Several years ago we had a little boy in the church named Oli Oliver Sweetest one in the world only problem with Oliver is he had two things he had two sisters Who sometimes needed to be rained in they were older than him and he had bad aim now You're probably wondering why those things come into play But let me tell you one day Oliver had been had just had enough of his sisters and he grabbed a rock outside and again chasing them And the sisters dashed inside and so Oliver came in after them and they kind of they ran into the living room And had gone as far as they could go so they could run no more and Oliver leaned back and he threw the rock right at them Having bad aim he missed them and he hit the brand new plasma Flat-screen television Just shattered it and And this is before you know those things just started coming in a box of cereal when they were really expensive and You know the house went from laughing and being squealing and being full of noise to just dead silence and one of his sisters Lucy looked at him and said oh Oliver daddy's going to give it to you when he gets home And I'll he just started crying And dad pulls into the driveway a couple of hours later and I was just Doesn't know what to do and he hears dad walk into the the house and instead of hiding under his bed Which was his first instinct he runs straight to his dad And his dad picks him up. He says why aren't you crying and and he can't hardly get the words out and he finally just Is able to mumble living room and dad walks into the living room and there it is for all to see His pride and joy the most expensive item shattered And it's obvious that it was Ollie's fault Now what would justice demand at the very least Ollie should be disciplined for throwing rocks And honestly if we're gonna be just Ollie should have to pay for that television It wasn't dad that broke it Ollie broke it and Ollie's little and Ollie is poor and dad Does what you know dad is going to do He hugs Ollie and he forgives him and he buys a new television Even though he bought the one that was broken Because he loves Ollie he bears the curse he pays the debt He swallows his anger because he loves Ollie. He was little and he can't do it And and that's what we're studying this this Period between Christmas and Easter we're looking at the cross and how that the story of the cross is a story of God seeing us with a burden that we cannot carry with a debt that we cannot pay and Him paying for it even though we send against him Even though we send against him and that's what I want you to see today is the cross on the cross God has seen us With a curse that we cannot bear With a debt that we cannot pay and he has substituted himself To reconcile us to a love that we cannot lose Please stand as we read from Romans chapter 5 verses 12 through 19 This is the story of all history in seven verses ready Therefore just as sin came into the world through one man and Death through sin and so death spread to all men because all sinned For see sin was indeed in the world before the law was given but sin is not counted where there is no law Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses even over those who sinning was not like the transgression of Adam Who is a type of the one who was to come? But the free gift is not like the trespass For if many died through one man's trespass much more has the grace of God and the free gift of the grace that of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many And the free gift is not like the result of that one man sin For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation But the free gift following many trespasses brought justification For if about because of one man's trespass death reigned through that one man Much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life Through the one man Jesus Christ Therefore as one trespass led to condemnation for all men So the one active righteousness leads to justification and life for all men For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners So by the one man's obedience The many will be made righteous Thus far at the reading of God's word all men are like grass and all of our glories like the flowers of the field and the grass Withers and the flowers fall but not God's word God's word stands forever You may be seated God and his great love saw us with a curse that we could not bear and a debt We could never pay and he reconciled us through his son to a love that we cannot lose The first thing I really want you to see is this curse that we can't bear This curse goes back to Adam's first sin When Adam had one law he had one command obey me about this one tree just obey me about this one tree Everything else is yours. Everything else is beautiful. You are beautiful. Everything is right All you have to do is not eat from this one tree just obey me about that And Adam saw the tree and he saw that it was good and he saw that it was Beautiful, he saw that it was desirable to to bring wisdom and so he ate from the one tree And God said on the day that you eat of it you will surely die and on the day that Adam ate of it death invaded the world Death was the the curse And God comes to Adam and Eve and he says this is the curse you're going to bear Eve in pain you will bear children and Pain you will rear your children you will raise them and Your marriage your desire is going to be for your husband which is in and of itself as a curse and You're going to and he will rule over you. It's going to be a struggle. It's going to be a fight And you look at Adam and he say cursed is the ground for your sake This ground that was created to bring life forth for you now You're going to have to fight against it by the sweat of your brow. You will eat Instead of just bringing forth food is going to bring forth thorns From the dust you were taking it to the dust you were returned and We're told that Adam and Eve felt their nakedness and they felt their shame and they hid from each other And they hid from God and he closed them. That was the curse Curses our relationships. Cursed is our our children our child rearing Cursed is our our work. Cursed is our life We're in a war with life itself. We're in a war with the earth and the earth is going to win And we're going to go back to it. That was the curse And it was just too heavy It was just too heavy There's a movie in the 80s There were a lot of them But one was called the mission and had Robert De Niro who was a Spanish Conqueror his Spanish soldier and he was stationed in South America where he just did a trotious atrocious things to the the Native Americans down there and ultimately he was He came in contact with this mission and he began to be convicted for his sins And he was just overwhelmed with his guilt for the blood that he had shed and and his penance was he had to Carry around behind him this bag filled with the weapons of his of his sins and he drugged it was his curse. It was his burden And they were going up the mountain to see to visit with and and evangelize the The Indians up there and he had to climb this mountain with this burden And any time someone tried to help him he would he would push them away. It was his to bear until he got It gets almost to the top of the mountain and he Really in danger of dying because it's going to pull him off the mountain And one of the Indians one of the very people that he had used those weapons against ran to him and cut the burden off and threw it down the mountain It was too great It was too great and we see Jesus doing this for us God himself the Son of God coming to earth And bearing this curse for us Go through it learned by line Adam and Eve ate and they saw that they were naked and they were ashamed And Jesus had his clothes divided up among the soldiers and was crucified naked in shame Adam was told about the sweat of his brow he would eat and Jesus Labored under this burden of crowning to save us so much the great sweat and huge drops came to the ground Adam was told that the ground would bring forth thorns and Jesus was put under a crown of thorns that would beaten down upon him until it tore into his scalp No one was ever More under the condemnation of the thorns and Jesus he was the king of the cursed Eve is told that in pain she would bring forth Children and Jesus had to go to the very cross to to bring forth all of his adopted brothers and sisters And were told that he in the he saw the trivial of his soul he taught saw the product of his soul the pain And he was satisfied A knowledge about my righteous servant he will justify many We're told that the marriage would be a war between husband and wife your desire will be for him And he will rule over you And as we look at the story of Jesus and his bride whose Continues to be adulterous and chased after other husbands. We even look in the story of of Hosea who As an image of this relationship between God and his bride Uh, he married an unfaithful woman who left him again and again and again having children That weren't his he even named his oldest son not my son And ultimately she committed the adultery so many times that she was enslaved as a prostitute in that and Hosea had to go and and purchase At night with her Just to have her he had to pay like everybody else But he didn't pay the fee for one night he brought in grain and barley and gold and silver and he purchased her for every night And Jesus gave everything as he had his very life To reconcile himself to his wife and We're told that the ground would be cursed For your sake to the dust you were returned And Jesus bore that curse dying for us Going into the ground He bore the curse for us the weight was too great And once the result of that The result of that is his people live life without the curse
Have you owned that Have you owned a life without shame the shame still keeping you embarrassed still keeping you enslaved to your sin The unwillingness to let others know you and see you and and And love you is it keeping you Hidden and broken Because Jesus is born the curse our job doesn't have to be a curse anymore work is no longer a curse It can be something that we enjoy as a way to glorify God and and take dominion of this earth as as a result of Jesus bearing the curse for us the earth is no longer against us It's opening itself up to us to let us see and use its its value and its secrets Because Jesus is born the curse from us for us our our marriages don't have to be wars anymore But we can come to each other in love and grace and forgiveness and service serving each other not ruling over each other Because Jesus is born the curse bearing children doesn't have to be a A war it doesn't have to be filled with pain. It can be filled with grace and mercy And instead of living in fear that our children might do something wrong We can build relationships of grace and kindness so that when they do something wrong which they will Though at least come and tell you and you can work together Because Jesus is born the curse for us And wasn't just a curse that we couldn't bear but it was a debt that we couldn't pay we don't We don't think about sin as debt enough Jesus Clearly told us to pray and Matthew forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors I used to think the Presbyterian Presbyterians paid that way because they all owned a lot of property I mean actually were bankers they were all bankers and so they you know had a lot of people in debt to them But no actually it's because it's sin Primarily is a result of not doing what y'all to do You're commanded to love the Lord your God with all your heart souls drink the mind You're commanded to love your neighbor as yourself and every time you don't do that you're running up a debt And we were born in debt It's kind of like being born on the wrong side of the tracks. You're just behind the eight ball from word go And we're born and our first words our first Inclinations are not to give they're not to share they're not yes brother here are my legos. Please take them for yourself Our first words are more like mine Go away get out of my room our very first inclinations are Uh to keep to ourselves to be selfish. That's how we came into the world. We were in debt from the word go And then it was a debt we can't ever get out of it's a debt we couldn't get out of I um I I grew up listening to country music Uh Tennessee Ernie Ford was a favorite of my moms and sang a song I never got it. I never understood it and it was years later like Last year when I finally understood You know the song you live three ten you live two times and what do you get another day's done in your deeper and debt St. Peter don't you call me because I can't go oh my soul to the company store And what I didn't understand as a child that I understand now is the the owners the operators of the coal mines They would basically enslave their employees because they were you know so far out and and and And isolated places that the only place that could go to buy their their goods or food the things they need to live was the company store They bought whatever they needed from the company they were working for And it just so happened That what you got paid for a day Wasn't enough to live for a day and so every day you were in that coal mine you were deeper in debt but no tricky And that's kind of how we are Every day we live we're Every day that we don't love the Lord with all of our hearts every day that we don't love our neighbor Just as much as we love ourself every time we go a little deeper in debt And I got yesterday's debt to pay Well, how am I going to pay yesterday's debt? Jesus tells us this. He says run profitable servants If you did everything you were commanded to do Think about that a day where you did everything you were commanded to do began the day with worship and joy Thanking the Lord for this is the day that he has made Every person you see you're trying to figure out what they need and you're you're meeting that need You're you're sharing your money. You're giving people rides to work. You're helping everybody at work without any concern for your own name or your own good You come home and you you serve your your family serve your children You you take no concern for your own needs at all one long day of of just loving other people as much as you love yourself And you know what you've done What you were supposed to do that day you did your job congratulations One one day you did it That means nothing for the last 10,000 days You're just as a debt you'll never pay In Jesus by one act of righteousness. You'll notice this in the text a one act of righteousness He pays a debt that we can never pay he makes us Righteous now. What was that act? What was the act? A lot of people point to a whole lifetime Look of keeping the law perfectly and yes, he did that, but that's not the act By one act he made many righteous. What was it? He obeyed God about the tree He was given one command go to the tree Die on the tree and he obeyed God about the tree The only one who did had no business dying the only one who could say Death has no grip on me death He says I lay down my life for the sheep no one can take it from me. I lay it down of my own and I take it back He'll beg God about the tree and he died on the tree For us to pay our debt To take that back to the coal mine illustration. It's as if we go into that company store one day to get dirt deeper in debt And while we're there the owner of the store sees us It falls in love with us And asks us to marry him or her whichever you want to go with And we do And he pays our debts, but it's more than just paying our debts We now own the coal mine We own the store It's all ours Uh, we we've done and we we've received more than we could ever hope We've gone from being the coal miners daughter to being the coal miner owner and that's That's how we live that's how we function not as somebody in debt But as Christ himself And can I just tell you something Presbyterians are really bad at this We're bad at living like we are the owner of the coal mine We're good talking about sin. We're really good at that And we're good at talking about grace and we're terrible at living in grace. How do you live? Do you live like somebody who's still in debt to God? You want to pray? You want to ask God for something? So you sneak in And you show him how sad you are first because you got to pay that debt And then you begin to talk like, you know, Oliver, please serve me. I have a little Jam for my bread and he looks at you and says Well, you can have the whole refrigerator It's all for you Why are you still living like somebody who's in debt? Why are you looking at other people like Like you're jealous of them like God liked them more than you and you're mad at God and them or why are you judging other people for not being as perfect as you Because you're perfectly pleasing God with all your righteousness and they're not Why do you have those those feelings those attitudes are just not worthy of you You're much better than that. You are Christ and you You Are you feeling that way towards yourself Do you look upon yourself with with disdain with self hatred Like you're a debtor who's never going to get out of debtors prison What do you receive you look at yourself and see what God sees Beauty something to be delighted in God has seen us with the curse we could not bear and he's born it for us He has seen us with a debt we could not pay and he's paid it for us also we could be reconciled to a love that we cannot lose He's done it all the all the verbs in this text are past tense and objective
This is almost if there's a text in the Bible This problematic for being too good. It's this one It really is It's too good If you take it seriously the first word you want to say is but but all have been made alive You know there are other texts in the Bible we might want to talk about another day But we're not going to do that today. It's an objective gift There's nothing you can do to improve it And that's such good news isn't it? That means there's nothing you can do to mess it up You know You know i've been haunted by those same questions you've been haunted by you know words like sincere You know is Jesus is really forgiving all my sins? Well, yes, if you were sincere when you asked him Okay, can I just help help you out you warrant When you ask God to forgive your sins you did it very selfishly you were not sincere That's okay. You're not saved by your sincerity God forgives all my sins. Well, if you feel sorry enough for them You didn't feel sorry enough You never have No, we're in the Bible. We're told we're saved by being sorry We're saved by what Christ has already done It's objective Martin Luther said we were a caterpillar in a ring of fire all we did was let a Human pick us up We just received it. We're like the the ground receiving the rain
It's just it's it's if you're in Christ. It's because of what he's done And you can't really change that It's like I'm a Jones Now, I don't know a lot of West Tennessee Jones But you've seen all of them you need to see we all look exactly like I can't change it We sound alike we stand to the same way we have the same since the humor we have the same potbelly and toothpick legs We have all the same characteristics. We're Jones's I can't change that in the same way when you're in Christ It's because of what he has done. It's not because you've started this relationship He started it and you can't finish it you're in him his gift is the gift of life And we just receive it like the rain We receive it like the rain I was named after a country music singer named Jimmy Dean He's better known for his sausage than he is for his songs He had one song had a groan in it It's called Big John I don't know if you all remember Big John Big John was wide at the shoulders and narrow at the hip Everybody knew he didn't give no lip to Big John If Big John was down to call mine one day And there was a puff of smoke and a sound of something cracking and he realized that the ceiling was about to uh fall in And there's all these miners in there behind him And so Big John walked over to the beam and he let out an awful groan And he bore the weight of that beam So that everybody else could run out And that did the message of the gospel Jesus is bearing the weight of the beam And it's just left for us to run out Will you run to him Would you believe this about yourself Please pray with me Father in heaven we pray that you would Give us eyes to see and the ears to hear What you have done for us We run to your glory. We run to freedom Instead of insisting that we dig ourselves out
We pray in Jesus name