God's Plan of Salvation, Part 3

Do you realize how special you are to God? You are very special to God. You are set apart above any other element in the entire creation. He put you over all the elements in the creation, gave you authority over animals and plants. You are the only thing in God's creation that He communicates with, that has the capacity to know that He even exists. You are created for a special purpose. That's why you look like God. That's why you have the same ability to think in a way that God does, not as God does, but in a manner, in thought processes, to understand the language, to understand the concepts, the constructs that God thinks and He lives by.

Let's go back to Genesis 1 and verse 26 and be reminded of just how special you are. Genesis chapter 1 and verse 26. When we find out how special we are, then we're going to find out that we also have responsibility with that sanctification or that setting apart from all other elements, a setting apart for a special purpose. Here in Genesis 1 and verse 26, notice God said, let us, plural, two individuals speaking, make man in our image, plural, according to our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over the cattle, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.

We have dominion over God's creation. We can even escape the earth and go to space and have a certain amount of dominion on the moon. Junk it up, trash it up, jump around on it, leave footprints. Some people want to go mine it or go to Mars or some other place and see if they can get wealthy or get some materials that are there that aren't here.

We have dominion over those things. So God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him male and female. He created them. Now, it doesn't stop there. Then God blessed them. God didn't bless the monkeys. He didn't bless the fish. He didn't bless the trees. They weren't set apart for the special purpose in God's image. You were.

God then blessed humans. And God said to them, he spoke to them. He didn't speak to the rest of the creation. God himself spoke to them. This God-blessed individual that you are has even more blessings than that now. But next, he set apart, sanctified for a holy purpose the human. Let's look in chapter 2 in verse 8.

The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden. God is busy for these humans. He's doing things for them. They're special to him. And he put the man whom he had formed. He transported and placed him there. And out of the ground, God made to grow things that were pleasant and good for these humans. This is very interesting. In verse 22, we see in the creation of a woman, the rib which the Lord had taken from the man he made into a woman.

She was not created from the dirt. She was not taken from another animal source. This is directly related to humans. She was of him. She is part of him. She is absolutely human and God-made. And notice, then the rib which the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman. But it doesn't end there. And he brought her to the man. He brought Adam into the garden of Eden and he brought the woman into the man.

God is really focused on special human beings. He sanctified or he set apart the man and the woman for a special purpose. That special purpose, of course, is to ultimately be part of his family. But in chapter 3 in verse 1, it says, the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field, which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, now you have a third party shows up, some imposter, some embezzler, somebody who wants to trick and deceive, and he shows up.

And this person we call the devil, the word devil means slanderer, begins to slander God. How does God say this? God say that? Ah, you're not going to do that for verse 4, verse 5. For God knows. He's slandering God. He's calling him a liar. And that's what devil means. Another name that he has is Satan. The word Satan means an opponent, one who opposes you or your adversary. You might consider like two-man sports or two-woman sports, you know? Each are each other's opponent. They're trying to keep you from reaching the goal.

That's what an opponent is. They're to oppose you, keep you from what you're trying to do. And then there's another name called Abaddon, which is the destroyer. He's a destroyer of relationships, first and foremost, between God and man, man and man, man and environment, man and animals.

He just, animals and animals, his nature is just out destroying all the time. And humans have things called destroyers. And people's favorite games are about destroying, and their favorite books and movies are about destroying lives of others.

That's what this individual is. And he came along and tempted them. And so they transgressed the commandment that God had given them, not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They transgressed that commandment, and that ended up separating them from God. They separated from God. Sin separates. Remember, Satan divides. Satan destroys relationships. So we see down in verse 8, then they heard the sound of the Lord walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves. See, that relationship now was severed. They went away from God, and they hid. They didn't want God to see them. They didn't want God to find them. They were hiding. They didn't want God. But we find here that the Lord God wanted a relationship with them. And God went seeking them. In verse 9, the Lord God called to Adam and said, Where are you? I want a relationship with you. You're sinning, but I want a relationship with you. They didn't come to Him.

What happened was there was no repentance. There was only a bunch of words, accusations, justification. Oh, it's your fault you made that woman. Well, it's not my fault. It's her fault, or the serpent's fault. No repentance whatsoever. And their sin resulted in the deaths of animals. If you notice in verse 21, also for Adam and his wife, the Lord God made tunics of skin and clothed them. Animals died because of their sin. Innocent third-party animals. And yet there was no repentance even then. Mankind took off for the arch-rival. We find in verse 24 that the deaths of those animals did nothing to reconcile them to God. And so He drove out the man and placed caribim at the east of the Garden of Eden and a flaming sword which turned every way to guard the way to the Tree of Life. God had to do that in case they went back and now His sinners wanted to have eternal life as rebellious sinners.

Mankind wanted something else. It was deceived and tricked and thought that it was better. If we go to Genesis 6, verse 5, we find, then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man, this man that He had done so much for, the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of His heart was only evil continually.

And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping things and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.

Sin causes death. The penalty for their sins was death. That's a terrible thing. We see that the flood came along, God caused the flood to come along and kill them, and essentially to wash away their sins and to carry aloft a righteous man, one who was obeying God and was not living a life. Against God's way. That was Noah. Now you and I sin. We can't just point the fingers out. Ah, those guys! We sin. 1 John 1 verse 8 makes it very clear that we sin. It's a thing that we do. We get tempted. We get our eyes looking elsewhere from Jesus Christ, the one that we're supposed to be marrying and focused on and growing in a relationship with. This other suitor shows up and, ah, come over here and let's commit fornication together. Let's get your eyes on me and not this virgin-ish man that you are betrothed to and you're to be a virgin. Come over here and let's fool around and have some fun. It'll be more fun over here. So, as humans, in whatever ways that we think or deeds that we do, we get pulled away.

What is the process whereby one can be redeemed, restored, sanctified, forgiven, and justified again in the eyes of God? How can we do that? What is God's part in that process and what is your part in that process? It's important for us to understand as we come to the Passover, this part, this aspect, this major component of the covenant that God has made—it's a new covenant—that you and I have been involved in since baptism. Let's take a look today at God's plan of salvation, part three, redeemed, forgiven, and justified. God's plan of salvation, part three, redeemed, forgiven, and justified. You know, the sacrifice of lambs began with the very first family. We see in Genesis chapter 4 in verse 2 through 4 a sad situation, as it were, sad in the sense that animals, innocent, cute, little lambs were sacrificed. In Genesis chapter 4 in verse 2 it says, "'Then Eve bore again, this time his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.' Now sheep are nice to have in some ways. They're innocent little things, no defense whatsoever. We could talk about sheep a long time.

Abel also brought forth the first of his flock and of their fat." What? The Lord respected Abel and his offering. So Abel offered the first lengths, the lambs, to God. We don't know a lot about what was involved at that time, but we do know that lambs and sacrificing lambs or the killing of lambs is very integral to the covenants that God has had and does have today. Imagine this very tragic scene where someone had to die. Somebody has to die. Let's go to Genesis 22, verses 7-8. Genesis 22, verse 7.

When they arrived at the Mount for Abram to do the sacrifice, here in Genesis 22, verse 7, Isaac, cute little boy. I can think of some cute young guys. Isaac says to daddy, my father, here I am son, he says, look, the fire in the wood, but where is the lamb for a burned offering? See, there were offerings at that time, and lambs were used. Somebody was going to die here. It didn't seem right that it would be the firstborn son of Abraham. It didn't seem right that it would be an innocent lamb, but somebody had to die. Animal sacrifices are a type of a future offering of another innocent third party, uninvolved in the process of sinning and the pain and the suffering and the disenfranchisement that comes from breaking God's laws, the separation in relationships. It's awful. Every time an animal sacrifice is offered, it's an awful thing. It is not a good thing. There's nothing really that good about selecting some innocent animal and saying, okay, you're going to be the one who's going to pay the penalty today for something you don't know anything about, you never had any part in, it's just kind of a random draw, you're the best, nicest one, and therefore you get to die today. You know, that's tough.

The Sinai covenant made that not only awful once, but over and over and over every time. Every time one sinned, another animal died. Every time somebody broke a law of God, an innocent third party was called out and its life was given. That's tough. It's very challenging. The end result, however, was a redemption of that individual, a restoration in the relationship with the covenant the individual had made with God. It did serve a purpose, and yet it immediately was severed again, and another animal had to be called in every time a person sinned.

The Sinai covenant not only sacrificed animals, but it's a very complex covenant of rituals involving the setting aside of things that sever the relationship between God and man.

It's very difficult. In Hebrews chapter 10, verses 1 through 4, we get an overview of one aspect of it from the Apostle Paul. Hebrews chapter 10, beginning in verse 1. For the law, having a shadow of good things to come, a type, in other words, of realities that these sacrifices and other rituals were representing, and not the very image of these things, can never with these same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. This is not something that that covenant was able to do.

The, as he says here, the same sacrifices offered continually throughout one's lifetime could never make the one who approached perfect. Verse 3, but in those sacrifices, there is a reminder of sins. Every year of one's life, it's just going to be reminded, I am a sinner, I am a sinner, I am a sinner, I am a sinner, and sin requires blood, sin requires death.

In verse 4, for it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.

It would not give the Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God either. It would not change the heart. It would not convert an individual into one who was no longer living a life of sin, with a mindset of sin. No, they were stuck with a mindset of sin, and that was something they did over and over. Now, the Sinai Covenant then had sacrifices that were reminders of the sins. They were more reminders than they were forgiveness. There was some forgiveness that the sacrifices gave. We don't want to just take Paul's word here and say there was nothing, but it was a reminder of sins. It didn't take away sins, but God did forgive certain sins. Let's notice in Leviticus 3, for instance, Leviticus 3, verse 13.

There was a restoration here of relationships severed when one sinned if they repented and if a sacrifice were involved. Perhaps not every type of sin was included, but some types were. For instance, the sacrifice of a bull in Leviticus 4, verse 13, says, Now, if the whole congregation sins unintentionally, and the thing is hidden from the eyes of the assembly, and they have done something against any of the commandments of the Lord, anything which should not be done and are guilty, when the sin which they have committed becomes known, then the assembly shall offer a young bull for the sin offering. And so on and so forth. It goes down to verse 20. And the priest shall do with the bull as he did with the bull as a sin offering. This is complicated. You've got one bull and another bull, and going through all of this blood and everything. In verse 20 it says, So the priest shall make atonement for them, and it shall be forgiven them. So God was able to set that aside. But what didn't change was the attitude, the mindset, that wanted to break God's law and go do what human nature wants to do. And so there would be more bulls, for instance. If we go to chapter 5 and verse 5, it shall be, When a person is guilty of any of these matters, that he shall confess that he is sin in that thing, and he shall bring his trespass offering to the Lord for his sin, which he has committed, a female from the flock a lamb or a kid as a sin offering. So the priest shall make atonement for him concerning his sin. And if we drop down to verse 10, he shall offer the second, see, this is complicated again, with the blood and the second offering according to the prescribed manner. So the priest shall make atonement on his behalf for his sin, which he has committed, and it shall be forgiven him. So there were restorations in the relationship that took place, but they were constant, and the sacrifice was constant, and new animals had to be brought out. There are a few other instances, but once again, those were one-time offerings for one incident.

In Exodus 12, verse 3, we find a dramatic event involving killing of lambs. Exodus 12, in verse 3, and of passing over sins for the sinful. Let's look in Exodus 12, verse 3. Speak to the congregation of Israel, saying, On the tenth of the month, the first month, every man shall take for himself a lamb according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. In verse 4, Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may not take it from the sheep or from the goats. Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day, not through the fourteenth day, but until the fourteenth day of the same month. And then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight or between the two evenings. And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. You know, it's interesting here that this lamb sheds its blood, and the blood is put on a tree. That's what the doorposts and the lintel were. It may or may not have been symbolic of the tree that Christ would be sacrificed on and that his blood would be shed from. But here it is, put on the tree, on the wood, the upright wood that goes around the door.

And they shall eat of the flesh that night. It's important to understand that in this first Passover, the blood was shed, the lamb was killed, and it was also eaten. They shall roast it in fire with unleavened bread, another symbol. All these things are symbols of the Passover in the new covenant as well.

The Israelites had their firstborn saved from death by the blood of a lamb, the passing over of the death angel. In 1 John 5 and verse 17, there's a profound statement that John makes. You know, John talks about obeying the law and being obedient, keeping God's laws, loving as Christ did, so many things he mentions. But in 1 John 5 and verse 17, he gives us a very good definition. 1 John 5 and verse 17 says, All unrighteousness is sin. All unrighteousness is sin.

Sin requires penalties, and all unrighteousness is sin. We have to understand that what is what is not righteous is sin. And what is righteous means right, being and doing right, according to God's description, according to his laws, according to his commandments, according to his mindset. We have to be right. And so if we are not doing right as per God's law, then we are unrighteous. What is the end result of sinning? Let's go to Ezekiel, or just let me read it to you, Ezekiel 18 and verse 20. Ezekiel chapter 18 and verse 20 says, The soul or the living, breathing human who sins shall die. Now we just identified through 1 John 5, 17, that sin is any unrighteousness. It's any breaking of God's law. And you can read in 1 John chapter 1 and verse 8 that we all are sinners. We all sin. And the penalty, it says, for sin is death. It's interesting the parallels that come out here in Ezekiel chapter 18 throughout the rest of the chapter with the covenant that God makes with us. He wanted the same outcome from them, but their covenant was limited. So he says here, the soul that sin shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father. Nobody can bear anyone else's guilt, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself. Now that sounds fair, doesn't it? And yet now we're going to introduce an innocent third party. I thought the sinner had to bear his own wickedness, and the wages of sin is death. See, but God made this process whereby an innocent third party could come in and take that death penalty on our stead, be it a lamb, a bull, or the very Son of God.

We are each stuck in the death penalty. Now, many of us think we're not, and we sort of give ourselves a pass. We might call it the grace pass, the card we flash, some think that by doing the law they get a pass, or because they're in the church they get a pass, they've got some sort of autopilot, automatic fly over all the problems in life, and you know, pass, go, and go straight to salvation. Well, it doesn't really work that way. Every time you are I sin, the wages of sin is death. Somebody's got to die. There's a death sentence there. Now, when we are not actually going that way as a way, as a mindset, if we're not living in sin, but we're trying to live for righteousness, that penalty is continually being waived as we receive the blood of Christ washing us clean from it. But again, somebody has to die. And there are many scriptures in the Bible that says, if a righteous man turns from his ways and goes back to that way of sin, he's going to die.

We have to be very aware here that we are stuck in a death sentence unless someone else dies for us. I cannot redeem myself. I can't call up God and say, hey, I got a hundred bucks here. Better take it quick because it's devaluing pretty fast. I don't know if it's going to be good very long. I got some wood hay and stubble or, you know, some gold or silver they're going to throw in the streets. Better get it quick while it's still useful. I can't buy my way. I've got no playing card here. I'm stuck. I'm stuck. I need a savior. I need to be rescued. Sometimes you'll understand, even in the new covenant, you'll come to the place and say, you know what? I just feel like I am on the wrong track. I feel like I'm burying in here. It doesn't feel right. I need to fast. I need to get on my knees and fast and pray and ask God to save me. Save me off of this little detour I've been taking or this foggy, selfish direction I've gotten into. I need somebody to clean me up, wash me up, and put me back on the path. We can't do that by ourselves.

You know, before baptism, we really were stuck. Just like Egypt held the Israelites, it wasn't that they could just run away. They didn't know where to run to. These weren't people that knew geography. You don't just run out in the desert and die out there, let alone have armies chasing you or whatever. You can't run across an ocean if you got to the edge of the sea. These people were stuck. Now, you and I, we get stuck, and we were stuck as slaves to sin. We're not slaves to sin as long as we're repenting, as Romans 6 says. We are not to be slaves to sin. We've been freed from slavery, but we can go back and get back into slavery if we're not careful. That's why Jesus Christ said in the daily model prayer, deliver us from the evil one. Don't think you're out of the clutches of Satan if your very Lord and master is asking you to pray every day to the Father to deliver me from Satan. What's that about? See? We are all always very close to needing to be liberated from this death sentence. What would it be like to be in a death camp and get liberated? No hope, and then someday the door just opens up. It's like you're free to go. My friends, my family, everybody's been dying here, and suddenly you're just free to go. What did you do? Well, I didn't do anything. The gate opened, and somebody said, hey, you can go now. It'd just be amazing, wouldn't it? You'd jump for joy. That's what we do on the night to be much observed. We say, wow! We got released from slavery that we couldn't get out of ourselves. And what do we do? We didn't do anything. The door just opened up, and we walked. And that's what God does. That is a wonderful thing that God, through His Son Jesus Christ, they loved us. They opened the door, and they said, follow us. Let's go.

Opening the door is just one aspect of it. In 1 Corinthians 11, in verse 23, we can really appreciate at the Passover service what it's about. The Passover service is not about examining yourself and finding your sins. When Paul said, examine yourselves, whether you're in the faith or not, he's talking to people who are getting drunk at the Passover, climbing over each other to eat. He's saying, are you even in the church? Hello! It might have been after the Passover. In fact, when he said that, because it was probably fresh on his mind. What he's saying here is, this is something that's done. Somebody opened the gates. We need to come appreciate this. We need to appreciate what the innocent third party has done here. And so he says in 1 Corinthians 11, 23, For I receive from the Lord that which I also deliver to you. He's telling the church at Corinth, who was fairly sinning, if you recall, in many ways. You can read through chapter 5 and see some stuff. You can see how they kept the Passover or not kept the Passover. Some of them were still eating the Lord's Supper, they were calling it, still doing the Old Testament. I'm sorry, the Old Covenant or their Old Covenant, previous covenant, rituals of killing the lamb, eating the lamb, roasting with herbs, the unleavened bread. You know, Paul had to deal with that sometimes. And he's saying, look, I'm telling you what I received from the Lord here. This is how you do it. That the Lord Jesus on the same night in which he was betrayed took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, take eat. This is my body, which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me. So we're eating some third person body in symbolism. In verse 25, in the same manner, he took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. This do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. So also it's the blood of the third party that's involved. So you have the body, you have the blood, and what are we to do at Passover? Remember him. Remember that my body was torn for you, not broken and broken bones, but torn like breaking bread would be, you know, kind of a soft bread. You tear it. And he says, remember the suffering that I went through. This is my body, which is torn for you. Tear bread in remembrance of me. And this is the covenant in my blood. Drink this as often as you drink it. Remember me. We are coming up to the Passover not to remember ourselves or remember our sins. We're coming up to the Passover to remember this saving, to remember the reconciliation that we receive to God who were not with God, and our sins separate us from God when we sin.

Notice he says, each time you eat the Passover, there's multiple Passovers. You proclaim the Lord's death, a single event. This is different now than the previous covenant, or covenants, where an animal was sacrificed and sacrificed and sacrificed and sacrificed and sacrificed. Now we have an annual reminder of Christ's sacrifice, but it was one sacrifice. It happened one time. It happened one time permanently, and it still applies, and will always apply as long as it's needed. Now, how long does this apply? Notice verse 26, for as often or each time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. It's good until your resurrection. It's good until the saints are resurrected into spirit beings and the God family. It is a single sacrifice that will take you through your lifetime. One sacrifice will take you all the way through your lifetime. The new covenant, the Lamb's death, the eating of its blood, is no longer from an animal. Let's notice in John chapter 1 and verse 29. Here, John the Baptist, who had been preaching the gospel, baptizing individuals, finally sees Jesus Christ. It's interesting what the Father inspired him to say. John chapter 1 and verse 29 says this, the next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and he said, Behold the Lamb of God. There's the Lamb of our covenant who takes away the sins.

Takes away the sins. This is very, very different than what we have seen in previous covenants.

The sin of the world. Now, it is there to take away the sins of the world. He died for all humanity, but not all humanity will be forgiven by his blood because there are some who will not repent. There are some who will be incorrigible and wicked and they will pay their own penalty. They will receive the baptism of fire, as it were, because the wages of sin is somebody's death. So God has provided the means for everybody to have a Savior, for every sin, to be forgiven, for all humans eventually, as God calls them. But don't just think that, oh, he Christ took away the sins of everybody, therefore there's no sins, there's no laws you can't, you know, just do what you want. That's another one of those fictitious things that Satan wants to put in people's minds.

Let's go in Revelation chapter 5 and verse 6 and see another reference to this lamb of the new covenant. Revelation chapter 5 and verse 6.

And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders stood a lamb as though he had been slain. This is the groom that those who are baptized are betrothed to, married, essentially, waiting for the wedding supper, waiting for the resurrection and the real binding within the family of God. Here is this lamb, as though it had been slain. He's given himself, the Father has given him to us. They have done all that they can for us. Third-party individual, never sinned in his life, was never involved in my sins or yours, never involved in any part of that process. Totally innocent, totally unrelated. But he stepped in and died for us.

Now, how are you and I forgiven in the Father's eyes? What is that process? Let's go to Hebrews 10 and verse 12. Hebrews 10 and verse 12. We'll take a glimpse of it here.

Just giving an overview of forgiveness, of being reconciled, being forgiven, being justified in the eyes of God. How can we now be forgiven? God has reached out. He's come to us. He's come even though we're sinners. He's reached out. He's embraced us. He washes us. How can we be forgiven? This is in Hebrews 10 verse 12, but this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, not multiple. Remember one sacrifice. It's important that you understand the context of this passage. Paul is saying that Jesus Christ, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God. Now if we go to verse 14, for by one offering, he has, it says, perfected forever. Now we just read here, he had done one sacrifice for sins forever. That's one sacrifice. This is what he did. It's not about us, actually. He did this. Now in verse 14, it's still talking about him. For by one offering, he has Greek telu, accomplished forever for those who are being sacrificed. It's still about him. It doesn't shift to us here. The word has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. I don't believe that that is what this means. He is a single sacrifice. By one offering, he has, the Greek telio says, accomplished. He has accomplished the forgiveness of sins for us by one sacrifice forever, those who are being sanctified. Verse 15, but the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us, for after it had said before, this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord. I will put my laws into their hearts and in their minds I will write them. And then he adds, their sins and lawless deeds I will remember no more. Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin. So we have this one sacrifice that was made for us and that is what the Father accepts. The Father accepts. But he also, the covenant, puts his laws into our hearts and as we follow those laws and repent, he forgives them. Where remission of these is, there's no longer an offering for sin. We don't have to sacrifice an animal. Jesus doesn't have to be sacrificed. He had one offering. We are redeemed by God. You know, if you take something and you redeem it, somebody else has it. You've got to go redeem it. You know, I know that my Redeemer lives, David says in the Psalms, a Redeemer. It takes you back once again. You're back in prison. You're back in slavery. You're back stuck. Somebody's got to come swap out or somebody's got to come pay a price.

How are we redeemed by God? Hebrews 2, verse 9 through 18 explains this. Hebrews 2, verse 9. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death. He was crowned with glory and honor that he, by the graciousness of God, might taste death for everyone. Might. If the circumstances are met and the covenant is followed, he will taste death for us, the innocent third party. It says in verse 10, For it was fitting for him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For he who both sanctifies sets apart, and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason he is not ashamed to call them brethren. Saying, I will declare your name to my brethren. In the midst of the assembly, I will sing praises to you, talking about the Father. And again, I will put my trust in the Father. And again, here I am in the children whom God has given me. Inasmuch then, as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared in the same, he became flesh and blood, that through death he might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetimes subject to bondage. For he does not give aid to angels, but he does give aid to the seed of Abraham. Therefore, in all things he had to be made like his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. He had to pay. He had to be the one to take those sins. For in that he himself has suffered, being tempted, he is able to aid those who are tempted. In Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 7, Paul here explains even more clearly about this.

Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 7 says, In him we have redemption through his blood. We are redeemed by the blood. Now redemption can have other aspects as well, but we are redeemed by the blood that he gave, that he shed. The forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his graciousness, which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in himself. So we see here that in him we have redemption through his blood. That's how we are redeemed. We were purchased with his blood, says in another place. Let's read the context of this. Let's go back to verse 3.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is about God the Father. God is very involved in this covenant. God loves you very much. He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. There are other aspects of this covenant that you and I are responsible to participate in. We're focusing, though, on the redemption by his blood, the forgiveness that the Father accepts through the blood and through the death of one in our stead. Having predestined us to sonship as sons by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his graciousness by which he made us accepted in the beloved, in him we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sin, according to the riches of his graciousness which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence. Having made known to us the mystery of his will according to the good pleasure which he purposed in himself. We see what God here is doing. It is so amazing the depth of love and the plan that he is rolling out for us and this very, very important part of it. In verse 10, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times that he might gather together in one all things in Christ. God wants oneness. Christ wants oneness. And the process begins by us being redeemed, us being restored in a relationship with God and then working towards the oneness that comes through his Holy Spirit working in us and us developing his mindset. Verse 11, in him we have obtained an inheritance. This inheritance is the kingdom. All things being predestined according to the purpose of his will. Verse 12, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of his glory. We'd be praising his glory. It's not about us. It's about him. We not only will praise him at Passover, we will, as we'll see in a moment, we will praise God the Father and Jesus Christ for this fabulous entire process of salvation that they have created.

In whom you also trusted after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom you also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession to the praise of his glory. You know, you and I just have a wonderful, wonderful opportunity that God has laid before us. And the beginning of it is the opening of the prison doors. You know, Jesus Christ is coming back to open the doors, to let the oppressed go free. That's what he does when he releases us from bondage to Satan and to slavery to sin. Now, we can be reconciled to God, if you look in Ephesians the second chapter, next chapter here, and you he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit which now works in the sons of disobedience. We did that as well.

See, we, as you work all the way down here, we have been brought to God in verse 13 by the blood of Jesus Christ. This is the starting point. This is how our relationship with God begins. Let's read it. But now in Christ Jesus, once you were who once you who were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ, for he himself is our stitcher together. Peace, meaning he is the one who joins. He is the one who restores the relationship. He has made both one, himself and us. He has broken down the middle wall of separation that sin created, having abolished in his flesh the enmity that is the penalty of the law of commandments, the penalty, not the law, the death penalty. He's taken that death penalty out of way so as to create in himself one new man from two, thus making this restoration, that he might reconcile them both to God in one body through the tree, through his death, through his death on the stake, thereby putting to death the animosity, the enmity.

Now verse 19, you're therefore no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens built up here. That's going on into the covenant that we have and how then God lives in us, and we grow, we respond, that covenant thrives, and we eventually will be in God's literal family.

Now this is how we're reconciled to God. Again, it's all sort of from God's side at this point. How do we get just in God's eyes? How do we get justified, as it were? Because if we're not just, then there's no salvation, and it's all over. We have to do something as well. I'll give you one little aspect of being just in God's eyes. It's Romans chapter 5 and verse 6. Romans chapter 5 and verse 6. It says, For when we were still without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. Now you might say, okay, from this sermon, what am I supposed to do? You're supposed to really appreciate and respect what God did for you. As we come up to the past, we should be awed by God creating this lamb, a third-party, innocent individual, and a process through which you and I can be liberated, we can be reconciled, we can be sanctified, justified. We can move forward, forgiven, in a relationship with God all the way to salvation.

Here in Romans chapter 5 and verse 7, For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. And Jesus says, when you come to the Passover, remember how I suffered when you tear the bread, remember how I shed my blood and died for you when you drink the wine. This due in remembrance of me. It's a big event, a really big event. And it's one that God doesn't say, I want you to really feel guilty when you come there. It's not about you or me and our feelings. It's about Him. He doesn't want us to come feeling, oh, I'm a sinner. No, it's not about you and your sins. It's about Him. It's coming to be awed. And He doesn't even make it a holy day in that sense to glorify and honor Himself. He just asked that we stop one evening and remember how this begins, this plan of salvation. Romans 5 going on.

So we see that God demonstrated His love that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us, much more than having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath, or from our own death, wrath meaning destruction, through Him.

There's a lot to think of right there. You know, we are in one sense justified by His blood. Being just in the eyes of God also involves a certain amount of work, a certain mental and physical action on our part to be just. But to actually be considered just as a starting point in the eyes of God and clean requires the blood of Jesus Christ. We are to be saved from our death through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. There's much to this plan of salvation. There are many other factors than what happened in this gift that He gave.

And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have now received the reconciliation. So we have reconciled reconciliation, in other words, reattached to God. We have a certain amount of just view from God of ourselves when we are cleaned by the blood of Jesus Christ. And with that, as we go forward, there are other aspects you can read throughout chapter 5 and find so many things. In verse 14, nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses. Verse 15, the free gift is not like the offense, for by it one man's offense many died, but much more the graciousness of God and the gift by the graciousness of God of the one man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. God is very gracious, slow to anger, merciful. The word cherus or charis in the Greek, the prime meaning for that in many of the lexicons is graciousness. God is very gracious if we are repentant. He's very slow to anger. He doesn't want anybody to die. And this gift is there. It says, this gift for the judgment, breaking into verse 16, for the judgment which came from the one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. Or say condemnation, the first one. But this free gift resulted in justification. For if by one man's offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of God's graciousness and the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one Jesus Christ. Verse 19, for as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one man's obedience many will be made righteous.

So verse 21, so that as sin reigned in death, even so God's graciousness might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. This is a process. When you and I are about to enter God's plan of salvation through the Holy Days, this is the portal we begin in. This is the awesome thing that God went through and set up while we didn't even know about it. He established it for us. It says here in verse 21, through righteousness to eternal life, righteousness, that's yet another personal responsibility that you and I have in God's plan of salvation. Righteousness. That we will discuss next time. In conclusion, the Lamb. The Lamb was a third-party being that was brought in innocently to pay a penalty to redeem, to restore, and in one sense to justify. The Lamb from God the Father, Jesus the Christ, He came as the reality of all those little animals, and He died once for all humanity. The repentant will be reconciled and will continue to be reconciled to God through the blood. They will have their sins forgiven and continue to have their sins forgiven their entire life because of this one individual's gift. The Passover remembers the Father's gift to us. John 3 16. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever should believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life. That is the gift. We have then been given that gift. It comes with responsibility. It's an intervention. It's a release from slavery. And Jesus said, this due in remembrance of Me. But the Lamb also is alive. The Lamb didn't just die 2,000 years ago on the stake. He lives, and He lives for a purpose that's far beyond just the removal of sin. Again, that was the portal through which we can enter the body of Christ, become the children of the family of God. But He is the Lamb of God living today so that ultimately He can also bring us and lead us to eternal life within that family. Let's fast forward in time to the Day of the Lord just ahead in Revelation 19, verses 5-9. Revelation 19, verse 5. And we're going to see the Lamb once again in relationship with you and this God who loves us so much.

Revelation 19, beginning in verse 5. Then a voice came from the throne. Now think about all that God has done for you and all that God has been doing for you since you've been part of this covenant with Him, and all He will be doing for you and all He will do once you're finally resurrected as a dynamic, powerful spirit being. And a voice will come from the throne in heaven at that time saying, You praise our God, all you His servants and those who fear Him both small and great.

It's a little reminder there to be thankful and appreciative and give God praise for this. And then the response to this was, Oh, then I heard the people do that. I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, the sound of many waters, the sound of mighty thundering, saying, Hallelujah! For the Lord God omnipotent reigns. Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His wife has made herself ready. Here's the Lamb again. Resurrecting, about to resurrect, whether these are individuals in heaven singing or those who have about to be resurrected or those have just been resurrected. It's all in type. Can't see clearly. But the Lamb has come. His wife has made herself ready and to her it was granted to be a raid in fine linen, clean and bright for the fine linen as the righteous acts of the saints. And He said, Right, blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. That's where the Lamb is taking us. That is the wonderful blessing. And the righteous acts of the saints speak to the very heart of the days of unleavened bread. Our response to the release from slavery, our response to the Lamb's blood and the Lamb's body, which we eat symbolically at the Passover. We'll examine that more next time in Part 4, God's plan of salvation, going on to perfection.