From Death to Life

He comes to Barabbas' cell and opens the door to the cell. And at that moment, I'm sure Barabbas is like, alright. Here we go. But think about this. What the jailer then tells Barabbas probably shocks him, more than shocks him. He says, Barabbas, you are free to go. An innocent man named Jesus has taken your place. See Barabbas represents you. Barabbas represents me. This is exactly the story of this gospel good news. That Jesus literally took our place. That cross was meant for Barabbas. That cross was meant for you. That cross was meant for me. [00:46:11] (57 seconds)  #JesusTookOurPlace

When he proclaims this, he's saying the debt that you owe is paid. Remember the wages of sin, what you owe is death and I've paid the price for you. Fully paid. The sentence that you deserve, eternal damnation, fully served the battle is fully won. It is finished. Complete forgiveness in his last breath. Complete forgiveness. Your past, your present, your future, sins, completely forgiven. When you look at that image of the cross, when you see Jesus, when you when you see him with his hands out, think think that. That's what it represents. He's saying your past, your present, and your future, your sins are forgiven. [00:55:11] (70 seconds)  #PaidInFull

There's a difference between what we're looking at here, this word wage and this word gift, here's two other contrasting things, right? A wage is something that is earned. A wage is something you have to work for, right? You go to work and you're paid out, What is that called? That's called your wages. Right? You have to work to earn those wages. But the thing about God's grace and this salvation that we're talking about, this eternal life that we're talking about, it's not earned by us. [00:35:04] (33 seconds)  #GraceNotWages

Because in the world there is this thought and that we get caught up, if I just be good or if I just try to be a good person, I just try to do good things then then that's the purpose and I'll get my pass then. And let me tell you just trying to be good you can never be good enough. Just trying to do good you can never do enough good things required to pay the price that actually gives you eternal life. Only one person was qualified to pay that price because he lived a perfect sinless life and that's Jesus. [00:36:31] (37 seconds)  #VeilTornReconciled

The veil, this curtain that was in the temple that literally separated from where God, his presence dwelt from where man could be. This huge curtain represented the separation that was caused because of sin, because God is holy. And when Jesus breathed his last breath, we saw it in the video, that curtain was torn representing that Jesus, he literally reconciled us back to God. There's no more separation. All because of what Jesus did. All because of the price that he paid with his life and now all you have to do is receive this gift of forgiveness. [00:56:37] (53 seconds)  #ChoiceLifeOrDeath

And I hate to break it to you today, but if you're here this morning or if you're listening in, you're being faced with a choice right now. And it's really a simple choice. It's either life or death. And I know it sounds harsh, but it's just the truth. It's just the reality. There's really, like, two paths that we're on in life. We're either on the path of life because we received Jesus and he's received us, or we're on on the path of death and destruction. And you might think you're a good person on this path. You might think that you've done some good things, but it doesn't matter because Jesus is the only way to this life that we're talking about. [01:15:49] (49 seconds)  #GodOfNewBeginnings

He doesn't wanna just mend you back together to whatever you were at at the best season of your life. That's not what he wants to do. He doesn't wanna just restore you back to to something that you once were. A lot of us want second chances at things in life. Right? I I I wish I could have some second chances. And you know what? I've gotten some second chances. God does give us some second chances, but I wanna tell you this. He's not just the God of a second chance. He's the God of a new beginning. That's the difference with God. He wants to do something new. He wants to raise you to life. [01:08:30] (44 seconds)  #ForgiveAndRelease

There's so much power in this one word. He cries out and he releases. It's the Greek word, and it not only means to let something go, it has a deeper meaning than that. It actually means to forgive. It means complete forgiveness. This word that that that is used for release, aphiemi, is the exact same word that Jesus speaks in Luke's account, in Luke 23 verse 34. When he's on the cross and he looks at the people, the very ones that are killing him, the ones that he are die he's dying for. And he says this, father, forgive them for they know not what to do what they're doing. Father, Afiyami, forgive them for they know not what they're doing. [00:51:53] (54 seconds)  #TheOnlyWayJesus