Happy New Year

This is the last day of the year 2011 on the Gregorian calendar. The Romans dedicated the first day of the next month, which begins at midnight tonight, to the god Janus. He was the god of gates, doors, and beginnings. Janus, this god, probably refers to maybe both the husband and the son of Cimaramus. Cimaramus had her husband killed. He was supposedly a god, and then he was replaced by an infant god with her bastard son, Tamas. Now, this god, called Janus, has two faces, and it's one looking back at the old year and a new one looking forward at a new year. That information came from Wikipedia. Now, if you look at the concept of the baby new year, baby new year is not really something you hear a lot about, but it's traditional going back a century or two, at least. Baby new year is, you know, on the first of the year, you have this conceptual infant that's born, and he's the new year that starts out fresh and brand new. He sits on the lap of Father Time, which is the old year that's about to die out. In fact, I just wonder if this out with the old and in with the new actually hasn't been in reference to Nimrod dying on this particular day and being replaced by his, or actually Cimaramus replacing him with her son, who was conceived illegitimately named Tamas, because this was the day that that took place. It was the day that she had Nimrod killed and declared Tamas to be the new son. You have the old one dying off and the new one coming in. Let's go look at Tamas in the Bible in Ezekiel 18 verses 12 through 14. Here Ezekiel has been taken to Babylon. He's part of the Jews that were taken by Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon. And here in a vision, he's being shown some things as to Judah's sins. Ezekiel 18 and verse 12. God is saying, look, here are some things that really are offensive to me. Here's just some cardinal sins, if you want to call it that. It's probably not the right term, but anyway, they're very, very offensive things in the eyes of God. In Ezekiel chapter 18 and verse 12.

It's actually, I have the wrong chapter.

That is not the chapter. What is it? Did I say four? Oh, no, I said 18, but I went to 18.

Verse 12, but that's not it. Anyway, God is showing him how terrible things were back in Jerusalem. Let me just find this here.

If you see it where he's talking about 1712, was I on the wrong page? 1218. Chapter 8. That's about where it was. I was trying to find it in 8, but yes, I'm sorry, chapter 8, not 18. Must have hit the wrong key there. Okay. In Ezekiel chapter 8 and verse 12, if you will turn there, let's notice.

These things were very upsetting to God.

Greater abominations that they are doing. So he brought me to the Lord of the North Gate of the Lord's house of the temple. And to my dismay, women were sitting there weeping for Tamos. Weeping for Tamos. That is something that had been going on way back at that time. 6700 BC. Still weeping for this New Year baby. And weeping for a false god that was originally out of Babylon. I'd like to give you some humorous quotes about New Year's Day, New Year's Eve. Jay Leno says this, New Year's Eve where old acquaintance be forgot. Unless, of course, the tests come back positive. Oprah Winfrey says, cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right. Because obviously we haven't in the previous years. Well, it seems that every new year, this new baby, this new concept, this new window of opportunity, this new beginning, as it were, at midnight on January 1st, is a time for individuals to make changes, to make New Year's resolutions, to resolve, to do things differently than they have before. Joey Adams said, may all your troubles last as long as your New Year's resolutions.

Which is kind of a humorous poke at the fact people make New Year's resolutions and then don't keep them. It's just something sort of on a whim. They wish their life was different. They wish it was better. They wish they lived differently. They wish they had more ethics, but they don't. And so the next year will be much like the last year.

A New Year, however, can be a time for a new start. It can be a time, actually, for new goals and a renewed intent on doing right, on living right, on having and bringing in greater happiness for you and for those around you.

So are you ready to ring in a New Year at the drop of the ball at midnight tonight? The title of the sermon today is, Happy New Year, Well Not Yet. I'll repeat that. Happy New Year, Well Not Yet. So if you're ready to ring in the New Year at midnight on January 1st, it would depend on who you are, where you are, and what you believe in. The Chinese New Year is actually the first day of the lunar calendar, and it usually falls somewhere in early February. So if you're in China, this is not the New Year for you. If you're in India, the New Year will begin on April 13th, or on a leap year, it'll be April 14th. In Iran, your New Year is March 21st. In Israel, it falls in September on the Feast of Trumpets, or Rosh Hashanah. If you're in Ethiopia, it falls on September 11th. If you're in Islam, the religion of Islam, it falls on November 15th, this coming year in 2012. So it is all this big hoopla about January 1st at midnight.

Not too long ago, I was sitting in an airport in Amsterdam, and watching the ball drop in New York. And everybody was so excited on television, and they were getting more excited, winding up, and the ball was about ready to drop. It seemed kind of silly because the sun was just rising outside in Amsterdam. And there was no excitement at all. About the start of the New Year, it was well into another day. So it is a very local phenomenon that people sort of get all excited about.

But let's ask this question. When does our New Year begin in God's church? And what is that New Year about? Let's take a look in the scripture and see what God says about a New Year, and what it can hold for you and me. Let's go back to Exodus 12, in verse 2. Exodus 12 will begin in verse 2. God is speaking to Moses and Aaron, and he says, This month shall be your beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you.

So God declares when the first month will be and which day of the first month. Obviously, the first of that month is the first month. All we have to do is figure out what month he's talking about because he doesn't name it here. Well, in the next verses he talks about Passover, days of unleavened bread, and keeping them. And if we go to Deuteronomy 16 and verse 1, we find what month that is. Deuteronomy 16, 1 says, Observe the month of Abib. Abib was what it was called before the exile to Babylon.

After the exile, you'll find Nehemiah and another writer calling it the month of Nisan, N-I-S-A-N. So here we find that observe the month of Abib and keep the Passover to the Lord your God, for in the month of Abib the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night, and therefore you shall sacrifice the Passover to the Lord your God. So we find out then that the first month is in what is called Abib.

It falls in the spring. It typically correlates roughly with the month of April, though it's on the lunar calendar. And so the sun and the lunar calendar, the solar calendar, called the Julian calendar and the lunar calendar, move around a little bit. And that's why our feast days fall on different days on the Julian calendar each year. When will God's appointed New Year's Day be in the year 2012? Well, if you check your handy-dandy little church calendar, you'll find in 2012 the first thing on that line is the first day of the sacred year is March 24th.

That falls on a Sabbath this year. So it's going to be a while. It's about three months away until the first day of Abib comes around, and that's what God declared the first day of the year. And that is to be the first day for us and for his people. Now, what is new about another year? Will something happen this year on March 24th? Should we stay up all night, maybe get our own ball and have it drop?

Of course, the days begin at sunset, don't they? So you don't really have to stay up all night. You can drop your own ball if you're so inclined just at the end of the evening there, right during the evening hours.

What if we look in Exodus 12 and verse 2 again, we begin to find out what exactly this new year really portends for us and what it's all about, what it should mean to us. In Exodus 12, beginning in verse 2 again, it says, This month shall be your beginning of month. It shall be the first month of the year to you.

So for us, we don't look at January 1st and certainly not days beginning at midnight, or following some custom that kind of gets vague the further back you go. Rather, we follow what God tells us. And what's new? Well, we find in verse 3, speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying on the 10th of this month you'll take a lamb and going on down, verse 6, you shall keep it until the 14th day of the same month, and then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it.

And they will eat the flesh on that night roasted with fire, with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. They shall eat it. Verse 11, And thus you shall eat it with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, your staff in your hand. So you shall eat it in haste, for it is the Lord's Passover. We find, then, that this beginning is the beginning of the festival season.

And it's a series of festivals that starts out with the Passover. That is, we know in the New Testament, the New Covenant, Jesus Christ instituted on the 14th at sunset, He broke bread with His disciples. They washed feet. He gave them wine and unleavened bread. And these became the symbols of the Passover in the New Covenant for us.

And just a few hours later begins the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which puts us on a spiritual march out of our sinful nature and towards our promised land, the Kingdom of God. This is a great year of the festivals of God.

In verse 18, it says, In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. No leaven shall be found in your houses. That is symbolic of the sin that we are to be putting out of our lives during the walk that we have during the time God has allowed us to live here on earth. So this new year is all about a renewed sense of understanding and participation in God's way of life, His plan of salvation. You and I have been invited into something that is new. It's called a new covenant. And that is a covenant with wonderful promises and a bright future, not only in the distant future, but in the days ahead. In other words, as we walk down the road of light, we embellish our own lives and the lives of those around us. We stop suffering the consequences of sin, and we enjoy the fruits of righteousness, the love, the joy, the unity, the peace, the harmony. We enjoy the honor and the reputation and the relationships and the enhanced relationships as we go down that road. And it's a wonderful thing. If we go back to Hebrews 12, verses 22 through 29, we can read about this covenant. Hebrews 12 will begin in verse 22.

See, you and I, if you want to do something breathtakingly new, don't just sit up in a can of beer tonight at midnight and think something's going to happen while you jump around in a party hat and do some stupid things you'll regret later. It's not going to bring any happiness the next day. Instead, look what we find here in Hebrews 12, in verse 22, with a new covenant that is reminded by each year in the new year through the repetition of keeping God's holy days. So in Hebrews 12, verse 22, you have come to Mount Zion. You know what it's like to go up to Mount Sinai where the living God was and all the power and the flags? That'd be a much better party. It'd be much more exciting. But now we have come to Jerusalem to Mount Zion. And spiritual Jerusalem, heavenly Jerusalem. What is it like there with bright lights coming from the God family? So bright it would kill us if we saw them. The center of the power of the universe is right there, the spiritual universe. And that is where we have come. You have come to this, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels. And if you read through the book of Ezekiel, you can see some of the descriptions of these things. And they're so hard for a human to even visualize, but they're stunning even through his visions.

To the general assembly. You notice there's a one by the general assembly? The margin says to the festival assembly or the festival gathering. You know, we are here on a feast day, the Holy Sabbath. There are other festivals, and we come not only to God, but we come together with each other on the festivals. And the church of the firstborn, the ecclesia, who are registered in heaven. This is a pretty exciting time to be in the company of God, the angels, each other. To God, the judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect. To Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks of better things than that of what Abel was doing in killing animals and sacrificing them.

Notice verse 25. See that you do not refuse him who speaks. We have to be listening. We have to be following God. In verse 28, therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom, a kingdom of God which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, or God's graciousness, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For God is a consuming fire. We're either going to be baptized and purified by that blood, or we're going to be consumed by fire. But one way or the other, the sin is coming out of you and me. And that fire is eternal death, a cleansing fire. And so we need to really pay attention and not just sort of be, huh, well, I'm here. I'm not kind of in the right church. I've got the right beliefs. No, we need to really pay attention. We need that graciousness of God. We need to serve him acceptably with reverence and deep respect and even fear because there are only two options. One is receiving that kingdom and the other is being dissolved permanently by fire.

So this is a pretty exciting new year, isn't it? The one that's being talked about there. Compared to what's going to happen tomorrow, there's just no comparison whatsoever. I'd like to examine with you the renewal of the new covenant that the new year, God's new year, that will begin this coming March 24th will be for you and me. Something that it can be if we allow it. It's a renewal that the new covenant brings. The year doesn't really bring the renewal, but it takes place every year. And so it is a new recommitting, a new renewal, as it were. The first thing I'd like to see of seven things is that the new covenant, which is made possible starting with the Passover, the new covenant made us holy. Sanctified is another word for it. But it made us holy. It put something holy inside us, and therefore we became holy. Let's take a look at this in Hebrews 13 and verse 12.

Hebrews 13 verse 12. Therefore Jesus also that he might sanctify or make holy, set apart, the margin says, make in a special category, the people with his own blood. He suffered outside the gate, outside the walls of Jerusalem. He had passed through a gate. So he was crucified outside, not in the traditional place where people go today to see the site. So he was sacrificed for us so that we could be sanctified.

That is such a massive blessing for you and me to think about being made holy, being made set apart, for us to become the apple of God's eye, the focus, to have his graciousness poured out on us, all of his hopes resting on you as a potential child in his family. The excitement, the sacrifice that he has made, all the work and effort that he's put in. Again, this comes down to you and to me from God the Father. The second thing that this new covenant does for us, it justifies us. You have been justified, and you think, well, how could I have been justified? I didn't do anything worth being justified. My obedience to God can't justify me. How can I possibly be justified? In Romans 5, verses 5-9, we see here in the eyes of God that those who are part of this new covenant and are walking the walk are justified in his sight. And it's not through what we do or who we are, not that we don't have responsibility. We do. But that does not justify us. It's something else that does. Romans 5, verse 5, says, Now hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, which was given to us. We are learning God's love. We have him living in us through the Holy Spirit. We're picking up on his mindset. Verse 6, Now you and I were the ungodly. We have been the ungodly. We are still sinners, but we're not classified as ungodly. We're classified as justified. God sent Christ to die for the ungodly. 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.

Verse 9, Notice what justifies us in the eyes of God. It's the cleansing removal of our sins, coupled with our repentance and our dedication to pursuing righteousness and living it.

But it's that blood we are justified by. We shall be saved from wrath, or from that burning up through him. It's a wonderful, exciting gift. Sometimes we don't take the time to ponder the exciting opportunity we've been given. To just talk to God, meditate about it, think about it, think, wow, this is more exciting than anything a human being could ever contemplate. More exciting than anything we could ever do in our wildest dreams. To be that type of a recipient, have that type of focus, be joined together with a God in heaven, be on track to be in his kingdom. This is exciting, great stuff. And it's real. It's not some pipe dream. It's not something somebody made up based on mythology and a bunch of lies and hypocrisy mixed in with it. This is the real thing. So real, in fact, that God had his son come down to earth, starting as a fertilized egg, like the angel told Mary, you will conceive. And it eventually grew into a baby, it eventually grew up into our Lord, and he gave himself for us so that we could be justified. Justified in the sight of God. Notice verse 18 and 19. Therefore, as through one man's offense, judgment or condemnation came to all men, let's talk about Adam, resulting in condemnation, even so through one man's righteous act, the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life.

That's a great path to be on. That's a great position to be in.

Justified. The third thing is reconciled to God. And really, to each other, the more we learn to live and love like God did. There's a reconciliation that takes place when we love, when we submit ourselves, when we humble ourselves. In Colossians chapter 1, verse 19 through 22, we're going to find out about reconciliation. Reconciliation talks about individuals that have been separated, broken apart.

Our sins have separated us from our God, separated us from human relationships and various people. It seems like the chief form of interest to humans are those things that separate us, one from another. I heard somewhere there's something like 20 or 40 or 50 bowl games happening this time of year. Lots of football. And what is football about? Football is about dividing people up, separating people, relationships. At the end of the game, the people smacking and stealing the ball from others, you think they're going to have a better relationship or a worse relationship. People in the stands that are screaming and yelling and yelling obscenities at the other team and other fans and all this stuff, and oftentimes getting out and brawling afterwards. Do you think those are building relationships or breaking relationships? Do you think all the things that are going to happen at midnight and thereafter are going to build marital relationships? Or do you think they're going to harm marital relationships? On and on it goes. If you look at our entertainment, what's the prime form of entertainment? Murder and adultery. Now, does murder bring people together, join families in harmony?

Does adultery help relationships get better? You know, it seems like our entertainment slumps more and more to a lower level of breaking people apart. And that's the world in which we live. It seems like the passions and the pursuits that people have, even in their own careers and their own businesses, are more about dividing up people around the planet than bringing them together. It's extorting and somehow getting more from me. You see it exemplified in every level of life, including just simply driving down the road. It becomes a mindset after a while of, I'm entitled for more for me. I'm entitled to more space, more speed, more money, more benefits, more things that make me feel good, more things that improve my stature, until finally you get to the stupid position where somebody will be holding a gun at you and say, you know, you better respect me or I'll kill you. And these are just things that are part of our life. It's not going up, is it? It's actually going quite the other way. And so reconciliation, bringing together, is something that's quite unique, something that is actually part of the God family. It comes from the God family. Colossians chapter 1 and verse 19, just as we've had fracturing of relationships between humans, we've certainly done it to God as well. In Colossians 1 verse 19 begins this way, For it pleased the Father that in him all the fulness should dwell, and that by him, it's talking about the Father, and the him is Jesus Christ, and by Jesus Christ, to reconcile all things to himself, everything, everything and everyone, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace, oh, peace, peace, Irene, to join, having made joining possible through the blood of his cross. That's what we're talking about. Joining comes from God. Joining comes from getting rid of the deeds that separate us, that fracture us, the self-centered wanting more for me at any cost, and breaking the laws of love and service to others. In verse 21, and you who were once alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now he has reconciled. It's important for us to be reconciled. Verse 22, it happened in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and blameless and above reproach in his sight, if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded in steadfast. We have a responsibility here. This isn't just a religious, oh, Jesus came and he died and we're all happy now and reconciled and you can do whatever you want. No, no. We have to walk. We have to walk out of Egypt. He killed off the first born of Egypt so that the Israelites could come out. He died so that you and I could come out, but we have to come out and we have to start putting that leaven out of our lives. And the result is being reconciled, joined with God and joined with each other. In 1 Peter 2, verses 24 and 25, 1 Peter 2, we'll begin in verse 24.

Notice here more about this joining being stitched together with God. 1 Peter 2, verse 24, Who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness by whose stripes you were healed. You were stitched together. You were joined together, reconciled to God. Going on. 4, because, what are we talking about here? We're talking about physical healing. What he's referring to here is something different. We died to sins that we might live for righteousness. His stripes healed us because, verse 25, you were like sheep going astray. You were sitting. You're going the wrong way. But now have returned to the shepherd and overseer of your lives. You and I have to do, we have to participate, we have to return to God. And when we do that, he reconciles us. He stitches us back together. The same thing will apply in any human relationship. That's why it says, in similar regard, in James, the fifth chapter, confess your sins, your faults, to one another. Just like we do to God. When we sin against God, we should apologize to God, we should repent. When you sin against someone else, you should go to that person and say, I'm sorry. I said something I shouldn't. I did something I didn't. And James says, confess your sins to one another so that you may be healed. Now physically, he's talking about spiritually, mentally, relationship. Because that's what breaks our relationship apart.

And just as we can be healed through Christ's stripes to God, through repentance and forgiveness, those relationships that have sometimes separated people for years can be joined back together. They can be stitched together. That's what the Greek word means of healed.

Redeemed. I'm sorry, justified. Reconciled to God. These are important things. You can be justified, as it were, in the sight of another person. By simply repining, apologizing, changing. And that person who thought of you as evil can now think of you as, you know what? In my sight, that person is a just person. I don't like the old person. I don't like that old person that hurt me. But I sure like the new guy.

I sure like the new gal. And I'd like to forget the old one. I'd really like to think of this. That's a just person in my sight. And now, as the loving and serving goes on, the reconciling, the stitching back together goes on. Isn't it nice when old enemies become new friends? Isn't that a better way to live and actually a great example that God's way does work? God is all about bringing together. But it doesn't just happen by saying, well, let's snap our fingers or let's go get counseling. It starts by confessing our sins to the ones we sinned against. And whether that's God or man, a healing can take place and a justification. Not a justification of sin, but becoming a just person in that person's eyes.

You know, it is a wonderful thing to have this reconciliation. Another thing that comes along with the New Covenant, these aren't necessarily anything in order, is the forgiveness of sin. The forgiveness of sin is something you and I expect from God. We come to expect it. We think, I'm sorry, I don't really want to think about it. Forgive me and I'll move on. But when we do that to somebody, either God or fellow man, it really hurts. I mean, sin hurts a lot.

Let's just think about an assassination for a minute. You just take somebody who's lived his whole life, you know, growing up, you know how long it takes you to grow up? And it's a tough thing growing up, getting all that education and getting all that training from your parents, and finally learning how to drive, and finally, you know, breaking out and learning from life, the hard lessons here and there, and bumping into some things. And you finally get a job, and the job finally starts into a career, maybe after more education. It's this rough, rocky road, and you'll never get married, but then sometimes some babe steps out, and for some reason she likes you. And, you know, the world is a wonderful place all of a sudden. And then, you know, you have some kids, and people start respecting you, and then we come along. It's been a long, tough life so far, but you know, you're getting on your feet, you're doing pretty well, the neighbors like you, but we're going to assassinate you. And we're going to do it with our lips. We're going to say, all right, this guy is an idiot, doesn't know what he's talking about, stupid always has been, you know? Poof! You're dead. It's called character assassination. We can slice it and dice it, we can make up rumors, we can invent things that you did, that you never did, but it doesn't matter. It's just part of you are going to die, all right? And everybody else's eyes, you're dead. That guy's toast. He's laying over there, bleeding on the ground, and everybody's mind, he's the only one that doesn't know it. But we've killed somebody off. Just, it's dead, done, poof. A whole life.

Somebody's son, somebody's grandson, somebody's husband, somebody's father, somebody's grandfather. We just, he's done, he's cooked. Now, that person, you know, the words came out pretty easy. In James 3, it says, by one tongue, we confess, you know, we praise God, and we slice, we assassinate people. When you think about how much that person now hurts with our little comment, we just sort of breeze on. You know, new day, think I'll go do something cool today, think I'll do something fun, think I have something nice to eat and drink, and we move along through life. What about the guy that's dead over there? What about the guy in everybody's eyes who has just been burned up and, you know, toast? We have a little burial for him, you know, stick a little thing on his forehead, you know, I'm nobody, I'm nothing. How do we leave that person there? You think that person is okay? Then you think, oh, you know, well, I remember a year ago, I just toasted somebody. I forgot about that, actually. I think he forgot about it. I think his family forgot about it. Maybe I'll just tell him I'm sorry. Yeah, and, you know, if I offended you, I'm sorry. Of course, if I didn't, I'm not admitting guilt, but if somehow you were offended, I'm sorry. I think we're good. What do you think? You know, everything good now? What's the matter with the guy? I mean, come on. That's how we are, you see. And so, to be forgiven for this guy to actually one day forgive you, that's a big, big deal. For him somehow to get his life back would be a bigger deal. It would have to be given back to him. It would have to be admission. You see, I have to say, everybody I ever knew, everything I said was a big lie. It was a giant lie, what I said about this guy. It was all wrong. He actually was a shining example of life, a great person in the community, a wonderful father, a wonderful husband, a leading pillar in the church. It was me that was the jerk. I was the turkey. I was sinning and I felt so low that I felt like I had to cut somebody that was bigger than me down. That's how you get, you know, who back on his feet. Is anybody willing to do that? Anybody willing to get on the cross, as it were? Join Christ in the crucifixion of the old self and taking on that which we really should?

Well, to have sins forgiven is a big deal, really, really big deal. And you and I did things like that to God. We violated the things that he told us to do and even who he was, and we ignored him after all that he's done for us. We've done that to each other. In Romans 3, verse 25 and 26, find here that having sins forgiven is a fantastic opportunity. It's a really, really big deal, something we shouldn't just take lightly. It says in, beginning in Romans 5 and verse 5, oh, sorry, Romans 3 and verse 25, whom God set forth as a propitiation, margin for propitiation, big word that we don't use, talks about as a mercy, mercy seat, in other words, you and I, when you used to come to the mercy seat there in the temple, that was where God was. That's where he would give us mercy. That's where we were not deserving of it. It would be a huge deal to be able to actually go into the temple and get to that mercy seat. But he became that for us by his own blood. And when you think about somebody killing you, let's say this afternoon, later, you're going to be killed. What would be going through your mind? It's a big deal to get killed, especially slowly, especially to go through what he went through. But God set him forth as a mercy seat by his blood through faith to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance, God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time his righteousness, that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. To be given that type of repentance is something you and I don't deserve. It's really a freak thing for us, because we're all used to you do this, you get that. Our legal system is that way. Our own personal expectation system is, you hurt me. Well, I'm not just going to forgive that. And yet, there it is. He's passed over our sins that were previously committed to demonstrate his righteousness, his love for us. Let's go to Revelation 1 and verse 5. To get this forgiveness from God, you know, you couldn't buy it. There's nothing you could do to obtain it, except he's willing to create the way by which we can not only be forgiven, but notice what else happens. In Revelation chapter 1 verses 5 and 6, And from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth, to him who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and has made us, as the margin says, a kingdom of priests to his God and Father. To him be glory and dominion forever and ever.

This forgiveness and this justification, this being made holy and sanctified, this reconciliation with God has a purpose in that we are destined to be in the divine leadership of the God family.

If, of course, we might use the term qualify for the forgiveness, let's not forget that there is a part that we have in 1 John chapter 1 verse 9. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That's what we have to do, is our part of that covenant. Just as we were to confess our sins to one another and have that relationship healed, we have to also confess our sins to God, because he is faithful to forgive us and cleanse us from all iniquity. Repentance is a necessary thing on our part.

The fifth thing is we become the redeemed of God. Redeemed. Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 7 tells us about this. This covenant that we have redeems us. You know, we were once not with God. We were once slaves. You can't get out of slavery unless somebody buys you out.

In Him, Ephesians 1 verse 7, it's in Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace. It's very gracious to us. We've been redeemed by His blood. Who would you get if you were taken hostage?

This happens in some countries. They'll capture someone that they think they can take us as a hostage and get money, extort money out of the relatives or out of the company.

I'm on the Council of Elders and it just came to my mind that the church has a policy, a $10,000 policy on the Council of Elders in case we get abducted. $10,000. That's not per elder. That's for all the Council. That's about $900 a head.

You think we're going to get released? If I'm over in one of those countries and they haul me in and for a ransom, you think somebody's going to bail me out? Well, we've got this policy. Here's $900. Who's going to cough that up? You and I actually were in slavery to death. Death was where we were headed. Somebody had to bail us out or we weren't going to get out. Why would the God in heaven who created everything and created us come down and become a human like us so that we could offend Him and tray Him and spit on Him and crucify Him? Why would He do that to pay the price? Well, that's what He did. We have redemption. He redeemed us. He paid the money, the extortion, as it were. He paid the price. We might call it the bride price for His future bride. And we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sin, the riches of His grace. And He made, verse 8, that to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence. He did it willingly, excitingly, abounding in it. In 1 Peter, chapter 1, verse 18 and 19, 1 Peter, chapter 1 and verse 18, knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold. See, the extortion money wasn't paid for with dollars. It wasn't a little printing press in heaven that got going to pay the devil, as it were. No, we weren't redeemed with money. That's what He's saying here. We weren't redeemed from our aimless conduct, received by tradition from your fathers. We weren't redeemed by doing something, by a bunch of, well, here's what it says to do. Here's what the church says to do. Here's what the Jewish system says to do. So if we do that, we'll redeem ourselves. No, you can't buy your own salvation, your own redemption. You can't get out of jail on good conduct. And so, verse 19, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. That's how our redemption came, and that's who our Redeemer was.

Let's look in Colossians chapter 1 and verse 14, because we certainly are indebted to Jesus Christ and God the Father for even existing, let alone having this redemption. Colossians 1, 14, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

The sixth thing that we have is unity and fellowship with God and the saints.

We often don't have the same unity and fellowship with the world, because, remember, the carnal human nature is out there breaking relationships apart. And if you get tangled up with the carnal human nature of the world, you're going to get torn apart, too. Just like Christ got torn apart, the apostles got torn apart, the church gets torn apart, we are to come out and be separate as a spiritual organism.

This unity and fellowship is with those who are loving and those who are repenting and confessing sins and apologizing and trying harder and getting second and third and seventy times seven opportunities to do better. In 1 Corinthians 10, verses 16 and 17, we find that we have, with both God and with each other, a communion, an interplay, a fellowship, relationships. And they can run very deep if we are truly using the mind of God. They can run to the point where you and I are one and God is one and Christ is one and we are all one in each other. That's how tight this unity can be. So in 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 16, we see the cup of blessing, this Passover cup, the wine, which we share. Is it not the communion or the sharing of the blood of Christ? And the bread which we break, is it not the communion or the sharing of the body of Christ? So first, we share the blood of Christ and then we also share the body of Christ. And the bread is similar. For we, verse 17, though many, are one bread and one body. We are all partakers of that one bread.

This relationship of having unity is uncommon today. It's not just a sports team that, you know, carnally gets together and has a good time and, you know, drinks and yells and goes away. We continue every day. We pray for each other. We think of each other. We help each other. We serve each other. We forgive one another. We are forgiven. And we move on, strengthening and encouraging each other as this body grows. Let's look in Ephesians, the second chapter, and notice how this takes place. Ephesians 2, verse 11.

I'm going to work through a few verses here. It's kind of like going through a landmine, as it were, because there's so much confusion and deception in the world. You can read through these passages and if you're not careful, you can come up with a totally different idea. Something as nonsensical as New Year's is in January 1st. So let's go carefully here through Ephesians. In chapter 2, verse 11, it says, Therefore, remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh, who others called you uncircumcision, and had some names for you, some slanderous names, because you weren't part of them. Talking about the Jews at the time of this New Testament period.

That at the time, verse 12, you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, from the twelve tribes, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. I don't know about your background lineage. Nobody really knows who the twelve tribes of Israel are. We have a lot of guesses. But I tell you from my family's lineage, I fit right here, because I'm such a mixed bag, and you know, there's an Italian in there, and a lot of Indian, and all kinds of other stuff. And so, we can, no matter who we are, we were aliens from Christ, and without hope, without God in the world, until God opened our eyes. But verse 13, Now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. It doesn't matter now what anybody's nationality once was, or their history, or whatever it was. We have all been brought near, and stitched to Abraham, the olive tree of Abraham, through the blood of Christ. It doesn't matter how we got there. The only way that can happen is by the new covenant being offered to us, not the covenant that God made with Israel. We're talking about this new covenant. Verse 14, For he himself is our peace, peace joining. He is the thing that joined us to God. He is what brings us the unity. He's what brings us the fellowship. Verse 15, Who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation. What he's referring to here is that the example is at the temple. At the temple mound in that day, when Paul is writing here, there was a division wall, a court of the Gentiles. And if you were not of the lineage of Israel, you had to stay on the other side of the wall. And God, you see in the new covenant, has broken down that wall of separation. Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, that is what is called the law of commandments contained in ordinances. Remember all the traditions the Jews concocted? All these traditions that became their law, that weren't God's laws, just all kinds of things tacked on and added on and added on and added on.

These things separated. And so he broke down this so as to create in himself one new man from the two, thus making harmony. It's important for us to understand that, like it says over in Colossians chapter 2, beginning in verse 8, Colossians 2, 8-14, what humans will do, even under the guise of religion or true religion. Colossians 2, beginning in verse 8, Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit according to the tradition of men. These things build up walls, traditions of men, according to the basic principles of the world, not according to Christ. For in him dwells all fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in him who is the head in principality and power. Verse 12, You are buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God who raised him from the dead. And you, verse 13, being dead in your trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he has made alive together with him, having forgiven all your trespasses. And having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us. Handwriting of requirements? That's your list of sins that you committed during your lifetime. That was against you, because the sinner dies eternally. The wages of sin is death. And that document was against you and me, which was contrary to us. And he has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. What was nailed to the cross? The Bible? Nope. Jesus Christ. It was his blood. He took your list of sins away by bleeding to death and washing them away and being able to forgive you of them.

And it is through that that we then can have this fellowship, this fellowship with God. And with the saints. The seventh point is, you and I in all of this retain a covenant responsibility. It's not just a gift. It's not just something that God came along and says, here, have it. And we just walk away with it. We have a responsibility. In Ephesians 3 and verse 14. Ephesians 3 beginning in verse 14. For this reason, I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. We are named the church or the called out ones of God, the church of God, the angels of God, the kingdom of God, all these things in heaven and earth are named after God. That He would grant you according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and the length and the depth and the height to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. That's our responsibility. We have to be filled with that Holy Spirit and we have to be led by that Holy Spirit. We have to become of the mindset of God and get rid of carnal human nature.

Verse 19. Now therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you are also being built together for a place of God, a dwelling place of God, in the Spirit. We have this fabulous, wonderful opportunity. Coming up in about three months is a first day of a new year, and that first day of a new year can get us excited about the festivals which follow, beginning on the 14th day of the first month. Happy new year, but not quite yet. It's just January coming up, and March is still about three months away.

In the meantime, you and I can see every new day. We don't have to wait until March 24th or the Passover. Every day that we get up, we are to pray the model prayer as an outline, and it includes forgive us our sins as we forgive others their sins. We look to God. We look to Christ. We look at a new day of being, of adhering to the covenant that we made better. Covenant with God, the covenant with our spouse and our family, the covenant with God extends not just to God, but also to people, to our fellow human beings. The covenant with our spouse, that marital covenant, isn't just to the spouse, it also extends to our children.

Those covenants are made to make life better. And your life in the coming year, in fact, every day can be better the more we apply the laws of God, the more we live like Jesus Christ showed us to. So every new day is an opportunity to fulfill the covenants that you've made with God and with your spouse. It's a better day for those around you. It's a better day for your God in heaven. It's a better day for the kingdom of God that's coming. So let's be refreshed daily, weekly, in the Sabbath, and annually as we celebrate God's plan of salvation.