When God's Presence Goes Public (Pt. 3: Salvation and Covering) | Exodus 11:1–12:42

Exodus tells the story of a God who isn't distant, but moves toward his people in power and mercy. God reveals himself as I Am, leading Israel out of slavery and into the life-changing reality of his presence. We have quite a potent text for us today.

So in all of our locations here, as well as Lamoni, Carlisle, Guttenberg, and of course our campus that we're fostering for a bit at Cornerstone, just take your Bibles with you. Have your series guide. And let's, with a very serious mindset, let's approach our chapters today.

It's Exodus chapters 11 and 12. In fact, can I just encourage you to stay put this morning in all of our rooms. Let's not leave because we had too much coffee.

Let's not look for a break. Let's not disengage physically or spiritually. It's just, I want to ask you this week, especially because of the potency and the pertinent matter in front of us in these chapters.

I just want to ask you to really stay extremely close, mentally, physically. Give it a little extra this morning. Every week matters.

Every text is potent, but some are more pertinent at times than others, if I could just be frank with you. And I want us to really lean in this morning heavily to what we know is true every week. It's the Word that does the work, right church? So let's watch that happen in front of us.

Exodus 11 and 12 are there in front of you. You have your series guide as well. As you think about these two chapters coming up, would you just recall the last movie trailer you saw as well? Perhaps it was one you scrolled upon on your computer or maybe even in the theater.

But think about the last movie trailer you watched. More than likely, in just a few moments, that trailer gave you the feel, the gist of the story, didn't it? Hopefully it drew you in to wanting to know more. The central conflict, the main characters, the emotional tone, the glimpses of some of the scenes, those are all part of a trailer.

And the desire is not to give you the whole story, but really to give you just a slice of the story that represents everything that you'll see eventually. That's a movie trailer. That's also a good metaphor for Exodus 11 and 12.

In fact, I would say to you that it's my opinion that Exodus 11 and 12 is the first 4K trailer of the gospel in the Old Testament. Now that's not dismissing Genesis 3 and Genesis 22. We have very explicit allusions to the gospel in those portions.

But in Exodus 11 and 12, we get 4K resolution that's yet to appear. And it does now. And it demands our attention.

And I think as we kind of view this trailer, I trust that you will want to know so much more and see the whole movie, so to speak. Because Exodus 11 and 12, there really are two of the most theologically dense chapters, not only in the Old Testament, but perhaps the whole Bible. They don't just describe a historical deliverance.

They really reveal the architecture of salvation itself. Like how it works, who God is, and how he saves. It's not just about an isolated night in Egypt.

It's really a preview, a prototype. It's a foreshadowing of what God will do again on another night with another lamb on a hill outside Jerusalem. And I don't want us to miss this night, and I don't want us to miss that night.

Because in this trailer, which points to the movie, so to speak, in this trailer, God shows us who he is and how he saves. And if we miss this, we'll miss that. So can you lean in with me for a bit? Intentionally, pointedly, purposefully, I want us to read five sections from Exodus 11 and 12.

I want to encourage you before the end of this week to read both chapters in full. I'll just pick out five selected portions. They give us the core sections of the story, okay? Follow along with me.

The screen will show you the passages. But again, you reading your small group with your family individually, all the content of both chapters. Here is the gist of these chapters.

I'll begin in verse 4 of chapter 11. Follow along with me. So Moses said, this is what the Lord says about midnight, I will go throughout Egypt.

This is the Lord speaking. And every firstborn male in the land of Egypt will die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne to the firstborn of the servant girl who is at the grindstones, as well as every firstborn of the livestock. Then there will be a great cry of anguish through all the land of Egypt, such as never was before or ever will be again.

But against all the Israelites, whether people or animals, not even a dog will snarl. So that you may know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel. In these opening few verses, Moses is simply declaring that the Lord is now bringing about the 10th plague.

Pastor Brett reviewed the previous nine. You heard nine podcasts on them as well this week. Here's the 10th plague, the death of the firstborn.

We'll say more about it on our 10th episode this coming Tuesday. Here Moses, by the Lord's command, introduces and explains what's going to happen in Egypt and the distinction between Egypt and Israel. Go down to chapter 12 now, verse 5. Here's what Israel's to do to show their distinction and to protect and cover themselves.

Verse 5, you must have an unblemished animal, a year old male. You may take it from either the sheep or the goats, and you are to keep it until the 14th day of this month. And then the whole assembly of the community of Israel will slaughter the animals at twilight.

They must take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lentil of the houses where they eat them. So they'll eat the lamb after they kill it, and they'll take his blood and put it over the doorposts and the frames of their house. Verse 12 continues.

Look at 12. I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, referencing what he said in chapter 11, verses 5 to 7, and I will strike every firstborn male in the land of Egypt, both people and animals. There's the 10th plague.

I am the Lord. I will execute judgments against all the gods of Egypt. Tells us why the plagues came and who is the real authority.

The blood on the houses where you are staying, verse 13 says, will be a distinguishing mark for you. Look back at chapter 11, verse 7. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you. That's the best day, isn't it, when you get passed over? Most of us hear that phrase.

We're like, I don't want to get passed over. I think on this day, and the blood marks your house, you are glad you got passed over. He says, when I see the blood, I will pass over you.

No plague will be among you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. Verse 21 of that same chapter, then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, go select an animal from the flock according to your families and slaughter the Passover animal. Take a cluster of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin and brush the lintel and the two doorposts with some of the blood in the basin.

None of you may go out of the door of his house until morning. When the Lord passes through to strike Egypt and sees the blood on the lintel and the two doorposts, he will pass over the door and he'll not let the destroyer enter your houses to strike you. Verse 29 of this same chapter, now at midnight, the Lord struck every firstborn male in the land of Egypt.

Go back to his promise made in chapter 11. Here it now is taking place. From the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the prisoner who was in the dungeon, every firstborn of the livestock.

During the night, Pharaoh got up, he along with all of his officials and all the Egyptians, and there was a loud wailing throughout Egypt because there wasn't a house without someone dead. He summoned Moses and Aaron during the night and said, get out immediately from among my people, both you and the Israelites and go worship the Lord as you have said. Take even your flocks and your herds as you asked and leave and also bless me.

Verse 40, the time that the Israelites lived in Egypt was 430 years. At the end of 430 years on that same day, all the Lord's military divisions went out from the land of Egypt. It was a night of vigil in honor of the Lord because he would bring them out of the land of Egypt.

This same night is in honor of the Lord, a night vigil for all the Israelites throughout their generations and became known as the Passover because on this first night when God saw the blood, he passed over them. These five sections that are really just a representative of the two chapters, they move us to ask this question, what's God showing us about who he is and his salvation? Sometimes we just want to ask this question, what did God do? We keep it only historical, but it's a prototype, a foreshadowing, can I use the word, a trailer of what God will do ultimately one day in his son Christ. Let's ask more than just what did God do then, let's ask what does this tell us about who God is and how he saves? What I want to share with you are three elements that prove to be essential and timeless when it comes to our salvation.

I want to admit to you, a lot of this will be things that many of you know. I'm praying, I've been praying all week that it will just enlarge the joy of your heart, but I do know that in every service, in every campus, there are people who have yet to believe these three essential and timeless elements, and I've been praying all week that many people will come to faith in Christ today. As we see these three essential and timeless elements to how God saves people.

First of all, there must be, because there was in this moment, there was a willing substitute. Just jot that down, would you? There was a willing substitute. In the text, it's pretty precise, isn't it? A lamb is chosen, a lamb is examined, a lamb is then killed.

You see it in chapter 12 verse 5. I'll just read this phrase to you again. You must have an unblemished animal, a year old male from the sheep or the goats. God here dictates that it's a lamb or a goat, and he says in chapter 12 that the lamb must be without blemish, it must be a male of the first year, and for a number of days, they're to keep it in their household.

This is an odd requirement, and they're to take care of it. They get to watch it and know it. I suspect maybe some families named it.

I don't know, but you get the sense that they do get to know this lamb, this substitute, and then on the 14th day, they are to kill it. Now, why this careful process? Why such an intentional procedure? It's because God is doing something very intentional here. God is not just selecting a method of killing the lamb.

He's actually establishing the logic of substitution. I think this is one of the reasons they brought the lamb in, so they could feel the weight of the substitution when it occurred. It wasn't a random killing or something unseen.

They knew this substitute. They knew this lamb to some degree, and so suddenly, when it was time to kill the lamb and slaughter it and eat it and put its blood on the doorpost, that may have meant something, but that was far better than the death of the firstborn. So both had weight here.

God here is establishing, he's forming this concept, this system, this logic of substitution so important to our salvation. One life for another, one death in place of another, the innocent standing in for the guilty. Maybe you weren't aware of this, but substitution is not an odd concept to us.

Think deeper than substitute teacher. Think about paying someone to do something you simply would like them to do in your stead. This took place in the Civil War.

Did you know there was an actual substitutionary process that a man could engage in? He could pay money to send another man in his stead to war. It wasn't looked upon very well. It began in about 1863 in the late part of the year, only lasted a short time.

The price was higher, I believe, in the North than the South. I'm not quite sure on all the numbers. It was called a commutation fee.

And a man could pay a fee and send another man to war for him. Substitution, the logic there was simple as it is in all substitution thinking. One man bears what another man owes, and this is what God was establishing at Passover.

And it's not sentimental mercy. This is actually structured substitution that a death must occur. The question is whose death? And so now you begin to see really why the need for a lamb is so unmistakably important.

Who wants to see their firstborn die? No one. The firstborn, in this case, is the representative. That's why it's mentioned in this way.

And so though you might like your lamb, or you may have gotten to know the lamb, you will make that substitution. I want to say to you, this first element, a willing substitute, it really has some very deep gospel roots and far-reaching wings. It looks backwards and forwards.

Think with me for a moment about how it looks backwards. You know, Adam sinned. And as our representative in theological circles, we'd say he's our federal head.

His sin was passed on to all after him. Depravity, consequence, guilt, we share in Adam's condemnation. That's Romans chapter 5. As in Adam, we all sin and we all die.

But Christ is called our second Adam. So where Adam failed, Christ succeeded. He was God.

He was perfect. He became our perfect substitute. Adam was our sinful representative.

Christ, our perfect, holy representative. And so now all who are in Christ, who are born again, we're no longer condemned because Christ took our place. We're forgiven.

We're declared righteous. We're saved. Christ is our substitute.

This was established in the very beginning, Exodus 11 and 12. Now listen very carefully. This idea of substitution in Exodus and even moving forward as we see it all come to field in Christ, there's a critical observation I don't want you to miss.

Israel, here in this early example, they weren't spared. The substitute wasn't given just because, you know, they were better than the Egyptians. Israel had her own sins, 430 years of slavery and oppression.

There's no doubt. She had her own compromises, her own moral issues. So they were not saved because of superior righteousness.

The text shows us they were saved because they were covered by a substitute. Listen, church, the difference is not morality. The difference is substitution.

One was under the Lamb. The other was not. You see, God didn't grail on a curve that night.

He didn't spare the good enough homes. He passed over the covered homes, the homes with a substitute. That 10th plague wasn't an examination in ethics.

The truth is, it was all about the substitute. Were you covered by a substitute? It's essential and timeless in how God saves people. And this logic will echo forward as well.

Now he looks back to Adam and sees that he's our representative who failed. It now looks forward to Christ, as I mentioned. And Christ is the fullest expression of our perfect substitute.

And so Exodus 11 really just throws a lot of light on the man who hung on a Roman cross and took in his own body what you and I actually deserved. Jesus Christ. Substitution.

It's an essential, timeless element to how God saves. But listen very carefully. Substitution alone isn't enough.

Because the Lamb wasn't just brought into the home and said, okay, we have a Lamb. He's our substitute. And then just let's stay there by the door like the Lamb is present.

There had to be a holy sacrifice as well. The Lamb had to be slaughtered. Because just presence is not the same as payment.

And in this story, the Lamb doesn't just represent something. It actually absorbs something. Look with me at this second point.

A holy sacrifice. You see it mentioned in verses 21 and 22 of chapter 12. Glance your eyes back at the text.

In which these instructions are this. Slaughter the Passover animal. Brush the lentil in the two doorposts with some of the blood.

None of you may go out of the door of his house until morning. So there was more than just that. We've got a Lamb as a substitute.

There had to be a slaughter of the Lamb. And then an application of the Lamb's blood as a payment. As the purchase price.

And why is this the case? Here's the hard answer. Because judgment was coming. The 10th plague was on the way.

The final one that would deliver God's people. And so a substitute, yes, had to be chosen and set apart. That now had to be sacrificed.

And the blood brushed over the door to show a life had been taken. See in God's economy, a life was sacrificed so that a life could be saved. Blood was shed so people could be spared.

It's not just a substitute, a stand-in. It's a sacrificial substitute. Because in this text, as it's true in life, judgment here is not just symbolic.

It's not some rhetorical idea. Judgment's actual. The death angel actually was moving.

Firstborns would actually die. Yes, the text says from Pharaoh's palace to the dungeons. There was real grief, real death, real consequence.

So God actually executes judgment. Unless there's a substitute that has taken that judgment. Now, I want to be frank with you.

This is where many people, yes, people in the church stumble. It's hard to preach and it's hard to hear. We'd much rather have a God who is loving and not demanding.

We'd much rather have grace and not talk about justice. We'd like forgiveness and not conversation about penalty. But listen very carefully.

The Passover does not allow that kind of inconsistency. The Passover, how God saves, it insists that sin does bring death. Rebellion has a price.

That judgment does occur and that God out of his holiness does not ignore offenses. Exodus 11 and 12 proves it. I want to remind you of this as well.

This does become a normative principle when it comes to sacrifices throughout the Old Testament. That blood must be shed, proving that a life was given as a substitute. Here's Leviticus 17 and 11.

Hear this. For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls. The word atonement is the word covering.

For it is the blood that makes atonement by the life. God has always, since the beginning, look back at Genesis, in fact, understood substitutes must be sacrificial because blood is what covers. And so the blood on those doorposts that night, it wasn't like decoration.

It's not some new HGTV, you know, type of thing for your home. It's a declaration that not only have we brought in the substitute, we've sacrificed the substitute saying this death has already visited this house. So God would pass them over.

Now there's a big $10 word for this. It's called penal substitution. And for centuries, it's not been looked upon by those who would like to circumvent and contest biblical atonement.

They'd much rather have substitution without the sacrifice, the penalty paying, blood giving moment. There have been names for theories to try to replace this, by the way. Some of you will go home and probably dive deeper in your AI preference to find out what that means.

Things that were developed to replace penal substitution or sacrificial substitution be like moral influence. Like we just have a, Christ is a good example for us. And so that's motivating.

Some people call it the restorative model, that we can be renewed by just looking at Christ's life. There's even some people who say that they hold to a Christus victor understanding of the death of Christ, but that's all it is. It's just victory over death.

There's not a penalty paying aspect to it. And I want to say to you, to adopt any of those views renders the atonement ineffective. Because there is a penalty paying aspect to Christ's death.

Penal substitution is not a doctrine invented by man. It's written on the doorposts in Exodus 11 and 12. A substitute had to die and shed his blood so that the house could be covered so that atonement could be there.

And I just want to share with you, the New Testament and the old are both very explicit with their words about the substitute sacrificing, shedding his blood so that there could be a purchase and a price made to cover. Here's Isaiah 53 5, speaking of Christ, the suffering servant, he was pierced because of our rebellion, crushed because of our iniquities. Here's the word, the punishment of our peace was on him.

That's the penalty of our peace. We are healed by his wounds. Here's Peter echoing that he says in first Peter one, you were ransomed from the feudal ways inherited from your forefathers.

So that's referring to a price that was paid. You pay a ransom. He says not with perishable things of silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ like that of a lamb without blemish or spots.

Pretty spot on there, isn't he? So the price that was paid was the blood of Christ. It's just culminating in fulfilling all of Exodus 11 and 12. So church, hear this, God's justice passes over.

Yes, but not because he relaxed his standards. He didn't get dementia or a bad day at the office and forget something. He didn't fail to write it down on a post-it note.

God knew exactly what was required, what he demanded, and his standards were met, but they were met in another, not you. The penalty was not dismissed. It was discharged, but to the substitute, and it was the substitute who shed his blood so that you could experience the third element, divine satisfaction.

You see, Jesus, yes, he took your place as substitution. He paid your penalty. That's a holy sacrifice, and that equals divine satisfaction.

So true here in Exodus when the death angel passes over, he sees a death has occurred. The blood's been applied. So no judgment in that home, and this may be perhaps the most remarkable sentence in this entire two-chapter passage.

It's Exodus 12, verse 13. Again, put your eyes on this verse. The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, stay with me, church, I will pass over you.

No plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. I love that phrase, don't you? When I see the blood, I will pass over you. Not when I see your effort, not when I see your heritage, not when I see your last name, your prayers, not when I see your moral record, not when I see your best intentions.

Here, when I see the blood, when a substitute has been sacrificed, then my wrath is satisfied. This is Exodus 11 and 12. This is the 4K trailer of the gospel that's still to come.

This is the gospel in high resolution, high definition. You see, when the blood is seen, this text shows us something happens. Judgment stops, and every believer should say hallelujah.

It's so clear in this first moment. An account is settled, wrath is satisfied, and things that have been accumulating for a lifetime, they're no longer held to your account. And we're not talking here about partial relief.

This is not some kind of probationary period subject to review later. This is not just the absence of punishment either. It's not just relief from danger.

This is complete covering from judgment. It's the kind of complete covering. It's the kind of complete passing over that actually leaves you with an undescribable, unexplainable peace.

The peace that Egypt did not know, but the peace that night that Israel did. Now, I don't have a metaphor or illustration for this, except for one that will fail in every way. The one that I thought of when I was meditating and just rejoicing over this for the last several days.

The first time I got a letter that said, account closed, no balance remains. I was married about a year, and we were trying to sell a car that we were probably upside down in. I had purchased it when I left college.

I was moving, wanting to get a car. So guess what I did? I went and bought a new one. You're talking about stupidity.

I didn't have a job yet. I didn't know what I was going to be making. But I knew I was going to be a youth pastor.

So I went to a dealership in Chattanooga, and I bought a new Subaru, thinking I was going to make a ton of money in Augusta, Georgia. I was no more a month or two into that, and I think that car payment was taking everything I was making. And I was struggling every month to try to make this car payment.

And I thought if I sell it right now, I want to lose more than what I'm trying to work out every month. So I just held on to it, squeezing and pinching pennies. And you know, when you have that kind of debt, you go to bed with it.

You eat it. You wake up to it. All I can think about was the 15th's coming, and I'm not ready.

You're laughing because you've been there, right? Well, I got married. Jewel and I were married in December of 88. And I remember when she saw the first payment, she goes, you're paying what? For that car? I said, I don't like it, but I am.

I owe it. And we begin to do some calculations, and we figured that there was a certain point coming soon that we could sell it. We'd be probably close to eve.

We could just get out from under the debt. And so we did, and we sold it. I remember sending in that final remaining payment, waiting a few weeks.

This is before email. And I got a one-page letter back. It said, account closed, no balance remains.

And I was probably the happiest I've been since I got married. I was so glad for that letter. That illustration, it falls a million universes short in trying to explain the peace we have from the satisfaction that God declares over us because of Christ's sacrificial substitution.

But I can say this to you. Because of Christ's substitution and his blood over your life, you have a one-page letter. And it says, account closed, no balance remains.

And I know how good I felt the day I opened that in Douglasville, Georgia, and realized I don't have to make this payment on the 15th. I am galaxies beyond that level when it comes to spiritual matters. And I'll never have to answer for my sin or pay for it because Jesus, the substitute who shed his blood did.

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Hallelujah, church, amen. And so for those who are covered under the blood of Christ, there's no more waking up to debt.

There's no more notices to dread. There's no more calls to avoid. Man, we have peace with God.

We have the peace of God. This is not a truce. It's not some kind of like managed tension.

You don't have some kind of treaty keeping people at bay. You actually have pure peace because justice has nothing left to demand from you. Jesus paid it all.

So you who believe are at peace with your creator. Beautiful. Now, as we think about these three elements, which many of you were aware of, you knew there is a willing substitute, a holy sacrifice, and divine satisfaction.

These are the timeless essential elements to how God saves. I want you to see just in here just one more time how all of those culminate and are fulfilled in Jesus Christ. So explicitly in scripture.

John would say this, chapter one, verse 29, he sees Jesus coming and he says, behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He's thinking Exodus 11 and 12, you know, he's thinking Old Testament. He says, here's the complete fulfillment of every bit of that.

Paul would say in first Corinthians 5, 7, listen to this verse. He says to that church, clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as in fact, you are in 11. For Christ, our Passover has been sacrificed.

So neither of these men, Paul or John, say that Jesus is like a lamb of God. He doesn't say that. They don't say he's like a Passover lamb.

John says, Jesus is the lamb of God. Paul says, Christ is our Passover. So in every historical time and space way, theologically, in reality, Jesus Christ was your substitute, paid your penalty and has satisfied God.

That's why we call on people everywhere to believe in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because Egypt was not a destination. Egypt's an arrow and it points to Christ.

It points to what would occur 15 centuries later outside Jerusalem on a Thursday night, a Friday morning. And of course that Sunday morning resurrection where the lamb of God absorbed what every guilty sinner deserved and was victorious over and applies the benefit to all who believe. We love John 19, 30, don't we? When Jesus said, it is finished.

Not, I hope it's enough. We'll see what happens. Three words.

Your one page letter. It is finished. Now as hard as it may be in this moment to try to take all of this and put it into a single sentence, I'm gonna be true to our culture here, okay? And can I give you a presence principle? Can I just share with you one sentence that I think not only summarizes Exodus 11 and 12, but I think it throws a lot of light to how it's all fulfilled and culminated in Christ.

Here's our presence principle for this 10th plague. It's that God's presence is never neutral. And you should hear that in a beautifully positive way.

Be thankful God moved toward you, provided himself as a substitute that sacrificed himself to satisfy God's wrath. Amen. He's not neutral.

He moves towards us and he covers those who trust him, saving them from judgment and freeing them from bondage to the blood of a substitute. And just add this in there. That substitute is his son, Jesus.

So a thousand hallelujahs for this truth. A million tongues should sing praise to God that Jesus Christ, his son, has been slain as the lamb. That the blood has been shed and the penalty has been paid and that peace has been purchased.

The only question left is, have you applied the blood of Christ, your substitute and lamb to the doorframe of your life? Now let me speak to you very continuously, boldly here. For most folks in this room, all of our campuses in those rooms, I'm gonna say to you, probably most of you already have. They tell, why do you say that? Well, first of all, this is a church.

A church is an assembly of blood bought people who gather on a regular basis in obedience to God's word to encourage each other and celebrate the Lord and remember his sacrifice. So I don't think, you know, over a thousand folks would come across in multiple campuses who really weren't believers. I think the bulk of our church is exactly that.

They're believers. That's what a church is, a called out assembly. So I share this with you.

It's our text in view. We teach the Bible expositionally, book by book, text by text. So it's in the order.

It's how it comes about. And I know most of you are probably already saved, but I think this has enlarged the joy of your heart as well. And so we're thankful for that.

By the same token, I think that there are people in this room and other rooms who probably thought they were saved until this morning. You thought you were born again and covered until you heard your pastor say, these are timeless, essential elements. In fact, I'll say to you that very same thing in a more blatant way.

I don't think the Bible teaches that you can be saved apart from these three things. You must believe that first Corinthians 15, Christ died for our sins according to the gospel and was raised on the third day. That substitution, sacrifice, and satisfaction.

See, I believe there are people, and I think they're well-intentioned people in this campus, other campuses, who probably have some general concept. Jesus, he was a guy in the first century, and he died so that we wouldn't have to. I'm kind of glad about that.

You just kind of had this general concept. There are those who probably just say, well, you know what? Christianity is kind of a belief in God, and so I kind of hold to Christianity. You don't really know what that means, but you kind of jump on board until you're in church.

And you would even say you're saved, but you really have not placed faith. Watch this now. Listen very carefully to me.

And what I think first Corinthians 15 teaches that there is not only specific content to believe, but the substitutionary, sacrificial, satisfying death and resurrection of Jesus, but that specific content is found within a specific person, like contact and content matter. It's specific content. It's specific contact with a person, Jesus, which is why we say no one comes to the Father, but through Jesus.

And how does Jesus get you to the Father? Because he was your substitute who shed his blood, and that was satisfactory to God. So that's who a Christian is. And if you've never thrown yourself completely in submission and dependence by faith, on the sacrificial, substitutionary, satisfying death of Christ as the only way to be saved, you're probably trying to be a good person.

You may be morally upright, but you probably aren't a Christian because there's specific content that has to be come in contact with that matters. That's why Paul would say, I am bringing to you what I first delivered. This is matters most.

And I pastorally plead to everyone under the sound of my voice, this room, other rooms, do a 2 Corinthians 13 five. Examine yourself to see if you are in the faith. It would be eternally bothersome and troublesome if you could sit under preaching and come in contact with Christians year after year.

And when your judgment day comes, the death angel does not pass over you. God takes his wrath against you. You may say, but I did a lot of good things.

I was around a lot of Christians. I just didn't really believe the right things. Believing the right things about Christ matters.

It matters eternally. So I ask everyone here and other places, do you believe that only Jesus and only his death for you and his shed blood for you and his resurrection for you, substitution, sacrifice, satisfaction is that your exclusive claim before God. If it's not, I would challenge your profession of faith.

I can say that to you because that's exactly my story. I was a really good kid all my life. I grew up in a fantastically Christian home.

I thought I was born again when I was about six or so. I'll never forget the day I was 14 years old. And it dawned on me that all the ways I was good and all the things I was doing in our church and youth group to kind of be the best guy and earn the points.

And God didn't even care a bit about that as far as my redemption. And I remember sitting on that second pew in that high school chapel and realizing I'm gonna go to hell if I depend on those things. And I ran to that altar.

That's kind of how we responded in that culture. It didn't matter to me who was watching. I didn't care who knew.

All I knew was I was lost. I needed Jesus, not my own works. I think there are people like that in our church.

And today may be the first day you realize you're actually not a Christian. You're a churchian. I call upon you to believe in the substitutionary, sacrificial, satisfying death and resurrection of Christ as the only way to be saved.

Ask God to save you through Jesus and God will meet you right there and save you in this moment. The third group that's with us today is probably those. They're here because they know they don't believe.

And by the way, we have those with us every week in every campus. I'm actually friends with some of them. They've told me, Todd, I'm not there yet.

I'm checking it out. I know you think the Bible is true. I'm not sure I'm there yet.

They're skeptical. They're either agnostic. And I'm so thankful that they're here.

Last time I was preparing some additional notes and I just was praising the Lord for people who trust us enough to say, you know what? I go to that church. I'm not sure I'm a Christian. I don't think I buy it.

But they talk about it with great fervency. They're not apologetic. Like they explain it.

They have people that will talk to you about it. So they're in this room. They're in our campuses.

And I'm gonna ask you just blatantly again, again this week. Would you see the historical, theological weight that the Bible brings to Christ and his lone fulfillment of everything it says. And when you today believe in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved.

You see, I'm in a no lose position as your pastor right now. If you're born again, you're saying, Todd, hurry up, be quiet. I can't wait to sing to Jesus.

My heart is exploding with joy. You never grow weary of rehearsing the gospel. Amen, church.

If you thought you were saved and you realize I'm actually not born again. I just was kind of like going along with the crowd. I just kind of thought it was a general, like, you know, believe in like a few good things or that there's a God somewhere.

But no, I, if it's, these are essential and timeless this morning. I believe that Jesus alone died for me, shed his blood for me and satisfied all of God's wrath against me. Then you're thankful.

And if this morning you said, yep, I'm not agnostic or skeptic, but I'm in now. I'll take the step and believe. There's not a person in this room who's like, hey, could you just be quiet? This is the best news of all.

So can I just challenge those in the final two groups? Pray and ask God to save you through Jesus this morning. If that's your heart right now and you are right now are saying, God, I do believe that only Jesus died for me, shed his blood and satisfied your wrath. And so I lay every bit of my surrender and dependence upon one God, man, Jesus to make me right with you.

So God, I only got Jesus. That's all you need. And he'll cover you.

When judgment day comes, he'll pass over you. If that's your prayer right now, you can let me know today by just simply using that card. They're in the seat in front of you.

All of our campuses have one. Just jot your name on there. A way to connect with you.

You can take your phone right now and touch it to that tag right in front of you. It will pull up a text. Come to us.

It's already filled in. All you got to do is hit send and let us know today I'm covered. Can we pray for many people today to see the gospel for all of us, wonder and beauty and trust in Christ.

And for the majority of you who already are that your heart will explode with even greater joy and love for Jesus, our savior. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. A thousand hallelujahs for the substitutionary, sacrificial, satisfying death of the lamb of God, Jesus Christ.