The Day of Atonement

[0:00] Our Father, thank you that you are the speaking God. We are not on silent terms with you. Thank you that we can know you. Thank you that we can know Jesus and see his glory in the words of Scripture.

[0:11] Pray that you would speak to each one of us, to our hearts, right now. In Jesus' name. Amen. Great. So, it's nearly Easter, and that is what we're thinking about.

[0:21] In two weeks, we're celebrating the heart of our faith, especially the cross, right? You go to a church building, and there's crosses, and, you know, Christian women, they wear necklaces or earrings.

[0:33] It's always a cross, right? It's not like a manger or an empty tomb. The cross is the heart of our faith, and in church, we remember that on Good Friday, in a moment, we'll have the Lord's Supper, all those things.

[0:45] And that's not just our idea, right? Jesus wants that. He says, do this in remembrance of me. Although, again, you may wonder, why? Why is this such a big thing? So, later this month, it's our anniversary for me and EJ, 22 years. Great.

[1:01] But, you know, it's not that special. But we'll probably do something on that day. But it's not like every week we go and remember how great our wedding was, right?

[1:14] That would be weird. Isn't it much more just about our normal relationship? And, yeah, we got married that day. That was the start. But, you know, why is that, you know, it's not that important. And yet, the cross, we keep going on and on about.

[1:28] Maybe you're here, you're not a Christian, you may wonder, why is the cross such a big thing that you keep coming back to it all the time? Well, God thinks it's important, and that's why we are having this series.

[1:39] Not just the New Testament, but the Old Testament. The first three quarters of the Bible, God spent so much time, you know, telling about the cross, predicting it, foreshadowing it.

[1:50] And today, we're looking at one of the main ways, yeah, in Leviticus, a special day called the Day of Atonement that is such a clear foreshadowing of what Jesus would do.

[2:04] The Day of Atonement, or as you may have heard of the Hebrew name, Yom Kippur, it's the heart of, yeah, the relationship that Israel has with God.

[2:15] And why? Well, what does atonement mean? It's kind of like a new English word that was invented for the Bible. It basically comes from at-one-ment. It is bringing you and God together again.

[2:26] Reconciling you so that you're at-one. Maybe we should call it at-one-ment. That is what it does. Because, as we heard earlier in the service, our problem is our sin.

[2:37] That has always been the problem, right? The fact that we have rebelled against God, and so we are not together. We are not at-one. That's why Adam and Eve were, you know, had to leave the garden.

[2:48] And we've seen the past few months in the Bible story how hard it is for people to get back to God. Because God is a holy God. And we are guilty sinners, and that just doesn't go together.

[3:02] And that is not just a kind of a system. The problem, as we saw last week, is God's character. God revealed, you know, He is a God of mercy and justice.

[3:14] A God of gracious and compassionate, but who will by no means clear the guilty. Mercy. And both of them are actually good things, right? Mercy is a good thing. Justice is a really good thing.

[3:25] You see some of the atrocities on the news. And it makes your blood boil what people do. And you want justice, right? It's a good thing to want justice. The only problem is that we are the criminals.

[3:37] We are the ones who have lived our lives apart from God. We've lived for ourselves and not for our Maker. And we haven't lived in relationship with Him. And, yeah, therefore we can't be with Him. Because, yeah, we deserve punishment.

[3:50] If we get too close, we die. That's basically the problem that we've seen. How can we be at one with God? Well, this ritual today is what we're going to look at to help us see what's involved.

[4:04] And it's a ritual. If you know the Old Testament, it's full of rituals. And we don't really do that anymore. And so it seems a bit weird. I mean, we wish we could just act it out.

[4:14] But that's not easy to do. But, you know, rituals are powerful. We don't often think about it. But let me give an example. So, for example, how about standing?

[4:27] So, if I was in this building and King Charles comes in, my guess is I would stand up, right? Why would you stand up? Because, well, the king is here. And, you know, you want to pay respect to the king.

[4:40] That is kind of my belief that this is the king results in action. But it also works the other way. Action kind of shapes our belief. So, in a moment, we sang songs and we all stood up.

[4:53] That's not just a convention. Actually, that, in a way, teaches us something, right? It makes you, you know, because we're singing to the king, right? We give honor and praise.

[5:04] And so we stand up. But, actually, if you do that, you will start to think more respectfully of God, right? It shapes you that this really is the king and we should stand up. And now, I've tried it at home.

[5:15] If I slouch on the sofa and I try to sing a hymn, I can't. It just feels disrespectful, right? So, rituals shape our beliefs. And that is why God gives all these rituals in the Old Testament.

[5:28] The people, they've just been rescued. They don't know God very well. They need to know him more. And so, all these rituals to just help people know God more.

[5:39] To know who he is, who we are, and how we can be at one with him. And so, with that out of the way, let's listen to this central ritual of the Old Testament religion.

[5:51] And CK is going to come and read for us. Thank you, Niels, for that introduction. So, church, if we could turn to Leviticus chapter 16.

[6:05] Follow along in your bulletin board, or you can also refer to the screen. Starting in verse 1, we read, These are the holy garments.

[7:01] Aaron shall take from the congregation of the people of Israel two male goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering.

[7:16] Aaron shall offer the bull as a sin offering for himself, and shall make atonement for himself and for his house. Then he shall take the two goats, and set them before the Lord at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

[7:32] Then Aaron shall cast lots over the two goats, one lot for the Lord, and the other lot for Azazel. And Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for the Lord, and use it as a sin offering.

[7:45] But the goat on which the lot fell for Azazel, shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make the atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness to Azazel.

[7:59] Aaron shall present the bull as a sin offering for himself, and shall make atonement for himself and for his house. He shall kill the bull as a sin offering for himself, and he shall take a censer full of coals of fire from the altar before the Lord, and two handfuls of sweet incense beaten small.

[8:21] And he shall bring it inside the veil, and put the incense on the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is over the testimony, so that he does not die.

[8:34] And he shall take some of the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it with his finger on the front of the mercy seat on the east side. And in front of the mercy seat, he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times.

[8:48] Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering that 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, sprinkling it over the mercy seat, and in front of the mercy seat.

[9:02] Thus, he shall make atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness of the people of Israel, and because of their transgressions, all their sins.

[9:14] And so he shall do for the tent of meeting, which dwells with them in the midst of their uncleanness. No one may be in the tent of meeting from the time he enters to make atonement in the holy place, until he comes out and has made atonement for himself, and for his house, and for all the assembly of Israel.

[9:37] 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 some of the blood of the goat, and put it on the horns of the altar all around.

[9:50] And he shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times, and cleans it, and consecrate it from the uncleanliness of the people of Israel. And when he has made an end of atoning for the holy place, and the tent of meeting, and the altar, he shall present the live goat.

[10:09] And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins.

[10:22] And he shall put on them 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.

[10:37] Then Aaron shall come into the tent of meeting, and shall take off the linen garments that he put on when he went into the holy place, and shall leave them there.

[10:49] And he shall bathe his body in water in a holy place, and put on his garments, and come out and offer his burnt offering, and the burnt offering of the people, and make atonement for himself and for the people.

[11:02] And the fat of the sin offering he shall burn on the altar. And when he who lets the goat go to Azazel shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp.

[11:17] And the bull for the sin offering, and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought into their flesh, and their dung shall be burned up with fire. And he who burns them all shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp.

[11:34] And it shall be a statute to you forever, that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict yourselves and do no work, either the native or the stranger who sojourns among you.

[11:49] For on this day shall atonement be made for you to cleanse you. You shall be clean before the Lord from all your sins. It is a Sabbath of solemn rest to you, and you shall afflict yourselves.

[12:03] It is a statute forever. And the priest who is anointed and consecrated as priest in his father's place shall make atonement, wearing the holy linen garments.

[12:16] He shall make atonement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make atonement for the tent of meeting and for the altar. And he shall make atonement for the priests of all the people of the assembly.

[12:27] And this shall be a statute forever for you, that atonement may be made for the people of Israel once in the year because of all their sins. And Aaron did as the Lord commanded Moses.

[12:41] This is the word of God. Wow. Thanks, CK. So that's a really long reading, right? A really long ritual.

[12:52] Because, yeah, why such so long? Why so much detail? Well, let me just go through it and try to explain it, and then I hope we can see what's going on. First, let me talk about some of the basic elements.

[13:04] Well, what's going on? First, the heart of it is a sacrifice, right? The heart of this ritual is a substitutionary sacrifice, an animal dying in your place.

[13:15] Because the problem was God's mercy and justice, but a sacrifice solves that, right? Because, you know, something dies, right? There's a death penalty, so justice is satisfied, but it's not you who dies.

[13:27] And that's mercy. So you have mercy and justice together in a sacrifice. And so that was the heart of the system, not just of this day, right? You read the Old Testament, and there were daily sacrifices, and weekly sacrifices, and monthly sacrifices, and every festival had sacrifices, and, you know, personal sacrifices.

[13:45] You were unclean, but you've become clean. You offer a sacrifice. You've sinned, and you realize that you offer a sacrifice. No wonder that the whole tribe was there to just take care of the temple system.

[13:56] There were so many sacrifices. But today is really special because of the second element, which is God's presence, right? You want to be reconciled to God.

[14:07] In a way, you need to do that in person. So you need to be, you need to actually go to God. And this was the only day that actually someone went into God's presence. So here's like a cut through of the tabernacle, the kind of like the temple that was in the camp.

[14:24] That's kind of where God lived among all their tents. And of course, there was the outside, and there was the court, and there was this tent, but it had two parts. There was the first part.

[14:35] On the left is the holy place, and the priest could go there. But then there was this special area at the end with a curtain separating it off, and that's where the Ark of the Covenant was.

[14:47] That's where God lived, and no one could go there apart from this one day that we just read about. So this is the day that someone actually brings a sacrifice into God's presence.

[14:59] All the other sacrifices, they didn't really go into God's presence, so they were more just an action, right? I've sinned, I offer a sacrifice, I'm saying, Lord, I should have died for this.

[15:09] You're confessing. But this is the foundation that day of kind of all the other sacrifices. And then the third thing that you need is a mediator.

[15:20] We saw that last week if you were here, right, someone who can actually bring something to God, because we are sinful, we can't. There's a mediator, someone who can go into God's presence.

[15:31] And here that's Aaron, the high priest, the brother of Moses, and then after that his descendants. And just to say, as we think about sacrifices, all of this is a gift of grace.

[15:43] This is all about grace. Because it is all comes, instituted by God. And sometimes in religions, you know, sacrifice is what we do, right?

[15:53] There's a God, and he is not giving me the weather I want, so I do a sacrifice, and then he likes me, and so he will give me good weather, right? But that's me paying him off.

[16:04] It's like bribery. That's not what's happening here, right? Because it's not, you know, Aaron's idea or Moses' idea. This is God saying, hey, if you want to be forgiven, you need to do these steps, and then you'll be forgiven.

[16:18] And so it is God's initiative. It's God's, God is clearly willing to forgive. It's just that forgiveness isn't automatic, and so that's why we need to go through these steps. But it is all grace, all God's love.

[16:32] This is not, yeah, this is not religion as in our effort. This is God's grace. But at the same time, as you heard, it's not simple. It needs to be exactly God's way, exactly as he says.

[16:46] In the beginning, Aaron is reminded, oh yeah, don't just come into the most holy place by yourself. Because earlier in the book, you know, his sons did that, and they died. God's presence is dangerous if you're a sinner.

[16:59] And so, only in this special way. So we'll go through the ritual in great detail, so that you can just appreciate how much work this is, how difficult it was. And there's actually lots of echoes of the cross.

[17:12] I'm not going to just go through and point them all out, more like at the end. But I hope, if you know the cross, that actually you can see so much of that foreshadowing. So what happens, there's basically two parts.

[17:25] There are sin offerings and burnt offerings, and both for the priest and for the people. Those four. Most of the focus is on the sin offerings, because that's the big problem, right?

[17:35] Payment, punishment for sin. First, in preparation, Aaron needs to change his clothes. So normally, he has this beautiful purple, blue, gold outfit, the same colors as a tabernacle, like this heavenly, glorious, that, yeah, who fits with God.

[17:54] But actually, he now changes into simple, white linen clothes. He becomes like a servant for this ritual. And then he takes the animals for the sin offering, the substitutes.

[18:06] He takes a bull for himself and then goats for the people. Now, first, he needs to offer a bull for his own sin, because the problem is he himself is a sinner. And so he, you know, he needs to offer a bull, which kind of is interesting, right?

[18:19] Because for all the, you know, the millions of Israelites, just one goat. But he himself, a bull, like this huge animal, the biggest one you can offer. It's like, you know, the mediator is someone really special, right?

[18:31] Someone, not just an ordinary human, but someone who needs, yeah, a huge substitute, right? That is basically, yeah, this whole bull. And what do they do then?

[18:42] He gets offered as a sin offering. What do they do? They slit the bull's throat and then they drain the blood. And we heard that a few weeks ago when we looked at the covenant with Abraham, separating the blood from the body.

[18:57] That's, you know, this animal has really died. It's a symbol that, yeah, it's really died as a sacrifice. And then that blood needs to be, you know, given to God, right? That's a, hey, the death, the punishment has been paid.

[19:10] The death has occurred. And normally you just pour it out onto the altar, but yeah, today it needs to go into God's presence. So Aaron will go into the most holy place. The only thing is, of course, God is there, right?

[19:22] So that's very dangerous. So what does he do? He needs to take a censer and to kind of fill it with smoke so that basically they don't see each other, right? Because, you know, if you see God, you'll die. So fill it with smoke and then he takes the blood and he sprinkles that on the mercy seat, kind of where, like on God's throne.

[19:40] He can't touch it, so he sprinkles it, man, because if you touch it, you die. Sprinkling the blood on the mercy seat. And that's kind of, yeah, my sin has been paid for.

[19:52] And so he can come into God's presence. So that is for him. Then we get the sin offering for the people. And actually, there's two goats in this case.

[20:02] One, the first one is offered, well, same way as the bull, right? Slit the throat, drain the blood, sprinkle the blood in the same way. But actually, if you read it, it's not, that's not for the people.

[20:15] What is it? It's verse 16. He shall make atonement for the holy place. It's like, it's basically to cleanse the tent, to cleanse the temple.

[20:26] Because, you know, God has been living for a year with these people. And all their sin has kind of like contaminated everything. And it needs to be cleansed. Not just the people, but, you know, the environment, the tent where God lives.

[20:41] So, this goat pays for the contamination. And kind of all the pent-up judgment is kind of taken away. And then, now we get the other goat, and that pays for the people.

[20:54] So, what happens with this one? It's the scapegoat that you've maybe, from other translations. What happens with this goat? Actually, it's not killed in the same way.

[21:05] Aaron, he puts his hands on them, and he confesses all the sins of the people over this goat. It's like, all the people's sins get put on this goat. And what happens with the goat?

[21:17] Well, he then is brought outside the camp and let go. That doesn't mean he's free. He's going away from God's presence into the place of judgment, right? He, he's sent away.

[21:29] But, but, that is the symbolism, right? I mean, it's very powerful. Animals killed really shows death penalty. And now this animal taking all their sins away and dying for it.

[21:40] That, that is what needs to happen. And for atonement, yeah, punishment for sins. But so much work, right? So many animals and rituals and then Aaron needs to have another bath, right?

[21:52] All the people involved need to have a, they need to wash themselves, all the contamination of sin needs to be gone. And then it's still not done because now Aaron has to offer a burnt offering. That's again something else.

[22:05] Maybe you think, oh, did the sin offering not work? No, there are two different kind of offerings. The sin offering, that's really punishment for sin. The sin offering, what happens to the animal, well, it's brought outside the camp and burned with fire.

[22:21] That's really, that's what sin deserves, right? Being thrown out of God's presence and burned with fire. It's a picture of hell. That is kind of what you deserve. The burnt offering, on the other hand, it's on the altar and wholly burnt up to God.

[22:36] It's like a pleasing aroma, the Bible says. So this is not about punishment for sin, this is about obedience. Because, you know, if you want to be with God, you shouldn't just have no sin.

[22:47] You also need to live a perfect life. A life that's perfectly devoted to God, right? Of fully obeying him. And we don't have that. And so, here's an animal and it's got his life fully devoted to God.

[22:59] It's wholly burnt up for God, right? That's the idea. So it's like, okay, this substitutes for my righteousness, for my obedience. And so, for this, Aaron, well, he changes his clothes, he puts back his normal, glorious clothes, and then he offers, yeah, a burnt offering for himself and for the people.

[23:18] He offers, yeah, righteousness to the people. So payment for sin plus obedience and then it's all done. Right? I don't know if you could, I hope you could follow that.

[23:29] I hope it makes sense, but it's very complicated, right? But at the same time, where does it end? It ends so gloriously, right? At the end of verse 16, chapter 16, verse 30, on this day shall atonement be made for you to cleanse you.

[23:45] You shall be clean before the Lord from all your sins. And there's God's promise. You're going to be clean from all your sins. You're going to be forgiven all your sins. If we do this and if you trust it, if you trust the gospel proclaimed here, you will be clean from all your sins.

[24:03] And that's incredible, right? That's what the people wanted. They wanted God to be with them. They wanted to, you know, be his people and he their God. And now that could happen because this ritual had taken place because their sin was paid for.

[24:17] And it's all by God's grace. They didn't deserve it. They didn't do anything for it. But God atoned for their sins. It's so wonderful, so precious.

[24:30] But man, it's complicated, right? It's burdensome. All the sacrifices, all the rituals, all the clothes, all the washings. Now, what do you go away with?

[24:41] You know, can a holy God dwell with a sinful people? Yes, but it's difficult. Yes, it's possible, but there's so much involved, right? Because God is really, really holy.

[24:52] And we are really, really sinful. And so, the only way that is going to work is through this very complicated process, this very complicated way of atoning.

[25:04] And even then, you know, I say it's glorious and I think it is. And yet, at the same time, you know, the people want to get back to the Garden of Eden, right? Want to get back into a relationship with God.

[25:16] How close is this to the Garden of Eden? Well, not that close, right? I mean, the best commentary on this day is in the book of Hebrews, chapters 9 and 10.

[25:27] Maybe you can read it in your own time, but the writer there reflects on the Day of Atonement and compares it with the cross and actually, it falls short, right? I mean, Aaron, he needs to pay for his own sin.

[25:39] In a way, he needs a mediator himself, right? How is he going to do that compared to Jesus? The holy place and the most holy place. Can they be in God's presence?

[25:49] Well, they are outside the court and the priests only go into the first one and as the writer says, well, you know, in the second place only the high priest goes and he but once a year.

[26:02] And by this, the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened. In a way, it's glorious, but at the same time, you see it and, well, actually, I still can't really be with God, right?

[26:14] I still can't go into his presence. There's still all these layers in between us. And the sacrifices, yeah, they get repeated every year. And again, the writer to the Hebrews, chapter 10, verse 1, you know, the law can never by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year make perfect those who draw near.

[26:35] Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered since the worshippers having once been cleansed would no longer have any consciousness of sins. But in these sacrifices, there is a reminder of sins every year.

[26:47] Right? In a way, the people would be celebrating, but on the other hand, if they think about it, man, clearly I'm still sinful. Clearly my sin hasn't fully been dealt with.

[26:58] Right? It just maintains the status quo. They don't get destroyed. Right? God stays there in his tent and they don't get destroyed. That's basically the thing.

[27:09] It maintains the status quo, but it doesn't really solve it. I was thinking of, I've never been in prison, but if you've seen movies, you know what it's like when you're in prison and you get a visit from your family.

[27:22] And that's really wonderful, right? Because you can see your family. The only thing is you're behind a screen and you need to talk for a phone and it's only for 10 minutes.

[27:33] In a way, it's wonderful, but on the other hand, it just reminds you that you're not there yet, right? Because I'm a criminal. And I can't be with my family until my sentence is served, until the price is paid.

[27:50] I can't go out and give them a hug. I'm still stuck here behind this screen. And doesn't it make the cross so remarkable then, right?

[28:01] Because we see this and we think this is, yeah, in a way it's glorious, but it's limited. But Jesus then comes and as the writer to the Hebrews says, this is the complete solution.

[28:13] I mean, every element is far better, right? I mean, we talked about a mediator. Aaron needs to offer sins and righteousness sacrifices for himself.

[28:24] Jesus is perfect. He doesn't need any of that, right? He's perfect. And then, well, we talked about God's presence. Jesus didn't just go into a tent. Jesus went into heaven itself, right?

[28:35] He really went into God's presence, not just to some symbolic place. And the sacrifice, not just bulls and goats, his own blood. So, the writer says, look, all these elements, Jesus did something far greater and the big evidence, he sat down, right?

[28:53] No more work to do. The whole priesthood all gone because Jesus, he did the work and it's finished and he sat down. I mean, can you imagine the day of atonement, the ritual we just said, but then, kind of what Jesus did.

[29:05] So, here's Aaron, no smoke, no bulls or whatever. He just goes into God's presence and then he opens the curtain like you do in the morning, right? A bit stuffy in here and then he takes a chair and he just sits down next to God's throne.

[29:22] Who could do that, right? Can you imagine just a sinful human being walking into God's presence like that and then opening up the curtain and sitting down? That is what Jesus did.

[29:33] It's impossible to believe, but he did it, right? And we're not just clean for one year, we're clean for forever. Every sin you've ever committed and will ever commit for all God's people forever, fully paid for in one go, right?

[29:48] And now we can completely go back to God. Once Jesus comes back, we'll be with him forever. It's amazing, right? And all that just from the cross, it's so wonderful.

[30:00] And yet it makes you then think, well, it's so simple, right? It's just a cross and everything is sorted. Except it wasn't simple. Right?

[30:11] It's really wonderful what we have in Jesus, but think about what it costs. You know, Jesus didn't just change his clothes, right? He had to, the son of God had to come down from heaven and take on a human form, right?

[30:23] Took on humanity, become a man so that he could die and not just a ram. He had to live a perfect life for 33 years so that he would have a perfect human life to offer to God.

[30:33] And then, yeah, dying on the cross, taking, being forsaken, taking the full infinite wrath of God against our sin and then, yeah, rising and ascending to heaven and interceding for us continually.

[30:47] Actually, the cross is huge. We just don't think about that, right? We just take the cross for granted. You know, you sin and you just say, oh, sorry, Lord, and you move on. So simple, right?

[31:01] Or prayer. You have such access to God. You know, you can just talk to God and something really simple. Oh, Lord, I've got a runny nose. Can you heal me? And the thing is, you can do that, but that's just crazy, right?

[31:15] You know, with such little trivialities, we can come to God. We think it's so normal. And maybe, yeah, whatever we think, maybe you're here as a visitor, prayer, it seems such a little thing, right?

[31:25] You can just talk to God anytime. But it's a huge thing, right? And when he doesn't directly answer our prayers, we get kind of annoyed. You know, the cross is a huge thing.

[31:39] So my first degree was in telecommunications back when 3G was still the future. And, you know, and these days, you can just video call to your family on the other side of the world and people do that and they kind of complain that it's a little bit blurry and there's half a second delay.

[31:58] Well, I've studied that. I know what's going on behind the scenes. I know about the speed of light. Man, you have no idea how much technology and science goes into making this work.

[32:09] You should really not complain about this at all, right? The thing is, we take it for granted. We have such good access and we just think, no. And that is nothing compared to your faith.

[32:20] We are so spoiled for our relationship with God. If you would know your sin, right? Everything that you've ever said wrong or done wrong or thought wrong, there isn't a book big enough to write it all down.

[32:33] And God is so holy, such a blazing, consuming fire. If we would really know that, who do you think that you can just go into the throne room of heaven and complain about your runny nose, right?

[32:46] That's the thing we do. But that is what the cross achieve, right? We make so lightly of prayer. We make so lightly of confession and yet Jesus did such a huge thing.

[32:59] And this ritual here is just a little small foretaste of how difficult it was for God to bring you back to him. But he did it. And God just wants you to stop and think about that.

[33:13] That is here what's the application for the Israelites, right? Verse 29. And it shall be a statute to you forever that in the seventh month on the tenth day of the month you shall afflict yourselves and shall do no work, either the native or the stranger who sojourns among you.

[33:31] Now one day, no work and afflict yourselves. Fasting. Fasting and just stop and think. Don't go about your business. Look what a big thing God is doing for you. Don't take it for granted.

[33:44] Stop and meditate. And I think that's what God still wants for us. That's why we're taking a series on the cross. You know, because we want to just take this in and realize again what a huge thing it is that God has done for us.

[34:00] There will be other churches and they have a sermon on kind of five, you know, habits for a successful career. And that feels quite inappropriate, right? When the Son of God is dying for your sins and you're busy with your career.

[34:13] No. Look what a big thing God is doing, has done, one day, completely forever, 2,000 years ago. All right? That's why we have Good Friday.

[34:25] That's why many Christian traditions, people fast on Good Friday because, you know, just like this day here because this is such a big thing and I want to just take it in and actually, you know, food and everything is not as important as what God did.

[34:38] even in a moment, we're going to have the Lord's Supper, right? The body and blood separated. It's a real sacrifice, right? That's the idea because Jesus said, do this in remembrance of me.

[34:51] So we don't take the cross for granted. Yeah, just to make us humble and thankful. When we really appreciate what God has done, see how serious our sin is, serious, see what God has done.

[35:04] Well, we will be so thankful and, yeah, it will transform the way we see God, right? That he did this in his love and grace and mercy and that we see ourselves.

[35:16] So let's not take it for granted. Please use it. I mean, please pray about your runny nose. Please, please confess, you know, whenever you have a sin, confession is a privilege, right? Because if God wasn't forgiving, what's the point in confessing?

[35:29] But he is forgiving and you can just confess and enjoy and use what Jesus has done for you. But don't take it for granted. it.