How the Old Testament Points to Jesus | Investigating Jesus | Pastor Mike Breaux

Hey guys, thanks for checking out this Bible teaching. Every week we release a podcast that corresponds to the sermon. It's like a little bit of a deeper dive where we hit some things that didn't make it into the sermon, some theological concepts. We talk about things that are going on in our culture and how to think about them from a biblical perspective. We call that podcast Live Free, an episode releases every Monday that corresponds to the sermon. If you would like to check out Live Free, just go to the Lake Point YouTube channel and look for the podcast tab there. We'll see you at Live Free. Now, enjoy this Bible teaching. All right, what is up, Lake Point family? Great to see you guys. Hey, I want to welcome those of you that might be joining us online today and all of our campuses, especially our Royce City campus, which begins meeting every week this weekend. Let's give a shout out to those guys, affectionately known as our Buckees campus. And man, I can't wait to see what God does through that amazing group of people there. Hey, next weekend is Easter, and I know our team is planning an awesome celebration. And I know Pastor Josh is fired up, like he always is, to bring the message. It's going to be a great weekend, so be thinking about who you're going to invite to be here, because it's a can't-miss weekend. Well, we've been investigating Jesus for a while now, what he said, where he went, who he encountered along the way. And as we head into Easter next weekend, I wanted to focus today on who he is and what he has done. And to get there, I want to talk about shadows. I'm a sucker for sunsets. Anybody else? I love watching sunsets. I don't know why. And one of the things I love most about when we used to live in Ventura, California, is the way the mountains would cast shadows toward the ocean pointing toward a beautiful sunset that was getting ready to happen. Now, if you go like to downtown Dallas or any major city for that matter, and you see shadows lurking from a dark alleyway, you steer clear because they may reveal some potential danger there, right? When Puxatani Phil, that little guy pokes his head out of the hole on Groundhog Day, there will be six more weeks of winter if he sees his shadow, right? The Old Testament section of the Bible is full of, you guessed it, shadows. Shadows that point to what, and more importantly, who was to come. and not just for one nation, but for everybody on the planet. Now, be honest. Have you ever asked ChatGPT or you Googled a synopsis of a book and then turned that in as your book report in school and you never really actually read the book? You just kind of Googled the overview? Now, I really do hope that you will read the Bible. It is so good and it's absolutely life-changing. but let me just give you kind of the overarching synopsis of the story of the Bible. We've seen this before, but the story of the Bible can pretty much be summed up like this. God longs for a relationship with people like us. People like us broke that relationship. So God moves throughout history to restore the broken relationship with people like us. I've always loved the way the message puts Ephesians chapter one, verse four, long before God even laid down earth's foundations, he had us in mind, has settled on us as the focus of his love to be made whole and holy by his love. You see, you can read the Bible as this antiquated history book or a manual that's full of unrealistic rules and expectations, but at its purest, it's an epic love story. I mean, even though God is clearly the main character of this whole epic thing. We are his main pursuit. We are the object of his radical obsession. God longs for a relationship with people like us. People like us broke that relationship. So God takes the initiative. God moves throughout history to restore the broken relationship with people like us. So all these shadows of the Old Testament point to someone saying, he's coming. He's coming. He's coming and he will make things right. And he will restore that broken relationship. And he will bring freedom and he will bring joy and he will bring peace and he will bring hope. He will bring salvation for anyone who will humble themselves and believe in him. So you might remember how God comes to a really old guy named Abraham and tells him that he and his wife, they're going to have a baby. and from their child would come this offspring that would outnumber the stars of the universe. And through his lineage would come someone who would be, quote unquote, a blessing for the entire world. Well, because they had struggled their whole married life with infertility and now they're super old, like pushing 100, they crack up, especially his wife, Sarah. She's thinking, okay, so I'm gonna be buying diapers for my baby and my husband at the same time. So when the child is born, they name him Isaac, which basically just means laughter. And it happens. From Abraham to Isaac, from Isaac to Jacob, from Jacob to Joseph and his 12 brothers, they eventually do become a great nation, the nation of Israel. And you can read all those stories about all those people in the first book of the Bible called the book of Genesis. So the Israelite people, they're living in the land of Egypt, and Joseph, who was one of their own was in charge. But when Joseph dies, it says, a new Pharaoh, a new king arises that did not know Joseph. And he was not sympathetic in the least to this growing nation. In fact, he was intimidated by them. So his reign begins over 400 years of racial discrimination and brutal slavery for the Israelite people. I mean, super oppressive. And many of you know the Exodus story. It's the second book of the Bible called the book of Exodus, how the Israelite people are finally delivered from their bondage by the power of God. And all of this is a shadow of something much greater that was coming. Well, God uses this guy named Moses. You might've heard of him, a former prince of Egypt. He is now this shame-filled, insecure fugitive hiding out in the middle of nowhere, watching sheep. And Moses would eventually become a shadow pointing to another deliverer that was coming, the one that God promised Abraham would come through his offspring. But God meets with this guy named Moses on the backside of a mountain called Mount Sinai. And he tells him, listen, Moses, I'm getting ready to move. I love my people. I have seen the trouble they're in. I have heard their cries and I'm going to deliver my people from slavery and abuse. And I want to use you to lead them out of Egypt. Now, Moses, make no mistake about it. It's not going to be about your power. It's going to be about my power. I just need you to be available because the great I am is getting ready to move. And so Moses does what God says and goes to the evil Pharaoh and tells him that God said to let his people go. And Pharaoh, who considered himself to be a God, laughs at Moses and his God and says, I don't know this God you're talking about. And there is no way they are leaving. And so the hard hearted Pharaoh flexes his power and starts making things even worse for the oppressed Israelites. So God sends a series of plagues on Egypt. I don't have time to go into all of it, but every single plague is a direct attack on one of their so-called gods. He turns water into blood, sends flies and gnats and frogs and boils and hail and locusts and darkness and finally death. And he tells the people that death would not touch them if they would kill a lamb and spread its blood over the doorframe of their homes. If they would do that, then death would pass over their families. Well, the blood of the lamb, a big time shadow, eventually bought their freedom. In fact, many Jewish people around the world still today gratefully celebrate that Passover every year. You might remember how after that, Pharaoh finally relents and tells Moses, all right, all right, take your people and just get the heck out of here. Then as he sees his free labor force leaving, he has a change of heart and he comes after them with the full force of his military. Well, God through Moses miraculously leads them through the Red Sea on dry ground and their past and their pursuers are buried in the water. By the way, that's a shadow of what has happened to so many of us in baptism. Our past, the things that used to hold us captive, they were all just buried in the water. As you might imagine, it was an awesome day in the history of God's people. They were finally free and they were so grateful. However, on the other side of the Red Sea, the people wouldn't always be so grateful. They wouldn't always sing songs of praise to the one who had rescued them out of bondage. You brought them up out of Egypt. In fact, they had extremely short memories. So God would give them object lessons, constant reminders of who he was. He would send this bread-like substance called manna, which literally means, what is it? It would rain from the sky and they would gather enough for each day, which is a shadow of that one day at a time, give us this day our daily bread dependent kind of lifestyle that God wants all of us to live. He would miraculously send quail for them to eat. He would cause water to spring up out of rocks in the middle of a desert. He would guide them with a pillar of cloud by day and one of fire by night. All reminders of God's constant provision, all reminders of his faithfulness as a good, good father. And all of these things, along with many, many others, were just mere shadows that pointed to much greater things that would happen someday For instance God tells Moses Exodus 25 have the people of Israel build me a holy sanctuary so I can live among them You must build this tabernacle and its furnishings exactly according to the pattern I will show you. Anybody like to camp? Any campers? All right, tent people. who are tent people? RV people, hotel people. I'm with you right there. Now this tabernacle was an amazingly beautiful tent that they could tear down and take with them on their road trip toward the promised land. And there were detailed blueprints of how it was to be built, how it was to be set up, how it was to be designed and furnished. And all of it, you guessed it, was a shadow of what was to come. I mean, there's all kinds of symbolism contained in the tabernacle. No time to launch into all that today, but there was a curtain around it. There was a courtyard, an outer courtyard, an inner courtyard. There was an altar of burnt offering, the lampstand. There was a wash basin, the altar of incense, the holy place, and a curtain separating the holy place from the most holy place, which signified the very presence of God. and all of it, all of it, shadows. And do you know where God tells them to set up his tent? He doesn't ask them to set up the tabernacle out in the outskirts in his own private estate villa. God says, I want to live right in the middle of camp. He tells them, I want to be right in the middle of your life again. Big time shadow. Do you know that? Did you know that God wanted to be right in the middle of your life? He wants to be so much more than just one of the spokes on the wheel of your life. He wants to be the hub which around everything else revolves. And this is so cool to me. When we invite Jesus Christ to become the forgiver of our sin, to let him restore that broken relationship that our sin and rebellion has caused, God's spirit comes down and dwells not in a tent, not in a tabernacle, not in a temple, not in some church building made with human hands, but inside our heart. He's saying to us, just as he said to Israel, I want to dwell with you. I long to do life with you every day. I want to be right in the center of your life in the most holy place. So the tabernacle was a chest that was made of acacia wood. It was four feet long, two feet wide. It was covered in gold. It was called the Ark of the Covenant. Have you heard of that? Well, maybe you've seen the classic Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark movie, you know, where the Nazis face melts off. It's gross. Anyway, it was a shadow box, so to speak, representing God's promise to them, God's covenant with the people and their covenant with God. Does anybody know what was inside that box, the Ark of the Covenant? There was a jar of that manna stuff in there. There was Aaron's staff, Moses' brother, a staff that had begun to bud like a dead tree coming to life. reminders of God's faithfulness and his power. And there were these tablets upon which God had handwritten the original top 10 list. And these 10 commandments were to be a moral blueprint for the kind of life that God wanted them and all of us for that matter to live. So Moses climbs up Mount Sinai to appear before God and God tells him, I have clearly demonstrated my affection and my faithfulness to all of you. And now I want to give you some guidelines to live by that not only will be a great way to live your life, but will give the people a chance to now demonstrate their faithfulness back to me. So he invites Moses along with his brother Aaron to come up to Mount Sinai where he verbalizes the 10 commandments along with some other guidelines. And Moses comes down from the mountain and he shares these 10 commandments that God had told and this is the way they went. The first one is have no other gods before me. Make sure you tell number one, no other gods before me. And don't carve any kind of idol and bow down and worship some phony little G God. And don't profane my name. Don't take my name in vain. Don't use it in a flippant type of way. And always remember the Sabbath. I rested on the Sabbath day when I created this universe. You should rest as well. And these first four are all about our vertical relationship with God. The next six are all about a horizontal relationship with each other. He says, as you relate to each other, especially the first people you'll meet in this world, honor them, honor your mother and your father, and don't take anybody's life. Never take a life, and while you're at it, don't take anybody's wife either, and don't steal stuff, and don't always tell the truth. Don't tell lies, and don't be jealous and envious toward another person. Those were the commands that Moses brought down from God. And so Moses tells all these things to the people and the people respond, no problem, God. We can do all that. I mean, that sounds like a pretty good way to live your life. You know what, God, you got a deal. And so this huge throng of Israelites, like 2 million strong now, say in one voice, everything the Lord has said, we will do. You've kept your promise, Lord. we will keep ours. We are all in whatever you want us to do because you, you are Yahweh. You are our deliverer. You are the one and only true God. And so God says, Moses, come on back up on the mountain, hang out with me, and I'm going to write these in stone so you will always have them. But Moses knows that the children of Israel need a babysitter while he's gone. So he leaves his brother Aaron behind to keep an eye on them. And while Moses is gone, guess what happens back at base camp? I mean, you won't believe this. The people grow impatient while they wait for Moses to return. One week turns into two, two weeks turns into three, and they begin to ask all sorts of questions. Where in the world is Moses? Is he ever coming back? Is he even still alive? Exodus 32, when the people saw how long it was taking Moses to come back down the mountain, They gathered around Aaron. Come on, they said. Make us some gods who can lead us. We don't know what happened to this fellow Moses who brought us here from the land of Egypt. You know what? You can take the kids out of Egypt, but it's hard to take Egypt out of the kids. You see, all of them had grown up in that polytheistic culture full of so many fake gods, here a God, there a God, everywhere a God, God. They had just seen, they had just seen the one true God. crush all those other so-called gods of Egypt. They had just walked across the Red Sea on dry ground with water walled up beside them. They had just been delivered by God's mighty hand from their abusers. They had just with one voice declared, everything the Lord has said, we will do. And God hadn't even had a chance to inscribe the first two commandments and the people are going And Aaron, hey, that Moses dude who led us out here in the middle of nowhere, he's probably dead and gone. So you know what? Deals off. Deals off. We want a God. We need a God. Make us a God. And Aaron, this guy who had seen miracle after miracle, the guy who had been the voice for his stuttering brother Moses, the guy who had been there with Moses and heard God say, listen, guys, first things first, make sure you tell him, no other gods, no other gods. This same guy says to the people, well, if that's what you want, okay. And the story tells how they give him all the gold and jewelry the Egyptians had given them on the way out and they fashioned this golden calf. And Aaron says to them, this is your God. This is the God who brought you up out of Egypt. This is unbelievable. And they begin to worship and dance around this golden calf and they're drinking, they're getting wasted. They're in all kinds of crazy stuff. And Moses starts back down from the mountain. He's got the tablets in his hand. As he gets about halfway down, he hears the music. He hears the drum beats. And the closer he gets, he sees this wild, I'm talking wild, party going on with this golden fake God right in the center of it all. And in a fit of rage, Moses becomes the only person to break all 10 commandments in less than a second. He slams those stone tablets down and shatters them into pieces. and he runs over and confronts his brother Aaron. What are you doing? I asked you to watch after them. What is this? And Aaron comes up with the most lame excuse. This is so classic. Well, I told him, whoever has gold jewelry, take it off. And when they brought it to me, I simply threw it into the fire and out came this calf. Now he's the stuttering brother. I don't know what to tell you. I don't know how this happened. It just came out like that. Psalm 106 says, they worship the golden calf because they forgot God. What? They forgot God. We forget God. So now Moses has to go back up the mountain and get a replacement set of commandments. And God gives him the exact same list of 10 that he'd given him before. And before we get too hard on Aaron and the Israelites, before we leave these 10 commandments, what I'd like to do, I'd like to quickly go through them. And I want you to keep track of the number that you have never broken. Now, don't raise your hand and don't elbow the person next to you as we go through this. Keep track of them in your head. And then at the end, we'll do a little survey to see how good we actually are. Y'all ready? First commandment says, no other gods before me. If you've always, always put God first in your life and everything in your life, you can count that one as one you've never broken. The second commandment says, don't make any graven images. Don't carve an idol and bow down to them. Now we have talked a lot around here about how you and I can make idols out of stuff out of cars out of homes out of money out of fitness career image our kids other relationships but we not going to count it that way If you never actually handcrafted a graven image or carved an idol out of wood and bowed down and worshiped it you can count that one as one you have never broken. Aren't you glad that one's in there? Third commandment says this, don't take the Lord's name in vain. If you've never profaned the name of God, if you've never used the name of God or the name of Jesus Christ by using it as a cuss word, if you've never flippantly used the popular phrase OMG, if you've never done something ungodly, but you did it in God's name, you can count that one as one you've never broken. Fourth commandment says, remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. If you've always followed God's maintenance schedule and you've always set aside a day for rest and worship and spiritual refreshment, you can count that one as one you've never, ever broken. The fifth one says, honor your father and your mother. If as a child, you never disobeyed your folks, if as an adult, you've always shown proper respect for them, you can count that one as one you have never broken. The sixth commandment says, don't murder. Don't murder. If you've never murdered anybody, you can count that one. Now, Jesus comes along and messes with this one. Jesus comes along later and says, you've heard it said, don't commit murder. But I tell you, if you've got anger in your heart toward a brother, if you've got hate in your heart toward a brother, you're guilty of murder. We won't count it that way. If you've never physically murdered somebody, you can count that one as one you've not broken. The seventh commandment says, don't commit adultery. If you've never fooled around sexually before you were married, if after you were married, you always maintain sexual exclusivity, you can count that one as one you've never broken. Now again, Jesus comes along and messes with that one too. He says, even if you lust after somebody in your heart, you're guilty of adultery. We won't count it that way. If you've never committed the act of adultery, you can count that one as one you've never broken. The eighth commandment says, don't steal. Don't steal. if you've never stolen anything, not a dollar out of your mom's purse, not a grape from a grocery store, not a towel from a Holiday Inn Express, not an answer off of somebody else's test paper, not one cent from the IRS. You can count that one as one you've never broken. The ninth commandment says, don't lie. If you've never told a lie, you are right now. the 10th commandment says, don't covet. If you've never been envious of somebody else's stuff, their house, their car, their job, their body, their girlfriend, their boyfriend, their spouse, or their talent, you can count that one as one you've never, ever broken. All right. Let's see how good we are. How many you would say, yep, broke 10 out of 10, man. 10 out of 10. How many kept all 10? What about nine? Eight? Dang, y'all a wicked bunch of people. I mean, it's obvious, right? These commandments that God handed down, they really are the best way to live. They are a moral code for a great life. This is a blueprint for the kind of life that loves God with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and then loves other people, treats people, and does the right thing. But these Ten Commandments were so much more than that. Y'all know what these were? A shadow of what was to come? I've always loved the way the Phillips translation puts all this in Romans 3.20. No man can justify himself before God by a perfect performance of the law's demands. Indeed, it is the straight edge of the law that shows us just how crooked we really are. You see, the primary purpose of the Ten Commandments, the law, was not so much to make us better, but to make us see our desperate need for a Savior. It is the straight edge of the law that shows us just how crooked we really are. Look at how the passage continues. One of the most pivotal passages in the entire Bible, Romans 3, 21. But now, but now God has shown us a way to be made right with them without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. We are made right with God. We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are, for everyone is sin. And we all fall short of God's glorious standard. standard, yet God, yet God with undeserved kindness declares that we are righteous. And he did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty of our sins. Isn't that good news? You see, these 10 commandments don't make us better. They help us see who we really are and how much we need God's grace, how much we need a Savior. They are a shadow pointing to the one who would lay down his life. They are a shadow pointing to the cross of Jesus Christ. Hebrews 10 says this, The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves. The sacrifices, the doves, the oxen, the lambs under that system were repeated again and again year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship. For God's will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all time. You know, I've often wondered what the followers of Jesus did the night after he died. These would have been Jewish men and women who would have known all about the history of God's people. They would have been acquainted with all of these shadows, just not realizing what they really were. Now, we do know that they gathered in hiding after Jesus was crucified. But I just wonder what went on in that room. And, you know, maybe they kind of did what we do at funeral homes or in a family room after the death of a loved one. Maybe they sat around and told stories just to help them cope with their grief? I don't know. Maybe a few of them got up and said a few words, like people do at Awake. I don't know. This is all speculation on my part, but maybe a guy like James stands up and says, I'd like to say something, so I'll kick this off. Some of you may know my brother John and I, Jesus called us the sons of thunder. we've been hanging out with Jesus for the past three years. We left our fishing business to follow him. But to be honest, we followed him because we wanted to rise in power with him. We both have had a little problem with envy. Well, more than just a little problem, we've struggled with jealousy and fairness and ambition a lot. Some of you guys even know we got to an argument about who was going to sit on the right and left of Jesus, sit in power, pretty much made a fool on myself. That's why I felt about this big when Jesus stooped down and he washed my feet. And I just hope that none of us forget that lesson. Then maybe another guy stands up and says, well, I'm a relatively new follower of Jesus, and I haven't hung out with him the way you guys did. In fact, the first time I saw Jesus was the first time I saw, literally, because I was born blind. And one day, Jesus took pity on me, and he reached down, he scooped up some dirt, and he spit on it, and he made some mud, and he put it on my eyes, and he told me to go down to the pool and wash. And when I did, I could see I began to hug everybody inside. I began to sing and dance. I mean, it was party time. But the religious folks in the crowd kind of ruined it all. They got really ticked at Jesus because Jesus healed me on the Sabbath day. They could not believe that he would have the audacity to break their rules. Hey, all I know, I once was blind, but now I see thanks to Jesus. Then maybe a distinguished looking guy stands up and says, well, I guess I'll go next. Although I'm embarrassed to say after that guy that I was one of those religious people that ruined that man's party that day. My name is Nicodemus, and I'm a Pharisee. Used to be anyway. I'm a religious scholar, an intellectual. It's been part of my problem. I used to be very, very proud of that, to be known as someone who was close to God. But reality was I wasn't close to God. I didn't worship God. I worshiped religion. I worshiped our system. but I heard Jesus speak and he taught like no one had ever heard before. There was just something different about him, something profound about him. So I set up a secret meeting at night to talk with him. Honestly, I didn't want to be seen with him. And he told me that night that I needed to be born again that a person was changed from the inside out that was all about my heart And now I proud to be counted among his followers That's why I was so humbled yesterday to take his body down off the cross with my friend Joseph and prepare it for burial. Because of Jesus Christ, I traded in religion for a relationship with the living God. then maybe an older woman shuffles to the front and says, I'm not much of a public speaker. Probably most of you have a much better story, but I just wanted to stop by and express my thanks to Jesus for the way he made me feel so honored. I've always tried to honor my parents. I've tried to honor my husband, my kids, and my neighbors, but honestly, after my husband passed away, I have felt anything but honored. how I felt disrespected. You know how this culture is not easy for a widow like me. Had to go to work scrubbing floors just to put food on my table, and a lot of the rich folks I work for honestly treat me like the dirt on their floors. But just last week, when I was going to the temple to honor God with the little bit of money I got, Jesus pointed me out as an example of generosity. I cannot tell you how good that made me feel. He made me feel so honored. So I'm here tonight just to honor him. Then maybe this little guy stands up and says, hey, my name is Zacchaeus, and I know I might not be the most popular guy in the world because of my former association with the Roman IRS, but I'm now a grateful follower of Jesus. The first time I met Jesus, I was up in a tree. As you all can see, I'm pretty vertically challenged, and there was a huge crowd lining the streets to see him, so I climbed up the lower branches to catch a glimpse of this man I've been hearing so much about. And to my surprise, he looked up and he called me by name, and he extended his hand and helped me out of the tree, and he said, hey, let's go grab some lunch. That lunch changed my life. Jesus was so kind and gracious and honest and I thought that's what I want to be kind and gracious and honest because honestly I have ripped so many people off in my life widows like that lady that just spoke but now I'm in the process of making things right I'm paying people back I'm giving my stuff away and truthfully, I'm having a blast doing it. My heart is changing every day because of that lunch I had with Jesus. I am so grateful. Then maybe Peter stands up and he says, well, you're not surprised that I would have something to say because I always got something to say. Seems like I open my mouth and put my foot in it all the time. A few nights ago, I promised Jesus, you guys heard me promising that I would die for him. I would stand up for him, that I had his back. What you may not know is when the pressure was on, I completely choked. These people asked me if I knew Jesus and I got super defensive. Man, I just lied about it. I told them, I don't know who you're talking about. I've never seen that guy in my life. But they kept on insisting like, oh, no, no. we've seen you with him we know you're one of his followers so it just came out of me man I just I just began to curse and and call down cursing and just I denied the name that I've come to love and it's hard for me to think that's the last thing that Jesus saw me do not one of my better moments and I just want to stand up here and confess that to you guys and maybe a woman stands up and says well Peter I know what that kind of shame feels like first time I met Jesus I was naked now let me explain I was having an affair with this guy and some of the Pharisees burst into his bedroom and they dragged me out in the street and I didn't know what was happening everybody's screaming everybody's saying adulterous whore I was just trying to cover up myself as they threw me down the dirt right in front of Jesus I was scared to death because I knew the penalty for adultery. I knew that the people were going to stone me. But as I sat there in the dirt and people began to pick up rocks, Jesus stooped down. He got right in the dirt with me and he lifted my head and he looked me in the eyes I'd never been looked at by a man like that in my life. Never felt such compassion and such dignity in my life. never felt more loved in my life and he told me I was not condemned and he told the people whoever is not sin go ahead and throw the first stone and then he told me to leave my life of sin he said don't keep looking for love in all the wrong places and so these days I'm walking with him then maybe an unexpected person stands up in the back of the room and everybody kind of gasps. He says, well, I know you may be surprised to see me here tonight, but I had to come. My name's Barabbas, and don't be afraid. I'm not here to start anything. But as most of you know, I should be dead right now. I was supposed to be executed this week. And I've been an angry man most of my life, heart just full of it. And I hate, I hate the Romans. I mean, I hate them. I despise them. Even took a few of them out. That's what landed me in jail. And I've heard about Jesus, but I don't know him. And I've never been with him. But I had to stop by here tonight because, I mean, how would you feel if you knew that someone else had died in your place? then maybe, maybe John, Jesus' closest friend stands up and says, guys, I finally get it. I finally get it. Nicodemus, like Jesus told you that night, for God so loved the world, for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Guys, I finally get it. All the things, all the things to the centuries, all the laws, all the sacrifices, all the images, everything that the prophets said were all shadows of this day. I understand now what Jesus meant when two nights ago at the Passover meal, he takes the bread and he lifted it up and he says, this is my body broken for you, broken for you. And I remember when he picked up the cup and he said, this is my blood, which is poured out for the sins of many. Guys, I get it. I finally get it. He is the Passover lamb. His blood has been applied to the door of our life. I love Jesus so much for what he has done for us. We couldn't do this. So he did this because God longs for a relationship with people like us. And people like us broke that relationship. So God moved. He laid down his life to restore the broken relationship with people like us. Man, I love Jesus. And so do I. what can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. I want to end this a little differently today. I want to give you a chance just to sit in this moment for a minute. On the way in, you could have received communion elements. If you didn't grab those on your way in, just raise your hand and somebody will bring you some. But I was going to give you some space just to sit, all of our campuses, just to sit in this moment. we're going to leave the cross up here. You can maybe focus in on that as you pray, as you express your gratitude to Jesus, however you want to do that. And you know, communion is for believers. And maybe you've kind of been on the fence, but maybe during this time you say, you know what? I believe. I believe that Jesus Christ laid down his life for my sin and I accept him as a forgiver of my sin, the leader of my life. and maybe today for the first time, you take communion to say, I'm in. So however you want to respond today, but let's just sit here for a little bit. Let's express how deeply grateful we are that he did for us what we could not do for ourselves. Father, thank you for this moment. Thank you more importantly for all the shadows that pointed to this day. Thank you, Jesus, for laying down your life. Nobody took it from you. You laid it down to restore that broken relationship. And we are so grateful. So in these next few moments, God, as we hold a little piece of bread and a cup of juice, we just remember the body and the blood of our Savior, Jesus Christ. And it's in his name I pray. Amen.