Our God and our Father, we come before you this morning in the name of your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to thank you, Lord, for the health and the strength to bring these tithes and offerings into the storehouse of the Lord. And we pray, Father, that you will give wisdom to the cession, the diaconates, to use them, to steward them wisely for the extension of your kingdom and the propagation of your glory from here to the ends of the earth. We pray, O God, especially as we as a congregation think about calling an assistant to come along here and be a director of ministry in Christ's covenant, that you would give great wisdom to lead us to the right man, that he would come and do us only good and bring blessing to us and we to him as he serves alongside the elders and myself here, O Lord, for your honor. And grant, Father, that as we look to the colleges in Greensboro, Lord, that you would give us an increasing footprint there, both students from our congregation, but also, Lord, an opportunity to witness, to speak, to bring the gospel there. And so we pray, Lord, the God who opened doors for the Apostle Paul, that you'll open doors for us and lead us and guide us, O Lord, that your word will spread rapidly and be glorified in those places, that the minds of young students will be filled up with your glory, O Lord, and that you would enable us to have a part in preparing the next generation of thinkers and lovers and workers, oh God, to be active according to the gospel. For your glory, oh Lord, have mercy. We pray these things in Jesus' name and for your glory, amen. Amen. Well, if you would, please turn with me in your copy of the word of God to Mark's gospel and chapter 14. Mark 14, we'll read from verse 12 down through verse 31. This is the Word of God. Please take heed how you hear. In the first day of unleavened bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover? And he sent two of his disciples and said to them, go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him, and wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, the teacher says, where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples? And he will show you a large upper room, furnished and ready. There prepare for us. And the disciples set out and went to the city and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover. When it was evening, he came with the twelve, and as they were reclining at table and eating, Jesus said, Truly I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me. He began to be sorrowful and to say to him, one after another, is it I? He said to them, it is one of the 12, one who is dipping bread into the dish with me. For the son of man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the son of man is betrayed. It would have been better for that man if he had not been born. And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it, broke it, and gave it to them, and said, take this is my body. And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. And he said to them, this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the day, that day, when I drink it anew in the kingdom of God. When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. And Jesus said to them, you will all fall away, for it is written, I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered. But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee. Peter said to him, even though they all fall away, I will not. And Jesus said to him, truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times. But he said emphatically, if I must die with you, I will not deny you. And they all said the same. The grass withers and the flower falls off, but the word of God endures forever. Well, there's no doubt as we move into this section of Mark's gospel that you kind of feel a sense of inevitability taking over, that the gravitational forces of the cross have their clutches on Jesus and he's being pulled in relentlessly like a little ice cream stick in the Niagara River being pulled toward the falls at the end. And many people read the Gospels and view them like that, that Jesus is kind of the victim of circumstance here. They see only the tragedy. Like if you're watching one of the many movies detailing the Titanic sinking, all the way from the beginning you know how it's going to end up. And you're just waiting for the tragedy and the iceberg to happen. And even as you see the ship making its way toward the iceberg and the man in the cruise nest calls out, iceberg, iceberg, even in your heart you're going, turn faster, turn, you're hoping somehow the ship will turn away. And it never does, of course. But when you read the Gospels honestly and openly, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, you get the impression that Jesus is anything but a victim of circumstance. He's the one in control here. He is dead on time, and the stars are aligning at his command, and history is moving forward relentlessly, and nothing is happening by accident. I'm reminded of R.A. Finlayson, who was a Scottish minister in the 19th century. He's written a wonderful little book called The Cross and the Experience of Our Lord. The Cross and the Experience of Our Lord. It's just wonderful, a classic. But in that, he says, speaking about the cross, the king is here. The one robed in purple, crowned with thorns, was indeed ascending his throne. and his crown was truly the thorns that were the emblems of our sin and our curse." It's interesting, the sign of the curse, the thorns were pressed onto his head as he experienced the curse. What, though the throne be a cross, from it he rules and governs his kingdom. With those pierced hands, he lifted empires off their hinges. He stemmed the flowing tide of history. And he still, with those pierced hands, shapes and governs the ages. Amen, indeed. And so we come to the cross here, and we listen to Mark as he's setting the scene for the cross. And Mark is telling you why Jesus had to die. And it wasn't a tragedy and it wasn't an accident, it was on purpose. And there are three reasons why Christ had to die, why the pieces of his father's plan are moving together to put the Son onto the cross. There are larger forces at work than the jealousy of the Jews and the greed of Judas and the insecurity of Pilate. It's the father at work here putting his son on the cross in our place for our sins because he loves you. And there's no other way, no other way for God to procure a just mercy. Not even God can wipe out sin unjustly. It's gotta be just if there's to be mercy. God cannot. deny himself. Another commentator, James Edwards, says, Jesus does not cower or retreat as plots are hatched against him. He displays, as he has throughout the gospel, a sovereign freedom and authority to follow a course he has freely chosen in accordance with God's plan. Judas and others may act against him, but they do not act upon him. So why did Christ die? Three reasons. First of all, Jesus died to fulfill the shadows and types of the Old Testament. The shadows and types of the Old Testament. The Old Testament is the shadow lands. The New Testament is the substance casting the shadow back onto the Old Testament. And there's no clearer picture of that than in the Passover. It's the Passover. that marks the time and the season when Christ dies. Verse 12, and on the first day of unleavened bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, where will you have us go and prepare for you the Passover? And verse 16, and the disciples set out and went to the city and found it just as Christ had told them, and they prepared The Passover, it's a new accident. The Passover lambs are being sacrificed and Paul says to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 5 verse 7, cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump as you really are unleavened for Christ our Passover lamb has been sacrificed. New accident then, the Passover lambs, the shadows are being slaughtered. as the Passover lamb, the substance, the lamb of God from before the foundation of the world, appointed to carry the sin of the world, would be slaughtered outside Jerusalem that weekend. Of course, Passover was one of the great religious feasts of the Old Testament. All of the Jews in the land would have gone to Jerusalem. Josephus tells us 2 1⁄2 million people Jews were there at that time. That's hard to believe. He is a contemporary historian, but it's hard to conceive there were that many in the ancient city of Jerusalem. That's the number antiquity has handed down to us, and that about 250,000 lambs were slaughtered in Jerusalem that day, and maybe the next day. Some people say they staggered the slaughter, but 250,000 lambs. I mean, literally, the Temple Mount must have been a bloody mess. Blood everywhere, priests slippering on the blood, animals crying out as they breathed their last. It was a horrendous picture of what sin is and what sin does and the price, mercy, must receive if it is to be shown, or justice must receive for mercy to be shown. It all pointed back, of course, to the time of the Exodus when Israel came out of Egypt, and the angel of death is coming down. And that night in the darkness, every single household would either have a dead son or a dead lamb. There was no way to escape death. Either the son would die unless a lamb did die. Every household, either a dead lamb or a dead son. Stark contrast, isn't it? And from that time, God ordained the Passover supper and its intricate proceedings to point Israel back to the time he redeemed them from the bondage of Egypt, pointing them forward to a different bondage, a deeper bondage, our bondage to sin. And the Passover supper was held in a very particular order. The lamb was eaten and there was bread, of course, there as well, and salt water, reminding them of the tears of Egypt. and four cups that the head of the household would make his way through as they were going through the supper, there'd be the four cups. And those four cups correspond to the four promises in Exodus 6, 6-7, and that there'll be rescue from Egypt, freedom from slavery, redemption by God's power, and a renewed relationship with God. And when they came to the third cup, which was called the cup of blessing, The presider would use words from Deuteronomy 26, we're almost there in our readings, and he would bless the elements, the breads, the bitter herbs, and the lamb, and would say that these things are symbolic of the bitterness of life in Egypt. This bread is the bread of your affliction, he would say. Pictures the affliction. the affliction which our fathers ate in the wilderness. But on this Passover, Christ is the head of the household. And as they come through the Passover supper and they get to the third cup, he breaks with tradition. like bringing out salmon at Thanksgiving, it's just not what you do. And he breaks the tradition, and instead of saying this bread is the cup, is the bread of your affliction, he says, this bread is my body, which is broken for you. This is the bread of my affliction. More about that in a second. But these two great feasts are weaved together, the Passover and the Lord's Supper. They're woven together. Christ is the substance. The Passover is only the shadow as he dies in our place and for our sins. You may say to me this morning, You know, we were reading from Deuteronomy and all those laws about taking a wife in battle and war, and you might think that just sounds so archaic. Well, don't forget, maybe you're here this morning and you're not a Christian. You have to ask yourself the question, okay? If you don't begin with God and his morality, where are you going to begin? If there's no God, then there is really no lawgiver behind the universe. that morality is no different really from the table manners people use, which knife and fork you select to eat a various part of the meal with. But it's just human convention. The universe itself is not shaped according to righteousness. It's not designed and made by a law giver if there's no God. And so, how can you even begin to talk about justice that really means something if you don't begin with a judge and a law giver? It's a huge problem for the atheist. And you may say, well, human beings over the centuries have designed these laws, but they evolve, and they change over time. And is there any real standard behind those laws of right and wrong? And the atheist has to say, no, it's just the way things seem to work well in society. So how can you even speak meaningfully of justice And if you're gonna condemn God for being unjust or his laws by being foolish, what standard are you going to use to judge God with? It's a problem. But the liberals will often say, well, you know, this slaughterhouse religion just seems so barbaric. And the answer is, no, it's not barbaric. The reason why someone has to die in place of sin is that sin really is that serious, and that there is no other way for God to deal with sin. Sin deserves as a capital crime against the majesty of heaven to sin against him, to defy him, to reject him, to close your ears to him, to close your eyes to him, which we all do every day by nature. All across this world, human beings are rejecting the revelation of God in creation, in their conscience. They're turning away from the God who is there and who has spoken to them, and they're deciding to worship either another God they designed for themselves, it's more user-friendly, or they worship something in creation and make it their functional God, whether it be sex or money or something. Generally it's sex and shekels are the two things people decide to worship if they don't worship God. But nonetheless, but the witness of The Bible is that sin is immensely serious, and that it deserves death, and that the only way it can be removed is through a sacrifice. And even that instinct is actually quite deeply found in mankind, isn't it? If you look at mankind through the world, most of the religions in the world, and to some extent in a twisted form, requires a sacrifice for the gods to give mercy. The difference, though, in the creation in Christianity is that the sacrifice is one that God requires, but it's also one that God provides. Listen to one of our Presbyterian fathers, James Henley Thornwell, when he speaks about this in the 19th century. He that stands beneath the cross understands sorry, he who stands beneath the cross and understands the scene, dares not sin. Not because there's hell beneath him or an angry God above him, but because holiness is felt to reign there. The ground on which he treads is sacred. The glory of the Lord encircles him, and like Moses, he must remove the shoes from his feet. The cross is a venerable spot. I love to linger around it. not merely that I may read my title to everlasting life, but that I may study the greatness of God. I use the term advisedly. God never appears to be so truly great, so intensely holy, as when, from the pure energy of principle, he gives himself in the person of his son to die, rather than that his character should be impugned. Who dares prevaricate with moral distinctions and talk of death as a greater evil than dishonor when God the mighty maker died rather than that truth or justice should be compromised? Who at the foot of Calvary can pronounce sin to be a slight matter? This is God's mind in the subject. And you can have your own mind if you want. but you'd be wrong to disagree with God. Christ has to die because to fulfill all of the types and shadows of the Old Testament that point forward to this great moment of movement in human history when a righteous man will die in the place of a sinful people. That's the first thing. The second reason why Christ had to die was to fulfill Scripture, to fulfill the prophecies of Scripture. Verse 21, for the Son of Man goes as it is written of Him. But woe to that man by whom the son of man is betrayed. It would have been better for that man if he had not been born. And then verse 27. And Jesus said to them, you will all fall away for it is written, I will strike the shepherd. Zechariah 13 verse seven. I will strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered. Notice this, God is striking the shepherd and the sheep. are scattered. Those are just two prophecies, that Christ would be betrayed and that his disciples would forsake him and flee in his hour of need. But there are scores of prophecies in the Old Testament Different people have counted them in different ways, but there are at least 71 prophecies, and some say more, I have not counted them this week, that point to the death of Christ on the cross. It's amazing, you know, how much of the Old Testament is contained with prophecy. About 30% of the Old Testament points forward to prophecy. Not all Christ, of course, but 30% of the Old Testament. The holy books of the Buddhist books, no prophecy. The Koran, no prophecy. But Christianity is dominated by prophecy. And the one thing that all of those prophecies have come true. They prophesied about Jesus, where he would be born, How of a virgin, his lifestyle, his humility, his meekness, his concern for the weak, his healing miracles, giving sight to the blind, strengthening the legs of the lame, raising the dead, all the way through to his final week in life, and how many of the prophecies were fulfilled that went down to the very level of the way he would die, being pierced through on a cross, his clothes being divided, Betrayed by one of the men breaking bread with him. Raised again, not seeing corruption. Daniel even prophesied he would die in AD 33. Amazing. All of these prophecies point forward. I was reading recently about David Greenglass, who was a World War II traitor. He gave our atomic secrets to the Russians, and then he fled to Mexico. And when he was in Mexico, we had to meet his Russian agent at a fountain, and they gave him six different ways to identify himself so they would know it wasn't kind of the CIA there. The first one was, he had to write a note when he got to the, hotel, he'd write a note to the secretary he was meeting, signing his name as I. Jackson. Then after three days he was to go to the Plaza de Colón in Mexico City. Three, on the third day he was to stand there before the Statue of Columbus with his middle finger placed in a guidebook Fifth, when he was approached, he was to say it was a magnificent statue and that he was from Oklahoma. And then lastly, the secretary would then give him his passport. But here are all of the signs. He had to do all these things, just five of them, to kind of identify himself as the right candidate. And we've got hundreds of Old Testament prophecies, all pointing forward to Jesus Christ. Last Sunday, just turn back just to Isaiah 53 a second here. Here's Isaiah, we looked at this last Sunday evening, but just look at this, the staggering nature of this, prophecy. Who else could this possibly be? We looked last Sunday morning at Isaiah 52, the last verses. But look at the next chapter, 53. He was despised, verse three, and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, as one from whom men hide their faces. He was despised and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. So he wasn't just killed by men. He was struck down by God, Isaiah said. This great servant who's coming, as Isaiah's prophesying, with this great hero who will come at the end of time and who will bring redemption and salvation. And he's this kind of weird figure. He's small like a baby and as big as God. He's called the wonderful counselor, the prince of peace, the everlasting father, the mighty God. He is exalted to the highest place in heaven beyond any created existence, and here he's being struck down by God. Verse five, he was wounded for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes, with his scourging literally, we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. And Christ did, he died in silence. Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. And he was silent, of course, not because he had nothing to say in his defense, but because he had nothing to say in your defense. You are that guilty, and so am I. When he was condemned for us, there was no defense to be given, because no defense could be given. By oppression and judgment, he was taken away. And as for his generation, he considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people. And they made his grave with the wicked, but he was with a rich man in his death. There was a change. Remember, as Joseph of Arimathea took the body of Christ, he didn't go into the common grave with the felons. He went into the rich man's grave cut out of the side of the mountain. Although he had done no violence and there was no deceit in his mouth, yet literally it pleased the Lord to crush him, to put him to grief. When his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring, he shall prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul, he shall see and be satisfied. By his knowledge shall the righteous one my servant make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will divide him a portion with the many. He shall divide the spoiled with the strong because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors. Yet he bore the sin of many and makes intercession for the transgressors. As I wrote these words 740 years before the birth of Christ. And they point forward so clearly. Who could this Christ be? Christ went and he died as it is written to fulfill ancient prophecy. So he fulfills the types and shadows of the Old Testament. He fulfills all of the promises in the Old Testament too in second place. And thirdly, Jesus dies to fulfill the terms of a broken covenant. He died to fulfill the terms of a broken covenant. Verse 22, 25. And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it, broke it and gave it to them. The broken bread's important. This is the new covenant being set up, not new in that it's totally different, but new in that it marks a new chapter of fulfillment, when all of the types and shadows are fulfilled, and everything is bigger and better and brighter because of what Christ has done and because of who Christ is. But the broken bread, that's significant. If you turn back quickly in your Bibles to Genesis 15 a second, you'll see the importance of breaking something and the making of a covenant. The Hebrew verb to make a covenant is the verb karat, which means to cut. To cut, you cut a covenant. Blood is involved in the making of a covenant. And it's important to understand the significance of that blood. We often think of the blood of the covenant as something that cleanses us, and it does. Are you washed in the blood? Or there's power in the blood? But you must realize that before the blood is a sign of mercy and of cleansing, it's actually, first of all, a sign of judgment. That if what you're saying when you cut a covenant is if I break covenant with you, let my blood be shed. And that's symbolized powerfully here when God makes this covenant with Abraham. Now, let's pick up the reading in verse 7. And he said to him, God said to him, I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess. But he said, O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it? He said to him, bring me a heifer three years old. a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtle dove, and a young pigeon. Notice God, this isn't something Abraham's designing. God's giving him the recipe, if you like. And he brought him all these, cut them in half, it's important, and laid each half over against the other. And he did not cut the birds in half. And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abraham drove them away. So here's the picture. These animals have been cut in half, and in between there is a pathway. The two halves are opposite one another, and there's a pathway in between these animals. As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abraham. Abraham falls asleep. Just like Adam in the Garden of Eden, he's taken out of the picture because it should be Abraham walking down the broken pieces, down the aisle with God. It should be Abraham and God in there. What they'd be saying would be, if either of us break the covenant, let the one who breaks it be torn apart like these animals. That's the symbolism here. But Abraham is taken out of the picture. He falls asleep. And dreadful and great darkness fell upon him. Then the Lord said to Abraham, no, for certain, that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs, and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted 400 years. But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. As for you yourself, you shall go to your fathers in peace. You shall be buried in a good old age and then they shall come back here in the fourth generation for the iniquity of the amulet is not yet complete. When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. On that day, the Lord made a covenant with Abraham saying, to your offsprings, I give this land from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates and so forth and so on. It's amazing. There need to be two people walking down the aisle in this covenant, just like a marriage. But Abraham's asleep. And you have this smoking torch and this flaming oven, these two apparitions. I believe pictures of God the Father and God the Son burning in their holiness, and they walk down between the pieces. And God says no for certain. How can you know for certain, Abraham? Because there's no way you breaking the covenant can muck this up. The two parties of the covenant are God the Father and God the Son, and they're the ones walking down the middle, and you're passive, you're left to the side. And if this covenant is ever broken, let it be done to us. Or the one of us who is representing you and your people, let it be done to him. what has been done to these pieces. And what happened to those pieces? They were broken apart. And so you take that knowledge and you go forward to the New Testament and you see Jesus saying, as he takes this bread and breaks it and says, this is my body. A body broken into two halves. a body broken for the transgressions of his people. They have sinned, and the self-maledictory oath must fall somewhere. And Jesus is saying, let it fall upon me. Let my body be broken. Let my blood be poured out for many. The cup of blessing and the fourth cup is not taken until the coming of Christ at the end of time. And so why is Christ dying here? It's very clear. All of the imagery points in towards sacrifice. The imagery of the Passover and all the types and shadows of the Old Testament. The imagery of prophecy, the prophesied Messiah would have to die in this way for the sins of his people. And the imagery of the covenant, the broken pieces of the bodies of the animals back in Abraham's day and the broken bread and the shed blood poured out in the sacramental meal. But there's an even deeper reason why Christ had to die. And the reason is because he had to die because you and I are sinners. And even the way Mark tells the story sets that forth for us, doesn't it? Notice how the institution of the Lord's Supper is flanked fore and aft by the sin of the disciples. Jesus says in verse 18, truly I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me. Betrayal. And then after the supper, when they'd sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives and Jesus said to them, you will all fall away, you will all abandon me. But after I am raised, I will go before you to Galilee. And then Peter says, no, they may all fall away, but I won't. But Jesus knew Peter better than Peter knew Peter. He said, no, for the cock crows twice tonight. You will deny me three times. Here are the followers of Jesus, betrayers, cowards, and deniers. That's who they are. That's who we are. We've betrayed this great savior, times beyond counting, but he has not betrayed us. We've abandoned him, but he has not forsaken, he has not abandoned us. We have forsaken him. He's never forsaken us. We have failed him. He has not and he will not fail us. In the midst of all this sin, right in the middle of all this sin, Jesus stands up and says, this is my body which is broken for you. This is my blood which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of trespasses. Hallelujah, what a Savior. that no matter who you are this morning, no matter what you have done, no matter how you have failed and transgressed against God, Jesus is here and he's offering you. Between the picture of the baptismal font and the cleansing of the gospel and the sacramental table and the cost of the gospel, He gives in between, in and through me, his servant, he's offering you the message of the gospel. The price has been paid. Blood has been shed. Forgiveness can be offered. And forgiveness can be received. Because there's coming a day of terrible judgment, Jesus says. Just like in the day of Passover, when God came down to judge Egypt, and he couldn't ignore Israel. They were sinful too. And that night, in every house, there was either a dead son or a dead lamb. And in the great day of judgment, there'll either be dead people, dead sinners, or the price paid by a dead Savior. And it's there. And it's real. And it's not our faith, if you have two Jews, and they're standing next to this knight, and they're going, I'm really frightened, and you're slow-mo, he's saying, I'm really frightened, I'm not really sure that this blood can do it. And his friend, Levi, says, don't be silly, just follow the instructions, kill the lamb, put the blood in the doorpost, you'll be fine. And Levi goes that night, and he kills the lamb, and he puts the blood with great confidence on the doorpost, and they're safe. And then Shlomo, he's terrified, he says, what can blood do? You know, what's blood got to do with it, got to do with it? And he gets the blood, paints it on the doorposts, and stands there, and he quivers in his night, every night he gets up, every hour he gets up, checks the kids, they're all alive, can't believe it. Next morning, is Levi more saved than the other? No, because the power didn't reside in the faith of Shlomo or Levi. The power resides in the blood of the lamb that was shed and put on the doorposts protecting the households. And it's just like this this morning. If you will come to me, Jesus said. There's no more clear historical event in all of history that Jesus Christ died in the darkness under the curse And Daniel said he'll die in AD 33 and the temple and the city will be destroyed some years later, which they were. It's an historical fact. And I'm calling you this morning on the strength of the God witnessing through history and through this act, that if you will put your trust in Jesus, you come with the empty, dirty hands of faith and lay hold of Christ in your soul. He's here this morning. You just send your soul out to him, Lord, have mercy on me. I can give you nothing to earn salvation. I can do nothing to purchase salvation. I come because you have promised to give salvation. The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in the death of Christ. Let's pray together. Oh God, our Father in heaven, we thank you for your mercies that are new every day. Give us faith, Lord, to see in Christ light in the darkness of this world, that though we have sinned against God, God has paid the price, the ransom price of our redemption. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.