Truth behind that too. And one of the researchers showed basically these scientists in these places, they all do like Hinduism practice, they do yoga, that's worshipping Satan. So they're invoking demonic activity in their work. And that's a lot that's behind our government stuff as well. So no, good stuff, good conversation, good talk. Anyway, good morning, everyone. We are live? Sweet. Okay. Disregard. Good morning, everyone. As always, it is a great honor and a privilege to be here with you all today. Going to do a little deep dive this morning, a very important deep dive. So I hope you brought your scuba gear, because we're going to go beneath the surface, Lord willing. And just know that though we are going to deep dive, you can always still go deeper. We're going to surface dive, deep dive. So anyway, let's pray. Father, thank you for bringing us all out this morning to study your word together, Thank you, Father, for just the truth of scripture in general. God, for your word, for your word is a lamp unto our feet, a light unto our paths. And we pray, God, that we would come this morning humbled, that we would come this morning with hearts Lord, hearts of worship with minds prepared to submit all that we are unto the authority and the truth of your word. And God, that we would take these truths and apply them to our lives, God, that we would glorify and honor you. We have to pray, as always, along with the psalmist, oh God, because we want to pray like this, because we love your law. We pray that you'd open our eyes to behold wonderful things from your word, God. We pray God that you would give us understanding, the understanding we need and desire. And God, we pray that we would treasure your commands within our hearts that we may not sin against you. God help us, especially as we study the atonement, the sacrifice of Christ. And that's what we're going to look at today is sacrifice. So help us, we pray. We need to hear from you, God. We pray that, Jesus, you would touch our hearts this morning by your spirit and speak to every heart and help us, God, to have good understanding of these truths. We pray this now in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. I have handouts out there, back there. Some of you have them, if you don't, they're back there on the music stand. Again, the reason for these is because this is really a lot of information. I want you to be able to have it in front of you. And not only that, I want you to be able to test my words and my work as well, so that you can take these and do the test for yourself as we're supposed to do. Really, we need to be like the Bereans, and we need to test everything according to the scriptures. And I hope you do that. I really do. So Sunday school, good morning. We're going to be looking again. We're in the nature of the atonement. This morning, the focus is really on the death of Christ as sacrifice. So we're looking at the nature of the atonement. We're looking at what Christ accomplished on the cross. The work of Christ was a work of substitutionary sacrifice in which the Savior bore the penalty of sin in the place of sinners, 1 Peter 2.24. It is a work of propitiation in which God's wrath against sin is fully satisfied and exhausted in the person of our substitute, Jesus Christ, Romans 3.25. It is a work of reconciliation in which the alienation between man and God is overcome and peace is made. We see that in Colossians 1, 20 and 22. It is a work of redemption in which those enslaved to sin are ransomed by the price of the lamb's precious blood that is literally to be purchased out of the slave market of sin. And the only one that could have ever paid that price, because the price is so high, is God himself had to pay the price. And he did, with the precious blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. God, the second person in the Trinity. God, the Son. Son of God, Son of Man. And it is a work of conquest in which sin, death, and Satan are defeated by the power of a victorious Savior, Hebrews 2, 14 through 15. So we're looking at each of these themes as each of these themes is worthy of taking the time to look and to study in depth. Last week we looked at the work of Christ as penal substitution. This week we're going to continue as we see how the death of Christ is a work of sacrifice for sins as well. The work of Christ is a work of penal substitutionary sacrifice. We know he paid the price, right, the penalty. He took upon himself the guilt for our sin. He paid the price as a substitution because And only because the sacrifice in which he offered was pleasing to God once for all. We need to understand that. So sacrifice is where we're going. It's right there on the middle of the first page there. The New Testament explicitly identifies the death of Christ as a sacrifice for sins. Hebrews 9.26b says, but now, once at the consummation of the ages, he has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And again, I just can't get around the very words of John the Baptist. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Christ put it away, took it away, because the sacrifice was much greater than the sacrificial system in its entirety. Such imagery draws from the history of Israel in the Old Testament's prescriptions for sacrificial worship to God. The book of Hebrews explicitly identifies Christ's atoning work as the antitype and fulfillment of the Levitical sacrifices instituted under the Mosaic Covenant, Hebrews 9, 23. Therefore, it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be cleansed with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices in these. And if you're like me, you're going, but what does that mean? Because I was like, huh? And I had to think about it because I haven't taken a class on Hebrews yet in seminary. I'm getting there. So, yeah, it caused me to need to have a better understanding of this. What is it that man had before he sinned against God? Communion with God in a place without sin. When God set up his meeting place, the tabernacle on earth, guess who else was involved in that place? Sinful man. It was built with the hands of man, okay? The place with hands of man, right? This represented, and God would come down and he would meet with him there. The glory of God would be in the Holy of Holies and over the tabernacle if God was pleased, but there took some cleansing first. These were the copies of the things in which we now know to be true. Where does God reside? Permanently in heaven. These were simply copies, and God would come down and meet with man at the tabernacle. Well, God dwells in the heaven of heavens, as the Bible calls it. The third heavens, if you will, in a place of holiness. Well, there's only one way man's getting into there. Cleansing. So the whole sacrificial system was a system of multiple cleansings, which brought man to God and God in the presence of man. God cannot stand in the presence of sin. Therefore, there had to be cleansing. These are the pictures, the copies. So to better illustrate this, what I did here, actually turn with me to Hebrews 9 real quick, 23 to 28. And then this next portion in our handout is actually from Wiest and others who have dealt with this. Hebrews 9, 23 through 28. Therefore, it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be cleansed with these, but the heavenly things himself with better sacrifices in these. For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, see the copy, a mere copy of the true one, but where did he enter into? Heaven itself, the actual heaven in which the tabernacle and its practices and things were a copy of. Christ did not enter the holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God for us. And that's what it's all about, is man communing with God holy God in the presence of God. Nor was it that he would offer himself often as the high priest enters the holy place year by year with blood that is not his own. Otherwise, he would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world. But now, once at the consummation of the ages, he has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once, and after this comes the judgment, so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin to those who eagerly await him. So we see in verses 23 and 24, the better tabernacle purified with better blood. But verse 23, we also see the earthly tabernacle cleansed with animal blood, a copy of the real tabernacle, right? So in our handout here, He goes on, verse 923, the patterns of things in the heavens. You could use the word copy, you could use the word pattern. This was a pattern to show us the way that would take place, that would bring us to God through Christ. It referred patterns of things in the heavens referred to the earthly tabernacle. This needed cleansing from the defilement it incurred by reason of its presence in the midst of a sinful people. The tabernacle was built where? On earth. Here. By sinful people. According to the exact precision and measurements of God, of course, pleasing to God. but it had to be cleansed. This rite was observed on the great day of atonement, Leviticus 16, 16. The word these refers to the animal sacrifices, thus the sacrificial blood of animals was used to cleanse the tabernacle in Israel from the defilement it contracted by reason of its position in the camp of Israel. Likewise, the writer says that the heavenly tabernacle needs to be cleansed, but with better blood than that of animals, namely the blood of Messiah. The question at once arises as to why heaven itself needed to be cleansed. Expositors says this, the earthly tabernacle as God's dwelling might have been supposed to be hallowed by his presence and to need no cleansing, but being also his meeting place with men, it required to be cleansed. And so our heavenly relations with God and all wherewith we seek to approach him need cleansing. In themselves things heavenly need no cleansing, but as entered upon by sinful men, they need it. Our eternal relations with God require purification. And again, I just, I mean, to understand this, man was originally created good. We know this. Both the man and the woman communed with God in their original state of righteousness. When the man and the woman failed the test and disobeyed God, eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they died that day and were separated from God. They tried to cover themselves with fig leaves to hide their guilt and shame and to attempt to atone for their sins themselves, as man still does today. Hey, it's reasonable that we should hide guilt and shame. It's reasonable that we should cover ourselves. Man, in his fallen reason, attempted to atone for his own sins. In Genesis 321, we see such amazing grace. Turn with me there real quick, because I want you to see this. Because I don't think we see this for what it really is at times. It's like, ah, this is horrible. And it is. It really is. But did you know that it could have been worse? The result could have been worse. But that was all up to God. Genesis chapter 3 verse 21. The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. What are you talking about? Well, I'm talking about very ramifications of sin and the very depth of the mercy and grace of God. See, what we need to understand about this passage is that the first physical deaths should have been the man and his wife. God said, once you do this, you will surely die. And they did. They died the death of spiritual death. They died the death of separation from God, then only to face physical death and eternal death in the lake of fire if not made right with God. That's what we need to understand about this. They should have been the ones killed, and none of us should have ever existed, if you will, if you get what's right and what's fair and what's just. But you know what we got? Mercy. They received mercy. A display of mercy. A display of one of the attributes of God that was not on display until this happened. And then grace on top of it? Not getting what they deserved and receiving grace. Unmerited favor. They should have died, but yet instead, what happened? An animal died. That's what the verse implies. The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. This is the first shedding of blood. Clothed them, covered them, atoned for their sins. Atonement is to cover. God covered them and atoned for their sins. And this is a shadow of the reality that God would someday kill a substitute to redeem sinners. And we're just scratching the surface. You see the depth of that one passage. Real simple, the Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. Hebrews 926b, but now at this very time, once in the consummation of the ages for the putting away of sin through his sacrifice, has he, Jesus Christ, been manifested? Here it is, before our very eyes, come to manifestation. It has come before us. It has come to fruition. the sacrifice of Christ. He was the one who gave his life, a sacrifice who is manifested. In fact, the Gospels are the manifestation of Christ, all four. Christ's death is a sacrificial death in which Christ made purification for sinners to meet with God, not in a tabernacle made with hands, not with the blood of bulls and goats, but with his own blood. He entered into the most holy place. He entered into heaven once for all. And now we too. get to enter into heaven so long as you are trusting in Jesus Christ and his substitutionary penal sacrifice for your sins. Now, if you're not, then you'll stand before God and everything you will throw at God, if you will, will be filthy rags. For this reason, to properly understand the significance of Christ's death as sacrifice, guess what we must do? We gotta go to the Old Testament, don't we? We need to turn to the Levitical law. So what I want us to do now is turn over from Genesis to Exodus chapter 40, as we pave the road, if you will, as we walk the paved road, we'll say, into the Levitical system. Now, you guys know the layout here. Basically, Moses comes down from the mountain. And what happened? Well, his anger burned, didn't it? His anger burned because they were worshiping a calf. Apparently, Aaron gathered the gold of the people, and it just threw it into the fire, and poof, jumped out this calf, according to Aaron. And the people were worshiping the calf, which means this. It wasn't just they were standing before a calf, worshiping and bowing down. What would have been involved in that worship would have been gross immorality, gross fornication, all kinds of gross acts that came with that. And here they are with the golden calf. Moses comes down angry, smashes the tablets, the law of God. Then they journey on. Moses intercedes. God says, you know what? Maybe I'll just destroy this people. Moses prays for him, goes back up. The tablets are replaced. This time, Moses got to do the work. Remember? Then you have the covenant renewed with the people. Moses comes down, his face is shining. The Sabbath is emphasized. The tabernacle workmen are now called out. These are the men who God called out. And then they receive gifts. They receive different gifts to be able to build and to do and to build the tabernacle, chapter 35. Then you have it underwritten, the construction proceeds, construction continues, tabernacle is completed. Then he talks, goes and looks to the priests. Now you have the priestly garments and so on and so forth. The tabernacle is erected and now we get to chapter 40, 40 verse 34. They did everything God said to do the way God said to do it. God was pleased with it. And here it is. Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Throughout all their journeys, whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the sons of Israel would set out. But if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out until the day when it was taken up. For throughout all their journeys, the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and there was fire in it by night in the sight of all the house of Israel. So now, right here on the heels of this, guess what we get? What's the next book? Leviticus. Leviticus. The book of Leviticus begins immediately after the glory of God has filled the completed tabernacle, symbolizing that the spiritual presence of the Lord is now dwelling in the midst of his people. In fact, the Hebrew word for tabernacle, Mishkan, means dwelling place. Thus, the presence of God is a key theme in the book of Leviticus. The phrase, before the Lord, Hebrew, Lipme Yahweh, meaning, to the face of Yahweh, signifies presence. This phrase is used 59 times in the book of Leviticus, which confirms that the presence of God is a key theme. Leviticus also teaches that this God who is present is fundamentally holy. In fact, the Hebrew word for holy and its relative equals appear 150 times in the book's 27 chapters, more frequently than in any other book. The question that Leviticus seeks to answer then is, how can the holy presence of God dwell in the midst of a sinful people? Well, the answer to that question that is that sinners are to make sacrifices to the Lord that will atone for their sin and render them acceptable in his presence. It took sacrifice at the garden. God was the one that committed the first sacrifice. God now sets up the tabernacle. They build the tabernacle. God is pleased. He inhabits the tabernacle. He dwells among his people. And requires sacrifice to atone for their sins. Sacrifice is how sins are atoned for. For it is the shedding of blood. For the life of the flesh is where? In the blood. And that's why God takes this very serious. Leviticus 1, 1 through 4. Then the Lord called to Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting, saying, Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, When any man of you brings an offering to the Lord, you shall bring your offering of animals from the herd of the flock. If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer it. A male without defect, he shall offer it at the doorway of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted before the Lord. He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, that it may be accepted for him to make atonement on his behalf. So the major point is to make atonement for sin, and hence be acceptable in the holy presence of God. Atonement means to cover. This is what God did in the garden with Adam and his wife. He covered them with animal skins. This is what God requires for man to be acceptable in his holy presence. Even the psalmist states, how blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is Atoned for, covered, is the word used. The psalmist understood the need for atonement. As we're going to see, theologically, the atonement of the Old Testament covered sin only temporarily, but it did not eliminate sin or later judgment. Hebrews 10, 4, for it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Only by the one-time sacrifice of Jesus Christ is sin fully atoned for. He died a sacrificial death, thus satisfying God's wrath forever and ensuring eternal salvation. But while not every Levitical sacrifice is prescribed to atone for sin, the ceremonies of the day of atonement surely are. Now, I want you to turn with me to Leviticus 16. We're going to read through this. And as I was going through this, there was no other thing I could do but get out the highlighter and the pen, because it's all marked up. Because of what? I came across in doing this study is so important. Now, I pray that you pay close attention as we read through this together and see, and I'll try to emphasize certain things for you, but this is absolutely imperative to understand the need for a sacrifice for sins. The need for atonement. So, Leviticus 16, verse 8. Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other lot for the scapegoat. Then Aaron shall offer the goat on which the lot for the Lord fell and make it a sin offering. But the goat on which the lot for the scapegoat fell shall be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement upon it and to send it into the wilderness as the scapegoat. Now everywhere atonement was, there is where I highlight. Highlight, is that a word? That's where I broke out the highlighter. Then Aaron shall offer the bowl of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make atonement for himself and for his household. And he shall slaughter the bowl of the sin offering, which is for himself. He shall take a firepan full of coals of fire from upon the altar before the Lord, and two handfuls of finely ground sweet incense, and bring it inside the veil. He shall put the incense on the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of incense may cover the mercy seat that is on the ark of the testimony, otherwise he will die. Moreover, he shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the mercy seat on the east side. Also in front of the mercy seat, he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times. Then he shall slaughter the goat of the sin offering, which is for the people, and bring its blood inside the veil, and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat, and in front of the mercy seat. Verse 16. He shall make atonement for the holy place because of the impurities of the sons of Israel and because of their transgressions in regard to all their sins, and thus he shall do for the tent of meeting which abides with them in the midst of their impurities. You remember Hebrews 9.23? There it is right there. These things had to be cleansed. This was a copy of the real heavenly things. When he goes in to make atonement in the holy place, no one shall be in the tent of meeting until he comes out, that he may make atonement for himself and for his household and for all the assembly of Israel. Then he shall go out to the altar that is before the Lord and make atonement for it, and shall take some of the blood of the bull and of the blood of the goat and put it on the horns of the altar on all sides. With his finger he shall sprinkle some of the blood on it seven times and cleanse it, and from the impurities of the sons of Israel consecrate it." You see how marred we are? Whatever we touch, God can't come near it. It needs to be cleansed. We're wicked, filthy, miserable, wretched creatures before a holy and a righteous God. How dare any of us think we're any good and can get there on our own? Uh-uh. Not even the very copy of the things. They needed to be consecrated and cleansed. Verse 20, when he finishes atoning for the holy place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall offer the live goat. Then Aaron shall lay both of his hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the iniquities of the sons of Israel and all their transgressions in regard to all those sins. And he shall lay them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who stands in readiness. What are the theological words used for this? There's two of them. First off, what did he just do? He imputed the sins of the people over the goat, onto the goat. Now, the guilt and the penalty of these sins are placed on the goat. And then the goat, what does he do? He's sent into the wilderness to do what? The word is expiation, exit, to take the sins away. So the imputed sins, the sins were imputed to the goat, and he sent into the wilderness to take them away. This is one aspect of what Christ has done. His not only propitiation, the propitiation, that he appeased the righteous, holy wrath of God, but also by imputation, taking our sins and taking them away that's why john said behold the lamb of god who takes away the sin of the world is the picture starting to come together do the illustrations now kind of match in your heart in your mind that it was so necessary for the Christ to come and to suffer and to die and be buried and rise again from the grave in power. Verse 22. The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to a solitary land, and he shall release the goat in the wilderness. Then Aaron shall come into the tent of meeting and take off the linen garments which he put on when he went into the holy place and shall leave them there." Look what he has to do now. After this, putting his hands on the filthy goat, And if you will, imputing the sins of the people under the filthy goat, now he's coming back into the presence of God and he has to take off his garments and bathe. Look at this. He shall bathe his body, verse 24, with water. in a holy place and put on his clothes and come forth and offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people and make atonement for himself and for the people. He has to atone for himself again because our sins are so filthy before a holy and righteous God. And whenever you're involved in anything that has to do with our sins, which we all are every day, you have to cleanse yourself before you come before God again. Verse 25, then he shall offer up in smoke the fat of the sin offering on the altar. The one who released the goat as the scapegoat, look what he has to do, shall wash his clothes and bathe his body with water. And afterward, he shall come into the camp. But the bowl of the sin offering and the goat of the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the holy place, shall be taken where? Where was Jesus taken? Outside the city walls. Outside the city. Shall be taken outside the camp, and they shall burn their hides, their flesh, and their refuse in the fire. Then the one who burns them shall wash his clothes and bathe his body with water. Then afterward, he shall come into the camp. This shall be a permanent statute for you in the seventh month on the 10th day of the month. You shall humble your souls and do not do any work, whether the native or the alien who sojourns among you. For it is on this day that atonement shall be made for you to cleanse you. You will be cleaned from all your sins before the Lord. It is to be a Sabbath of solemn rest for you, that you may humble your souls. It is a permanent statute. So the priest who is anointed and ordained to serve as priest in his father's place shall make atonement. He shall thus put on the linen garments, the holy garments, and make atonement. For the holy sanctuary, he shall make atonement. For the tent of meeting and for the altar, he shall also make atonement. Are you with me? for the priests and for all the people of the assembly. Now you shall have this as a permanent statute to make atonement for the sons of Israel for all their sins once every year, and just as the Lord had commanded Moses, so he did. I don't know if you guys caught that. I hope you did. There is so many images, illustrations, so many things here. Christ did all this in himself, by himself, when he lived a perfect, holy, sinless life. He obeyed the very law of God, every bit of it. And he laid down his life as a sacrifice pleasing to God. On the cross, he took our sins. They were imputed to him. And he died, and he took them sins with him forever. We are no longer guilty of the penalty of sin. It was placed on him and sent away. As a propitiation, he pleased God and he appeased the righteous wrath of God on our behalf. We're no longer under the wrath of God. We're no longer headed straight to hell. Our wrath has been placated. by Christ. He took our sins away, and he pleased and placated the wrath of God on our behalf. This was the Levitical sacrificial system. Once a year, the high priest of Israel was to enter the most holy place in order to make atonement for himself, for his household, and for all the assembly of Israel. The two goats were to be offered, one as a sacrifice and another as a scapegoat that bore the sins of the people and was banished from the presence of the Lord. Side note, by the way, this took place on the cross when God turned his face away and Jesus cried out, what did he say? My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? This took place on the cross. That's what that was about. It wasn't because Christ deity left him somehow, as some would try to say, he remained fully God. But when he took our sins as the scapegoat was sent into the wilderness away from the presence of God. So God turned his face away. And of all the brutal acts of the beating of Christ, of the crucifixion of Christ, do you know that was the worst of all? That the father turned his face away from the son. The blood of the sacrificial goat was to be sprinkled on the mercy seat, the covering of the Ark of the Covenant, where atonement was made. Leviticus 17, 11, the life of the flesh is in the blood. God has given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life. The entire principle of the sacrificial system is just that. Life for life, the innocent for the guilty, the blameless for the blamed, the pure for the impure, and the precious blood for the sin-stained wretch. After this, the high priest was to deal with the scapegoat, and Aaron shall lay both hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over to all the iniquities of the people of Israel all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness. The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area, and he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness. By laying his hands on the head of the scapegoat and confessing all of Israel's sins on it, the high priest was symbolizing that God had reckoned the sin and guilt of the people to be transferred to the goat, imputation. Instead of bearing their own iniquity and thus suffering the punishment of being banished from God's holy presence, i.e., cut off from his people, Interesting. What does it say about Jesus in Isaiah 53? He will be what cut off from his people. The people of Israel had their sin imputed to a substitute. The innocent scapegoat bore the sin, guilt, and punishment of the people and was banished in their place. By sprinkling the sacrificial blood of one substitute on the mercy seat and by virtue of the imputation of sin to a second substitute, the priests atoned for Israel's sins and the people were released from punishment. Now, Another picture of Old Testament sacrifice, the only other one that rivals the Day of Atonement in significance for Israel, is where? The Passover. But as you guessed, we're out of time. So we're going to get to that one next week, Lord willing. Father, we thank you for your word. God, we thank you for Just helping us to understand, Lord. And I do pray that you would do a mighty work among your people. Help us to see, God, all that you have done to commune with your people, God. You're holy. Your presence is holy. You cannot look upon sin with favors, Habakkuk tells us. You cannot approve of sin, God. Therefore, in order for man to be able to commune with you, a sacrifice had to take place. Not only a sacrifice of the shedding of blood, but also a sacrifice of imputation where the sins were sent away on the scapegoat, God. All this was brought about in the consummation of time in Christ when he lived the perfect, holy, sinless life, gave that life as a sacrifice to you, an offering to you, God, to appease your righteous wrath so that in being pleased with that sacrifice, you would allow our sins to be placed on him and he would pay the penalty for our sins he would take the guilt and shame for our sins upon himself and he would take that guilt and that shame and that penalty and that judgment far away as you turned your face as he cried out my god my god why have you forsaken me but then after that he raised his voice, surrendered his spirit, God, and you accepted him and received him as the only sacrifice for sins, as the expiation, as the propitiation, as the substitutionary penal sacrifice for the sins of your people. And we now, we now reap the benefits of the work of Christ. This is why Jesus said he is the way, the truth, and the life. The only way to the father is through the son. God, thank you. Thank you so much for what you have done for us. Help us to never lose sight of this God. Father, we pray for our service today, the worship service. Would you please bless it? May everything be done for your glory. We pray for our pastor as he gives your word this morning, Lord. We pray for all who will be here in attendance. God, please help us to be students of your word. Please help us to obey the truths of your word. And God, again, we pray that our hearts and minds be stayed on you in an attitude and a spirit of worship. If there's anybody here that's truly not saved, may they come to receive these truths by grace, through faith in Christ, as the Holy Spirit tears out the heart of stone, replaces it with the heart of flesh, enabling them to respond. We love you, we praise you, and all this we pray in Jesus' name, amen. Any questions, comments, concerns? So you know it full well. OK. Seriously, no questions? You guys good?