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00:00:01 [Applause] [Music] all right our scripture reading today comes from genesis 18. let me read verse 1 the lord appeared to abraham near the great trees of mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby when he saw them he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground he said if i found favor in your eyes my lord do not pass your servant by let a little water be brought and then you may all wash your feet
00:00:54 and rest under this tree let me get you something to eat so that you can be refreshed and then go on your way now that you have come to your servant very well the answer do as you say so abraham hurried into the tent to sarah quick he said get three seers of the finest flower and knead it and bake some bread then he ran to the herd and selected a choice tender cough and gave it to a servant who hurried to prepare it he then brought some curds and milk and the calf that was prepared and set these
00:01:23 before them while they ate he stood near under near them under a tree where's your wife sarah they asked him they're in the tent he said then one of them said i will surely return to you about this time next year and sarah your wife will have a son now sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent which was behind him abraham and sarah were already very old and sarah was past the age of childbearing so sarah laughed to herself and she thought after i am worn out and my lord is old will i now have this
00:01:58 pleasure. then the lord said to abraham why did sarah laugh and say well i really have a child now that i'm old is anything too hard for the lord i will return to you at the appointed time next year and sarah will have a son sarah was afraid so she lied and said i did not laugh but he said yes you did laugh 16 when the men got up to leave they looked down towards sodom and abraham walked along with them to see them on their way then the lord said shall i hide from abraham what i am about to do abraham will surely become a great and
00:02:34 powerful nation and all nations on earth will be blessed through him for i have chosen him so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the lord by doing what is right and just so that the lord will bring about for abraham what he has promised him then the lord said the outcry against sodom and gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous that i will go down to see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me if not i will know the men turned away
00:03:06 and went toward sodom but abraham remained standing before the lord then abraham approached him and said will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked what if there are 50 righteous people in the city will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of 50 righteous people in it far be it from you to do such a thing to kill the righteous with the wicked treating the righteous and the wicked alike far be it from you will not the judge of all the earth do right the lord said if i find 50 righteous
00:03:37 people in the city of sodom i will spare the whole place for their sake then abraham spoke up again now that i have been so bold as to speak to the lord though i am nothing but dust and ashes what if the number of righteous is less is five less than fifty will you destroy the whole city for a lack of five people if i find 45 there he said i will not destroy it once again he spoke to him what if only 40 are found there he said for the sake of 40 i will not do it then he said may the lord not be angry
00:04:12 but let me speak what if only 30 can be found there he answered i will not do it if i find 30 there abraham said now that i have been so bold to speak to the lord what if only 20 can be found there he said for the sake of 20 i will not destroy it then he said may the lord not be angry but let me just let me speak just once more what if only 10 can be found there he answered for the sake of 10 i will not destroy it when the lord had finished speaking with abraham he left and abraham returned home let's pray
00:04:50 heavenly father i want to thank you lord that we can gather here today and we can sit at home and and tune into the service father god there are people here and people at home who who love you and want to hear from you lord they need your touch they need your refreshment they need your encouragement so lord i pray that your truth will come alive to them today i pray that you speak to us all through your word in jesus name amen all right how are we all doing today this is quite a unique experience it looks like a like
00:05:26 an exam hall right here you're all sitting apart with your masks on i'm very thankful that the sop does not require me to wear a mask so that is great man respect to bustling and the worship team for doing that whole worship set with a mask on it's good to be back i had to record two sermons online during the during the mco and i'll tell you it's much much nicer speaking to people rather than to a camera and so if you're watching online or if you're seated here can we can we just give a round of
00:06:01 applause to the multimedia team i think they've done a great job don't you think yeah thank you guys very much for making church happen for us we're continuing on today with the story of abraham it's an adventurous journey that starts off with god making this this wonderful promise in genesis 12 to to abraham telling him that he's going to be a great nation that anyone who blesses him i will bless anyone who curses him our curse and that all the nations on the earth will be blessed through him but for years
00:06:39 and years and years abraham and sarah are called to wait for over 20 years god tests them he prepares them he strengthens their faith to see if they would continue to believe god to be a promise-keeping god and so they journey and they journey and they have their their high points and they definitely have their their low points but every step of the way lingering at the back of their heads is this promise this promise that god has given to them let's uh let's recap where where we're at since genesis 12. so in genesis 12
00:07:16 god gives them the promise genesis 13 abraham trusts god to keep his promise and allows nephew his his nephew lot to have the first pick of the land when they separate genesis 14 four kings and their armies attack sodom and gomorrah and they capture a lot and plunder the city when abram hears about this he chases after those kings he defeats them and he saves lot and the residents of sodom and gomorrah 15 god renews his covenant with abraham but he takes it a step further when when only god not abraham passes
00:07:51 through the sacrificed animal carcasses which means that that no matter what happens god would fulfill his covenant with abraham 16 sarah becomes impatient and asks abraham to sleep with her servant hagar so that they can build this this great nation that god had promised them through her 17 god changes abraham's name to abraham and sarai to sarah he institutes circumcision as a sign of the covenant and that's where we're at today in genesis 18. right okay so let's run through verses one to five
00:08:35 we read that abraham notices these three men these three strangers journeying together and he immediately calls out to them he runs out to them and calls them in for some refreshments from verse one we as in the readers we know that god is one of those men right god is one of those men walking towards abraham we know that i'm not so sure abraham knows that because you see his greeting he's greeting in verse 3. he says if i found favor in the eye in your eyes my lord small l when he finds out that it is god he's
00:09:13 speaking to later on in the passage he always refers to god as the lord capital l so if you look down at uh verse 27 now that i have been so bold as to speak to the lord capital l verse 30 then he said may the lord not be angry so i don't think that abraham yet knows that it is god he's speaking to and if this is correct then abraham is a man of great hospitality right there these three strangers on the road and he hurries out to them and calls them in for refreshments notice that he's hurrying all over the place he hurries
00:09:55 here he calls them in quickly do this and he runs to his wife tells her to prepare the bread runs to a servant collects collects the calf right he's running here and there he's 99 years old abraham is an old man by now and you can see him just hurrying wanting to be hospitable to these men verse two he bows low verse three he calls them lords three seers of the finest flower this is about 16 kg and so when i did some googling i found out that that's enough to make 25 loaves of bread for three men he wanted
00:10:32 to make sure that they had everything that they can that they could eat right he wanted to make sure that they had more than they could eat so that they could take some for the rest of their journey he runs and selects a choice tender calf in verse seven remember that these these these tender castles are meant to be for special occasions abraham doesn't care this is a special occasion there are visitors in my home prepare the calf verse 8 he stands while they eat abraham has amazing hospitality he sets
00:11:12 the bar high he gives sacrificially he fulfills verses that are written thousands of years later right hebrews 13 2 says do not forget to show hospitality to strangers for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it surely that's a reference back to what abraham just did matthew 25 40 truly i tell you whatever you did for the least of these brothers and sisters of mine you did for me see abraham understood that everything that he had was given from above he understood that his wealth how did he
00:11:52 get so rich he was given his wealth by kings it's not because he worked hard it's not because he earned it over all those years no it was given to him from above the promise that god gave to him in genesis 12 was not because he was a mighty man it's not because he was a holy man no it was because god chose him abraham understood that even his very life was a gift from god his life was spared twice he lied to two kings about the same thing and they could easily have had him executed so his very life he understood
00:12:31 was a gift from god most of all his status as righteous before god genesis 15 15 6 right god considered him as righteous not because he had earned it not because he was holy so because abraham understood that everything he had came from above he was able to be radically generous he was able to be radically hospitable radically kind even to reach out to strangers on the road god's overflow leads to outreach god's overflow leads to outreach verse 9 where is your wife sarah they asked him they're in the tent he says
00:13:24 they reveal that they are no ordinary men right first of all they know that abraham has a wife okay maybe i'm reading into the text maybe they saw abraham relating with his wife but notice that they use her name and not sarai they use her name sarah which she was only given one chapter ago how would they know that how would these strangers know her name they go on to reveal that there are no ordinary men in verse 10 they reiterate the promise that god had given to them then one of them said i will surely
00:13:59 return to you about this time next year and sarah your wife will have a son you know what's odd about that they they could have just told abraham the promise again reiterated the promise again to abraham without asking about sarah why did they ask where's your wife sarah it's not because they needed to know where she was it's because they knew she was listening the message was not for abraham it was for sarah every other time god reassures and reiterates the promise it was to abraham this time the message
00:14:41 was for sarah each of us needs to have our own faith and our own relationship with god we can't rely on the faith of others we can't rely on dr peter's faith we can't rely on our parents faith our youth leaders faith no we need to have our own faith and our own relationship with god then we get to verse 11. abraham and sarah were already very old and sarah was past the age of childbearing so sarah laughed to herself and she thought after i'm worn out and my lord is all will i now have this pleasure she doubts
00:15:18 she says verse 11 says she's past the age of childbearing the esv says the way of women had ceased to be with sarah so biologically it was impossible for her at this stage in her life to have a child it was not possible for an 89 year old woman biologically to have a child and then verse 12 she says this after i am worn out this word worn out the hebrew word is bala it's a and it's a very negative word to to be using on yourself or to anyone really it means to fail it doesn't just mean old and worn out it
00:15:58 means to to be useless to be used up right it's a very negative term and so you see she she doesn't she doesn't seem very bitter right look at her response after i'm worn out and my lord is old well i now have this pleasure and then she chuckles right she doesn't seem bitter she's not saying oh god i've been waiting so many years for you she's not angry she's not oh here we go the promise again stomps around flips chairs but she doesn't even seem hopeful she hears the promise again and she chuckles
00:16:37 she laughs to herself i can i can almost picture what's going on in her mind i can almost hear her thoughts her saying god i've wanted a child since i was a young girl but you never gave one to me i was barren and then at the age of 65 you gave this amazing promise to abraham you said that he's going to be a great nation wow all the nations on the earth will be blessed through him wow here's my chance so it is possible i am going to have a child yes and so we tried and we tried but month after month after month we
00:17:19 were disappointed and disappointed and disappointed and months turned to years years turned to decades god i am 89 years old i know this is no longer going to happen i trust you god i trust that you are going to make abraham into a great nation i trust that you are going to keep your promise i trust that all the nations on earth will be blessed through him but it won't be through me i can't have a baby anymore i'm 89 years old god i've waited for you 24 years 24 years i'm tired god i'm tired of waiting
00:18:02 i'm tired of hoping please don't give me any more hope i trust you're going to do it somehow some way you're going to do it and i'll be by his side but i know it's not going to be through me notice how god responds in verse 13. then the lord said to abraham remember he's talking to abraham knowing that sarah is eavesdropping behind the tent why did sarah laugh and say well i really have a child now that i'm old he takes away by the way he takes away all the negative terms that sarah uses on herself he doesn't
00:18:41 use that word bala worn out useless failure verse 14 we notice that he doesn't explode right he doesn't rebuke her for her lack of faith he comforts her and he reiterates the promise once again he says it again i will return next year and he puts a timeline on this he says i will return next year and he uses her name again verse 14. i will return to you at the appointed time next year and sarah will have a son i am going to keep my promise i am going to make abraham into a great nation all the nations on earth will be blessed
00:19:28 through him but it's going to be through you sarah not hagar not ishmael through you sarah so even though she lies in the presence of god she gets scared and says oh i i didn't laugh he's merciful he's tender he's gentle in his response god is present in our sorrow god is present in our sorrow verse 16 the men get up to leave right and abraham as the good host that he is he walks along with them he walks them off and before abraham starts this this iconic exchange right this haggling intercession with god i want you to
00:20:19 notice how the conversation is set up right so firstly in verse 17 god says something very interesting he says shall i hide from abraham what i'm about to do right now we've all said this in in in some form or fashion right something like i don't know if i should tell you this but haven't we all said that before salome likes to do this one she goes you know what happened oh never mind that's what she likes to do it's a little annoying but but what she's trying to say is i want to talk to you about something
00:20:53 there's something on my heart right she's already made up in her mind that she wants to tell me this god has already made up his mind in his heart that he wants to tell abraham what he's about to tell him it's an expression of trust and intimacy it's saying there's something that's close to my heart and it's something that i'm not comfortable telling just anyone but i'd like to tell you right that's what god is saying secondly in verses 20 to 21 god tells abraham that the outcry and the evil of sodom
00:21:30 and gomorrah has reached his ears and he's going down to see if the reports match to see if if the reports are true or not but abraham knows exactly what god is saying he's not going to check the place out he's going down there to judge the place he's going down there to destroy sodom and gomorrah god does not need to check out reports god is everywhere at all times he's omnipresent he's omniscient he knows and abraham knows that abraham also knows what's going on in sodom and gomorrah he lives nearby
00:22:11 lot his nephew lives in sodom and gomorrah he knows the evil and the wickedness of those cities and he knows how god deals with grave sin the flood the global flood it happened only 350 years ago 350 years ago abraham knows exactly what god is saying god is saying i'm going to go down there and i am going to destroy that city thirdly verse 22 the men turned away and went towards sodom but abraham remained standing before the lord then abraham approached him it's almost as if god orders the angels to go ahead i can just
00:23:00 i just picture it god going he just nods his head and he's he hangs back he stays back right because he wants to be alone with his friend his child his son abraham so you see before this high priestly exchange before god and abraham god sets up the entire conversation firstly god establishes that this is a privilege that he is affording only to abraham secondly god reveals what he's about to do he reveals that he is about to destroy sodom and gomorrah and thirdly he hangs back with abraham as an invitation for
00:23:41 abraham to discuss the matter with him god could have easily just gone ahead carried out justice destroyed the cities but instead he seeks out his friend abraham because god is a god who treasures intimacy with us i've uh i have a couple of friends from uh from school and their their daughter just turned two years old a couple of weeks back i i remember seeing the facebook post they were picked they went to the beach they went to a cafe and bought her ice cream and there were these pictures and the caption that my
00:24:18 friend wrote she said gracie has just turned two years old today not sure who had more fun gracie or daddy right why would daddy be the one to have more fun is it because her dad loves the beach is it because her dad really really loves ice cream no that's not why she said that why she said that is because she knows that her dad loves gracie he loves spending time with her he loves splashing water with her he loves chasing her around picking her up throwing her up in the air and seeing her laugh seeing her smile
00:25:00 he loves seeing her eyes light up when she sees all the flavors he loves being the one to say which flavor do you want i'll get it for you that's what he loves he loves intimacy with his daughter and i can just i can just picture god being the same way my my friend is a he's a he's a big tough guy but when it comes to his daughter he's like a stick of butter he just melts right and i kind of feel like god is is the same way i kind of see see god like sort of giggle to himself when when we're happy
00:25:38 when we're smiling oh sam you sure you want to say that that god's like a stick of butter that god melts yeah i think i think it's okay i don't think it's blasphemy the bible said that the bible says that god is a good father the primary illustration in our minds of god should be that he is a good father and when i think of a good father with his child i think of melting butter that's what i think of and so i think it's okay to say that that god is happy that god smiles when we smile that god cries when
00:26:16 we cry have you ever felt alone have you ever felt far from god distant have you ever felt unworthy steeped in sin maybe i'm too dirty for god have you ever felt spiritually dry let me tell you it's never because god is choosing to keep a distance it's not be god is not a distant father who is too busy with work who can't play right now who has better things to do no he's ever present he's ever willing he's ever eager he's ever available always all the time he's the god of love one john 4 7. he's the god whose love is as strong as
00:27:07 death and whose jealousy is as unyielding as the grave song of songs chapter eight verse six the god who said every everyone who comes to me i will not cast away john 6 37 the god of whom david wrote one thing i ask and i would seek to dwell in the house of the lord and to gaze upon his beauty all the days of my life psalm 27 4 the god who is called the good shepherd who leads us by still waters and refreshes our soul psalm 23 are you far from him do you long for him do you want to be intimate with him do you feel like
00:27:50 oh god is too busy running the universe he doesn't have time to listen to my petty prayers let me tell you he has time he wants time with us he wants time with you and he wants time with me turn to god seek him and he will be ready to embrace you like the good father embraced his prodigal son when he returned because god treasures intimacy god treasures intimacy so let's recap what we've learned right god's overflow leads to outreach god is present in our sorrow and god treasures intimacy with us
00:28:40 verse 23 then abraham approached him and said will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked what if there are 50 righteous people in the city will you really sweep it away will not the judge of all the earth do what is right wow abraham hits the ground running he wastes no time he tells god god are you sure what you're about to do is in line with your justice god what if there are 50 righteous people there will you still destroy the city how does god respond to to abraham's objection well let's read verse 26
00:29:24 the lord said if i find 50 righteous people i'll spare the whole place what god doesn't lash out in anger right he doesn't rebuke abraham for for questioning his holy justice he doesn't explain to abraham how he cannot contradict his own nature and be unjust no instead he swaps places with abraham he puts abraham in the role of judge of all the earth he says okay what's your judgment what's your verdict 50 righteous people you got it you got it abraham can you imagine god making one of us the judge of all the earth for one day
00:30:08 one of you one of me or just me right either one can you imagine what all the things i would do i think in my head all the things i would do in that one day man i would set things right i would plead the cause of the weak i would protect the fatherless i would send people to jail who are who are being evil and wicked i would wrong all the rights in this world so abraham continues right he's he's been given this privilege so he continues okay well god what if there's five less than what i just asked for 45
00:30:48 what do you think god 45 40 30 20 10 the entire time he asks he knows that at any point god could come to the end of his patience and zap him or something right so he speaks very humbly right notice how he speaks to god verse verse 20 27 for example though i am nothing but dust and ashes god he's very humble verse 30 may the lord not be angry i just i envision him sort of bowing down may the lord not be angry now that i've been so bold to speak lord so he's humble but he's bold enough to ask so abraham haggles god down to 10
00:31:37 righteous people and it seems like a bit of a bit of an anti-climax right what are we all thinking what are we all waiting for abraham to ask we're all waiting for abraham to ask lord though i'm dust and ashes may i speak just one more time what if only one person can be found in those cities one righteous person will you still wipe away the entire city that's what we're all waiting for right to which i think abraham would have replied you were there you were not talking to almighty god right there a few theories of i've read
00:32:14 some commentaries of why people think abraham stops at ten right number one is theory number one is he was afraid to push god over push god over the edge and lose everything he bargained for he was afraid that god would say oh enough get out of here let me destroy the city right he thought theory number two is he thought that there were actually there were potentially ten righteous people there he knows that there's lot lot's wife the two daughters that's four the two daughters were pledged to be
00:32:45 married to two men so that's six maybe those two men had righteous parents there you go ten surely surely in that city there must be 10 10 righteous people the third theory is maybe he thought 10 was fair i get the feeling and the bible doesn't tell us right so this is all conjecture but i think it was a mix of all three i think in abraham's eyes it would have been fair for god to destroy the cities if he could not even find ten righteous people there even if it meant that lot and his family would be killed in the process i think
00:33:29 i think abraham would have mourned for his family but in his heart he would have said you know what to eradicate the evil of sodom and gomorrah from this earth it's worth sacrificing nine righteous people now since we know the story we know that they there were not even ten righteous people so by abraham's standard of fairness god was justified to wipe out the whole city right but we also know from the next chapter that god does not wipe out the whole city he saves every righteous person there god was not willing to let
00:34:11 even one innocent person be sacrificed he takes out the only righteous people in the city it only amounted to lot and his two daughters everyone else was destroyed everyone who died that day died because their hearts were wicked so what's the lesson here what can we learn from this god is more fair and more just than any of us will ever be he's more fair and more just than any of us will ever be god was not willing that even one person should be unjustly destroyed god cannot contradict his own nature he cannot do
00:34:54 anything unjust that's who god is it's impossible we think that we would set so many things right if we were made the judge of the earth well is either you or i the ancient of days is anyone here the alpha and omega does anyone know the beginning from the end is anyone here outside of time are our ways above god's ways are our thoughts above god's thoughts no we do not know what decisions we make today how they will affect tomorrow we have no idea and while we're on the topic of justice how just
00:35:34 are we really let's be honest how just are we really did you react justly the last time someone cut you off in traffic or did you honk them pretending like i've never done this before i've never cut anyone off in my life how did you react were you just are you just in how you deal with someone who's wealthy versus someone who's poor are you just i do you speak with a policeman with the same reverence as you speak to a subordinate at work let's say are you as patient with other people's shortcomings and sins
00:36:16 as you are with your own do you treat someone who is very attractive the same way you would treat someone who is not were you just the last time you had an argument with your spouse were you just we are not just we are not fair we are not impartial not even close so don't even start to compare our justice with god's justice no that's like comparing sewage sludge with a bottle of fine wine there's no comparison we have this common misconception that that god owes us something right especially if we're
00:37:01 good and we're honest and we're hard-working right we run our business with integrity we at the back of our mind subconsciously we we sort of believe that god owes us a good life because of how we live right prosperity god owes me health god owes me children god owes me and if life hits us with anything else other than prosperity we go god this is not fair god why me why me after all i've done for you after all i've done for the ministry after all i've done for the church why me this is not fair god
00:37:44 we ought to remember that god owes us absolutely nothing god owes us nothing romans 9 says does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use then there's the the story of job poor job he loses everything he has all his possession all his wealth and even all his children within the span of two chapters he loses it all within the span of two chapters and look how he responds joe 1 20-21 at this job got up tore his robe shaved his head fell to
00:38:24 the ground and worshiped and said naked i come from my mother's womb and naked i will depart the lord gave and the lord has taken away may the name of the lord be praised job understood that god did not owe him anything his possessions his wealth his children were grace gifts from god it's not because god owed those things to him in essence being given justice is being given what we're rightfully owed right so if someone comes up to me and steals my wallet let's say justice is for that person to
00:39:04 give my wallet back right to give me what i'm rightfully owed and for that person to be punished that's what that person is rightfully owed what does god rightfully owe us nothing that's right he owes us nothing our ability you are all seated here today right and those watching online you're watching see seated from your homes our ability to sit and stand is a grace gift of god our our senses our ability to see hear smell taste touch gifts from god you have a job you have a car you have a house
00:39:53 money in the bank clothes in the wardrobe gives from god god doesn't owe us any of that if he took all of that away god would still be just he doesn't rightfully owe us any of that so what i'm saying is if i if i was born blind autistic with with no arms and no legs god would still be just and god would owe me nothing because he's given me the grace of a beating heart right and i say this with some reverence because i have friends who have children born with down down syndrome my friends who have whose wives have
00:40:34 have suffered miscarriages right a friend of mine a junior of mine actually he was younger than me his wife gave birth to a stillborn child at 33 weeks god doesn't owe us anything so sam what are you saying are you saying that i should be happy and dandy at all the injustice that i see in the world right should i be overjoyed because i know that god cannot be just and that he doesn't owe me anything should i be happy when a family member passes away or if i'm being bullied at school or if i find that i have same sex
00:41:14 attractions or if i'm diagnosed with cancer or if my parents are getting a divorce should i be happy if i've been let go from my job and and i don't know how i'm going to support my family what if i'm a victim of abuse should i be happy about that sam is that what you're saying no of course that's not what i'm saying what i'm saying is that through all those things through that pain through that grief through that hurt we can have the assurance that the justice of god does not turn a blind eye we can be assured that god sees
00:41:52 and god will do what is right psalms 146 verse 7-9 he upholds the cause of the oppression gives food to the hungry the lord sets the prisoner free the lord gives sight to the blind the lord lifts up those who are bowed down the lord watches over the foreigner and sustains the fatherless and the widow isaiah 5 16 but the lord almighty will be exalted by his justice and the holy god will be proved holy by his righteous acts isaiah 11 4 but with righteousness he will judge the needy with justice he
00:42:27 will give decisions for the poor of the earth so whatever you're going through whatever grief whatever hurt hope in the justice of god run to the justice of god cling to the justice of god because the god and the judge of all the earth will do what is right he will do what is right you know how i know that i know that because because when god was faced with the decision to leave sin unpunished or to pay the price himself he paid the price himself if i was the judge of all the earth i would have let that one go right if to
00:43:12 honor my own justice i would have to die on a cross i would let that one go but god doesn't he can't he cannot compromise his justice and so the son of god paid the price in full with his blood we sang that song because the sinless savior died my sinful soul is counted free for god the just is satisfying to look on him and pardon me if there was any time that we can cry out god that's not fair it would have been when jesus was on the cross that's when we should have cried out it's not fair because jesus was paying
00:44:00 the price for my sin for your sin he was a sinless savior he did not have any sins of his own but he went to the cross to pay that price because god is a god of justice god is a god of justice so let's let's recap what we've learned today god's overflow leads to outreach god is present in our sorrows god treasures intimacy and god is a god of justice so how can we take these lessons and how can we apply it to our lives well we know and we understand the justice of god we know that it's uncompromising we know
00:44:49 that it's unwavering but we've also unders we also understand the mercies of god right we've all experienced his mercy those of us sitting here or watching at home if you consider yourself a christian you have experienced the mercy of god and because we are recipients of that mercy we have been reconciled to god the book of hebrews says we can now approach the throne of god the throne of grace with confidence we can have intimacy with our abba father so that even in our darkest days in our grief
00:45:30 hurt our sorrow we can experience his presence comforting us supporting us uplifting us encouraging us holding our hand and since we're the recipients of all these spiritual blessings shouldn't we be bursting to share these gifts with others overflow leads to outreach in this year of missions at fbc that's the theme for our church this year how are we living differently from every other year how are we reaching out to the poor and the helpless to the orphan and the fatherless to our neighbors and our colleagues to our
00:46:13 family and our friends how are we how are we reaching out as a church are we sending out more missionaries are we sending out pastors are we sending out evangelists how are we living differently are we discipling fbc members to reach the nations fbc members both young and old by the way right 1928 doesn't just apply to the young adults and the youth right all this gold baby all this gold moses was only 80 when he became a prophet so if you're anything less than 80 you're still good right jesus was a missionary till he
00:46:59 died paul was a missionary till he died james was a pastor till he died john was a very old man still writing letters to edify the church when he died all this gold how are you leveraging your wisdom your knowledge your resources your connections your influence for the kingdom of god at the individual level how are we pushing that agenda are we inviting unbelievers to our homes for meals has our giving increased are our small groups growing god has given us every spiritual blessing does our outreach
00:47:46 reflect that overflow may we be a church that does everything every single thing in the light of fulfilling god's mission for us to preach the gospel to all of creation let's pray heavenly father we love you and we thank you we thank you lord for your word we thank you that you are a just god lord it would be frightening to worship the god of the universe that wasn't just so we thank you lord for your justice we thank you that you want to be intimate with us we thank you lord for blessing us with every spiritual
00:48:28 blessing and i pray that that would overflow into outreach i pray lord all these things in the precious name of jesus amen
