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The one whom all the sages and saints are seeking in their sacred places, he's found cast
out on the cross in the midst of our suffering.

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This is turning all the world upside down.

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Everything the world is promising you, everything the empire is promising you, Peter says,
it's empty.

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It's found in this one whom the empire cast out.

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The following message was recorded at Kingstree Church.

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May the Spirit use it to help you see, savor, and sing the beauty of God in the crucified
and risen Jesus Christ.

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So last week Pastor Sean led us through First Samuel, and we saw some, it's just really a
gripping story that we're walking through in First Samuel.

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And we will also be getting into those narrative elements in the book of Acts, but

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Acts begins with a sermon that Peter gives, and we've been spending some time there, and
we're going to look at that again this morning, just because there's so much for us to

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draw out of what Peter's doing.

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If you were can cast your mind back to the last time we were in Acts, we were looking at
Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples.

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And we said that with that coming, Luke is presenting this as the inauguration of the
end-time temple.

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The disciples are like the temple, and the fire of the Spirit descends upon them, filling
them with the presence of God and empowering them to speak of Christ.

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And then we saw this empowerment to speak of Christ bear its first fruits in Peter's
sermon.

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Peter stands up and gives a sermon.

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The first Christian sermon, and we were looking at that last time.

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And what this sermon does is really to encapsulate the essence of the apostolic message.

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What did the apostles preach about Jesus?

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And the essence of that can be seen in this final line that Peter gives of the sermon,
kind of summing everything up in Acts chapter 2, verse 36, where he says, Let all the

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house of Israel therefore know for certain.

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That God has made him, both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.

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That's that's at the very heart of the apostolic message.

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And we're going to dig into it just a bit more today, specifically looking at the impact
this message has on the hearers.

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So in the last few weeks, we were looking at the message itself.

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We're gonna do that a bit today, but we're especially looking at, okay, how does this then
impact?

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Those who hear it.

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Specifically, I want to look at the content of this message, the very last line there.

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What is the content that the apostles are preaching?

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What is the effect that has in the hearers?

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What is the response that leads to?

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And then what are the results of that response?

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You don't have to keep all that in mind, but that's going to be the structure.

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The content, the effect it has in the hearers, the response it elicits from the hearers.

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And then the results of that response.

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Let me read to you the passage we're going to be looking at, and then we'll pray together.

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So, starting in verse 36, with the very end, the summary of Peter's sermon, let all the
house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him, both Lord and Christ,

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this Jesus whom you crucified.

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Now, when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of
the apostles, brothers, what shall we do?

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And Peter said to them, Repent and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus
Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy

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Spirit.

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For the promise is for you and for your children, for all who are far off, everyone whom
the Lord our God calls to himself.

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And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, Save
yourselves from this crooked generation.

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So those who received his word were baptized, and were added that number about three
thousand souls.

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So this week we're gonna look at the first part of that.

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And then next week we're gonna look a little bit more at the promise and the coming of the
Spirit, and then we'll be through Peter's message and we'll be on to the rest of the story

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in Acts.

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But let me pray for us as we prepare to look at this again this morning.

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Father, we are, we confess to you this morning.

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Weak, weak beings.

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We're made of flesh and bone.

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We are mortal.

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We are easily broken.

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We are easily confused.

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We are easily thrown into uncertainty.

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We are utterly needy.

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I am, and my the people here, my brothers and sisters here are.

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And so we come to you, Father, not in strength, not in a confidence in ourselves, not
leaning on anything in us, but we come to you wholly because of you, having been called by

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you, being dependent upon you, having no strength but to throw ourselves upon Christ.

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And so, Father, I do that now as I begin to open your word, I cast myself upon you.

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That I would be upheld and given the strength and the ability to speak truly and clearly
to your beloved ones from your word.

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And I pray, Lord, that all those in my hearing would be cast upon you and strengthened to
hear aright and receive aright.

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And that the result of this time, Father, we pray, would not be the result of just a
helpful talk or an informative presentation.

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But that your spirit would make this apart from my capacities, would make this a time of
your working unto the saving and the healing and the raising up of your people into

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Christ, because it's Him that we need and it's Him that we long for.

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So I pray these things, Father, all now, in Jesus' name, amen.

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So let's begin by looking one more time at the content of Peter's message.

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He sums it up for us at the end.

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I've already read it twice, but hear it a third time.

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Here it is.

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Here's wrapping up the apostolic preaching of the Christ.

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He says, Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain, know this, that God has
made him both Lord and Christ.

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Who?

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This Jesus, whom you crucified.

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That's the summing up of the message.

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Let's look at just two parts of that to try to get our hands around it.

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Let's look at the second part first.

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This Jesus, whom you crucified.

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He's the one who's being preached.

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The Holy Spirit, when the Spirit empowers the apostles to preach, they preach this Jesus
whom you crucified.

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They don't try to hide the crucifixion.

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They don't try to say, yeah, forget about the fact that he was crucified.

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Don't think about that.

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That's weak.

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That's embarrassing.

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Think about this.

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He's a conqueror now.

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No, they hold up this Jesus crucified.

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So the crucified Christ remains at the center of the apostolic preaching, the Holy Spirit.

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When the Holy Spirit empowers preaching, the crucified one is at the center of it.

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And Christ crucified is not just a historical fact.

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Well, it happened, so we have to talk about it.

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That's not that's not the way it works.

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Christ crucified is the key to reality, the character of the gospel, the character of God.

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The crucifixion of Jesus Christ is the very center of everything that's proclaimed.

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It's the lens through which the gospel calls us to see everything.

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Because

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The crucified Jesus exposes the strength of this world as powerlessness.

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Because all the strength of this world cannot save us from the fear of death.

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All the strength of this world cannot free us from the guilt of sin.

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All the strength of this world cannot bring us into the life of God.

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But the weakness of the cross does what the strength of the world cannot.

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And so the cross says the strength of the world is worthless.

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It undermines all the wealth of Elon Musk that he's spending to make the perfect human.

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The poverty of the cross exposes that as powerlessness.

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The cross exposes the comforts of the world as fleeting, because here is a man stripped of
every comfort the world can give, utterly abandoned and opened up with nothing that the

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world offers.

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And yet he is at the center of the peace that God gives.

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He is in the bosom of the Father.

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He is the beloved one of God.

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And so all the comforts that this world, they're not bad, I'm not saying they're wrong,
but the cross says they're passing.

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They're not ultimate.

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Because that right there, you can be hanging on a cross and have the reality that all the
comforts of the world promise in counterfeit.

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You can be at the heart of God, held by God.

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Known by God.

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The cross exposes the comforts of the world as fleeting.

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The cross exposes the goals and the promises of the world as empty, because no one in this
world says, that's what you want to be like.

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You want to be like a crucified man.

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The world says you want to be successful, you want to be rich, you want to be healthy, you
want to be happy, you want to be fine.

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But the gospel says there is the epitome of faithfulness.

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There is the epitome of

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Of what it means to be a human being faithful to God and gathered up.

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Yes, he's lifted up in his sufferings, but to the eyes of faith, Jesus is lifted up into
the arms of the Father, lifted up into the peace of God, lifted up onto the throne.

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And so all the promises of the world are shown to be empty by the cross and the wisdom of
the world, all the philosophies can't get to God, but the foolishness of the cross.

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Brings us to God, says, here's where God is.

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You want to see God?

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Look at the cross on the outside of Jerusalem in 33 AD.

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That's where you find him.

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And the philosophies of the world cannot find him.

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And so the crucified Jesus is not just a historical element in the preaching of the cross,
it is the very center and character of what we believe.

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And it's where the character of God is made known.

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And look at it's not just that he preaches Christ crucified as something we see out there,
something we look at, something that happened and we see it as spectators, but the

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crucifixion of Jesus comes home to us.

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This Jesus, he doesn't say this Jesus who was crucified, God has made Lord in Christ.

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He says, This Jesus whom you crucified.

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And so all

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All of a sudden the crucified Christ stops being someone I see over there in that
religious experience, or over there in that historical moment, or over there in that

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factual event.

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And the crucified Christ becomes someone right here in my face with whom I have to deal.

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Because Peter says, You did this.

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You did this.

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Now, of course, he's speaking immediately most immediately to the Jewish people of his
day.

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The Jewish people having rejected their Messiah in their leadership, not every single one
of them did, obviously.

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But that extends to everyone because it is all of our sin, as the New Testament goes on to
make very clear, that holds Jesus to the cross.

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It is for the sin of the world that Christ is lifted up on the cross.

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And so this Jesus who is crucified is this Jesus whom I.

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Crucified, whom we crucified.

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That's the preaching of the cross presses home there, presses down into us.

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And so the cross does this.

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When the cross is preached faithfully, it's doing this work.

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It's touching upon us.

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It's saying, I had a hand in this.

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It's calling us to see my sin, my envy, my selfishness, my lovelessness.

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Puts Christ on the cross.

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And so Jesus crucified, again, think of the image of Christ on the cross, not just a pious
image, that is a mirror of my sin.

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Jesus on the cross is a mirror of my sin, where I'm looking at and saying, My God is
crucified.

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Why?

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Because of what's what I've done, because of me, because of how I am, because of how I
live.

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So the cross is a mirror of our sin.

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And that's what Peter is saying here.

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He's saying it's not just Christ crucified, but Christ whom you crucified.

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And maybe we maybe we've heard that before, you know?

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It's my sin that put Jesus on the cross.

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Okay.

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But it's a different thing to have an apostle who knows Jesus look at us and say, This
Jesus, whom you crucified, whom I crucified.

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So there we see that.

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That's at the center.

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But then what else does he say about this Jesus?

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This Jesus whom we crucified, what did we crucify him?

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What did God do?

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God has made him both Lord and Christ.

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So I in my sin have crucified him.

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God has vindicated him and said, He is this one who you crucified, he is Lord and Christ.

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Over all the cosmos.

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This is a moment that pins us.

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I crucified him, but he is God of the universe.

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That's the dynamic here.

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This Jesus, whom we crucified, the Lord, God has made both Lord and Christ Lord here,
meaning God's own unique name.

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It's carrying that weight.

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Lord here means God has declared the crucified one to be one with himself, to be one.

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The one who bears his own identity and carries his own name.

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This is not just one of the righteous people, this is our God Himself.

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And Christ means King and Savior of the whole world.

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So you can't get any higher than this: Lord and Christ.

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And the very center of the apostolic message is that this one whose blood is on my hands
is now raised up by God.

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And shown to be one with God in every way and the ruler of the universe.

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And that puts us in a difficult situation because we look now at the throne and we realize
I put him on the cross by me saying, my way, not yours, I crucified the King of the

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Universe and the Lord of glory.

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That's this message.

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That's the message that Peter's giving here.

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That's the message.

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That's the message that turns the world upside down.

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As it says in Acts 17 6, this they're turning the whole world upside down.

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And you can see how this turns the world upside down because the cross is the throne of
God.

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That's turning things upside down.

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The defeat of self giving love is victory over the world.

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God, the Holy One.

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The one whom all the sages and saints are seeking in their in their sacred places, he's
found cast out on the cross in the midst of our suffering.

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This is turning all the world upside down.

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Everything the world is promising you, everything the empire is promising you, Peter says,
it's empty.

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It's found in this one whom the empire cast out.

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It's found in this Christ, who you thought was trash.

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You threw out the the pearl of great price.

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You know, you reach in your pocket, crumble it up.

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This is worthless, throw it out.

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And then Peter goes to the trash and says, Actually, look, this is what you threw out,
everything you were seeking, everything everything life is about, you threw out because

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you didn't see it.

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And so that's what he's calling, that's what he's proclaiming to the people.

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Now, what's the effect of this?

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What's the effect of this on the hearers?

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Verse thirty seven.

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Now, when they heard this, they were cut to the heart.

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And they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, Brothers, what shall we do?

213
00:17:56,165 --> 00:17:58,327
So, what's the effect of this?

214
00:17:58,487 --> 00:17:59,088
Two things.

215
00:17:59,088 --> 00:18:03,311
They were cut to the heart, and then they said, What should we do?

216
00:18:03,311 --> 00:18:06,794
They felt something, and they did something.

217
00:18:06,794 --> 00:18:09,636
Those are the two effects that we're going to look at.

218
00:18:09,636 --> 00:18:12,218
First, they felt something.

219
00:18:12,519 --> 00:18:16,758
So part of the effect of the gospel going forth is.

220
00:18:16,758 --> 00:18:18,209
A feeling of something.

221
00:18:18,209 --> 00:18:19,979
Feelings are can be deceptive.

222
00:18:19,979 --> 00:18:20,830
They can be deceptive.

223
00:18:20,830 --> 00:18:22,560
They can take you all over the place.

224
00:18:22,560 --> 00:18:25,782
But they can also be faithful servants.

225
00:18:25,782 --> 00:18:31,904
And hear these people hear the gospel and it cuts them to the heart.

226
00:18:31,904 --> 00:18:33,745
It cuts through their defenses.

227
00:18:33,745 --> 00:18:35,746
It cuts through their brashness.

228
00:18:35,746 --> 00:18:39,027
It cuts through their confidence and gets to the heart.

229
00:18:39,027 --> 00:18:43,208
And they say, Okay, th this has a bearing on me.

230
00:18:43,609 --> 00:18:45,349
Think about an example.

231
00:18:45,550 --> 00:18:46,860
Maybe you're at work.

232
00:18:47,342 --> 00:18:49,694
I don't know if you have this kind of work, but you can imagine that you do.

233
00:18:49,694 --> 00:18:55,488
And your boss calls your team together and begins to reprimand them for something.

234
00:18:55,529 --> 00:18:57,190
And you're part of it, you're in there.

235
00:18:57,190 --> 00:18:59,733
But you know, this isn't my fault.

236
00:18:59,733 --> 00:19:01,454
I didn't do it, I didn't do this.

237
00:19:01,454 --> 00:19:04,416
And you also know your boss knows that.

238
00:19:04,497 --> 00:19:05,798
I know it wasn't my fault.

239
00:19:05,798 --> 00:19:08,640
He knows it wasn't my fault, but he's talking to the whole team.

240
00:19:08,640 --> 00:19:12,524
You hear what he says, but it's kind of like going over your head.

241
00:19:12,524 --> 00:19:15,946
You're kind of watching it happen, thinking, boy, I'm glad that's not me.

242
00:19:16,214 --> 00:19:22,396
Okay, now another scenario, same situation, but you know this was actually my fault.

243
00:19:22,576 --> 00:19:26,117
And you know that your boss knows this was your fault.

244
00:19:26,357 --> 00:19:37,560
Now you hear those words and you're like, you're right in the spotlight, and you feel it,
and you say, Wow, this is uncomfortable, this is painful, this is this is getting me.

245
00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:40,701
That's what happens to Peter's hearers here.

246
00:19:40,701 --> 00:19:45,812
They're they're not just standing there saying, Wow, look at that fiery preacher out there
saying things about other people.

247
00:19:45,826 --> 00:19:49,829
They're standing right in it and they realize, wow, this is me.

248
00:19:49,829 --> 00:19:51,149
I did this.

249
00:19:51,450 --> 00:19:52,730
I did this.

250
00:19:53,591 --> 00:19:57,274
And that moment is happening for Peter's audience.

251
00:19:57,274 --> 00:20:07,581
The crucifixion of Jesus and the resurrection of this crucified one is moving from an
event that happened a few months ago in this city, isn't that too bad?

252
00:20:07,581 --> 00:20:10,783
Into something that has bearing on them right now.

253
00:20:10,783 --> 00:20:13,245
And they have to respond to it.

254
00:20:13,245 --> 00:20:15,506
They're responsible for it.

255
00:20:16,076 --> 00:20:25,574
And the gospel continues to do this because the crucifixion of Jesus isn't just something
that happened in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago, isn't that too bad?

256
00:20:25,574 --> 00:20:29,938
It's something that is right here in our face right now.

257
00:20:29,938 --> 00:20:32,158
And the gospel brings it before us.

258
00:20:32,158 --> 00:20:36,242
And the gospel is meant to do this cutting work.

259
00:20:36,523 --> 00:20:44,329
It's meant to cut through our defenses and to cut through our supports and our
achievements and our mask.

260
00:20:45,676 --> 00:21:02,096
And to get into our heart and lay us open before God, to God lifting up the body of Jesus
Christ on the cross, broken and bleeding, and us seeing that and saying, This is this is

261
00:21:02,096 --> 00:21:04,939
my soul reflected to me.

262
00:21:05,219 --> 00:21:08,241
This is my sin put in front of me.

263
00:21:08,361 --> 00:21:12,764
There's my envy wounding his body.

264
00:21:12,764 --> 00:21:15,756
There's me saying, My way.

265
00:21:15,884 --> 00:21:19,397
And not yours breaking my Lord.

266
00:21:19,397 --> 00:21:20,767
There's my lovelessness.

267
00:21:20,767 --> 00:21:24,200
There's my stubborn attempt to continue to do it my way.

268
00:21:24,200 --> 00:21:27,522
There's me loving everything else in the world except Him.

269
00:21:27,522 --> 00:21:30,514
There's my sin in His body.

270
00:21:30,514 --> 00:21:31,665
And I can't run from it.

271
00:21:31,665 --> 00:21:32,656
I can't hide from it.

272
00:21:32,656 --> 00:21:35,127
I can't pretend I didn't do it.

273
00:21:35,127 --> 00:21:36,108
It's there.

274
00:21:36,108 --> 00:21:42,932
The gospel is intended to do that to us and lay us open before the eyes of God.

275
00:21:43,173 --> 00:21:44,886
Now it's a healing word.

276
00:21:44,886 --> 00:21:49,330
It's a good word, but it needs to tear first.

277
00:21:49,330 --> 00:21:51,392
It needs to cut first.

278
00:21:51,392 --> 00:21:54,654
Like when there's an infection, it needs to be lanced.

279
00:21:54,654 --> 00:21:56,236
And that's painful.

280
00:21:56,236 --> 00:21:58,117
You can't, you can't just get it better.

281
00:21:58,117 --> 00:22:02,060
It needs to be opened so it can be healed.

282
00:22:02,281 --> 00:22:05,202
And our souls are carrying an infection.

283
00:22:05,323 --> 00:22:08,586
And just a bunch of balm on the surface isn't going to heal them.

284
00:22:08,586 --> 00:22:13,950
They need to be lanced by the conviction: I did this.

285
00:22:14,958 --> 00:22:20,760
I crucified him, and we're brought to the place where we say, What do I do?

286
00:22:20,960 --> 00:22:22,770
What how am I to respond?

287
00:22:22,770 --> 00:22:28,942
It's like it says in Hosea 6:1: the Lord tares in order that he might heal.

288
00:22:29,062 --> 00:22:32,823
He kills so that he might make alive.

289
00:22:32,823 --> 00:22:35,384
And if I say, I don't want to be torn, it's uncomfortable.

290
00:22:35,384 --> 00:22:36,314
I don't want to be killed.

291
00:22:36,314 --> 00:22:38,345
I don't want my old self to go away.

292
00:22:38,785 --> 00:22:41,966
Then there's no healing and there's no life.

293
00:22:42,166 --> 00:22:43,336
So this is what

294
00:22:43,342 --> 00:22:47,023
Paul, what Peter preaches, they respond by feeling it.

295
00:22:47,023 --> 00:22:48,293
The Holy Spirit does that.

296
00:22:48,293 --> 00:22:49,244
Okay.

297
00:22:49,244 --> 00:22:51,504
This is another piece we have to be clear about.

298
00:22:51,504 --> 00:22:53,985
Everyone ought to feel this.

299
00:22:53,985 --> 00:22:59,266
All of us have this guilt before the cross, but not everyone feels that.

300
00:22:59,266 --> 00:23:01,507
Not everyone responds.

301
00:23:01,727 --> 00:23:07,789
If we respond, it is grace, it is mercy, it is the working of the Spirit.

302
00:23:08,169 --> 00:23:10,509
And that's what happens to this people.

303
00:23:10,550 --> 00:23:12,570
But then they don't just feel it.

304
00:23:12,674 --> 00:23:14,435
They say, what shall we do?

305
00:23:14,455 --> 00:23:15,476
What should we do?

306
00:23:15,476 --> 00:23:23,460
So Pastor Sean's message last week touched upon this, saying religious observance, nice
feelings, holy intentions.

307
00:23:23,460 --> 00:23:32,505
They're nothing if they're not supported by and if they're not giving the result of
action, doing, doing.

308
00:23:32,505 --> 00:23:33,825
What am I doing?

309
00:23:33,986 --> 00:23:42,560
It's not enough to sit and hear the gospel week after week and feel good and convicted,
feel good and challenged.

310
00:23:42,572 --> 00:23:46,064
Feel repentant as you're sitting there or maybe as you go out.

311
00:23:46,064 --> 00:23:47,544
Feel joyful.

312
00:23:47,544 --> 00:23:48,194
That's great.

313
00:23:48,194 --> 00:23:49,505
Praise God.

314
00:23:49,585 --> 00:23:52,466
But that's not that's not the fruit.

315
00:23:53,027 --> 00:23:54,567
What do we do?

316
00:23:54,727 --> 00:23:57,468
What do how does that lead to a doing?

317
00:23:57,668 --> 00:23:59,279
There needs to be a doing.

318
00:23:59,279 --> 00:24:04,671
The apostolic message doesn't just make them feel, it leads them to do.

319
00:24:04,812 --> 00:24:11,094
And that's that's what we're going to move on to then because they say they're cut to the
heart, they feel it rightly.

320
00:24:11,360 --> 00:24:14,511
And by grace, and they say, What do I do?

321
00:24:14,632 --> 00:24:16,503
Okay, what does Peter say to do then?

322
00:24:16,503 --> 00:24:18,024
We're moving on to the response.

323
00:24:18,024 --> 00:24:20,855
What is the response called for?

324
00:24:21,396 --> 00:24:23,227
Look at verse, end of verse 37.

325
00:24:23,227 --> 00:24:25,117
Brothers, what shall we do?

326
00:24:25,478 --> 00:24:31,071
Peter says to them, he gives them his response is two parts, but they are indivisible.

327
00:24:31,071 --> 00:24:32,282
Okay?

328
00:24:32,282 --> 00:24:33,412
Hold these two together.

329
00:24:33,412 --> 00:24:39,766
Just like Peter holds them together, we hold them together, and that's going to save us
from a lot of confusion.

330
00:24:39,766 --> 00:24:40,966
He gives them a

331
00:24:41,018 --> 00:24:50,782
One response with two parts: repent and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus
Christ.

332
00:24:50,962 --> 00:24:52,393
That's that's the response.

333
00:24:52,393 --> 00:24:57,745
Repent and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ.

334
00:24:57,745 --> 00:24:59,145
These two are indivisible.

335
00:24:59,145 --> 00:25:01,146
Repent, be baptized.

336
00:25:01,266 --> 00:25:04,747
Let me look at them one and then the next.

337
00:25:05,208 --> 00:25:06,969
First, he says, repent.

338
00:25:06,969 --> 00:25:08,969
This is what the gospel calls for.

339
00:25:08,969 --> 00:25:11,010
This is what seeing Christ.

340
00:25:11,040 --> 00:25:14,851
As the mirror of my sin calls for from me.

341
00:25:14,911 --> 00:25:16,111
Repent.

342
00:25:16,212 --> 00:25:17,352
Repent.

343
00:25:17,692 --> 00:25:23,173
Now, repentance does not just mean feel bad about it, feel sorry about it.

344
00:25:23,173 --> 00:25:29,685
Sometimes we can we can use feeling bad as a as a pressure valve to feel like, okay, there
I did something about it.

345
00:25:29,685 --> 00:25:31,076
I felt really bad about it.

346
00:25:31,076 --> 00:25:32,516
Okay, now we're done.

347
00:25:32,516 --> 00:25:33,616
We keep going.

348
00:25:33,616 --> 00:25:35,997
Repent means turn.

349
00:25:35,997 --> 00:25:39,668
That's what the word you've heard this before, but I'll press it upon you again.

350
00:25:39,670 --> 00:25:41,632
Repent means turn.

351
00:25:41,632 --> 00:25:44,695
It means not just saying, boy, I feel bad I was caught.

352
00:25:44,695 --> 00:25:47,658
Boy, I want to avoid the consequences to what I did.

353
00:25:47,658 --> 00:25:55,485
It's I am turning away from one pursuit and turning toward another.

354
00:25:55,485 --> 00:25:57,387
Like we saw in our text this morning.

355
00:25:57,387 --> 00:26:01,129
Put off the old.

356
00:26:02,151 --> 00:26:03,592
Die and rise.

357
00:26:03,592 --> 00:26:05,804
Everywhere in our faith you see this.

358
00:26:05,910 --> 00:26:14,395
A dying and a rising, a going down into the water, a coming up from the water, a putting
off of the old self, a putting on of the new self, a turning away from the old way,

359
00:26:14,395 --> 00:26:16,316
turning toward the new way.

360
00:26:16,316 --> 00:26:17,947
All of that is connected.

361
00:26:17,947 --> 00:26:21,059
All of that is the s the death and resurrection of Jesus.

362
00:26:21,059 --> 00:26:24,080
So he says, turn, repent.

363
00:26:24,641 --> 00:26:30,524
So stop going one way, start going another way.

364
00:26:30,524 --> 00:26:34,050
That's what the gospel is pressing upon.

365
00:26:34,050 --> 00:26:34,810
This people.

366
00:26:34,810 --> 00:26:38,071
And for them specifically, they'd never heard this before.

367
00:26:38,071 --> 00:26:50,674
For them specifically, this repentance means acknowledging the crucified man, Jesus of
Nazareth, is Lord and Christ.

368
00:26:50,955 --> 00:26:53,385
So the repentance here involves faith.

369
00:26:53,385 --> 00:26:55,516
That's at the center of this repentance.

370
00:27:04,042 --> 00:27:11,629
And the implication, the addition to that is, and my lifestyle crucified him.

371
00:27:11,629 --> 00:27:20,676
And so to confess that the crucified one is Lord is also to say, I'm turning from this way
that crucifies my God.

372
00:27:20,676 --> 00:27:30,824
And I'm turning to him to take his life on as my own, to enter into him, to submit myself
to him alone.

373
00:27:30,885 --> 00:27:32,566
That's what they're called to.

374
00:27:32,738 --> 00:27:34,379
That's what we are called to.

375
00:27:34,459 --> 00:27:41,824
And then, indivisible from that is the second part: repent and be baptized.

376
00:27:41,844 --> 00:27:44,746
Repent and be baptized.

377
00:27:44,926 --> 00:27:47,428
Now, this might surprise some of us.

378
00:27:48,069 --> 00:28:01,318
Sometimes we are we place the emphasis so heavily on the idea that baptism is an external
sign of an internal change that we can start to think, it's optional, you know?

379
00:28:01,318 --> 00:28:02,188
It's not.

380
00:28:02,188 --> 00:28:03,439
It's not a huge deal.

381
00:28:03,439 --> 00:28:05,821
Sometimes you'll use the wedding ring analogy.

382
00:28:05,821 --> 00:28:12,846
You know, the wedding ring is an external anal an external sign of my internal reality of
being married.

383
00:28:13,026 --> 00:28:19,932
But if this wedding ring got lost or if if we didn't have one when we get got married, it
wouldn't be a huge deal.

384
00:28:19,932 --> 00:28:21,273
I don't want to lose the wedding ring.

385
00:28:21,273 --> 00:28:22,814
But you know what I'm saying?

386
00:28:22,814 --> 00:28:23,835
It wouldn't change.

387
00:28:23,835 --> 00:28:25,686
It wouldn't change.

388
00:28:25,686 --> 00:28:28,450
It's ultimately it would be optional.

389
00:28:28,450 --> 00:28:29,970
And we can think that about baptism.

390
00:28:29,970 --> 00:28:30,971
Well, take it or leave it.

391
00:28:30,971 --> 00:28:37,552
If you're really serious, if you really want everyone to know when you're good and ready,
go ahead and get baptized.

392
00:28:37,572 --> 00:28:39,813
But that's not what Peter does here.

393
00:28:39,813 --> 00:28:42,073
And that's not what the New Testament does.

394
00:28:42,214 --> 00:28:49,776
Peter says, no, the necessary response to the gospel, right together with repenting and
believing, is be baptized.

395
00:28:49,776 --> 00:28:51,656
He doesn't divide those two.

396
00:28:51,656 --> 00:28:55,497
He says, he doesn't say repent and when you're really serious, get baptized.

397
00:28:55,497 --> 00:28:58,370
Repent and when you feel like it's a good time, be baptized.

398
00:28:58,370 --> 00:29:02,693
He says, repent and be baptized, holding them together.

399
00:29:02,693 --> 00:29:12,310
And in fact, we don't have the time to look into this this morning, but you remember back
at the end of his sermon, par when he quotes Joel, he says, Everyone who calls on the name

400
00:29:12,310 --> 00:29:14,921
of the Lord will be saved.

401
00:29:15,522 --> 00:29:19,265
Baptism here is being presented as what that calling looks like.

402
00:29:19,265 --> 00:29:21,516
Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

403
00:29:21,516 --> 00:29:27,170
And then he says, Every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.

404
00:29:27,288 --> 00:29:36,642
So he's presenting the way you call, the way your faith calls upon the Lord unto salvation
is indivisible from that being baptized.

405
00:29:36,642 --> 00:29:45,816
To be baptized in his name for Peter here is to call upon that name and say, You are my
Lord, you are my savior, you are my king.

406
00:29:45,816 --> 00:29:48,387
And this isn't unique to Peter.

407
00:29:48,387 --> 00:29:54,476
Okay, Jesus in Matthew 28 19, I'll turn back to that for you quickly.

408
00:29:54,476 --> 00:30:04,443
You know how this goes in the in the Great Commission, as Jesus sends out his disciples,
baptism is part of what it means to make a disciple.

409
00:30:04,443 --> 00:30:08,656
He says, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

410
00:30:08,656 --> 00:30:19,243
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name or into the
name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

411
00:30:19,243 --> 00:30:22,215
So for Jesus, baptism is part of what it means to trust him.

412
00:30:22,215 --> 00:30:24,180
It's just right there, indivisible.

413
00:30:24,180 --> 00:30:27,733
In that line we believe, we're baptized.

414
00:30:27,733 --> 00:30:34,119
Same thing, Paul, a number of places, but one that I'll highlight for you this morning is
Galatians.

415
00:30:34,600 --> 00:30:44,948
In Galatians, the very verse that the chapter that or book that champions the fact that
we're saved by faith, this is this is not in conflict with that.

416
00:30:45,309 --> 00:30:51,104
But here's what Paul says in Galatians chapter three, verse 27.

417
00:30:51,470 --> 00:30:57,775
For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

418
00:30:57,775 --> 00:30:58,865
How do we enter Christ?

419
00:30:58,865 --> 00:31:00,557
How do we put on Christ?

420
00:31:00,557 --> 00:31:02,388
He says you're baptized into him.

421
00:31:02,388 --> 00:31:07,321
That's just the categories that Paul and the New Testament are working with.

422
00:31:07,420 --> 00:31:17,008
And so we know, we can know theologically, philosophically, experientially, God can and
does save through faith alone.

423
00:31:17,008 --> 00:31:18,249
We know that.

424
00:31:18,830 --> 00:31:19,770
But

425
00:31:19,788 --> 00:31:26,820
That's similar to the fact that a baby is truly alive in the womb and can be born through
a c-section.

426
00:31:26,820 --> 00:31:29,260
A baby can be born through a c-section.

427
00:31:29,261 --> 00:31:33,312
And we can be paid, be in Christ apart from baptism.

428
00:31:33,312 --> 00:31:34,482
That's true.

429
00:31:34,542 --> 00:31:40,224
But the ordinary way that a baby is born into the world is through natural birth.

430
00:31:40,224 --> 00:31:41,884
That's the ordinary way.

431
00:31:42,124 --> 00:31:49,618
So too in the New Testament, the ordinary way someone enters into Christ is through their
faith.

432
00:31:49,618 --> 00:31:53,482
Manifesting in baptism through that process.

433
00:31:53,482 --> 00:31:56,224
That's the ordinary way one enters Christ.

434
00:31:56,224 --> 00:32:00,148
And the baptism matters, just like the birth matters.

435
00:32:00,148 --> 00:32:03,371
You don't say, well, it doesn't matter if they're in the womb or out.

436
00:32:03,371 --> 00:32:04,672
Well, it does matter.

437
00:32:04,672 --> 00:32:06,594
It does matter, especially as time goes on.

438
00:32:06,594 --> 00:32:09,376
It really matters that the baby's not in the womb anymore.

439
00:32:09,376 --> 00:32:10,877
It makes a difference.

440
00:32:11,058 --> 00:32:15,970
Baptism matters, matters for us spiritually.

441
00:32:15,970 --> 00:32:17,692
And if we say, well, how does that work?

442
00:32:17,692 --> 00:32:19,803
It can't really make any difference, right?

443
00:32:19,803 --> 00:32:20,584
It's just water.

444
00:32:20,584 --> 00:32:22,085
It can't really make any difference.

445
00:32:22,085 --> 00:32:23,737
It doesn't really matter.

446
00:32:23,737 --> 00:32:28,541
Well, think about the blood on the doorpost in the Passover.

447
00:32:28,541 --> 00:32:30,383
They put the blood on the door.

448
00:32:30,383 --> 00:32:33,705
That really mattered, that the blood was there.

449
00:32:33,826 --> 00:32:39,070
If one of the Israelites had just said, well, the blood's there in my heart, I didn't put
it on the door, just there in my heart.

450
00:32:39,070 --> 00:32:43,964
Well, probably there's going to be death in that home that night.

451
00:32:44,406 --> 00:32:53,190
Or again, Naaman, when he came to Elijah and sought to be healed of his leprosy, he was
told to dunk in the Jordan River.

452
00:32:53,190 --> 00:32:56,491
And he was kind of ashamed to do it, but he did it and he was healed.

453
00:32:56,671 --> 00:32:58,892
The dunking healed him.

454
00:32:58,952 --> 00:33:02,754
What if he'd said, Well, I've been dunked in my heart, I don't need to do that?

455
00:33:02,754 --> 00:33:04,594
He would have still had leprosy.

456
00:33:04,835 --> 00:33:12,258
Or Jesus, he can do anything, but he takes mud and he puts it on the eyes of the blind
man.

457
00:33:12,478 --> 00:33:13,238
And

458
00:33:13,358 --> 00:33:17,759
Through that, through that means, he heals the blind man's eyes.

459
00:33:17,759 --> 00:33:19,170
We don't say, well, it was a magic mud.

460
00:33:19,170 --> 00:33:25,081
No, it wasn't magic mud, but that's what Jesus used to heal this man's eyes.

461
00:33:25,521 --> 00:33:39,725
So there's no reason to be surprised if this same God would say, I'm going to now use the
water of baptism as a genuine means by the working of the Spirit, together with our faith,

462
00:33:39,745 --> 00:33:42,862
to bring us into Christ, to unite us with.

463
00:33:42,862 --> 00:33:43,882
Christ.

464
00:33:43,982 --> 00:33:46,513
And remember this: the church is the body of Jesus.

465
00:33:46,513 --> 00:33:47,703
That's I tell you this all the time.

466
00:33:47,703 --> 00:33:49,004
It's not just a metaphor.

467
00:33:49,004 --> 00:33:52,365
The church is the body of Jesus Christ.

468
00:33:52,685 --> 00:33:59,007
And so the water that the church baptizes with is as if it's really in Christ's hands.

469
00:33:59,047 --> 00:34:06,509
When we baptize up here in Jesus' name, it's like Jesus is taking that water and really
doing the baptizing.

470
00:34:06,509 --> 00:34:09,730
And if mud in those hands can heal blindness,

471
00:34:09,996 --> 00:34:19,933
Why is it surprising that water in those hands would work a real thing in the soul of the
person, work a real good in the one who's being baptized?

472
00:34:20,093 --> 00:34:23,576
So there's much more to say here, but I'll just say what Peter says.

473
00:34:23,576 --> 00:34:27,466
If we're trusting Jesus, if we've repented, we need to be baptized.

474
00:34:27,466 --> 00:34:30,240
And I'll put that out to all of you here as well.

475
00:34:30,761 --> 00:34:33,843
If you're trusting Christ, be baptized.

476
00:34:33,843 --> 00:34:39,186
If you say, I believe in him, but I haven't been baptized, you're in a category the New
Testament knows nothing about.

477
00:34:39,256 --> 00:34:44,870
There isn't a category for someone who's trusting Jesus, I'm in him, but I'm not baptized.

478
00:34:44,870 --> 00:34:46,791
Those two go together.

479
00:34:46,791 --> 00:34:48,252
Those two go together.

480
00:34:48,252 --> 00:34:51,714
Okay, so he says, repent and be baptized.

481
00:34:51,915 --> 00:34:54,997
And let me just say this very briefly for the sake of time.

482
00:34:55,017 --> 00:35:00,521
I think most of us in here have repented and have been baptized.

483
00:35:00,521 --> 00:35:03,423
And you might say, well, it doesn't have anything to do with me then.

484
00:35:03,423 --> 00:35:07,660
But those two things are the pattern for the rest of our life in Christ.

485
00:35:07,660 --> 00:35:09,872
We are continually turning to him.

486
00:35:09,872 --> 00:35:11,453
It's not just one time.

487
00:35:11,453 --> 00:35:13,394
I'm always turning to him.

488
00:35:13,495 --> 00:35:27,777
And we are continually learning to go down with him into death, die to myself, die to my
will, die to my preferences, die in the death of self-giving love, and find again and

489
00:35:27,777 --> 00:35:31,730
again and again that's actually the way I come into life.

490
00:35:31,891 --> 00:35:35,354
Giving myself up is actually the path into fullness.

491
00:35:35,354 --> 00:35:36,302
So this.

492
00:35:36,302 --> 00:35:41,526
Turning of repentance and this baptism, this going down and coming up with Christ.

493
00:35:41,526 --> 00:35:44,107
That's the pattern of our whole life, Christian.

494
00:35:44,187 --> 00:35:48,480
So if you've already done this, you don't say, I'm done with it, just like a baby doesn't
say, I already breathed once.

495
00:35:48,480 --> 00:35:50,631
I was born once and I breathed once.

496
00:35:50,712 --> 00:35:59,138
Baby keeps breathing and the Christian keeps responding, repenting and dying with Jesus
and rising again.

497
00:35:59,138 --> 00:36:05,172
But now let's move to a close and look at the results that Peter promises.

498
00:36:05,172 --> 00:36:06,102
He says,

499
00:36:06,604 --> 00:36:15,606
Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, for the
forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

500
00:36:15,606 --> 00:36:18,877
Forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Spirit.

501
00:36:18,877 --> 00:36:22,438
We're only going to touch on that last one because next week we're getting into it more.

502
00:36:22,777 --> 00:36:29,960
So he says, Repent, be baptized, and receive the forgiveness of sins.

503
00:36:29,960 --> 00:36:34,421
Now, many of us have heard that so much, it's empty to us.

504
00:36:34,421 --> 00:36:36,812
We've Jesus forgives my sins.

505
00:36:37,538 --> 00:36:40,941
But but may we feel what it is to have our sin forgiven.

506
00:36:40,941 --> 00:36:44,384
One of the images scripture uses for sin is sickness.

507
00:36:44,384 --> 00:36:46,345
It's not the only one, but it's one of them.

508
00:36:46,345 --> 00:36:47,466
Sickness.

509
00:36:48,127 --> 00:36:56,233
Think about the last time you were really sick, like unable to get up sick, unable to do
anything, sick.

510
00:36:56,233 --> 00:36:57,894
You're in your bed.

511
00:36:58,175 --> 00:37:00,117
Everything is tainted by that.

512
00:37:00,117 --> 00:37:06,914
Can you you remember those times you're looking up at the ceiling and you think, how was I
ever frustrated by anything?

513
00:37:06,914 --> 00:37:08,295
When I was healthy.

514
00:37:08,375 --> 00:37:10,476
I mean, how was anything wrong?

515
00:37:10,476 --> 00:37:17,841
If I could just get out of this, you are you are plunged into your sickness.

516
00:37:18,242 --> 00:37:20,683
But then remember when you were healed.

517
00:37:20,703 --> 00:37:21,584
It started to go away.

518
00:37:21,584 --> 00:37:22,194
It got better.

519
00:37:22,194 --> 00:37:24,566
And life was back.

520
00:37:24,566 --> 00:37:26,547
You were given life again.

521
00:37:26,687 --> 00:37:32,672
You weren't constantly coughing or blowing your nose or throwing up or whatever horrible
thing it might have been.

522
00:37:32,672 --> 00:37:35,273
You are free from it.

523
00:37:35,553 --> 00:37:36,746
What a relief.

524
00:37:36,746 --> 00:37:41,648
In those first moments, I can drink water again, I can keep down food.

525
00:37:41,648 --> 00:37:42,988
What a relief.

526
00:37:43,188 --> 00:37:47,549
Now, similarly, sin is sickness.

527
00:37:47,549 --> 00:37:54,902
We've brought upon ourselves, we've infected ourselves with, and we infect ourselves with
again and again and again.

528
00:37:54,902 --> 00:38:02,554
And we might trick ourselves and think we're all right, but this sin continues to do its
work in us.

529
00:38:03,350 --> 00:38:08,213
This choosing my will, not yours, because really that's the essence of sin.

530
00:38:08,213 --> 00:38:12,196
Not your will, mine be done.

531
00:38:12,256 --> 00:38:16,739
That's the sickness under which we're all dying.

532
00:38:17,179 --> 00:38:19,951
And that's the sickness that the whole world is sick with.

533
00:38:19,951 --> 00:38:25,525
You could say the whole world is the disease ward for the plague of sin.

534
00:38:26,005 --> 00:38:27,216
And we're all in it.

535
00:38:27,216 --> 00:38:33,290
And all in one sense, from one perspective, all the movies and games and awards and
parties and promises.

536
00:38:33,290 --> 00:38:45,980
Of the world are shots of morphine to try to get us to forget how sick we are, to try to
get us to forget how fevered we are inside of ourselves.

537
00:38:46,561 --> 00:38:51,685
And nothing can heal this sickness except the man we crucified.

538
00:38:51,785 --> 00:39:02,486
The forgiveness of sins is the healing of that, the healing of that fevered guilt, the
healing of that emptiness, that healing of that plague.

539
00:39:02,486 --> 00:39:10,589
Of sin, because on the cross, Jesus puts his hand, as it were, on our leprous soul and
takes it into himself.

540
00:39:10,589 --> 00:39:25,695
See the leprosy stripping off our soul and growing onto him, taking it, taking it, taking
it, all the sin, removing it, going up to the cross, filled with the filth of my fevered

541
00:39:25,695 --> 00:39:32,350
soul, dying in my place, leaving our sin defeated.

542
00:39:32,350 --> 00:39:45,976
Rising again, healed, healed, and saying, This is your healing, this is your forgiveness,
this is your purity, this is your life, because we're united to him.

543
00:39:46,096 --> 00:39:55,741
And Paul Peter says that happens as we turn to Christ and are baptized into him, as we are
united to him, united to him.

544
00:39:55,741 --> 00:39:58,082
That's where this forgiveness comes.

545
00:39:58,082 --> 00:39:59,412
And you might say, well,

546
00:39:59,976 --> 00:40:02,939
Need to be baptized in order to have our forgiveness of sins.

547
00:40:02,939 --> 00:40:04,890
That's part of what this verse brings up.

548
00:40:04,890 --> 00:40:08,713
And we could talk about that if this was more of an academic context.

549
00:40:08,734 --> 00:40:13,278
But I think the best answer to that is to say, Peter's not even asking that question.

550
00:40:13,278 --> 00:40:16,881
Peter's not saying this, then this, but if you don't do this, this will happen.

551
00:40:16,881 --> 00:40:19,123
He just says, repent and be baptized.

552
00:40:19,123 --> 00:40:20,764
He holds them together.

553
00:40:20,804 --> 00:40:27,692
And so it's enough for us to hold them together and to say, faith and baptism.

554
00:40:27,692 --> 00:40:39,707
Are indivisible realities by which we are united to Christ, even as conception and birth
are indivisible realities by which a child comes into the world.

555
00:40:39,887 --> 00:40:47,730
And your father, I pray this is the case, and it is certainly the case with your Heavenly
Father, your father loved you when you were still in the womb.

556
00:40:47,730 --> 00:40:57,064
Your dad loved you, but he couldn't hold you and say to your face, I love you until you
were born.

557
00:40:57,600 --> 00:41:06,673
In a similar way, it is not until we are baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Spirit that God speaks over us with authority.

558
00:41:06,673 --> 00:41:09,213
You are my beloved child.

559
00:41:09,333 --> 00:41:12,994
I am saying to you right now, I love you.

560
00:41:12,994 --> 00:41:15,495
You are my child.

561
00:41:15,775 --> 00:41:20,937
Hear his voice spoken in that moment and know I'm forgiven.

562
00:41:20,937 --> 00:41:26,188
I'm forgiven of my sin against everything my conscience may throw at me.

563
00:41:26,816 --> 00:41:28,127
I am forgiven of my sin.

564
00:41:28,127 --> 00:41:33,292
I've heard him speak it to me, and I've I know that I'm united to this Christ.

565
00:41:33,292 --> 00:41:35,053
So for the forgiveness of your sins.

566
00:41:35,053 --> 00:41:41,539
And then lastly, and briefly as we wrap up, Peter says, and you will receive the Holy
Spirit.

567
00:41:41,539 --> 00:41:46,843
Now, I don't mind touching on this so short here at the end because we're going to spend
next week on it.

568
00:41:46,843 --> 00:41:49,566
But I do want to get here before we are done.

569
00:41:49,566 --> 00:41:55,050
Because Peter says, here's part of the what is given to you, Christian: forgiveness.

570
00:41:55,598 --> 00:42:01,320
Healing of that sickness and the Holy Spirit is given to you.

571
00:42:01,320 --> 00:42:03,080
The Holy Spirit of God is given to you.

572
00:42:03,080 --> 00:42:06,361
You become the temple of God.

573
00:42:06,361 --> 00:42:09,862
You become the place where God lives.

574
00:42:09,862 --> 00:42:13,283
This is a staggering thing that Peter is saying.

575
00:42:13,283 --> 00:42:20,485
Probably right there in the precincts of the temple, he's saying, you will have the Spirit
of God in you.

576
00:42:20,485 --> 00:42:24,126
You will be the dwelling place of God.

577
00:42:24,126 --> 00:42:25,614
Think about that.

578
00:42:25,614 --> 00:42:32,278
Christian, you carry God with you at every moment.

579
00:42:32,539 --> 00:42:33,920
That's what this means.

580
00:42:33,920 --> 00:42:37,172
As a Christian, you carry God with you.

581
00:42:37,172 --> 00:42:42,175
He dwells in your body and in your life.

582
00:42:42,175 --> 00:42:47,549
Think about the brokenness, the pain of your body, the struggles that you feel in it.

583
00:42:47,549 --> 00:42:52,442
Just feel your body and know God lives in this.

584
00:42:52,442 --> 00:42:53,032
Not me.

585
00:42:53,032 --> 00:42:53,683
I'm not a God.

586
00:42:53,683 --> 00:42:55,044
I'm not saying, I'm the true God.

587
00:42:55,044 --> 00:42:55,724
No.

588
00:42:55,842 --> 00:43:07,905
The living God is not ashamed to say, I live there in your body with you, with all the
problems, with all the brokenness, with all the pain.

589
00:43:07,905 --> 00:43:09,746
I live there.

590
00:43:09,746 --> 00:43:10,866
I count that as mine.

591
00:43:10,866 --> 00:43:15,387
I have sanctified you to me.

592
00:43:15,828 --> 00:43:18,908
And also, he lives in our life.

593
00:43:19,469 --> 00:43:24,680
Your life, the whole story of your life, God says, I live in that.

594
00:43:24,706 --> 00:43:28,369
That's my story too, because you're part of him.

595
00:43:28,689 --> 00:43:30,971
That story is mine too.

596
00:43:31,091 --> 00:43:33,293
He you're not figuring it out alone.

597
00:43:33,293 --> 00:43:37,217
You're not going off on your own and God will get see you at the and say, wow, that was
hard, wasn't it?

598
00:43:37,217 --> 00:43:38,037
Glad you're here.

599
00:43:38,037 --> 00:43:43,942
He's in it with you because you're united to him.

600
00:43:44,162 --> 00:43:46,384
You're united to him.

601
00:43:46,384 --> 00:43:53,630
So when you're sick, when you're worn down, when your body feels like it's falling apart,
when life feels like it's falling apart.

602
00:43:53,656 --> 00:43:58,490
God Himself says, of all that, it's mine.

603
00:43:58,490 --> 00:43:59,850
I'm in it.

604
00:44:00,271 --> 00:44:04,614
Like Adam said to Eve, bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh.

605
00:44:04,614 --> 00:44:13,180
God in Christ is not ashamed to say that of you and your life and your story and the
filling of the Spirit is how He says that.

606
00:44:13,180 --> 00:44:15,301
He says, This is my life too.

607
00:44:15,482 --> 00:44:17,323
This is my body too.

608
00:44:17,323 --> 00:44:19,464
This is my story too.

609
00:44:19,464 --> 00:44:21,526
Because I fill you with my presence.

610
00:44:21,526 --> 00:44:22,092
And

611
00:44:22,092 --> 00:44:28,525
At least one thing that that means, Christian, is that he feels everything with you.

612
00:44:29,045 --> 00:44:29,925
Is there pain?

613
00:44:29,925 --> 00:44:31,906
You can feel the pain in your body, right?

614
00:44:31,906 --> 00:44:37,349
Uh Jess leads a karate class downstairs.

615
00:44:37,349 --> 00:44:39,490
Pastor Sean and I are in that class.

616
00:44:39,490 --> 00:44:45,572
Yesterday we're sparring and I go for a kick and Sean blocks with his elbow, hits the top
of my foot.

617
00:44:45,612 --> 00:44:47,233
I can feel that right now.

618
00:44:47,233 --> 00:44:48,313
Right now, I can feel it.

619
00:44:48,313 --> 00:44:50,314
I'm aware of that right now.

620
00:44:51,854 --> 00:44:53,785
But your life is like that.

621
00:44:53,785 --> 00:45:00,039
You hit something, you run into something, you're broken by something, you're shattered by
something.

622
00:45:00,039 --> 00:45:02,219
God feels that.

623
00:45:02,520 --> 00:45:05,721
He feels that because you're his, you're in him.

624
00:45:05,902 --> 00:45:06,692
You're in him.

625
00:45:06,692 --> 00:45:08,503
His spirit is in you.

626
00:45:08,543 --> 00:45:12,745
Like a branch in a vine, you are in Christ.

627
00:45:12,926 --> 00:45:21,570
And he fills every moment of your life and every molecule of your being with love.

628
00:45:21,580 --> 00:45:23,031
So do not despair.

629
00:45:23,031 --> 00:45:23,842
Do not despair.

630
00:45:23,842 --> 00:45:26,714
Nothing is unaware to him.

631
00:45:27,175 --> 00:45:28,166
So that's the message.

632
00:45:28,166 --> 00:45:29,796
That's the message the apostles preach.

633
00:45:29,796 --> 00:45:34,921
We have crucified Christ, and he is Lord and King over all.

634
00:45:34,921 --> 00:45:46,671
But if we respond, if we turn to him and are united to him by faith and baptism, then the
blood on our hands that was a sign of condemnation becomes the balm of our healing.

635
00:45:46,671 --> 00:45:50,040
And the spirit that we raged against in opposition

636
00:45:50,040 --> 00:45:58,272
Turns and fills us in love and makes us his own, so may we respond to him.

637
00:45:58,752 --> 00:46:08,315
And this table is a response to him, because right here is the witness to the Jesus whom
we have crucified.

638
00:46:08,435 --> 00:46:13,576
The bread is broken because I broke this body by my sin.

639
00:46:14,357 --> 00:46:19,398
The wine is poured out because I spilled this blood by my indifference.

640
00:46:19,544 --> 00:46:25,157
This table is the is the witness, this Jesus whom you've crucified.

641
00:46:25,157 --> 00:46:30,760
But you're about to come to this table, Christian, and receive it as blessing to you.

642
00:46:30,800 --> 00:46:37,294
You're about to come and eat these witnesses of your sin as promises of grace to you.

643
00:46:37,294 --> 00:46:38,024
How?

644
00:46:38,024 --> 00:46:48,982
Because if you repent and you turn and you come to Christ and you trust in Christ, then
the body we broke in, we the body we broke by our sin is given to.

645
00:46:48,982 --> 00:46:50,843
As food for our soul.

646
00:46:50,843 --> 00:46:56,405
And the blood we spilled by our sin is poured out to wash us clean.

647
00:46:56,465 --> 00:47:02,208
And the Christ we rejected by our sin says, Come, come to me.

648
00:47:02,208 --> 00:47:03,868
I love you.

649
00:47:03,968 --> 00:47:07,070
Come to me and be satisfied.

650
00:47:07,070 --> 00:47:08,560
So may we respond in that way.

651
00:47:08,560 --> 00:47:18,358
And if you have not trusted Christ, if you have not turned and been united to Him,
trusting in Him and calling upon His name through baptism.

652
00:47:18,358 --> 00:47:20,720
Let that be your response.

653
00:47:21,562 --> 00:47:23,123
Let that be your response.

654
00:47:23,123 --> 00:47:33,074
But if you have turned to him, then come again to this throne of our Lord and our God and
receive from him all that he is for us.

655
00:47:33,295 --> 00:47:36,918
Let me pray and commit this time into his hands.

656
00:47:39,310 --> 00:47:41,612
So, Father, thank you.

657
00:47:41,612 --> 00:47:43,693
Thank you for Jesus Christ.

658
00:47:43,894 --> 00:47:53,702
What a wonder that you have filled us with your spirit, that you're not ashamed to call us
your own, and you're not ashamed to call our lives your dwelling place.

659
00:47:54,183 --> 00:47:56,225
We thank you, Father, for the Holy Spirit.

660
00:47:56,225 --> 00:48:04,011
We thank you for Jesus Christ to whom we are united and who is all of our life, all of our
hope, all of our good.

661
00:48:04,812 --> 00:48:07,014
Father, take these words.

662
00:48:07,212 --> 00:48:09,683
And let them find their home in our hearts.

663
00:48:10,064 --> 00:48:22,491
And take now this remembrance of Christ at the table, and by the Holy Spirit, make it
grace to us, make it life to us, and may we receive Christ afresh in it.

664
00:48:22,491 --> 00:48:23,992
We pray in his name.

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Amen.

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Thank you for listening to this message from Kingstree Church in Sabinah, Ohio, to see
more of the beauty of God and the crucified and risen Jesus Christ.

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Come worship with us on Sundays at 10 a.m.

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or visit our website at Kingstreechurch.org.