Life After the Cross

Well, this week we are starting a new series called, / / Life After the Cross: lessons to learn between easter & pentecost.

Last week we celebrated Easter Sunday, Resurrection Sunday, the day that the disciples found out that Jesus did not stay dead after they had all watched him be crucified on a cross, breathed his last breath, he was taken down, put in the tomb and the grave was sealed with a large stone… and yet, here he is, very much alive!

So, now what? Was he going to stick around? Was he like Lazarus, or the others whom Jesus had raised from the dead - we assume they will in fact die again, we’re just hoping it’s after a full life. Right? On two other accounts written about in the gospels, Jesus had raised people from the dead, one is right in the middle of the funeral procession, but in both cases it was children and obviously the people around them felt it was too soon for them to die.

And in the case of Lazarus, his sister, Martha assumed when Jesus told her that her brother would rise again, John 11:24 says that she agreed, / / “Yes,” Martha said, “he will rise when everyone else rises, at the last day.” Resurrection was a bit of a sticky issue for the Jews of the time. The Sadducees didn’t believe in it, the Pharisees did, so Martha here, identifying that she not only believes it’s possible, but thinks she’ll see her brother again at the end of time when all people are resurrected. But that’s not what Jesus was trying to convey, he was there to actually do a great miracle. And so he responds, and in his response gives the indication as to his true purpose for coming:

John 11:25-26, / / “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?”

And of course she responds, “Yes, from day one I’ve believed you were the Messiah we have been waiting for. You are the Son of God, the one who has come into the world from God.”

Well, if you know the story, a few verses later Jesus tells them to roll the stone in front of the grave aside, and he yells into the grave, “Lazarus, come out!” And this man, who has been dead for four days, comes stumbling out of the grave, his hands and feet still bound by grave clothes.

A couple weeks ago we talked about Palm Sunday, or what’s also called the Triumphal Entry. This is the moment Jesus comes into Jerusalem, the week before he’s crucified, and there’s a few hundred thousand people there to celebrate Passover, and John actually writes that the initial gathering that drew people into this moment was because many of them had seen Jesus call Lazarus from the tomb, raising him from the dead, and they were telling others about it. No wonder Matthew writes that the entire city was in an uproar!

But here’s the thing - as amazing as someone coming back from the dead is, we don’t have any reason to believe that Lazarus, or the other two accounts of Jesus raising people from the dead, that that person then went on to live forever, so, Jesus is back, but would the disciples assume that he is raised and will live forever, or just back for a while longer?

So, these are the events leading up to this, Lazarus raised from the dead, Jesus betrayed and crucified, and now, raised from the dead himself. But what does it mean?

And here’s where we come into this series, because the disciples of Jesus, although he had told them many times that he would have to suffer and be killed and was going to be raised from the dead, still didn’t get it when it happened! They were still completely shocked.

In fact, when they’re walking toward the garden of Gethsemane, which is where Jesus was arrested - Matthew writes that on the way Jesus says that all of his disciples walking with him are going to desert him. And Peter jumps up, “No way, there’s no way I would desert you! Even if everyone else does, I will not” And Jesus tells him that before the rooster crows he will have denied three times that he even knows him.

Later on we find out that’s exactly what happened, and Peter remembers Jesus saying it and is ashamed. But it’s not like he’s the only one guilty of this. First, Jesus had said they would all desert him, and Matthew 26:56, after Jesus is arrested it says, / / At that point, all the disciples deserted him and fled.

Great crew, right? The guys you definitely want taking over the family business when you’re gone? “Dad, don’t worry, these boys are gonna do great!”

So, today we’re going to read the first encounter that the disciples have with the risen Jesus from the book of Luke. Of course, if you know the story, you know that Mary Magdelene has already seen Jesus, and the two disciples walking to Emmaus have seen him, had a conversation with him and rush back to Jerusalem to tell the other disciples. This is where we’re picking up the story:

Luke 24:35-49, / / Then the two from Emmaus told their story of how Jesus had appeared to them as they were walking along the road, and how they had recognized him as he was breaking the bread. And just as they were telling about it, Jesus himself was suddenly standing there among them. “Peace be with you,” he said. But the whole group was startled and frightened thinking they were seeing a ghost!

“Why are you frightened?” he asked. “Why are your hearts filled with doubt? Look at my hands. Look at my feet. You can see that it’s really me. Touch me and make sure that I am not a ghost , because ghosts don’t have bodies, as you see that I do.” As he spoke, he showed them his hands and his feet.

Still they stood there in disbelief, filled with joy and wonder. Then he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he ate it as they watched.

Then he said, “When I was with you before, I told you that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and in the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. And he said, “Yes, it was written long ago that the Messiah would suffer and die and rise from the dead on the third day. It was also written that this message would be proclaimed in the authority of his name to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem: ‘There is forgiveness of sins for all who repent.’ You are witnesses of all these things.

“And now I will send the Holy Spirit, just as my Father promised. But stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven.”

And we will kind of be weaving in and out of this passage of scripture over the next few weeks. But today I want to draw out a few important things that give us a foundation and framework for the coming weeks.

/ / 1. It’s OK to be Confused!

If you’ve ever read scripture or been listening to a sermon or podcast or something and you just don’t get it. You’re confused. It’s ok! These disciples had heard Jesus say so many times exactly what was going to happen, and then when it DID happen, they were still confused. They still didn’t get it. So, turn to the person next to you and tell them, “Give yourself a break!”

So, first things first, Jesus has to say, “Peace be with you!” and the whole group is startled, frightened, in disbelieve yet filled with joy and wonder. Why?

Well, imagine the scenario. You’ve just watched your Messiah, or who you thought was your Messiah, die…And you run for your life because you’re afraid they’re going to kill you too because you are guilty by association.

Then, three days later the women in your group come back from his grave and tell you he’s not there in the tomb, and then one of them says, “Ya, I had a conversation with him… he told me to come back here and tell you guys that he’s alive.” Then two other guys are like, “We had that happen too. We were walking to Emmaus and he was there walking with us. We don’t even know where he came from. And then he had dinner with us, and he broke the bread and we suddenly realized it was him…and then he disappeared............”

And they’re just standing there, and BAMM suddenly Jesus is standing there in the room with them, very much alive!

What does it mean? I can only imagine how confused they are. Is he back to go back into ministry? Is he back to condemn us for deserting him? Is he back to take over the throne of Israel and reestablish the kingdom? I mean, how could Rome stand up against a guy they can’t even kill, right?!?

There’s definitely some confusion. And so Jesus has to set some things straight. And he starts with this:

/ / 2. The Law of Moses

He’s like, “I told you, the Law of Moses spoke of me and I had to come to fulfill it!” See, part of that confusion would be centered around what it means to have this law fulfilled.

Israel has a long and complicated history with God and what we would call the Law and the Prophets.

If you look at the whole of the Old Testament story, you see this sort of progression and growing in relationship between God and humanity. And Jesus here is saying, he’s fulfilled that. He had said this before, while he was alive as well. Matthew 5:17 says, / / “Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose.”

And now on the other side of the cross and resurrection he’s saying, “Don’t you remember, everything spoken about me had to be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures.

Here’s a little side note. Bible Reading Plan is available on the table in the lobby. When you sit down to read the bible, do not do so without making that your prayer. “God, open my mind to understand these scriptures.” I don’t know about you, but the bible can be a confusing book to read sometimes. But Jesus does this on multiple occasions, and he also promised that the Holy Spirit would lead us into all truth. So make that your prayer when you read scripture, that the truth of Jesus Christ would be revealed through the text to your heart and mind!

The Life Application commentary of this passages says, / / “The Old Testament law is not rescinded but now must be reinterpreted and reapplied in light of Jesus. God does not change his mind. Jesus’ coming had been part of God’s plan from Creation.”

But, we only see in part, don’t we. We can only understand what has been revealed to us. In our case: we can read the Old Testament with the revelation of Jesus, but those who lived it could not.

So, Israel’s complicated relationship with the law.

First, let’s go straight back to the beginning. Genesis, if you know the story. God creates the universe, creates this little galaxy and this tiny little planet we call earth, and he puts two people in a garden, Adam & Eve. And in this garden it is perfection, it is paradise. And as such there’s no big list of rules to follow, no commandments, so God gives them one simple instruction.

Genesis tells us there are all kinds of trees in the garden that God has told them to eat and enjoy, but there are two special trees. One is called the Tree of Life, and the other is called The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. And Genesis 2:15-17 says, / / But the Lord God warned them, “You may freely eat the fruit of EVERY TREE in the garden - except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.”

The other tree, the Tree of Life, this is what Genesis 3:22-23 says, and this is after they have been removed from the garden, but we’ll back track in a second. / / Then the Lord God said, “Look, the human beings have become like us, knowing both good and evil. What if they reach out, take fruit from the tree of life and eat it? Then they will live forever!” So the Lord God banished them from the Garden of Eden...

So, if you were wondering if the Tree of Life had special powers too, it did, clearly, it would cause you to live forever. It would give you eternal life.

So what’s the choice here? What’s the simple instruction? Choose life or death.

But doesn’t this sound a bit familiar? Straight from the beginning, we see the plan that would be fulfilled in the life and death and resurrection of Jesus at play right here. See, God had created a tree with the power to grant eternal life. What did Jesus say his purpose was? John 3:16, / / “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”

This was not a new plan. This was not something God came up with later and said, “Jesus, let’s give them eternal life...” NO, God always wanted to give humanity eternal life. It was there on day one. But what did we do? We picked death. Why? I don’t know. But humanity has been doing that same thing day after day over and over again from that point until today!

Some people read Genesis and look at God removing Adam & Eve from the garden as punishment for eating from the wrong tree, but it was actually protection, and it was part of the plan. God does not want you to live for all eternity with sin. Sin separates, it divides, it causes death - remember last week I said it’s not always the finality of death that does the most damage but the ongoing, consistent, dying of our lives that cause us the most pain, and that breaks the heart of God. By the choices we make we choose life or death and you don’t have to look far to see that the enemy of our souls has had his way with humanity. The absolute collapse of the nuclear family, people in financial ruin, people without moral foundation or structure, people struggling, hate, division, segregation and the list goes on and on. We see death in the lives of people all over. Who would want that for all of eternity?

So God protects humanity by shutting off the way to the garden, no one can get to that tree any more, or at least, not until we fix this sin problem.

And there’s a pretty quick moral decline. Adam and Eve’s two sons get into it and one kills the other.

At the time there is no law. There was simply don’t eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But now you have, and now you know right and wrong and you have to choose to do what is right. But consistently humanity chooses to do what is wrong.

Without doing a deep dive through the whole of the book of Genesis, let’s jump right to the part where this law that Jesus spoke about is put in place. Moses has led the people out of slavery in Egypt where they had been for 400 years. Both living there and ending up being enslaved there. Now they are free, but they do not know how to live free.

Think of the scenario we just went through. You were in a garden, you were told to live free, you start living and shortly there after you have brothers killing brothers. So, maybe we should give some guidelines for living this life.

And for 1500 years from the time of Moses to the time of Jesus the people of Israel had been living under the Law of Moses.

Now, there are a few different ways to look at the law. And I am still walking through these things myself, there is so much to learn and go through in Scripture, but I would say the law of Moses does 3 things:

/ / The Law shows you how to live well, by doing what is right.

This is what the law itself says, We read it last week. Deuteronomy 30:16, / / For I command you this day to love the Lord your God and to keep his commands, decrees, and regulations by walking in his ways. If you do this, you will live and multiply and the Lord your God will bless you and the land you are about to enter and occupy.

/ / The Law shows you how to live well, by avoiding what is wrong.

Paul says in Romans 7:7, / / …it was the law that showed me my own sin. I would never have known that coveting is wrong if the law had not said, “you must not covet.”

So the law gives us direction.

And we do this with our children, right, we raise them with boundaries, teaching them how to live. Kelley and I were just having this conversation the other night, that as parents it is our responsibility to show Kaylee how to act, how to respond, how to live as a human being in society. If we don’t, who will? And as we unfortunately see all too much of these days, if we leave the raising of our children to the voices outside of our home (or the digital voices in the palms of their hands) they will be raised in the image of a humanity that has been led astray rather than the moral foundation of God’s truth.

Proverbs 22:6 says, / / Direct your children onto the right path, and when they are older, they will not leave it.

But, that has to start with “Direct your children...” They aren’t someone else’s children, they are your children. They need your guidance. Which makes it so vitally important for you to have your head on straight. Because our children’s beliefs in many ways are shaped by the beliefs we hold. I am grateful that I was raised in a good, christian, bible reading, God fearing, Jesus and Holy Spirit loving home, because it set me up for my own belief structure. But I also see the gaps, the flaws, the teachings I don’t necessary subscribe to now that are still ingrained in me because it was how I was raised.

/ / The Law makes provision for us when we don’t do it right.

When we go wrong, there is a way to make it right. Through sacrifice and offering.

Now, we covered this a few months ago, Scripture is full of times where God says over and over again, I don’t WANT sacrifice, I desire OBEDIENCE. But, we know that perfection isn’t our strong point, so provision must be made. Why? Because the tree of the knowledge of good and evil produces death.

We will also see as we continue this morning that this provision is not complete until it is fulfilled in Christ.

But, let’s put it this way, Romans 6:23 says, / / For the wages of sin is death… And if that verse was in the old testament under the law, it would have been finished with, but there is atonement through the offering of a sacrifice. Once a year the priest would offer sacrifices on behalf of the people of Israel on what was called the Day of Atonement. Atonement simply means the making right or making amends for a wrong that has been done. So all of the sin, all of the wrongs made right on that day.

But again, this is an imperfect system leading towards a perfect solution.

‌So, it does these three things, it shows us how to live by doing what is right. It shows us how to live by defining what is wrong. It makes atonement for us when we do slip up and don’t follow the ways in which is has shown us how to live.

And Paul is saying in Romans, Without the influence of the law, I wouldn’t even know what is right or wrong.

And that’s an ok system, right? God has made a way, but, then Jesus says he’s here to fulfill all of that. To bring it to completion. What does this mean?

Ok, so we’ve looked at the confusion of the disciples, and it’s ok to be confused. Then we look at the Law of Moses and why we needed it. Now let’s look at the:

/ / 3. Fulfillment of the Law

Let’s read from Hebrews 10, which gives a good comparison between the Law and Jesus.

And we’re going to read a big section of scripture and then we’ll talk through it: And as we read this, why not just ask, “God, would you open my heart and mind to understand this scripture...”

/ / The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves. The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship. If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared.

But instead, those sacrifices actually reminded them of their sins year after year. For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. That is why, when Christ came into the world, he said to God, “You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings. But you have given me a body to offer. You were not pleased with burnt offerings or other offerings for sin. Then I said, ‘Look, I have come to do your will, O God - as it is written about me in the Scriptures.’”

First, Christ said, “You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings or burnt offerings or other offerings for sin, nor were you pleased with them” (though they are required by the law of Moses). Then he said, “Look, I have come to do your will.” He cancels the first covenant in order to put the second into effect. For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time.

Under the old covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the alter day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins. But our High Priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then he sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand. There he awaits until his enemies are humbled and made a footstool under his feet. For by that one offering he forever made perfect those who are being made holy.

Ok, some key points here. First, / / The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, not the thing itself. Not what thing? The thing to come. Think about a shadow. A shadow is cast by the thing itself, but is not the thing itself. But, what a shadow does do, is that it speaks to the thing itself. It lets you know that it is coming, and in that way, it gives hope of the thing that is coming. You can’t have a shadow without the thing that is to come.

Dr. Chris Green says that we can think of it this way, thinking as a child, you wake up in the middle of the night having had a bad dream. You call out for your father, and you sit there, in your bed, terrified, awaiting the arrival of the one who will comfort you and make it all better. Staring through your doorway you see the shadow on the ground of your Father as he approaches. And you hear the voice in the hallway. It is the promise of what is to come.

Now, is that the goal? No, the goal is to be in the Father’s embrace, protected, secure and loved. But the shadow immediately brings comfort - why? Because it speaks of what is to come. It is evidence that the one who loves you is not far off!

In the same way the law of Moses spoke to a God who would redeem his people. A God would would make a way. A God who would not leave humanity broken with sin to reap the wages of death, but would come to us and make a way. The shadow spoke of the coming savior.

Second thing to note in this scripture. / / The law is imperfect. It can’t fix the root problem. The shadow can’t hug you. The shadow speaks to the comfort you WILL receive, it is not the comfort itself. In the same way the law can not redeem fully. It simply reminds us of our sinfulness and inability to keep the law over and over and over again.

If we were perfect, we wouldn’t need the law.

If the law was perfect, we wouldn’t need a savior.

But we now neither of those are the case, are they. The law is incapable of freeing us from the issue of sin. And if the wages of sin is death, then you really only have two options to fix that. / / Remove sin, or remove death.

Well, to remove sin you either make nothing a sin, or you make people incapable of doing it, and you can’t do either of those. If you make nothing a sin, that would be a free for all and the world would implode upon itself, right? Think of how that would go. We already have some morality issues going on in the world, imagine if we took morality off the table. Nothing is a sin anymore? And don’t think that’s all that crazy of a thought, there are those who would gladly rework what sin is and remove it from the equation. Or the other way, if you make people incapable of sinning, they are simply just robots. You can’t do that either. So, removing sin isn’t really an option.

The other option is remove death.

ahhh.... “and how can we do that?” says God sitting in the heavens… I can’t believe I’m going to do this…I’m about to make a movie remake reference. Ok, who has seen the *NEW* Space Jam? Listen, I am team Michael, he’s the goat, forget anything else. But that’s beside the point. And I apologize for the spoiler if you haven’t seen it, but the issue in the remake is they are stuck in a video game, and the video game has a glitch, and the only way for them to win and free everyone is for someone to do what causes the glitch. The problem is, the glitch kills you. Or so they think.

Bugs Bunny sacrifices himself and the glitch happens, the game is won, the people go free. But at the end of the movie, what happens? Bugs is still alive. I can’t believe I’m giving the ending of the movie away!

They don’t explain how bugs survives the glitch. All we know is he was willing to sacrifice himself and in doing so conquers the evil forces that were trying to kill everyone.

But I am going to tell you how Jesus survived death.

/ / Jesus is God.... God cannot die.

If God could die, then God would cease to exist, and if God ceases to exist, even just for a moment, then God is not God. Right? Think about that. If you can remove God from the table, even just for a split second, then God is not God. If he ceases to exist, then he is not God.

You have to track with me here… Jesus never ceased to exist.

Jesus was never removed from the table.

Jesus was not created when he was placed in the womb of Mary 2000 years ago. Jesus was without a body of flesh for all of eternity before he was born - he is God uncreated. THEN He lived in his body, this flesh for 33, 34 years, and his physical, earthly body, was crucified and put into a grave. Jesus, the man who is God did not die in that moment. Hear me, I am not saying that the body of Jesus in the flesh did not die, it most certainly did, his heart stopped, they took him down and put him in that grave, and the Spirit of God raised him back to life. But the divine nature of Jesus did not die, nor could it. Jesus, although fully man, was also fully God, and God can not die because that would mean he would cease to exist, and that is an absolute impossibility.

How do I know this? Because this is exactly what he said to Martha when he was talking about Lazarus. John 11:25-26, / / “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe…?”

So, this one who IS the resurrection, 1 Peter 2:24 says this, / / He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right.

This was the plan!

Look, you’ve got a system, but it’s just a shadow. Every year you take an animal, and the sins of the people will be placed on that animal and that animal will die, but that’s it. The animal is dead and gone, it had no power to conquer or defeat sin or death. BUT, Galatians 4:4 says, But when the right time had come, God sent his son...

God in the flesh, who can not die as God, but can carry the weight of the world and all of its sin in that flesh to the grave where it dies for all time.

Now, listen to this. This is the transition that Jesus is making for his disciples who have lived under the law but now because of what He has done he has fulfilled it.

Romans 8:2 (ESV), / / For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

But here is how that happens:

Romans 7:1, 4, 6, / / Now, dear brothers and sisters - you who are familiar with the law - don’t you know that the law applies only while a person is living? …this is the point: You died to the power of the law when you died with Christ. And now you are united with the one who was raised from the dead. …we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit.

The uncreated one, who became flesh, who was perfect and could carry that sin on his mortal body, allowed his flesh to die and be buried so that he could absolutely shatter and break the power of sin and the grave.

I find it so interesting that it was a tree that caused the problem in the first place, and it was a tree that brought the solution in the end...

So let’s go back up to where we started. Standing in that room with Jesus and the other disciples. They are amazed, and confused. They are traumatized and yet filled with joy and wonder. And he is opening up scripture to them. And he looks at them and says these words, and this time, reading from the ESV:

Luke 24:38-39, / / “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.”

I beat the grave boys.... Sin is dealt with.... forever.

Maybe those are some of the things Jesus said as he opened up Scripture to them. Probably not. Gosh, I wish I was there in that moment! But Jesus sets things straight. Everything has changed. Life is different now. The way of the past can not be the way of the future.

And this isn’t always easy to understand, because we see the effects of sin all around us all the time. In fact it seems that things are getting darker, sin is more accepted, morality and truth are less accepted. And that can lead some to say, I don’t know if you’ve heard this before, but having people ask, Why doesn’t God just fix it? If God is all powerful, and all loving, then why doesn’t he just fix it?

The answer to that is.... He did.

I’m amazed that God could have taken the route of just wiping the slate clean, starting over, just getting rid of humanity, or those who disagree with him. But he didn’t. He loves the humanity that he created so much that he was willing to be so joined to us by becoming flesh himself, and in that flesh, living a perfect life, denying all human impulse to sin, all human nature to live the way he wanted, and with all dedication give his body over to the most gruesome suffering possible.

Again, if you’re reading along with Daily Bible Reading, in Proverbs 16:6 this morning I read, / / Unfailing love and faithfulness make atonement for sin.

It is the unfailing love and faithfulness of God through Jesus Christ that has made atonement for sin, once and for all. He came into this world in a body of human flesh to destroy the power of sin and death, fixing the problem WITHOUT destroying humanity and without destroying our choice to remain human. Why do we still see hurt, suffering, pain?

Because in dealing with the root issue, God did not take away our right and our freedom to choose. And although we are no longer under the law of sin and death, we must choose to live under the law of the Spirit of life. Choosing to follow him.

So, in closing I want to read what Jesus said to his disciples again, because in all of us there are times we are confused, terrified, traumatized, and I think the solution is the same as for the disciples, come, touch and see. I have defeated the grave!

So, if you to close your eyes for a moment. And I want you to hear the words of Jesus, just like he’s standing right here in our midst. “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. The grave is no longer your destiny. The grave has been defeated. You are free to choose life. You are free to follow the leading of the Spirit. You don’t have to live by the shadow of what is to come, but you can live in the fulfillment of it.”

Jesus, our prayer this morning is that you would make this truth, these scriptures, this fulfillment of the law come alive in our hearts and minds. Reveal the truth to us and in so doing, cause our faith to be built up in the hope of our salvation through your finished work on the cross. You died once and for all. Never needing to accomplish that work again. Let that truth be written on our hearts and minds. The truth of your unfailing love and faithfulness.

In your powerful name, amen!