Welcome to Healing Scars with Pastor Burton,
the official podcast of Cross Christian Fellowship,
Route 66, in the heart of Albuquerque, New Mexico,
where Burton is the lead pastor. We're glad you're
here. Lord, we thank you for this time together.
We thank you for this time in praise, worship
and fellowship with you and one another. We ask
that you open our hearts and minds to what you
have to speak to us. and give us the wisdom and
understanding to apply it in our lives as we
leave here today. All these people said, amen
and amen. Again, good morning, everybody. Welcome
to the sanctuary. Welcome to everybody joining
us online. As we get started out this week, I
want to point out we're on the Easter Highway.
Actually, before I even get there, if you see
me kind of doing this a lot, I'm sure you all
notice I have new glasses. I don't wear glasses.
And they got like the different layers and all
that stuff. Those of you who wear glasses, you
know exactly what I'm talking about. So you're
going to see me doing a whole lot of this, trying
to see my notes and figure out where I'm supposed
to be focusing. Because this is all new for me.
I'm like a little kid right now. It's weird.
I'm, you know, oh, thanks. So my wife just said
I'm old. Like a kid, but old. Anyway, we're on
the road to Easter. You know, we're on the highway.
We're cruising along. It's coming. It's coming
up quick. It's coming up real quick. Matter of
fact, we just had St. Paddy's Day. That came
up on us really quick too, didn't it? It seems
like every year it's like boom, boom, boom. And
this year with everything going on with the school
and the community and all that, it's up and in
your face. And Easter itself, it's one of the
three biggest days for churches. It's actually
the second biggest. Of course, you know, Christmas
being number one. That's the biggest one, right?
If you're looking at sports, Christmas would
be like the FIFA World Cup. Easter's the Super
Bowl. You know, here in America, we don't like
hearing that. It's like, what are you talking
about? Soccer, football. Actually, on a worldwide
scale, that is the number one. Our Super Bowl
comes in right after that. And, of course, the
World Series, which would be, believe it or not,
the third biggest day for the church is Mother's
Day. Imagine that, right? That's coming up pretty
quick, too. Mothers. But it's a big day. It is
a big day. We talk about it a lot, leading up
to it. And, of course, you know, it's a big day
for us as believers. So I encourage everybody,
start making your plans for Easter. Come in here.
Bring a friend. Bring family. Bring a stranger.
I don't care. Grab them all. Drag them in. Right?
It's Easter. We want people to hear about Jesus.
And really, you know, that's what we're going
to be talking about leading up to Easter. A lot
of places, you know, they want to go and they
want to just kind of have a slow build, and then
boom, here's the Easter story. But there's so
much more to it, right? There's a lot going on
for Easter and why it's so important to us as
Christians. Unfortunately, we don't spend enough
time focusing on what it really is. and what
it's about, and all that it entails. So for the
next few weeks as we go up to it, that's actually
what we're going to be exploring, right? It's
going to be a series of sorts, of course. Right?
Everybody's like, oh, man, Pastor, really? Another
series? Yes. Yes. Yes, it is. As opposed to just
kind of going through a book like we've been
doing. I like to mix it up once in a while. You
know, we're going to be looking, like I said,
what it's all about, what's important about it,
what's so important about the cross, the crucifixion,
the resurrection, right? As Christians, these
are things that are really at the cornerstones
of what we believe and why we believe them. So
it's very important for us to look at them to
find out what Easter means for us as we dive
in together and we start working down the Easter
trail. All right, don't worry, I'm not going
to make you all do a bunny hop. I'm not that
mean. So as we're going to start, though, we
need to actually go all the way back to the beginning.
And when I say the beginning, I mean the beginning.
We're all going to go to Genesis. So for all
the eager beavers, I'm sure you already saw it
up there for a second because the button kind
of got hit prematurely. We're going to go to
Genesis 3. And we'll see how this all ties in,
I promise. So Genesis 3, and we're going to start
with verses 1 through 7. Genesis 3, 1 through
7. The word says, Now the serpent was more cunning
than any beast of the field which the Lord had
made. And he said to the woman, Has God indeed
said you shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat
of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit
of the tree which is in the midst of the garden.
God has said, You shall not eat it, nor shall
you touch it, lest you die. Then the serpent
said to the woman, You will not surely die, for
God knows that in the day you eat of it, your
eyes will be opened, and you will be like God,
knowing good and evil. So when the woman saw
that the tree was good for food, that it was
pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to
make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate.
She also gave to her husband with her, and he
ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened,
and they knew that they were naked. And they
sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves
coverings. So at the very beginning, this is
what we refer to as the fall, the fall of man.
This is when man turned from God, when man fell
from grace, hence the fall. And from the very
start here, we see Satan hard at work. He's already
in one of his disguises. He's disguised as a
serpent. And what he did was he introduced doubt.
That's his oldest and greatest tool, doubt. And
he introduced doubt in a cunning way that made
Eve doubt God's word, doubt his goodness. She
called into question his very character. And
it's a sign of youth, really. Because you think
about when we're young, and not to say that we're
not naive when we're older, but especially when
we're young, we're really naive, right? We don't
know what we don't know, and we think we know
a lot. Of course, the older we get, the less
we realize we know. We're more likely to question
things when we're young. because of our own limited
experiences, our own limited knowledge. We're
still craving knowledge. We're still trying to
figure things out. However, the older we get,
the less we question. It's kind of funny because
you think about it. We think about older people,
right? We say, oh, he's setting his ways, that
grumpy old guy. Oh, lady, she's just sick. Nothing's
going to change with her. We tend to look at
it in a negative light, don't we? But we shouldn't,
especially not when it comes to our faith. Because
statistically, anybody right now could pull out
their phone, go to Google, Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo,
or whatever, and you can research it. Older people
don't question their faith nearly as much as
younger people. They know what they know. They've
seen what they've seen. They know how God has
worked in their lives and the lives of others.
And so their belief is set very firmly. They're
not going to question it nearly as much. The
statistics for older people believing and going
to church are much higher than the younger, which
is a big part of why I was talking earlier about
our Casa Hermosa visits, right? Because it's
interacting with our youth. We need to get our
youth spun up. We need to tell them about the
goodness of God and introduce them to Jesus so
that they know what he's all about as well so
that they can actually have true hope and know
what the freedom is to be broken away, to have
those chains of sin broken, right? It's really
important. So, you know, older people, like I
said, that experience comes with age. and they're
much more confident in what they believe. And
they have a better idea of what they're understanding
and how they're applying it to their lives. Now,
there's two things I'd like to point out right
away with this passage. And some pastors, they'll
hit on it very quickly. Some of them will hit
a little bit of it. But I want this to stick.
First, And foremost, the Bible doesn't tell us
what fruit it was. We like to say it's an apple,
right? Actually became centuries later, it's
attributed to a painting. But we don't know that
it was an apple. We have no idea what the fruit
was. It could have been an apple, sure. Or a
coconut, or a banana, or orange, or a nectarine,
Senegal, right? Could have been a coconut. We
don't know. We have no idea. It could be something.
That never left the garden. We don't know. Yeah.
I see some smiles. I'm hearing some chuckles.
But there you go. Could have been a lime, an
avocado. We don't know. Any kind of fruit. Don't
get hung up on the fruit. A lot of people do.
It's legalistic. Just understand it's fruit.
It could have been a tomato for all we know.
I know tomatoes grow on a vine. You don't have
to tell me. Not the point. Kiwi, who knows? So
that's the first thing to keep in mind. The second
thing, Adam knew what he was being given. He
was there. He knew good and well. He could have
said no. What are you doing? Get out of here.
God, she's making me eat stuff that you said
not to. Right? A lot of things could have happened
here. But what did he do? Oh, you ate it? You're
okay. You're not dead. It's good for the goose.
It's good for the gander. Why not? He's just
as guilty. What an idiot. Everybody wants to
say, woman is the downfall of man. No, they both
did it. They're both stupid. Young and naive,
right? They both knew good and well. So don't
get hung up on that other aspect that people
like to just beat to death. Oh, it was the woman.
It was her. Pointing the finger, right? And as
you actually go in a little bit further, those
of you with your Bibles, I hope you'll actually
see Adam does just that. It was her. It was both
of them. They both knew. And they were both stupid.
Plain and simple. Regardless. Rabbit trails,
right? They listened to the serpent. They began
to doubt God. They doubted his character, what
they knew of him. They doubted God, who they
knew personally, who they physically walked in
the garden with and got to converse with, like
you and I get to do face -to -face, right? They
knew him more intimately than any of us will
get to know him here. They could have gone and
just be like, hey, God, let me tell you about
the serpent in the garden and what he said. Is
this true? What's up? What's the truth of the
matter? They could have asked the question. They
could have had a conversation. And they chose
not to do that. They disregarded. They took the
word over the serpent, over the word of the creator.
How insulting is that? Creates more of an idea
of what we call it the fall. Just flat out, just
bye, gone, turned away. They decided instead
of focusing on what they knew of God, what they
knew of his character, what they witnessed for
themselves, they started doing what many of us
today do. They started focusing on what they
didn't have. what they were told they shouldn't
have, what they couldn't have. That if they had
this, bad things were going to happen. We're
the same way. When we're told, hey, you can't
have this in your life or whatever, or we want
something, but we can't afford it or whatever.
It's the same thing. And we start focusing on
the wants as opposed to the needs. We get selfish.
and we start focusing on our own person instead
of focusing on God and His glory and the blessings
that He's already given us, our relationship
with Him, which just shows where our heart truly
is and what our focus is really on. Our focus
is more on these things instead of on Him where
it belongs. And so what they did... Instead of
focusing on him, they focused on what was forbidden,
and they essentially elevated themselves to a
place of being equal or greater than God in their
own minds. You ever think that's what you do?
Will you make the same kind of decisions? Will
you put your selfish wants and desires over what
God needs and requires? They thought they knew
better than him. And in doing so, they chose
to eat what they'd been warned not to, what they
were told to stay away from. You know, it's kind
of like this, like little kids. Whether you have
kids or not, we've all been around kids, nephews,
nieces, cousins, whatever. And you get that little
kid, and they're tearing up through the house.
They're running up and down the stairs. Don't
do it. You're going to fall. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And they're going down the stairs like a slip
and slide, right? Don't do that. You're going
to hurt yourself. That iron's hot. Right? We
all did stupid stuff like that when we were kids.
Our experience tells us, hey, don't do that.
You're going to get hurt. I saw this guy jump
off the top bunk and he broke his arm. Don't
do it. What do they do? Macho man under a buddy.
Someone's going to the hospital. That's what
they were doing. It's our own rebelliousness.
When we're told no, we go, bet. Challenge accepted.
Hold my root beer. And instead of listening to
what we're told, especially when we have enough
knowledge to know what's right and what's wrong,
that we should probably be listening. We do the
same thing as Adam and Eve. We elevate ourselves
to that position of I know better. And we do
stupid things, we play stupid games, and we win
stupid prizes. Stitches, broken bones, concussions,
lost digits, sometimes worse, right? And what
comes next? After all that, when it's all said
and done, what's the next thing that happens?
We played our stupid game. We won our stupid
prize. Oh, was it my fault? We start feeling
sorry for ourselves. Right? Maybe a little depression
sets in. We start focusing on those things that
we don't have or our inability to do something,
our current limitations, and we start pointing
fingers at everyone but ourselves, right? Everyone's
like, oh, you pointed at somebody. You got three
fingers pointing back in the military. That's
why we use a full hand. It's all on you, right?
No. It doesn't matter. You're still pointing
out. It's still you. You still messed up. Plain
and simple. We all do it. I've done it. We get
so focused. We get so wrapped up in these things.
Oh, poor is me. Woe is the world. And our focus
is on our wants. So much so that we get wrapped
up in it and we confuse these wants for our actual
needs. And we look at it as needs that are unfulfilled.
We get focused on the storm, all the bad things.
We try to make ourselves out to be the victim.
We're not the victim. We're the cause. We did
it to ourselves. When really what we should be
doing before all this stupidness happens, and
it is stupid, right? is we should be looking
at the blessings that we do have, the good things
that are in our lives, the things that we've
been blessed with, all the wonderful things Jesus
has done and is doing for us, all the great ways
that he is using us, but we don't. Ultimately,
Adam and Eve in their own defiance, yeah, they
got what they wanted. They got a total. and very
intimate understanding of good and evil. Right?
Didn't get any more intimate than that. In order
for it to be done, though, they literally had
to step back and go like, oh, no? Bet. I got
this. Right? And they disobeyed God. They played
their stupid game. They won a stupid prize. And
it's impacted mankind ever since. Especially
here in the U .S., we have this illusion that
we all buy into that says freedom is being able
to literally say and do anything that we want.
No, that would be anarchy. That is not what freedom
is. That is the chaos that Satan wants us to
buy into. True freedom, which we find in God's
word, tells us that true freedom comes in our
obedience to him and following the rules that
he has set forth for us. See, true freedom comes
in knowing when we should and when we can do
something and doing it. And on the flip side,
it also comes from knowing when we shouldn't
and won't do something. We have to recognize
that all these restrictions that God has imposed
on us, these sanctions, and there's not a lot.
It feels like a lot, but it's really not a lot,
right? As a matter of fact, it's so little, Jesus
was able to sum it up in two things, right? Love
God, love your neighbor, right? Sum it up as...
quickly as possible. We have to recognize that
these restrictions are imposed on us for our
own good so that we don't fall into sin. It's
there to help us, to protect us. It's the warning.
Hey, don't do that. You're going to get hurt.
Nothing good is going to come from it. Right?
And he's done this so that we have a chance to
actually Get to know God again. To get to know
his character. Know who he is, what he's really
about. Have a relationship with him and to grow
that relationship to become the people he originally
intended for us to be. Not the people we became.
You know, Adam and Eve, they ultimately found
out what God meant about death. By death, he
wasn't talking about like, hey, If you go over
there and even touch it, you're just going to
fall over dead, right? That's what they're thinking.
Typically, when we say the word death, that's
what we're thinking. Like, oh, this is going
to be a poison. You're going to touch it and
done. You're going to kill over, done. Call 911,
bag them and tag them, right? That's not what
God was talking about. Which in English, it's
not necessarily even the best translation for
us. What he was talking about was the fact that
their rebelliousness, if they were to go and
they were to... of this fruit, that they would
turn away from him and they would give in to
sin and the temptations therein. And it would
become a part of their daily lives. When death
is mentioned here, it's the same as, like you
think about movies and stories and stuff where
there's a fight, right? Like, get out of here,
you're dead to me, right? That person's dead
to me. Are they actually dead? No, but they're
cut off. Goodbye. Right? Good night, John boy.
Adios. They're not literally dead, but they're
dead to me. They have no part of my life. They're
gone. They're cut off. The door is closed. You
know, and we're the ones, you know, God is saying,
you know, if you do it, you're going to die.
Death is what's waiting for you if you do that.
He wasn't saying, hey, I'm going to cut you off.
When we did that, when Adam and Eve partook of
the fruit, when we and ourselves in our own rebelliousness
turn against him and we give in to our temptations
and sin and live worldly lives, we are the ones
who are choosing to die to him. We are the ones
who are actually cutting him off like, you know
what? God, this is more important to me. You're
dead to me. Goodbye. That's what it really means.
It's not God saying, you're dead to me, be gone.
It's us telling God that. We're cutting him out
of our lives. We're putting ourselves and our
selfishness and our own rebelliousness higher
than God, and we should never be doing that.
But that's what we do. It breaks his heart. He
loves us. He's given the ability to choose. He
wants us to choose. He wants us to choose him.
And it breaks his heart when we don't choose
him and we turn and we walk away. But he loves
us enough and he respects us enough that he respects
our decision to do so. And here he lets us go.
We become prodigal sons and prodigal daughters,
right? We're all prodigals. We're separated for
the same reason why we can't see his face anymore.
Because sin cannot exist in the presence of God.
We'd be destroyed. We'd be absolutely destroyed.
We'd be gone. Right? They found vanity right
away. Right away. What did it say they started
doing? They got fig leaves, tied together fig
leaves, and covered themselves, right? They're
suddenly aware, oh, I'm naked. I'm ashamed. They
found shame. That's what vanity is. It's shame.
You know, all the way back here where it started,
even before it got there. If we go back to verse
6 there, Eve looked at the fruit. She saw it
was pleasing. Okay, this is a nice -looking fruit,
right? It's like I'm looking up here. There's
a nice -looking fruit up there on that slide,
right? She looked at it. It was pleasing. Temptation
was just in looking at it. She hadn't even touched
it yet. She just looked at it, and temptation
was already setting in. And sin starts just like
that. It's a temptation. You don't even have
to be jumping into it yet. Just seeing it, hearing
a little bit about it, like, ooh, that sounds
like fun, right? Because that's how we've been
conditioned by the world. And she bought into
it. She moved in on it. instead of doing what
we're supposed to do. That's what happens to
us. We look at temptation instead of removing
it or doing something to get it away from us
or getting away from it. We start to allow it
into our lives. And we're warned about it. We've
already seen where Genesis warns us, but even
in 2 Timothy, we're warned all throughout the
word, but 2 Timothy sums it up really nicely.
2 Timothy 2, verse 22. The word says, flee also
youthful lust, but pursue righteousness, faith,
love, peace, and those who call on the Lord out
of a pure heart. We should turn, we should run
from sin. We should do whatever we need to to
push it out and not give in to it, not even give
it a foothold. You know, you ever wonder why
things like gambling or porn are so addictive.
Even things like shopping. Now, it doesn't matter
if it's window shopping or going online, you
know, Amazon, Timmy, Wish, they all make it real
easy these days, don't they? It's right there.
It's in your face. Oh, hey, look at this. We're
going to send you this for like 50 cents. It
starts with just looking. So we have to be very
careful. You know, it's like you're going to
grocery stores. They set things at certain levels,
right? Certain things up here for the adults,
certain things down here for the kids. That visual
is right there, and it starts that impulse. We
call it impulse buying. Sin is the same way.
It's an impulse buy. Do we really need it? No.
But we're going to buy it. Hook, line, and sinker,
aren't we? It's what we do. Going all the way
back to Genesis 3, we're going to flip back towards
the back now. Genesis 3, verses 21 through 22.
The word says, Also for Adam and his wife, the
Lord God made tunics of skin and clothed them.
Then the Lord God said, Behold, the man has become
like one of us to know good and evil. And now
lest he put out his hand and take also of the
tree of life and eat and live forever. So up
until now, things were perfect. Adam and Eve,
they had it great, right? The garden was built
to be like being in heaven. And they could have
been there forever had they not done the one
stupid thing that they were told not to. All
they had to do was listen and obey God. Plain
and simple. Had they talked to him about the
serpent, things probably would have been a little
different, huh? Things would have been a lot
different for mankind. But they blew it. However,
even in their turning from him, God still cared.
God still loved. He saw value. And he showed
it in a number of ways in how he cared for them.
Yeah, he had to remove them from the garden.
We already know that. Man was kicked out of the
garden, right? Why? Well, it says right here.
Had they stayed in the garden, they would have
stayed in that state forever. Mankind had to
be kicked out of the garden so that there was
even a chance to get out of that state. That's
painful for God, right? That's the Father, our
Creator. But you know what? He cared enough.
He's like, I can't let you stay like this. You're
out. Bye. I'm not going to let you stay in this
sinful state forever. He also deals with their
shame. The very thing that drove them to putting
those fig leaves on, right? Those leaves would
not cover their shame. God made a sacrifice,
a blood sacrifice. Do you see it right there
in verse 21? Let me outline it for you. God made
tunics of skin and clothed them. Killed an animal,
right? It's a blood sacrifice. That right there
is pretty deep. So he covered them. Not only
that, but in covering them and putting them out
of the garden, he was also covering himself,
protecting us from that immediate destruction.
He put us out from a place so that we could no
longer walk and see him. Why? I already talked
about it. Because we would be immediately destroyed.
Even when Moses went and met with him, what happened?
No, you can't see my face. Just what little Moses
got to see was enough to make him glow, right?
So sending us out was a way to protect us, to
save us. And in providing for this, he made a
way for our salvation. He made a way for our
reunification with him. All the way here at the
start, right here at the beginning of Genesis.
A blood sacrifice then. He made a blood sacrifice
to protect us then. And then what happened? He
made the ultimate blood sacrifice in Jesus. When
Jesus went to the cross with the burden of our
sin, took the cross for all of mankind, for all
the sin of mankind, we just have to accept. It
applies to us then, it applies to us today. Why?
Romans 3, verse 23. So Romans 3, verse 23, the
word says, For all have sinned and fall short
of the glory of God. We've all heard this. Every
single one of us since the fall. Every single
one of us since Adam and Eve. It's not just Eve.
It's not just Adam. It's all of us because we
were all born in sin. Ephesians 2, verse 3. Ephesians
2 verse 3, the word says, Among whom also we
all once conducted ourselves in the lust of our
flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and
of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath
just as the others. See, we've adapted sin into
our very being. I'll give you a couple of examples.
You can take a couple of brand new, or I should
say newborn twins. Right? Give them up for adoption
from birth. Separate them. One grows up here
with one family. One grows up here with another
family. They've never met. They've never talked.
They grow up one day like, hey, you know what?
I know I was adopted. I want to know where I
come from. They start doing the research. All
the things that need to fall into place fall
into place. And the twins are reunited. And you
take these twins there and they grew up under
totally different circumstances with different
families and different places. And what you will
find is that they still have certain inherent
traits beyond just looks that were inherited
from the parents that passed down generation
to generation actions. Great example from my
own life. My son, when he was born, the first
time he cried, you did not even have to lay eyes
on him. The first time he cried, you knew beyond
a shadow of a doubt, that's my boy. Because he
cried the exact same way that I did when I was
little. The same cadence, the same tones, right?
The whole bit. 100%. Like, oh, yep, that's Junior,
all right. Didn't even have to see him and you
knew. Things pass from generation to generation.
Sin, the way we've incorporated and adapted into
ourselves, is exactly the same. It's like, that's
a newborn baby. They haven't done anything wrong.
It's like, no, but it's already in them. Each
and every one of us going all the way back. That's
just the way it is. You know, there's... No room
for doubt. The word even tells us we've all fallen
short. We all know we've done it. The things
we do, how we, you know, the things that we do,
they show where we place value in our lives.
What's the important thing to us? What's most
important to us? We've all broken the rules.
Matter of fact, I'm sure some of us broke rules
just in coming here. Right? Anybody here a little
heavy on the foot? Giving that gas? That happens.
Now in the car, my wife likes to tease me that
I'm driving Miss Daisy most of the time because
I tend to drive a little slower, right? But when
I get on my motorcycle, a little bit different,
I tend to give a little bit more throttle than
I probably should. I try as I might, I always
get to some point where I just kind of... It
happens, right? I know it's something I've got
to work on. Let's be honest, we all have things
like this that we do in our lives. And we've
all worked, right? We're all adults in here.
Who's taken a pen from work? Or a sticky pad?
Didn't even necessarily think about it. Healthcare
workers, law enforcement, first responders in
general. Come on, our pens. That's a big one.
We put our pen down, somebody picks it up to
borrow it, and it's gone. Who has my pen? Doc,
you and I are going to go outside, and I've got
a rubber hose I want to introduce you to. Give
me my pen. Come on. Right? It happens. We've
all done it. Sometimes it's consciously. Most
of the time it's not. We just have it. We're
using it. Next thing we know, we're at home.
It's going through the washer, coming out in
the dryer. Who knows, right? We've all broken
rules. You know, try, try, try again. It's just
going to happen. You know, and when we do this,
you know, it shows the state of our mind, the
state of our hearts. What is it? What does it
come down to? It comes to that craving for immediate
fulfillment. And it's part of our heart's rebellion
against God. It really is. Because we have that
emptiness, we know that where God was, we're
trying to fill it with something else. That's
what it comes down to. And through all this,
what happens? Just like before, we make ourselves
out to be the victims. We throw our own little
pity parties. It's all our own shame, our own
inadequacies. Right? It comes down to our own
guilt. And we all have it. Every single one of
us. It leaves us feeling exposed. It's why we're
all afraid of what other people think of us.
And I don't care who you are, where you come
from. There is someone out there where you're
very concerned with how they look at you. Whether
it's a relative, a coworker, a friend, whatever,
we all have somebody. Every single person on
this planet is concerned about how at least one
person views them. And it ain't God. I can tell
you that when really God is what should be. Going
back to 1 Corinthians. I know a little bit of
a difference because we spent a whole lot of
time in Corinthians 2 last month or so. But we
go back to 1 Corinthians 15, verse 22. So 1 Corinthians
15, 22, the word says, For as in Adam all die,
even so in Christ all shall be made alive. In
our own sin, in our own shame, each of us continues
to run away from God. And we do it all in our
own ways. We give in to the various temptations
that are in front of us. And when we give in,
we turn away, we run, and then we wonder why
things aren't going the way that they're supposed
to, why things aren't lining up the way that
we thought they would or we hoped they would.
And we all have a choice. We can all turn and
run and keep on running like Adam and Eve did
and go straight headlong into damnation. Or we
can learn from them and turn to Jesus and follow
him back to the Father. Those are our two choices.
Run headlong into damnation or follow Jesus to
the Father. Plain and simple. And the second
choice there, that's the best choice. And that
is what Easter is really about. A restored relationship
with the Father. We're almost done, guys. I promise.
Return to Romans 5, verse 8. Romans 5, verse
8. So in Romans 5 .8, the word says, but God
demonstrates his own love towards us in that
while we were still sinners, Christ died for
us. Even when we turned from God, even when we
rebelled against him, did horrible things, refused
to listen, he took our sin and he used it for
good. Pastor, what do you mean? He took our sin
and he used it for good, right? The word says,
you know, I took what you meant for evil and
used it for good. Well, he took all of our sin,
the sin of the world. He placed it on his son.
And his son took the cross, our evil. He used
it for good so that we could be reunited and
we could be broken from the bonds of sin, those
chains. Our bad, his good. His love for us. His
unconditional, undying love for us. The ultimate
good to lead us back to the Father and to unite
us in his family. He took the death and the separation
and he used it to bring us back into the family.
What do you mean separation? Jesus was on the
cross. God, why do you forsake me, right? Why
do you forsake me? Why? Because when he took
on the sin of the world, God can't be connected
with sin. So God had to disconnect Jesus from
the Trinity for that moment. Jesus knew what
it was like to be completely alone now, to be
separated from the Father. as we are when we
are in sin. That's why it pained him so much.
It's like taking a spoon and cutting off your
arm. It's pretty painful. It's not supposed to
happen, right? That's what God did for us. And
the way we accept his blood, his blood -bought
gift, It's really easy. Unfortunately, it's one
of those things that's easier said than done.
That's going to be our last verse. We go back
to Romans 10, verses 8 through 9. Romans 10,
8 through 9. The word says, but what does it
say? The word is near you in your mouth and in
your heart. That is the word of faith which we
preach. That if you confess with your mouth the
Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God
has raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
That's it. A blood -bought gift that we can willingly
accept, that we should willingly accept, and
that's how we do it right there. It's not in
works. It's not praying. to all these other idols
and stuff, right, as other places would have
you believe. It's not enchanting all this other
nonsense. It's accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior.
Right here. Accepting his love and what he did
for each and every one of us. Even when man turned
away from God, when man gave up on God, When
man separated himself, God never gave up on man.
God never gave up on you. He hasn't given up
on you. We're all prodigals. The Father loves
us. He wants us to come home. He's out there.
He's watching. He's waiting with arms wide open,
just like the prodigal son's father. He wants
us to come home. And every time somebody accepts
his blood, And their salvation is had. The word
tells us that even the angels rejoice. Even the
angels rejoice. That's that big. There's a party
in heaven for you. You just have to accept him.
Accept Jesus. Plain and simple. If you haven't
accepted Jesus yet, it's the time. It's what
Easter is about. Our reunification with him.
This is the time to accept. Break it down for
yourself. Read it. Pray on it. You might not
have a tomorrow. None of us might. So if you
haven't accepted Jesus, now is the time. It's
time to come home. Let us pray. Lord, we thank
you for this time together, the time in fellowship,
this time in your word. We thank you for your
never -ending love, your never -ending grace.
We thank you for the sacrifice that you've made
on our behalf, knowing that we can never truly
repay you. We come before you asking for your
forgiveness for all that we've done, all of our
sin, all of our transgressions. And we know and
we declare Jesus as Lord over our lives, of our
very souls. We know Jesus took on a debt, paid
it in full, died and raised back to life so each
and every single one of us could be saved from
sin and united with you. We ask that you, your
word. Your Holy Spirit continue to work in each
and every single one of us to transform us into
the people that you want us and who you intended
us to be. We acknowledge that all that we have,
all that we know, it's not about us. It's about
you and your glory, your kingdom. Please grant
us the wisdom and the knowledge to apply all
this to our lives and never forget it and to
share it with the world, a world who so desperately
needs you. in these times of darkness and of
brokenness. We love you. We praise you. And all
of his people said, amen and amen. Remember,
as you leave here today, you are loved and you
are blessed. So go and be the church. Until next
time, take care and God bless.