They're just sad.
They're thinking, what do we do here? They're walking away. He goes, hey, guys, come back. The guys come back.
He said, look, see the fence around the graveyard out there? Yeah. Well, the church property goes beyond that. So why don't you just go the other side of the fence and bury your friend?
Okay. So they dug the grave and they buried the man. They were about to go back into battle the next day. And they said, you know what?
Let's go back one more time. Pair last respects. And they walked the perimeter. You really covered it over.
Well, look, where is his grave? They walked it again. They walked it again. How can that be?
His grave is gone. Knock, knock on the door. The vicar opens the door and he says, hi, guys. How you doing?
Good. We came back to pay respects to our friends. Yeah. Where is his grave?
It's gone. He goes, no, I couldn't sleep because of my decision. Then I moved the fence. God moved the fence to include you and to include me.
His death was for the whole world. We are now included. Those who had no hope. May that cause you to praise him.
The Hebrew word for done, it says in the last words of this. It says, he has done this. Verse 31. He has done this.
The word is asa. A better translation will be finished. Before Jesus said his last words on the cross into the hands, I commit my spirit. He said, it is finished.
He cried it out of victory cry. Finished. And the last I, it is finished. Why?
What does that mean? It means that there will never be another offering for sin. There will never be another need for a lamb. There will never be another goat or a bull offered for sin.
It's done. Everything for your salvation is done. It's complete. No more lambs.
No more goats. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 11. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 11. I think it's on the next page.
Yeah, here we go. And every priest stands ministering daily and offered repeatedly the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. But this man, Jesus Christ, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever sat down at the right hand of God from that time waiting till his enemies were made a foot stool or made a foot stool for by one offering he perfected forever those who were being sanctified. But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us for after he had said before, for after he had said before, this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days says the Lord.
I will put my laws into their hearts and in their minds I will write them. And then he adds, their sins and lawless deeds, I will remember no more. Praise God. Now where there is remission of these there is no longer an offering for sin.
Amen. I would have hoped I've heard an amen or something like that. There is no longer an offering for sin. There's a man went to evangelist one time and he said, what must I do to be safe?
The evangelist said to him to a surprise. It's too late. He said, it's too late. What do you mean it's too late?
Certainly there's something I can do to be safe. The evangelist said to him, it's too late. It's already been done for you. You don't need to do anything.
Just believe. If you're here this morning, quit trying to convince God you're good enough to be safe. He knows you're not. It's no secret to God.
If you're trying to convince God you're good enough to be safe, you're wasting your time. Quit trying to add to what God did for you on the cross. It's completely done forever. He has done this.
Believe, trust. Just accept God at his word. He says he's done it. Accept that.
Believe it this morning and you will be saved. Let us pray. Father, thank you that the way has been made for our sins to be taken away. It is finished.
It is complete. You have done this. Lord, if there's anybody here this morning who has never trusted you, I pray this morning, that they wouldn't even leave this building, but that they would do business with you, that they would come and recognize the one of whom we've spoken this morning, the Lord Jesus Christ, has taken all of their sins, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, and that they would be saved this morning. Thank you Lord for including us.
Lord, we were without hope. We were without God in this world. Hopeless and lost, but you moved the fence to include us. And we are wonderfully saved by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ.
May some soul come to you this morning. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. It is 1230.
But we were really late starting. Can we sing two songs?