From the Mountain of Judgment to the Mountain of Blessing

• Easter and Resurrection [00:44:48 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor describes Easter as a season of hope, joy, and peace, focusing on the resurrection of Christ and shaking off the weariness of winter.
• Good Friday and Darkness [00:45:28 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor contrasts the celebration of Easter with the 'deep darkness' and 'heavy passage of judgment' found in the text, noting that the earth went dark on Good Friday before the light dawned.
• Divine Justice and Love [00:45:39 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that the judgment against sin is necessary to understand how God's justice and love worked together to hang Christ on the tree.
• Mount Seir / Judgment [00:46:07 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor outlines the sermon structure, identifying 'Mount Seir' as the 'Mountain of Judgment' where the majority of the sermon will focus.
• Easter and Resurrection [00:44:48 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor introduces Easter as a season of hope, joy, and peace, contrasting the light of resurrection with the darkness of Good Friday.
• Judgment and Sin [00:45:28 ▶️ 📄]
  > The sermon focuses on Ezekiel 35 as a text of deep darkness and judgment against Edom for its hatred and violence toward Israel, illustrating God's justice.
• The Knowledge of God [00:58:47 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor highlights the repeated phrase 'then you will know that I am the Lord,' explaining that all people will know God's lordship, either through worship or through judgment.
• Edom and Esau [00:46:34 ▶️ 📄]
  > Historical context is provided regarding Mount Seir and the land of Edom, descendants of Esau, who harbored perpetual enmity against Jacob's descendants.
• Divine Justice and Judgment [01:04:41 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that God is inherently just and must judge sin exactly as it deserves, contrasting human desire for leniency with God's righteous nature.
• Omniscience and Sin [01:09:35 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor emphasizes that no sin escapes God's 'radar,' using the example of Edom's gossip and judgment to illustrate that all actions are known to God.
• The Gospel and Substitution [01:19:02 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor presents Mount Calvary as the only escape from the 'mountain of judgment,' explaining that Christ took the verdict and punishment we deserve.
• Living Before God (Coram Deo) [01:03:08 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor contrasts the sin of ignoring God's presence with the Christian calling to live every moment aware that God is present and cares.
• God's Final Verdict [01:18:19 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor describes God's verdict as final and irreversible, using the analogy of a falling tree that cannot be raised again.
• Substitutionary Atonement [01:19:55 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that Christ took the penalty and punishment for sin upon Himself, satisfying God's justice so that believers are not judged.
• Escape from Judgment [01:18:53 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor identifies the 'way of escape' from the mountain of judgment to the mountain of blessing as the cross of Christ.
• Communion as Remembrance [01:27:02 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor connects the elements of bread and wine to the body and blood of Christ, explaining that partaking is for those who have fled to Christ for salvation.

• Sermon Illustration [00:44:00 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor humorously notes the difficulty of preaching immediately after hearing his son sing the doxology loudly.
• Sermon Illustration [00:46:02 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the metaphor of 'hiking' on 'three mountains' to structure the sermon, specifically identifying Mount Seir as the 'Mountain of Judgment'.
• Sermon Illustration [00:44:04 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor mentions his son belting the doxology before the sermon began.
• Sermon Illustration [00:46:02 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the analogy of 'three mountains' (Judgment, Blessing, Salvation) to structure the study of Ezekiel 35-36.
• Sermon Illustration [00:57:17 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references Matthew Henry's writing that those who ignore God's mouth will not escape His hand.
• Sermon Illustration [00:58:15 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references Hebrews 10, stating it is a fearful thing to fall into the hand of the living God.
• Sermon Illustration [01:09:53 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a childhood story about sneaking Little Debbie snacks upstairs in a yellow Nike duffel bag, only to be caught by his mother who asked, 'Did you think you'd get away with it?' This illustrates that no sin escapes God's radar.
• Sermon Illustration [01:16:19 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses an analogy of escaping a crime (not being found, fleeing jurisdiction, legal loopholes, or prison escape) to demonstrate that while human laws have loopholes, God's verdict is final and inescapable, citing Isaac Watts' metaphor of a fallen tree.
• Sermon Illustration [01:18:23 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses Isaac Watts' analogy of a tree falling in the forest to illustrate the finality of God's verdict; once it falls, it lies there with no going back.
• Sermon Illustration [01:22:53 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor tells a story of two duck hunters in Georgia who, facing an approaching brush fire, light a backfire to burn a circle of charred dirt around themselves. When the main fire hits, it passes over them without burning because there was nothing left to consume, illustrating that God's judgment has already been poured out on Christ for believers.

• Pastoral Charge [01:08:52 ▶️ 📄]
  > To be careful and refrain from speaking negatively or gossiping about fellow church members.
• Pastoral Charge [01:28:23 ▶️ 📄]
  > To trust in Christ, flee from judgment, and throw oneself on God's mercy for salvation.

[00:18:56] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:18:56] I don't know about you. I went camping Friday into Saturday. There's a lot of grumbling in my heart. Sleeping outside and pulling a calf and all sorts of things.
[00:19:13] The Lord is good, and in order for our hearts to return back to him, we need the Lord to chase us back.
[00:19:21] And he does that by helping us to confess our sins.
[00:19:24] So if you would, let's confess our sins together as one body.
[00:19:29] Heavenly Father, we thank you that you are a righteous judge.
[00:19:34] We also thank you for your patience with us, which staggers our imaginations.
[00:19:40] Lord, we speak hard words against you in our hearts every day.
[00:19:45] If we examined every thought that flows through our minds, we would discover countless grumblings and accusations against you.
[00:19:54] Oh God, have mercy on us and forgive us.
[00:19:57] If you were to give us what we truly deserve, we couldn't endure it for a moment.
[00:20:03] Take a moment, whatever the Lord's brought to your attention, your heart or something that we read, and confess your sins silently to God.
[00:20:13] Lord God, I hate the fact that I grumble so much against you.
[00:20:38] Lord, it's small things.
[00:20:39] It's things that I would like to think are not that big of a deal.
[00:20:44] But Lord, if my heart is not satisfied in you, Lord, then it is utter rebellion and rejection of you.
[00:20:51] Lord, I am so sorry.
[00:20:54] Lord, for the ways in which I do not treat you as my soul's love.
[00:20:59] Lord, I treat you as something other.
[00:21:03] Please, Lord God, please return our hearts.
[00:21:06] Please forgive us.
[00:21:07] And we know that we have forgiveness because Christ went to the cross for all of my grumblings and all of my rebellions and all of your people's sins, Lord.
[00:21:16] And it's in him that we trust in Christ's name, amen.
[00:21:21] If you have confessed your sins to the Lord God, you need to know that you are forgiven and you hear it from God's word.
[00:21:28] This is from Psalm 103.
[00:21:30] He does not deal with us according to our sins, pause, though he should and could and we write to.
[00:21:38] nor repay us according to our iniquities no instead beloved he treats us according to his grace and mercy because it's true let's stand together and let's sing

[00:21:48] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:21:48] the depths of woe i raise to thee a voice of lamentation lord turn a gracious ear to me and hear my supplication If our iniquities doth mark our secret sins and misdeeds, Lord, who shall stand before you?
[00:22:52] Thou shalt be washed away, a crimson stain, grace, grace alone, a failure, works of life, sorrow, and much the best.
[00:23:27] Life filled and I saw All must all I confess Thou sheathed by mercy Thus is in the light In my soul shall rest His word of hope My fainting spirit Mercy is my fort My comfort, my sweet support
[00:24:31] I wait for it with patience, wait for it with patience, wait the long night till the drawn heart still trusteth in His might.
[00:25:10] might, it doubteth no feeling till the slow years receive ye of the Spirit, boy, till God of healing till of healing our sins and sorrow, his grace must more abound, his helping love No limit, not most needed, sounded.
[00:26:09] Shepherd, good and true is He who is.
[00:26:13] As we come to confess our faith together,

[00:27:03] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]
[00:27:03] We're confessing this morning from Westminster Shorter Catechism, question 84.
[00:27:12] I ask you this morning, dear Christians, what does every sin deserve?
[00:27:20] Every sin deserves God's wrath and curse, both in this life and that which is to come.
[00:27:27] As we continue with our memory verse this month, we're in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verses 3 and 4.
[00:27:35] let's say it out loud together. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures. Let's continue to sing

[00:27:55] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:27:55] together oh church of christ invincible the people of the lord empowered by the spirit's breath and nourished by his word his covenant of grace will be our portion evermore For he who called us will not change
[00:28:34] Our help and our reward O chosen people called by grace The sons of Abraham Who walk by faith in things unseen And on his promise stand That every nation of the earth Will hear his boundless love
[00:29:10] That causes broken hearts to heal And pays our debts with love Church of Christ in sorrow now Where evil lies in wait When trials and persecutions come This light will never fade For though the hordes of hell may rage
[00:29:47] Their power not endure Times are in our Father's hands Our anchor is secure O Church of Christ, upon that day When all are gathered in When every tear is wiped away With every trace of sin
[00:30:23] Where justice, truth, and beauty shine And death has passed away Will dwell as one for all eternity Where justice, truth, and beauty shine And death has passed away Where God and man will dwell as one
[00:30:49] For all eternity You may be seated.

[00:31:10] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]
[00:31:10] Our scripture reading this morning comes from Mark chapter 15 as we fix our eyes on the crucifixion of Christ.
[00:31:21] And they compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross.
[00:31:33] And they brought him to the place called Golgotha, which means place of a skull.
[00:31:38] And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it.
[00:31:44] and they crucified him and divided his garments among them, casting lots for them to decide what each should take.
[00:31:55] And it was the third hour when they crucified him.
[00:31:59] And the inscription of the charge against them read, King of the Jews.
[00:32:05] And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.
[00:32:11] And at the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice, Eloi, Eloi, l'ma sabachthani, which means my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
[00:32:24] Our Elder Clark Moore will come and pray for our congregation.

[00:32:31] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:32:31] Let's go to the Lord in prayer.
[00:32:34] Heavenly Father, as we approach this Easter season, Lord, I pray, God, that you would soften our hearts and help us to truly understand what it meant for you to live a holy life and to die a painful death, Lord, we have no words for that.
[00:32:55] We are thankful beyond words.
[00:32:59] And, Lord God, I pray in the weeks to come, Palm Sunday next week and then Easter Sunday where we celebrate your resurrection, Lord, you would help us to reflect those moments.
[00:33:08] But, Lord, just be hopeful and excited about what's to come, Lord.
[00:33:16] We pray, Lord, we are thankful for every day you give us here on this earth, but, Lord, we pray that you would come quickly.
[00:33:22] Lord, the home that you provided for us in heaven is far surpassing what we have here.
[00:33:27] But Lord, in the interim, help us to be soldiers for Christ out of the wonderful things that he did for us on that Easter Sunday.
[00:33:37] Father God, I just want to lift to you our prayer request of the congregation right now.
[00:33:42] Lord, there's a lot, and we're thankful that we can come together in this time, but even beyond this time, be in prayer for one another in our needs, in our joys, in our praises.
[00:33:53] Lord, we're just thankful that we can do this, that you've given us the ability and the freedom to be able to join and pray.
[00:34:01] So, Father God, I want to lift to you Pam Ware, who had surgery on Friday.
[00:34:06] Lord, I think there were some bumps because she had to go back to the emergency room on Saturday, but we received word last night that she is back home and she is sleeping and resting.
[00:34:14] And, Lord, we pray that, Lord, rest is a great thing and it can heal all things.
[00:34:19] So we pray, God, that you would help her to continue to rest.
[00:34:21] We thank you for Todd and their family who are helping care and watch out for her right now.
[00:34:26] And just pray, God, we ask that she would have a swift recovery from the surgery and you would heal her quickly.
[00:34:34] Father God, we want to pray for the Colvard family.
[00:34:36] And we thank you for Michael and Lindsay and Michael's leadership here at our church.
[00:34:41] And we pray for Timothy, who is having an eardrum repair on the 24th, which is just the day after tomorrow.
[00:34:50] So we pray, God, that you would go in front of all of them.
[00:34:53] We pray that you would go in front of the nurses, the doctors, the anesthesiologists, the surgeon, that you would help everything go really smoothly, Lord.
[00:35:03] And we pray, God, for the recovery.
[00:35:04] As I understand, there's just a lot of got-to-be-still kind of stuff, and that's hard for any kid.
[00:35:12] There's so much to be doing, but I pray, God, that you would help Lindsay and Michael and Timothy especially to heed the doctor's advice and just, Lord, I pray your hand through all of this. We just pray,
[00:35:22] God, that you would be with them now and just go in front of them in this surgery. It would be a great success. Lord God, we lift to you Marty Layden's niece's mother-in-law, Dorothy, who was
[00:35:34] in a car accident, is looking to hopefully soon get weaned off a ventilator. We pray for Don Deal's mom as his dad just passed and she's transitioning now to an assisted living facility, which is
[00:35:46] unfortunately, real near three of Don's siblings. So we just pray, God, that you would be with them and be with her in this transition. We pray for all those that are recovering from surgery, that are struggling with cancer and therapy. We pray, God, that you would continue to be with
[00:36:02] Bennett, Ryan and Emily and Bennett in his seizures, Lord. We pray for continued easing of that, Father. And we just ask, Lord, that those others in the congregation that have prayer requests that are even unspoken, Lord, you know those. You know those better than we do. So we
[00:36:17] pray, God, we'd lift those to you now and that they would be comforted by knowing that you know and hear those prayers. Father God, as a church, we are so blessed and honored to be able to pray
[00:36:28] for our missionaries that we support, Lord. And we are doubly blessed by having some of those missionaries here as a part of our church. One of those is Ken Cross, and we're praying for him this
[00:36:38] week with Seed Sports. And Father God, close to home for Ken, we're praying for Lynn Cross, Lord, who has not been well since Christmas. And she has a series of tests and biopsies coming up.
[00:36:50] We pray, God, that you would go in front of the doctors as they try to determine what may be going on and give Lynn peace and healing, Lord. We just pray for Ken and all that he's doing to kind of
[00:37:03] help care there as well and just balance that with the ministry. And Lord, we're excited to hear about some great things going on in the ministry. Ken is heading up an international chaplains ministry out of seed, and we pray, God, that you would help him prep for that. And as he
[00:37:19] equips people, ministers from around the world through seed sports, that you would just encourage him in putting that together and sharing that abroad. Lord, we also are praised for the work he's doing at Joe Gibbs Racing, and there have been several that have come to Christ on teams
[00:37:35] and drivers and the driver's teams there. Lord, we pray for these new Christians in their walk, and we thank you that they have Ken there by their side to kind of help encourage them in their
[00:37:44] spiritual growth. Lord, we lift to you the Morrisville Christian Mission and the work that it does to help those in need around the community. We pray for Prosperity Presbyterian Church in Charlotte and Pastor Bruce Brown. We pray that you'd be with them in their service today,
[00:37:58] help them to glorify and honor you in their time together today as well.
[00:38:03] Father God, we pray for our own outreach here in the community, whether it's through the Christian Mission, whether it's through the Pregnancy Center, whether it's through the LifeWalk.
[00:38:11] Lord, help us to be light and salt in the world, whether it's even in our own work.
[00:38:15] Lord, just help us to be light and salt in all that we do.
[00:38:18] Lord, focusing and centering on Christ in all those things.
[00:38:23] And Lord, as we are Christians, we are called to study the Bible.
[00:38:27] And, Lord, I pray, God, that as we do that, we may be encouraged to find someone in our life, whether it's a neighbor, a friend, a family member, somebody we work with even, to study the Bible along with them, Lord.
[00:38:39] That's a really specific prayer request.
[00:38:41] And, God, your word is our source of strength.
[00:38:44] And I pray, God, that through this opportunity, their doors may be open, that we can have a chance to share the gospel and the goodness of your word with others.
[00:38:55] Father God, we continue to lift to you a harbor and our desire to church plant.
[00:39:01] Lord, all the things that need to happen, finding someone who'd be willing to ride along with us in that journey to potentially help lead a church, all the things around where and when and the timing, Lord,
[00:39:11] all that's in your hands, and we find peace from that.
[00:39:15] And God, I pray that you would help us to be good stewards and do the things that you would have us do in preparation for that.
[00:39:21] Lord, we thank you for our congregation, and we just pray, God, that this time today, through our music, through the ministry, through the word that Tyler's going to present and talk through, Lord, we would honor you
[00:39:31] in all of this. And we ask this in the precious name of Christ. Amen.

[00:39:39] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:39:39] Thanks so much, Clark. As the deacons prepare to take up tithes and offerings, this is a chance for us to worship the Lord practically, to care for the body here, and to care for the gospel to
[00:39:50] go forward. And so we as Harvard members promise to do this, to support the worship and work to the best of our ability. But if you're a visitor this morning, we want you to know that we don't
[00:40:01] expect anything from you. If you let the plate pass you by, nobody's going to look at you sideways.
[00:40:06] Because this is supposed to be about joy, about our love and our joy in what Christ has done for us. And we love the church and we love to see the church grow and expand. We love to see the church
[00:40:16] care for others and see God's name be great in our community and the world. So we do this because of joy, and we want you to do this with joy too. And so in whatever way you give, may you give with

[00:40:27] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[00:40:27] a cheerful heart. We get to sing another psalm this morning. I don't think we've sung this one before. This is Psalm 110. You guys know the tune to this. The beauty of singing the psalm, one of
[00:40:41] the 10,000 beauties of singing the psalms, is that you get to sing a word like Melchizedek, which is in the second verse. Don't be tripped by it. You know it's coming. Now you know. So let's sing.

[00:40:53] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:40:53] Jehovah to my Lord has said, sit thou at my right hand, until I make thy foes a stool Where on thy feet may stand Jehovah shall from Zion Send the scepter of thy power In battle with thine enemies
[00:41:20] Be thou the conqueror A willing people in thy day of power Shall come to thee By youth arrayed in holiness, like morning dew shall be.
[00:41:41] Jehovah swore, and from his oath he never will depart.
[00:41:49] Of the order of Melchizedek, a priest thou ever art.
[00:41:57] The Lord at thy right hand shall smite earth rulers in his wrath.
[00:42:05] Among the nations he shall judge, the slain shall fill his path.
[00:42:14] In many lands he'll overthrow their kinds with ruined dread.
[00:42:21] And marching he'll drink from the brook, and so lift up his head.

[00:42:33] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:42:33] Let's pray together.
[00:42:34] Lord God, your conquest continues.
[00:42:37] Lord, not against flesh and blood.
[00:42:40] Lord, against authorities and principalities and the evil of this world.
[00:42:45] Lord, you will conquer hearts for yourself.
[00:42:48] Lord, you've conquered my heart.
[00:42:50] Lord, we pray that we would get to see your work spread throughout the world.
[00:42:55] Lord, we would get to see more brothers and sisters who don't know their brothers and sisters come to Christ, have their sins forgiven, and have their destiny changed utterly.
[00:43:06] Lord, take these gifts and use them for your purposes and for your glory.
[00:43:11] In Christ's name we pray. Amen.
[00:43:13] Because God has given us so much, let's respond by thanksgiving by singing doxology together.

[00:43:56] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]
[00:43:56] You can be seated.
[00:44:00] It's hard to preach a sermon after you just hear your son belting the doxology.
[00:44:04] So if you'll turn with me to Ezekiel chapter 35, we're continuing our study of Easter in Ezekiel, and we'll spend the majority of our time in chapter 35, 15 verses, and we'll also touch on a few verses in chapter 36.
[00:44:26] So if you're adding 15 verses plus 15 verses and thinking, how will we ever get through 30?
[00:44:32] We won't do 30 verse by verse.
[00:44:36] So as you're turning there, when we approach Easter, Easter is a kind of a celebration season where we're shaking off the weariness of winter.
[00:44:48] Spring has arrived.
[00:44:51] New life is beginning to bloom outside.
[00:44:54] And we're fixing our gaze on the incredible blessing of the resurrection of Christ.
[00:45:02] Easter is a season of hope.
[00:45:04] It's a season of joy.
[00:45:06] It's a season of peace.
[00:45:08] But sometimes in the midst of the celebration and the newness of life, we can forget that before the light dawned on Easter morning, before the light dawned, the earth went dark on Good Friday.
[00:45:28] Our text this morning is admittedly a text of deep darkness.
[00:45:32] It's a heavy passage of judgment against sin and a sinful nation.
[00:45:39] But this passage is necessary for us to consider the judgment and the hatred of God for sin because it is the justice of God alongside the love of God that hung Christ on that tree
[00:45:55] that led to that dark Friday before Easter morning.
[00:46:02] And as we go into this text, we're going to look at three mountains.
[00:46:07] We'll spend most of our time this morning hiking on one particular mountain, the Mountain of Judgment, Mount Seir.
[00:46:15] We'll also visit the Mountain of Blessing and the Mountain of Salvation.
[00:46:21] And so I want to orient you just a little bit before we read our text.
[00:46:26] This text is a judgment or a prophecy against Mount Seir, which might not mean a whole lot to you.
[00:46:34] But this mountain is the primary mountain in the land of Edom.
[00:46:41] The land of Edom is about, it's a little south of Judah and Jerusalem.
[00:46:48] It's bordering up to God's nation.
[00:46:52] And Mount Seir was that primary mountain in the land of Edom.
[00:46:56] And so when it refers to Mount Seir, it's referring to all the land of Edom, which is the descendants of Esau.
[00:47:05] So if you think back to your reading of Genesis, the story of Jacob and Esau, these two brothers were at war with one another from the very beginning.
[00:47:16] And Esau's descendants would go to become the land of Edom.
[00:47:22] But the tension that these two brothers experienced didn't just stay with them in their early years.
[00:47:28] But these two nations would become warring nations.
[00:47:31] Nations that strived against each other, the people of God, and Edom.
[00:47:38] And so we find ourselves experiencing a judgment against a sinful nation.
[00:47:46] And it will contrast with the blessing and restoration in chapter 36.
[00:47:53] So if you can imagine two mountains, the mountain of Seir and the mountains of Israel.
[00:48:01] One judgment, one blessing.
[00:48:05] One darkness, one light.
[00:48:09] That's where we find ourself in this text.
[00:48:12] And even though we're looking at a prophecy and a judgment for a sinful people in a sinful nation, it serves for us as a sort of picture for the judgment, not just for Edom, but for all those who come against the God of Israel,
[00:48:36] for all sinners.
[00:48:39] So as we read this, I don't want you to just think, oh, this is a nation far out there.
[00:48:44] But this is a prophecy that shows us God's justice and judgment against all sin.
[00:48:55] We got three mountains to get 30 verses.
[00:48:58] Can we do it?
[00:48:59] I don't know.
[00:49:02] Ezekiel 35, Hear the word of the Lord.
[00:49:08] The word of the Lord came to me.
[00:49:11] Son of man, set your face against Mount Seir and prophesy against it and say to it, Thus says the Lord God, Behold, I am against you, Mount Seir, and I will stretch out my hand against you
[00:49:33] and I will make you a desolation and a waste I will lay your cities waste And you shall become a desolation And you shall know that I am the Lord Because you cherished perpetual enmity
[00:49:53] And gave over the people of Israel To the power of the sword At the time of their calamity At the time of their final punishment Therefore as I live Declares the Lord God I will prepare you for blood
[00:50:10] and blood shall pursue you because you did not hate bloodshed.
[00:50:16] Therefore, blood shall pursue you.
[00:50:19] I will make Mount Seir a waste and a desolation and I will cut off from it all who come and go and I will fill its mountains with the slain.
[00:50:29] On your hills and in your valleys and in all your ravines, those slain with the sword shall fall.
[00:50:36] I will make you a perpetual desolation and your cities shall not be inhabited.
[00:50:41] Then you will know that I am the Lord Because you said these two nations And these two countries shall be mine We will take possession of them Although the Lord was there Therefore as I live declares the Lord God
[00:51:03] I will deal with you According to the anger and envy that you showed Because of your hatred against them and I will make myself known among them when I judge you and you shall know that I am the Lord.
[00:51:23] I have heard all the revilings that you uttered against the mountains of Israel saying they are laid desolate.
[00:51:32] They are given us to devour and you magnified yourself against me with your mouth and multiplied your words against me.
[00:51:43] I heard it.
[00:51:45] Thus says the Lord God, while the whole earth rejoices, I will make you desolate.
[00:51:52] As you rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate.
[00:51:59] So I will deal with you.
[00:52:02] You shall be desolate, Mount Seir, and all Edom, all of it.
[00:52:09] Then they will know that I, let's pray.
[00:52:15] O Lord, who can stand before your awesome judgment?
[00:52:27] Who has any boast before you?
[00:52:32] I know, God, I have no boast before you this morning, but I pray that you would unleash your word to us.
[00:52:40] You would open our ears to hear your incredible, all-inspiring word.
[00:52:49] Father, let us feel the weight and the heaviness of sin, but let it move us to rejoice in our Savior.
[00:52:56] Please, God, we need you to work.
[00:53:00] We ask that you would do this.
[00:53:01] In Jesus' name, amen.
[00:53:07] Well, if you're a kid out there this morning and you want something to listen out for, I've got three things I want you to listen out for.
[00:53:15] Three things.
[00:53:16] The first thing is this, a Little Debbie cake.
[00:53:21] A Little Debbie cake.
[00:53:23] Second, escaping a crime.
[00:53:28] Escaping a crime.
[00:53:30] Third, a wildfire.
[00:53:33] A wildfire.
[00:53:34] So we're listening for Little Debbie's, escaping a crime and a wildfire.
[00:53:43] Now, I hope you, in listening to the text of Scripture, walked away from these verses saying, my goodness, what did these people do to deserve this kind of prophecy and this kind of judgment?
[00:54:01] Well, apparently what these people had done is, if you remember back to last week, Ezekiel finds itself in the time of exile.
[00:54:13] God's people have been removed from their home and taken into captivity.
[00:54:18] And when God's people had been taken into captivity and Jerusalem had been ravaged, it left a void in the land.
[00:54:29] There weren't people in God's promised land like there had been.
[00:54:33] And so the nation of Edom looked over there at God's promised land and said, you know what, we didn't get that promised land all the way back in Genesis when Jacob took the blessing and the promise from us.
[00:54:51] Now's our chance.
[00:54:54] And so they took advantage of God's people in a time of great hurt to take possession of a land not their own.
[00:55:05] But they didn't realize that as they did this, they did this to their own peril at the judgment of God.
[00:55:15] And so we see this specific nation with its specific sins, but we also see in it the prophecy and the word of God against us for our own.
[00:55:29] And so as we look at this text, we come then to our first mountain, Mount Seir, the mountain of judgment.
[00:55:36] And what we're going to do is we're going to walk through verse 35, verse by verse.
[00:55:42] And I just want to draw some things to your attention.
[00:55:46] The word of the Lord came to me, to Ezekiel, whom he called son of man.
[00:55:52] Set your face against Mount Seir.
[00:55:55] Look to it with the intent to judge and prophesy against it.
[00:56:01] And say to it, thus says the Lord God, Behold, I am against you.
[00:56:14] There are perhaps no more terrifying words to hear from the living God than that.
[00:56:23] I am against you.
[00:56:26] When I look at you, there is one thing on my mind and it is your judgment.
[00:56:34] I am not for you, Mount Seir.
[00:56:36] I am against you and I will stretch out my hand against you oh I will not stretch out my hand against you to give you good tidings of great joy I stretch out my hand against you
[00:56:57] to smite you I am against you it was Matthew Henry who wrote this those who will not observe the judgments of God's mouth shall not escape the judgments of God's hand.
[00:57:17] This nation had rebelled against God.
[00:57:20] They did not obey the law of God, the way of God.
[00:57:24] They did not worship the one true God.
[00:57:27] And so because they did not listen to the judgments from God's mouth, they opened themselves up to the judgment that comes from His hand.
[00:57:36] I will stretch out my hand against you and will make you a desolation and a waste.
[00:57:45] They had come into this land thinking that it would be a good land for them.
[00:57:49] We will take possession of this land.
[00:57:51] It is ours, they said.
[00:57:53] But God tells them, no, you went into this land expecting it to be good to you, but I will make you a desolation.
[00:58:01] I will destroy you.
[00:58:03] The land will become a wasteland with you in it.
[00:58:07] I think Hebrews chapter 10 captures the heart of these verses.
[00:58:15] It is a fearful thing to fall into the hand of the living God.
[00:58:24] Verse 4 says, I will lay your cities waste and you shall become a desolation and you shall know that I am the Lord.
[00:58:39] Now, hopefully you picked up in those 15 verses that the author repeats this phrase.
[00:58:47] Then you will know that I am the Lord.
[00:58:50] Five times, in fact, in this passage does he repeat this.
[00:58:55] In verse 4, verse 9, verse 11, verse 12, and verse 15.
[00:59:03] But this knowing that he is the Lord is not just a focus of this particular passage.
[00:59:09] It's actually a favorite phrase of Ezekiel.
[00:59:12] It occurs 64 times throughout the book.
[00:59:19] 64 times, then you will know that I am the Lord.
[00:59:26] You see, people may fight hard to suppress the truth that God is Lord.
[00:59:35] We work very hard, Romans 1 says, to suppress what we know about God, about His truth, about His existence, about His judgments.
[00:59:47] But in the end, everyone will know that He is God.
[00:59:56] Everyone will know.
[00:59:57] We will all know that He is the Lord.
[01:00:01] And the question before us in the book of Ezekiel is this.
[01:00:05] Will we know that He is the Lord because we live on the mountain of judgment?
[01:00:11] or will we know that He is the Lord because we experience Him on the mountain of blessing?
[01:00:18] There are two ways that you can know He is Lord.
[01:00:21] Either we will bow with Him on judgment day because of our sin or we will bow before Him in worship.
[01:00:29] But either way, everyone will know that He is the Lord and you will know that I am the Lord.
[01:00:39] Either we will know Him as a comforting Father or we will know Him as a consuming fire.
[01:00:48] Verse 5 says, Because you cherished perpetual enmity and gave over the people of Israel to the power of the sword at the time of their calamity, at the time of their final punishment, therefore as I live,
[01:01:04] declares the Lord, I will prepare you for blood and blood shall pursue you because you did not hate bloodshed, Therefore, blood will pursue you.
[01:01:15] What is the ultimate cost of their sin?
[01:01:22] The wages of sin.
[01:01:28] I will make Mount Seir a waste and a desolation.
[01:01:33] I will cut off from it all who come and go, and I will fill its mountains with the slain.
[01:01:39] On your hills and in your valleys and in all your ravines, those slain with the sword shall fall.
[01:01:45] I will make you a perpetual desolation and your cities shall not be inhabited.
[01:01:52] Then you will know that I am the Lord.
[01:01:57] Because you said these two nations and these two countries shall be mine and we will take possession of them.
[01:02:04] Although the Lord was there.
[01:02:10] That's the real problem, isn't it?
[01:02:12] With what they had done in coming to take possession of that land.
[01:02:17] They're taking not just a land that's not their own.
[01:02:21] They are trying to take possession of God's land.
[01:02:26] The problem is not that the people of Israel have gone away in exile.
[01:02:30] The problem is God is there, although the Lord was there.
[01:02:35] You see, the text has already told us two times, as I live, declares the Lord.
[01:02:45] Their actions against the Lord showed that they did not take into account that He is a living God.
[01:02:55] They were living as if God was not there and God did not care.
[01:03:02] Michael and I just got back this week from a pastor's conference down in Charlotte.
[01:03:08] And the name of the pastor's conference was Coram Deo, which is to live before the face of God.
[01:03:18] It's how we're called to live as God's people.
[01:03:22] We're not called to live as people who don't believe that God is there or that He cares.
[01:03:28] We are called to live every waking moment aware of this reality.
[01:03:35] We are before the face of God.
[01:03:37] He is there and He does care.
[01:03:42] That's the insanity of sin, isn't it?
[01:03:46] Is that we are essentially ignoring the reality that God is real, that He exists, that He isn't silent, that He sees, and that He judges.
[01:04:02] How crazy then of us to run after sin and to act as if God isn't there,

[01:04:10] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]
[01:04:10] although the Lord was there.

[01:04:14] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]
[01:04:14] Verse 11, Therefore, as I live, declares the Lord, I will deal with you according to the anger and envy that you have shown because of your hatred against them.
[01:04:30] And I will make myself known among them when I judge.
[01:04:41] God is a judge and he is not a crooked judge.
[01:04:47] God is not mocked.
[01:04:50] We reap what we sow.
[01:04:53] Edom lived by wickedness and they would die in judgment.
[01:05:00] God's justice will always give what sin deserves.
[01:05:08] And he must judge justly.
[01:05:11] That's who he is.
[01:05:13] He is just.
[01:05:14] Just like God cannot tell a lie because he is truth.
[01:05:19] God must judge justly because he is just.
[01:05:25] It is who he is.
[01:05:28] The punishment must always and will always match the crime.
[01:05:35] And at some level, we all desire that God would be just.
[01:05:42] We desire that God would be just in dealing with other people's sins.
[01:05:51] But we want a different story, don't we, when it comes to our sins.
[01:05:56] Oh God, take care of those wicked people over there.
[01:05:59] But don't deal with me according to what my sins deserve.
[01:06:08] What would you think if God told you this week, I'll deal with you this week according to what your sins deserve?
[01:06:17] Or let's not be so theoretical here.
[01:06:21] What if God treated you this week how you treated others last week?
[01:06:27] What if God extended forgiveness to you this week how you extended forgiveness to others last?
[01:06:40] What if God ignored you and your needs as much as you ignored others and their needs last week?
[01:06:52] What if God lashed out at you in anger like you lash out at others?
[01:06:59] What if God actually treated you this week how your sins and how my sins deserve?
[01:07:06] Not one of us, not one of us could stand if he did that brothers and sisters it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God verse 12 and you shall know that I am the Lord I have heard all the revilings that you uttered
[01:07:31] against the mountains of Israel saying they are laid desolate they are given us to devour and you magnified yourself against me with your mouth and multiplied your words against me and I heard it.
[01:07:48] It's so interesting to me that as God is judging and indicting this people, part of what he indicts them for is their rebellion against him by the way they talked about God's people.
[01:08:04] They uttered sayings against the Mount of Israel and God says they muttered those things about me.
[01:08:17] Mocking and gossiping about God's people is not a cupcake sin.
[01:08:25] It's not light and fluffy.
[01:08:29] Mocking and gossiping and talking down about God's own people is one of the reasons His judgment was falling on Edom.
[01:08:40] It is no cupcake, light, and fluffy sin.
[01:08:44] It is raising our hearts up, oh, not against other people, but against God Himself.
[01:08:52] Boy, we should be careful what we say about those about us in this room.
[01:09:01] Thus says the Lord God, while the whole earth rejoices, I will make you desolate.
[01:09:07] As you rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate.
[01:09:14] So I will deal with you.
[01:09:16] You shall be desolate, Mount Seir.
[01:09:19] And all Edom, all of it.
[01:09:23] Then they will know that I am the Lord.
[01:09:28] Did you catch that phrase?
[01:09:30] All Edom, all of it.
[01:09:35] There is no sin that makes it past God's radar.
[01:09:41] Every word lifted up against His people, they were judged for.
[01:09:47] There was not one sin that slipped underneath the radar.
[01:09:53] We had a rule in our house growing up that you couldn't take food upstairs.
[01:09:59] And when I was a kid, I didn't understand, why can't we take snacks upstairs?
[01:10:03] But now that I have children, I understand.
[01:10:06] The crumbs abound.
[01:10:09] But one day I had a friend over for a sleepover and, you know, thought that I'd be pretty cool and try to bring some snacks upstairs.
[01:10:20] So we moseyed our way downstairs into the pantry with a big yellow Nike duffel bag, very sneaky.
[01:10:29] And we went into the pantry and we filled that yellow neon Nike duffel bag up with all kinds of Little Debbie snacks.
[01:10:42] And if you've ever eaten a Little Debbie snack, you know what the wrappers sound like.
[01:10:47] There is no Little Debbie.
[01:10:51] We have maybe even been guilty of opening Little Debbie wrappers during the service.
[01:10:55] And probably the people in the back have heard it.
[01:10:59] And so we load up the yellow Nike duffel bag with crinkly Little Debbie snacks and try and walk that thing upstairs right past my mom.
[01:11:14] And my mom very graciously lets us make it all the way upstairs where we think we've gotten away with it.
[01:11:22] And then, here she comes.
[01:11:28] And she just pokes her head in and says, did you think you'd get away with it?
[01:11:34] As we, the yellow neon duffel bag up the stairs.
[01:11:41] Oh, there was no chance we were going to get away with it.
[01:11:43] That's us with our sin.
[01:11:46] There is no chance we're getting away with it.
[01:11:50] No sin, no sin gets past God's radar.
[01:11:54] We may think in this life, we may think we will get away with it, but no sin makes it past His radar.
[01:12:06] And brothers and sisters, these are not just the words against Edom.
[01:12:12] This is the reality of judgment for every sinner.
[01:12:18] Without Christ, we, like the rest of mankind, are children of wrath.
[01:12:25] Children of judgment, children of Edom, who live on Mount Seir, whose end is judgment, awaiting the fires of hell. That's the reality. That's the darkness of sin. And so is all hope lost. It's not. We come to the second mountain in this text, the Mount of Israel, the mountain
[01:13:00] of blessings. And to spare you reading another 15 verses, I want to just give you a few.
[01:13:09] Beginning in verse 1 of chapter 36. And you, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel and say, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord. This is exactly how our last 15 verses
[01:13:22] started. Prophesy against the mountain, one for judgment, one for blessing. Look at verse 8.
[01:13:30] but in contrast to the other mountain but you oh mountains of Israel shall shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit not a land of desolation but a land of decadent fruit to my people Israel
[01:13:49] for they will soon come home not a barren wasteland but a vibrant home for behold I am for you Not against, but for you.
[01:14:05] And I will turn to you and you shall be tilled and sown and I will multiply people on you.
[01:14:14] The whole house of Israel, all of it.
[01:14:19] The cities shall be inhabited and the waste places will be rebuilt and I will multiply on you man and beast and they shall multiply and be fruitful.
[01:14:31] And I will cause you not to be desolate, but I will cause you to be inhabited as in your former times and will do more good to you than ever before.

[01:14:44] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]
[01:14:44] Then you will know that I am the Lord.

[01:14:52] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]
[01:14:52] We will all know Him.
[01:14:56] Will we know Him on the mountain of judgment?
[01:14:58] Or will we know Him on the mountain of blessings?
[01:15:03] Will we know Him as our God, the judge of our sins.
[01:15:09] Oh, we know Him as the God who gives us joyful blessings.
[01:15:15] And isn't that what we want?
[01:15:16] Don't we want a life of blessing?
[01:15:19] Isn't this what we spend so much of our time and energy and effort?
[01:15:25] We want to be blessed.
[01:15:27] We want a good life.
[01:15:28] We want a life full of fruitfulness.
[01:15:32] We want to know that God is not against us, but He's for us.
[01:15:37] We want to be richly blessed and multiplied.
[01:15:42] We want to have the wasted parts of our lives rebuilt.
[01:15:46] To have more good than ever before.
[01:15:50] Which mountain then will we build our life on?
[01:15:56] But the real question is this.
[01:15:58] How do we escape the mountain of judgment to find our way to the mountain of blessings?
[01:16:09] Perhaps you can escape in similar ways that you can escape a crime on this earth.
[01:16:19] Perhaps you break a human law.
[01:16:21] Let's just tease this out for a moment.
[01:16:24] Let's consider that you break some kind of human man-made law.
[01:16:29] What's a way that you can escape that crime?
[01:16:32] Well, maybe the first way that you can do that is not being found out.
[01:16:38] Maybe you commit the crime and no one ever knows.
[01:16:45] But nothing is hidden from God that will not be revealed in the last day.
[01:16:52] Well, maybe your crime is found out.
[01:16:58] But another way you could escape might be this.
[01:17:00] Maybe you can escape the jurisdiction of that law.
[01:17:04] Perhaps you could flee to Mexico where they can't prosecute you for your crime.
[01:17:10] Oh, but Psalm 139 tells us that if I go up to the heavens, you're there.
[01:17:15] And if I go down to the grave, you are there.
[01:17:18] If I go and hide in the darkest of darkest, darkest darkness, even there you will find me because even the darkness is light to you.
[01:17:31] Well, maybe you get caught in your crime and you're even prosecuted.
[01:17:36] But maybe you could still escape with some kind of technical loophole.
[01:17:41] Maybe someone tampered with the jury.
[01:17:43] And even though you're guilty, because of the loophole, you escape.
[01:17:50] But Numbers 14.8 tells us that He will by no means clear the guilty.
[01:17:57] There is no loophole to God's verdict of judgment.
[01:18:02] The last hope you might have if you're convicted of a crime and you even go to prison is, maybe I could try to escape from prison.
[01:18:10] But when God's verdict falls, there is no escape.
[01:18:19] Isaac Watts colored it this way.
[01:18:23] When God's verdict falls, it's like a tree that falls in the forest.
[01:18:27] Maybe it falls north, maybe it falls south, maybe east, maybe west.
[01:18:32] But once the tree falls, there it lies.
[01:18:36] When God's verdict falls at the end of our life, there will be no going back.
[01:18:42] There will be no redos.
[01:18:44] When the verdict falls, it falls forever.
[01:18:47] But there is a way out.
[01:18:53] There is a way of escape.
[01:18:56] How do we escape the mountain of judgment to the mountain of blessing?
[01:19:00] You already know.
[01:19:02] It's by Mount Calvary.
[01:19:04] It's by the cross of Christ.
[01:19:08] It's the only way.
[01:19:11] Calvary is the Latin word for cranium or skull.
[01:19:18] It's how our text in Mark 15 that we read earlier described the mount on which Christ was crucified.
[01:19:24] The mountain of the skull.
[01:19:26] The mount of Calvary.
[01:19:28] The place where our Christ, the God-man, was sacrificed once for all for sins.
[01:19:35] It's on that mount that we find the way to escape judgment.
[01:19:40] The good news, the shining light of the Gospel, is that Christ on that mount took on Himself the penalty and the punishment and the verdict for our sin.
[01:19:55] It was all placed on Him.
[01:19:59] He takes what we deserve and gives us the blessing that He deserves.
[01:20:08] Because God is a just God, justice must be satisfied.
[01:20:13] God could never sweep the penalty for sin under the rug. His wrath must be poured out and so to satisfy His judgment. For those who trust in Him, the wrath was poured on Christ. It was all placed on Him. Here then, the judgments of Edom,
[01:20:38] The judgment for your sin and how Christ took it all.
[01:20:46] God was against.
[01:20:50] The Father was against His own Son.
[01:20:55] The hand of the Father's wrath was put on His own Son.
[01:21:01] Lifted up to strike the Son.
[01:21:05] Christ was made a desolation.
[01:21:08] Christ was forsaken as the Father turns His face away so that He would cry, My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?
[01:21:20] From birth, Jesus was prepared for blood.
[01:21:26] All His life, the bloody death of the cross pursued Him until on that cross, His blood spilled out.
[01:21:35] The penalty for the bloody death followed him to the very end.
[01:21:41] And he was dealt with according to our sins, not his own because he was the spotless lamb, but according to every sin that we have committed, he was dealt.
[01:21:57] And when he was judged, the full measure of God's wrath against our sin was put on him.

[01:22:06] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_09]
[01:22:06] all of it, every last, so that we would know that He is a saving Lord.

[01:22:22] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]
[01:22:22] Why does this matter?
[01:22:25] Why should we so feel the judgment of God against sin?
[01:22:30] Because brothers and sisters, there is no more left for me.
[01:22:36] If you have placed your faith in Christ, there's not a single drop of God's punishing judgment left for you. He took it all on that dark Friday. It's all gone. There is no fear of death because
[01:22:53] there is no fear of judgment. I've shared this with you before, but I just can't think of a better way to illustrate this truth. There were two duck hunters who were hunting in southeast Georgia, in this wide open plain. And one of the hunters looked and on the horizon he saw
[01:23:19] a cloud of smoke billowing in the distance. He didn't pay it much attention, but as they sat longer, the smoke grew greater and the cloud grew closer until they could hear the sound of crackling. The wind came up and they realized the terrible truth. A brush fire was coming their way
[01:23:44] at an incredible speed. It was coming so fast that they couldn't outrun it. They were too far out in the wilderness. And so one of the hunters begins to rifle through his pockets. He empties out all
[01:23:58] the contents of his pockets and moves over to his bag, where he dumps everything out in his bag until he finds one little thing.
[01:24:06] He finds a box of matches.
[01:24:09] And to the other hunter's surprise, he strikes that box of matches.
[01:24:14] And he begins to light a fire in the grass all around them until in a few short minutes, those men are standing in a circle of charred dirt.
[01:24:25] As the fire begins to get closer to them, they hunker down in the middle of this circle and they take a handkerchief to cover their face for the smoke as the fire consumes and rolls overhead.
[01:24:43] But the incredible thing was this.
[01:24:45] The fire didn't touch them.
[01:24:48] They walked away unscathed because the fire could not burn where fire had burned once before.
[01:24:58] They burned that circle in the dirt so that there was nothing for the fire to consume.
[01:25:05] The fire of God's judgment does not fall where it has fallen before.
[01:25:12] And if you are in Christ, you're in the burned up space.
[01:25:17] The fire of God's judgment cannot burn you because it was burned and consumed on the cross of Christ.
[01:25:25] You are safe forevermore.
[01:25:34] because His judgment was poured out on Christ and all who are in Christ will never be burned.
[01:25:42] Thanks be to God who through Jesus Christ our Lord saved us.
[01:25:51] So that on a hill far away, on a mount far away stood an old rugged cross, the emblem of suffering and shame.
[01:26:04] And I love that old cross where the dearest and best for a world of lost sinners was slain.
[01:26:15] The old rugged cross.
[01:26:16] Till my trophies at last I lay down, I'll cling to the old rugged cross and exchange it someday for a crown.
[01:26:30] O Lord our God, you do not deal with us according to what our sins deserve.
[01:26:45] May we fly to Christ and find refuge in Him.
[01:26:51] Let us cling to that old rugged cross till we meet You face to face.
[01:26:59] We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.
[01:27:02] As the elders come forward for communion, this meal represents the way.
[01:27:12] This is the path to escaping God's judgment.
[01:27:17] Although the pathway is not eating bread or drinking wine.
[01:27:20] The pathway to escaping God's judgment is what these things represent.
[01:27:26] the blood that was poured out on that mount of salvation the body that was given as He was nailed to the tree all for our sins.
[01:27:40] And so brothers and sisters this is the Christian meal.
[01:27:43] It is for those who have placed their faith in Christ who have fled from the mountain of judgment to the mountain of salvation and have received eternal life and blessing forevermore.
[01:27:56] And so if that's not you, if you have not placed your faith in Christ, we ask that you let these elements pass you by.
[01:28:03] And not because we want to judge you, but because this is the meal for the family of God.
[01:28:10] And the Bible actually tells us that if we eat and drink this in a way that we have not understood the body of Christ and the blood of Christ, that we eat and drink judgment on ourselves.
[01:28:23] But I invite you, if you've never trusted in Christ, if you've never fled from the mountain of judgment, this morning is the morning of salvation.
[01:28:33] Today is the day that you can place your faith in Christ and find hope forevermore.
[01:28:39] So if that's you, I invite you to do business with God this morning.
[01:28:43] Throw yourself on His mercy.
[01:28:48] It was on the night in which Jesus was betrayed, He took the bread and He broke it.
[01:28:53] And He said, this is My body.
[01:28:55] given for you.
[01:28:57] Eat of it, all of you, in remembrance of me.
[01:29:02] Now here at Harbor, we like to serve family style, which just means if you'll hold on to your bread until everyone's been served, we'll all partake together.
[01:29:12] Take a moment in this silence to reflect on the Lord.
[01:29:16] Go to Him, pour out your heart to Him in these moments.
[01:31:39] The body of Christ given for us, let's eat in remembrance of Him.
[01:31:50] After the supper, Jesus took the cup that this is the cup of my blood, the cup of the new covenant given in shed for many for the forgiveness of sins.
[01:32:02] Christ's blood is the way to escape the judgment.
[01:32:06] It is the way to salvation and eternal hope.
[01:32:12] Here at Harbor, we serve both wine and grape juice.
[01:32:16] Wine is on all the outer rings.
[01:32:18] Juice is on all the inner rings.
[01:32:21] And just like with the bread, if you'll wait until everyone's been served, we'll all partake together.
[01:32:26] The blood of Christ shed for us.
[01:34:53] Let's drink in remembrance of him.
[01:34:59] Father, we are so grateful and thankful that you sent your son to die in our place.
[01:35:09] I ask, oh God, that we would leave here rejoicing and happy in him.
[01:35:17] I ask this in Jesus' name, amen.
[01:35:19] If you're able, let's stand as we sing our closing song.

[01:35:26] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[01:35:26] It is good to be clean.
[01:35:33] Just sing hallelujah.

[01:35:36] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[01:35:36] My song, praise the Lord, from the first to the last.
[01:36:36] My affections, and bound my soul.
[01:36:40] By sweet mercy, I could not live here.
[01:36:55] Sin would reduce me to utter despair.
[01:37:00] But through thy free goodness, my spirit's revived.
[01:37:04] And he that hurts me but still keeps me alive Mercy is more than a match for my heart Which wonders to feel its own hardness depart Dissolved by thy goodness I fall to the ground
[01:37:37] For the praise of the mercy I find For the mercies, thy goodness I own, and the covenant love of thy crucified Son.
[01:38:14] All praise to the Spirit, whose whisper divine, seals mercy and pardon, and righteousness mine.
[01:38:25] All praise to the Spirit, whose whisper divine Seals mercy upon you, and righteousness found

[01:38:37] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[01:38:37] Before you receive the Lord's benediction,

[01:39:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]
[01:39:00] don't forget that we have our Easter devotion for the kids right afterwards, right outside here.
[01:39:06] Just head straight back there to the room beside the nursery.
[01:39:10] We do have a special snack, so no need to stop kids at the other snacks.
[01:39:15] We've already got a special one right there for you.
[01:39:18] So you can head right that way.
[01:39:20] There are snacks and coffee for everyone else in the gathering room right over here to the right.
[01:39:25] And we'll have Sunday school at about a quarter after the hour.
[01:39:31] Receive the Lord's benediction over you from Romans 8, verse 1.
[01:39:37] There is now therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
[01:39:46] Amen.