Righteous, Holy, and Redeemed: Christ as Your All-Sufficient Substitute

[00:00:03] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]:
From eternity to eternity, that's His domain.
[00:00:06] Before time took its first breath, a crimson cord stretched across the cosmos, woven by a God whose love has no beginning and no end.
[00:00:18] Before the world spun into being, His heart was already set on us.
[00:00:23] When the fullness of time came, love wrapped himself in flesh, born in a manger but hailing from heaven.
[00:00:31] The Lion of Judah walked our dusty streets.
[00:00:34] Love among us, love cried with us, love lifted us.
[00:00:40] Even though the world was dark, He stepped in as light from the manger to the river, from the river to the wilderness, from the wilderness to the cross.
[00:00:48] The Spirit of God rested on Him like a dove that would never leave.
[00:00:53] He knew the mission etched into eternity to be the Lamb of God, to be the sacrifice for sin, to be the bread of life.
[00:01:02] And this is the mystery heaven shouts, Genesis to Revelation.
[00:01:07] Every page, every promise, every prophecy whispers His name.
[00:01:13] He is the true Adam, the true Noah, the true Joseph.
[00:01:17] He's the Lion and the Lamb, the beginning and the end.
[00:01:21] Eternity speaks His name, Jesus, King of Kings, Alpha and Omega, Creator of galaxies and newborn hearts.
[00:01:31] He knows every star by name and still calls you by yours.
[00:01:37] Who would have ever imagined that a lamb once slain would slay death itself?
[00:01:43] But He did.
[00:01:44] Our King is here.
[00:01:45] Our King is near.
[00:01:47] He is for us, with us, and in us.
[00:01:50] The crimson cord stretches from eternity through a manger, to a cross, to an empty tomb, all the way to you.

[00:02:24] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Let's worship together.
[00:03:13] All glory we worship

[00:04:07] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
We're here to celebrate Jesus!

[00:04:14] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
Go tell it on the mountain

[00:04:42] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
We are here watching, O silent love of my night Behold, Thou art heaven's stone of holy light Thou shalt the spirit's temple with all of me
[00:05:49] Remain Done

[00:06:45] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
Say who you gonna tell?
[00:06:56] Tell somebody Who you gonna tell?
[00:07:01] Tell somebody Say who you gonna tell?
[00:07:03] Tell somebody Say who you gonna tell?
[00:07:04] Tell somebody Go tell your friends Go tell your neighbors

[00:08:36] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
Light of the world, you step down into darkness Open my eyes, let me see Beauty that made this heart adore you

[00:09:09] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
Spend with you Here I am to worship Here I am to bow down Here I am to say that You are my God You altogether love me
[00:09:36] All together worthy, all together wonderful, all together wonderful to me King of all days, oh so high

[00:10:10] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Let us pray.
[00:10:13] Serve the earth.

[00:12:48] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
For unto us a child is born, for unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulders, and he will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace.

[00:13:18] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
From eternity you stepped into time Born in Bethlehem, a holy son
[00:13:41] Angels adore you, heaven sing.
[00:14:06] Shepherds rejoice, our Savior came.
[00:14:06] Emmanuel, Prince of Peace, coming King.
[00:14:07] Emmanuel, God with us, born a Savior.
[00:15:11] The Prince of Peace coming here
[00:15:50] His name is Jesus His name is Jesus Holy, Holy is the Lord For unto us a child is born
[00:17:23] Prince of Peace, coming King, your Emmanuel God with us, born a Savior Emmanuel, God with us.

[00:17:50] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
Let's pray.
[00:17:54] Father, we come to you today and we worship you because of who you are.
[00:18:04] And Father, we're thankful that you loved us so much that you sent your son Jesus to be Emmanuel, God with us, the Prince of Peace.
[00:18:16] Lord, as we continue to worship you today,
[00:18:20] We thank you for what you have done in our lives, what you're doing, and what you're going to do through your people.
[00:18:28] Bless this time together, we pray in Jesus' name.
[00:18:31] Amen.
[00:18:32] You may be seated.

[00:18:33] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Amen.
[00:18:34] Well, welcome to Transformation Church and Merry Christmas.
[00:18:38] Can we give it up one more time for our incredible music team?
[00:18:41] What a beautiful way to begin our service.
[00:18:45] Yeah.
[00:18:46] Amazing.
[00:18:47] Well, welcome to Transformation Church.
[00:18:49] My name is Winnie Erb.
[00:18:50] I am joined by the incredible Pastor Paul.
[00:18:53] We are both thrilled to be here with you guys and welcome to Christmas Eve.
[00:18:58] Now, maybe this is your very first time at Transformation Church, and if so, welcome.
[00:19:03] We're so glad that you chose to come and celebrate Christmas Eve with us.
[00:19:07] We'd love to invite you out into the lobby at the end of the service.
[00:19:11] We have a team there that they would love to meet you, say Merry Christmas, and they'd also love to give you a gift, a copy of Pastor Derwin's book, The Good Life.
[00:19:19] Really, this is just our way of saying thanks so much for celebrating Christmas with us today.

[00:19:24] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
That's right, Winnie, and we're so thankful that you are with us today.
[00:19:26] And Transformers, I want to say thank you to you as well for your faithfulness throughout this year.
[00:19:33] You know, as we celebrate this season, we're reminded that God gave His first and His best through His Son, Jesus.
[00:19:41] and that as Christ followers, as transformers, we get to reflect that love and give our first and best through our financial generosity.
[00:19:48] And because of your financial generosity, we are seeing our world transformed today.
[00:19:53] And I would just want to say thank you that don't forget as we're passing out the presence and doing that over these next few days, that we give our first and best to Him as well, that we worship Him through our own generosity.
[00:20:07] The ways you can do that today is you can do that online,
[00:20:10] You can do it through the app or one of the generosity boxes on your way out today.

[00:20:14] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Absolutely.
[00:20:14] Thank you, Pastor Paul.
[00:20:16] Well, Transformation Church, another way that we get to worship through generosity, especially during Christmas, is through a thing called Roll Out Hope.
[00:20:25] Now, Roll Out Hope is how Transformation Church supports families that are struggling during the Christmas season.
[00:20:31] And we just want to say thank you for all the impact and the generosity that has happened within our community through each one of you.
[00:20:38] And take a look at this incredible story.

[00:20:43] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
Transformation Church.
[00:20:45] This season, we had the opportunity to participate in Roll Out Hope.
[00:20:49] We were able to love on our community by equipping families with everything they need to create their own Christmas experience.
[00:20:57] Let's take a look at all God has done.
[00:21:20] Transformation Church, thank you for coming together by providing gifts, giving generously, and serving our community.
[00:21:28] We were able to reflect the true hope we have in Jesus.

[00:21:34] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]:
All right.
[00:21:35] Way to go.
[00:21:36] Way to go, Transformation Church.
[00:21:41] Think about it.
[00:21:41] Can you imagine if you're a parent and you're going through a hard time and you're not able to bless your children?
[00:21:48] But then you hear about this church that says we're gonna come alongside of you.
[00:21:51] Did you guys see that?
[00:21:52] Over $90,000 of gifts, 555 kids, 220 families are gonna be able to have a Christmas because God used your generosity.
[00:22:04] Great job.
[00:22:05] Great job.
[00:22:06] Proud of our church and the most Jesus sense of the word.
[00:22:12] Now, let's do a big welcome for all of our guests who are tuning in online, but also who are physically at Transformation Church, Indian Land, Transformation Church, Lake Wylie.
[00:22:22] Let's give a big welcome.
[00:22:23] Thank you so much for being with us.
[00:22:25] And let's give it up to the over
[00:22:27] 1,400 Correctional Facility Partnerships throughout the United States of America, the mighty men and mighty women of God.
[00:22:34] As a matter of fact, on the count of three, let's say Merry Christmas to our brothers and sisters.
[00:22:39] One, two, three, Merry Christmas!
[00:22:41] Yes, yes, all right.
[00:22:43] And to the TC family, it is so, so good to see you.
[00:22:48] We are gonna kick off our Christmas Eve service, but before I dive into the message, I want you to imagine this.
[00:22:54] Now, this isn't for everybody.
[00:22:56] But say you are a follower of Christ.
[00:22:58] But even if you've lived in America, pretty much people have Bibles all over their house.
[00:23:03] I mean, I almost have as many Bibles as I do footballs around the house.
[00:23:07] I mean, I got Bibles everywhere.
[00:23:08] But can you imagine not having the Word of God?
[00:23:13] That's almost inconceivable.
[00:23:17] Well, on All Gifts Sunday, we came together to raise financial resources because
[00:23:23] There were two groups in Nigeria, two people languages, that we wanted to provide the New Testament in their own language.
[00:23:32] And what did we do?
[00:23:32] We prayed, we generously and sacrificially gave, and on this Christmas Eve,
[00:23:39] I'm proud to announce that 300,000 was raised.
[00:23:43] We're partnering with Illuminations for Bible Translations for these two people groups.
[00:23:49] And I'm believing along with you that God is gonna use this to raise up men and women who continue to spread the gospel.
[00:23:57] I'm not sure if you know this, but by 2050, most of the world's Christians will be in Nigeria.
[00:24:04] So, in case you don't know, there are far more Christians outside of America than in America.
[00:24:13] And so we're playing a part in this global faith that God is doing.
[00:24:18] So, who knows?
[00:24:19] One day in the new heavens and new earth, you might be rolling around with your new resurrection body.
[00:24:26] Some of you got your hair back, Jesus made it grow real good.
[00:24:32] And someone goes, hey, I want to thank you for giving.
[00:24:36] Because of you, my family came to the gospel and my friends and my friends and my friends and my friends.
[00:24:41] And so that's awesome.
[00:24:43] Great job.
[00:24:44] Would you pray with me?
[00:24:46] Holy Spirit, we believe that you're going to use these Bibles to lift up the name of Jesus.
[00:24:55] We believe you're going to use these Bibles to see lives transformed and changed and more people come
[00:25:01] to call him Lord and King and Friend.
[00:25:04] Thank you for this generous people called Transformation Church.
[00:25:06] In Christ's name we pray, amen.
[00:25:09] All right, let's dive into it.
[00:25:10] Check this out.
[00:25:12] So we're all familiar with this picture, the nativity scene, right?
[00:25:17] and we've been walking through a series called Jesus is Better and one of the metaphors has been this that there is a crimson cord from Genesis to Revelation this crimson cord represents Jesus that every Old Testament or Hebrew Bible person character is a symbol and a type of what Jesus came to do for example Adam
[00:25:40] We learned that the story of David and Goliath isn't about you grabbing your stones and throwing it at whatever your Goliath is.
[00:25:56] We learned that it's actually about a greater David named Jesus who didn't grab stones to kill
[00:26:03] The Greater Goliath.
[00:26:05] The Greater Goliath is sin and death, and we needed a champion to fight for us, but he didn't grab stones, he grabbed a cross to defeat sin and death.
[00:26:14] And so we're moving through the scripture, and we get to the point that Jesus is a better you and a better me, and that's really good news.
[00:26:26] And here's why.
[00:26:28] So eight pound six ounce baby Jesus grew up.
[00:26:32] He didn't stay, baby, Jesus.
[00:26:34] And imagine this, you're born to teenage Mary, you're born to Joseph, they're not really well off, and he's born in Bethlehem, which, by the way, was prophesied hundreds of years before Jesus was born that he'd be born in Bethlehem.
[00:26:47] What's interesting, the word Bethlehem in Hebrew means house of bread, and Jesus is the bread of life, so we can feed from him and actually live.
[00:26:57] But Jesus grows up.
[00:26:59] and he grows up to take our place in three metaphors of salvation.
[00:27:06] And salvation is not just a trip to heaven when we die, it's actually not only sins forgiven, but God coming to live in and through us.
[00:27:14] The way we say it here at Transformation Church is this way.
[00:27:17] Jesus gave his life for us to give his life to us to live his life through us.
[00:27:22] And so, there are three metaphors in which we need Jesus to represent us, to be our substitute.
[00:27:29] The first is this, there is a heavenly courtroom
[00:27:34] called Judgment Day.
[00:27:35] And we are all going to be there.
[00:27:38] So we need a representative.
[00:27:41] Secondly, there is a temple in which we need a sacrifice to cleanse us and to purify us so that we can be with a holy and beautiful and perfect God.
[00:27:53] And then thirdly, we need someone to go to the slave market and to buy us from an evil master called sin
[00:28:02] and Death.
[00:28:02] And so when baby Jesus comes, he comes and he says, I'm gonna be a better Derwin.
[00:28:08] I'm gonna be a better Jessica.
[00:28:10] I'm gonna be a better Michael.
[00:28:11] I'm gonna be better for the world.
[00:28:14] And he's saying, let me be your substitute.
[00:28:18] So let's dive into it.
[00:28:22] God the Son.
[00:28:23] This is what we're celebrating on this Christmas season.
[00:28:26] God the Son became one of us.
[00:28:28] Now I want you to think about this.
[00:28:30] This is really important, because this gets confusing.
[00:28:32] What do you mean God the Son?
[00:28:33] So we believe that the Scriptures testify that God is Father, Son, and Spirit.
[00:28:38] You're like, how does that work?
[00:28:39] Great question.
[00:28:40] Think of it this way.
[00:28:42] Your mind, your thoughts, and words.
[00:28:46] Three but one.
[00:28:48] Your mind, your thoughts, your words.
[00:28:50] Father, Son, Spirit.
[00:28:52] Not three different gods, one God.
[00:28:54] God shares the same essence, and within the center of God is Father, Son, and Spirit, just like mind, thought, and words.
[00:29:01] And so Jesus, the second person, comes to earth to be our substitute.
[00:29:06] What did he do?
[00:29:07] He took our place.
[00:29:09] As a matter of fact, just in your mind, He took my place.
[00:29:13] Make it personal.
[00:29:13] He took my place and gave us grace.
[00:29:18] So let me have a fit right now just for a moment.
[00:29:21] It's a good kind of fit.
[00:29:22] Whenever I talk about grace, something wells up inside of me.
[00:29:25] Grace means this, is that there was a test that needed to be taken.
[00:29:29] You took it and failed.
[00:29:31] and God looked at it and said, don't worry.
[00:29:33] I don't grade on a curve, I grade on a cross and you pass because my son passed from death to life in your place.
[00:29:40] That's grace.
[00:29:41] Grace says this, every other relationship requires you to prove yourself, to strive.
[00:29:47] Grace says, no, no, no, no.
[00:29:48] God came to earth to prove his love to you to strive for you not because you deserved it not because you earned it it is impossible but because of grace all things are possible grace means that God meets us in our mess and says I want you anyway grace says God knows your deepest darkest ugliest things and he says I'm not running from you I'm running to you that's what grace is now
[00:30:18] If you like to pull yourself up by your bootstraps and really think you're awesome, this ain't the church for you.
[00:30:25] But if you recognize, oh man, I need God the way I need breath in my lungs to live, this is the place for you because grace can only be poured into broken hearts.
[00:30:39] God the Son became one of us.
[00:30:40] He took our place and gave us grace.
[00:30:42] Let's look at the first scene, the heavenly courtroom.
[00:30:46] and the Heavenly Courtroom.
[00:30:48] Jesus is your righteousness in heaven's courtroom.
[00:30:51] Let's look at the text.
[00:30:52] We're just gonna spend our time right here in 1 Corinthians 1, verse 30 and 31.
[00:30:58] Paul is writing to a group of people in Corinth.
[00:31:02] Corinth was like Las Vegas of the day.
[00:31:05] People came from all types of backgrounds and he's trying to help them learn how to live in this new life of following God.
[00:31:14] He says this, it is from Him that you are in Christ.
[00:31:18] That term in Christ, in Christos, is a Greek term and the way it's written is you are forever attached to Him.
[00:31:27] So in other words, he is forever leading you.
[00:31:31] In other words, you can't cut him loose, and he won't cut you loose.
[00:31:34] It means this, that he forever represents you.
[00:31:38] It means this, that when God the Father looks at you, he sees Jesus, because you are in Jesus.
[00:31:46] Now, it is from him that you are in Christ, who became wisdom from God for us.
[00:31:56] Righteousness.
[00:31:58] Let's stop here.
[00:31:59] Our righteousness.
[00:32:00] Now, I want you to picture this.
[00:32:03] You're dead.
[00:32:06] Judgment day.
[00:32:07] You walk into the courtroom all by yourself.
[00:32:10] You sit down.
[00:32:11] And the judge is up front, but you can't really see because the blinding light is so great.
[00:32:20] And on the other side is a prosecuting attorney named Diablo, the slanderer.
[00:32:25] The liar, the deceiver, the evil one.
[00:32:29] And you're over there by yourself.
[00:32:30] You ain't got nobody.
[00:32:32] And all of a sudden, he turns on the game film of your life.
[00:32:37] Not just action, but every thought.
[00:32:40] Do you guys remember when Jesus said, listen, adultery is not just what you do, it's up in your mind.
[00:32:45] Y'all remember that?
[00:32:46] Like Jesus kicks this thing up so high.
[00:32:48] So the devil's going on.
[00:32:49] And for some of you, he's going on and on and on to the break of dawn.
[00:32:55] That's Sugar Hill Gang 1978.
[00:32:57] Y'all know about that.
[00:32:58] Y'all know about Sugar Hill Gang.
[00:32:59] Anyway, anyway.
[00:33:01] And so let's just use me.
[00:33:02] He's going on and it is clear I am guilty and God who is righteous can only be in relationship with righteousness.
[00:33:10] I need some help.
[00:33:11] I need a substitute.
[00:33:13] So guess what?
[00:33:14] My attorney walks in and he's not wearing a Giorgio Armani suit.
[00:33:20] He's wearing a blood-soaked robe.
[00:33:24] and he sits down next to me and he says, you know everything the devil said is true, right?
[00:33:30] You don't want a lot of Jesus, so you go, yeah.
[00:33:32] He goes, don't worry about it, I got this.
[00:33:34] Well, I ain't got no money to pay.
[00:33:36] Don't worry, I already paid in full.
[00:33:38] So he steps up to the judge and he says, hey judge, that one is mine.
[00:33:45] That one's with me.
[00:33:48] My righteousness is his righteousness.
[00:33:51] because for 33 years he lived God's righteousness because you and I couldn't.
[00:33:56] And then on the cross, his blood declares us righteous, and right at that time, the devil's like, wait, but, but, and God the Father says, shut up, my son is speaking, and his child is under the blood.
[00:34:09] And when you're under the blood, under the blood, under the blood, you are righteous, not only forgiven, but righteous.
[00:34:14] And so you know what that means, teenagers?
[00:34:16] It means this.
[00:34:19] In heaven's courtroom, the verdict has already been rendered righteous.
[00:34:25] Now, if you follow Jesus, here's what this means.
[00:34:28] It means vertically you're right with God.
[00:34:30] Judgment has been taken care of.
[00:34:33] You know what it means internally?
[00:34:35] Start seeing yourself the way God sees you.
[00:34:38] Here's the biggest thing that I'm understanding and in 2026 I'm gonna preach this more because a lot of you guys let stuff rattle in your head but you don't let it get to your heart and here's why.
[00:34:48] You're too prideful.
[00:34:50] Pride ain't look, look how good I am, pride is, well this happened to me and they did this to me and
[00:34:57] When are you gonna go, yeah, I know they did it to you.
[00:35:00] They did it to me too.
[00:35:02] And you did it to somebody too.
[00:35:04] When you gonna focus on what Jesus did to you and what Jesus did for you?
[00:35:07] Ain't nobody gonna play a violin, but he did play on a cross.
[00:35:11] So this doctrine literally changed my life.
[00:35:14] 1999, I'm playing with the Panthers and it hits me as I'm reading the scripture, I'm going, wait a minute, God sees me as righteous?
[00:35:24] I don't know if you know this, but I'm a compulsive stutterer.
[00:35:27] My stuttering was rooted in childhood trauma and abuse.
[00:35:30] And I begin to go, why am I gonna focus on that when I can focus on I'm righteous?
[00:35:35] Get your mind off yourself and get it on Jesus.
[00:35:37] You're not a big deal, I'm not a big deal, He's the big deal.
[00:35:41] Get your mind on him.
[00:35:43] You've been declared righteous.
[00:35:48] Next.
[00:35:50] In the temple, Jesus is your perfect sacrifice in God's temple.
[00:35:54] Now let's pause here.
[00:35:56] So for the Jewish people,
[00:35:58] They have what's called Yom Kippur.
[00:36:00] Yom Kippur means Day of Atonement.
[00:36:02] In Leviticus 16 of the Old Testament, the Hebrew Bible, the Tanakh, you can read it.
[00:36:08] So here's what would take place.
[00:36:09] In the temple is where heaven and earth met and God was there.
[00:36:13] So the high priest would get a lamb, perfect lamb, with no blemishes on it, slaughter it, take its blood, go into the temple, go into a room called the Holies of Holies where God was.
[00:36:24] And there was an instrument called the Ark of the Covenant.
[00:36:28] And inside of the Ark of the Covenant was the Ten Commandments in the mercy seat, and above it was this smoke
[00:36:33] called the Shekinah Glory.
[00:36:35] And that represented God looking down on the Ten Commandments, showing that the people broke the Ten Commandments.
[00:36:40] So when the high priest poured the blood of the unblemished lamb over the mercy seat covering the Ten Commandments, that's called atonement.
[00:36:48] Moved over.
[00:36:50] You're now cleansed.
[00:36:51] You're now pure.
[00:36:53] So God looks down and he sees the cleansing blood.
[00:36:56] Now, there was another lamb though.
[00:36:58] That lamb would have the priest put his hands on it and say, all the sins of the people are upon this lamb.
[00:37:04] And he would let it go into the wilderness and it would just skedaddle off into the wilderness.
[00:37:08] But then sometimes it would skedaddle back and the people would be like, oh no, our sins came back.
[00:37:14] And so you know what the priest would do?
[00:37:15] The priest would get the lamb and go to a cliff and go, bye.
[00:37:21] And it would never come back.
[00:37:24] Now, when Jesus comes, Jesus says, hey, I'm the high priest that goes to the Father for you.
[00:37:34] I'm the temple where God's presence is and I'm the unblemished lamb that not only wipes over your sins and cleanses you and purify you I'm also the lamb thrown over a cliff so that the sins are forgotten so God not only forgives our sins he forgets our sins and he makes us
[00:37:55] Clean and pure so that we can be with Him.
[00:37:58] You're going, Pastor, I'm not clean and pure.
[00:38:00] I know.
[00:38:01] That's why we need a Savior.
[00:38:03] If you could make yourself clean and pure, we wouldn't need Jesus.
[00:38:06] There would need to be no cross.
[00:38:08] Can you get over yourself?
[00:38:09] Stop thinking about yourself.
[00:38:11] And here it is.
[00:38:11] Here it is right here.
[00:38:12] Here it is.
[00:38:12] Here's the secret sauce.
[00:38:13] Here it is.
[00:38:14] And the more you think about God cleansing you, the more you think about God forgiving you, the more it changes you.
[00:38:19] Can you imagine having on a beautiful suit and jumping in a pig pen and making it dirty?
[00:38:24] Of course not.
[00:38:25] Boy, you're wearing something greater than a new suit.
[00:38:28] You're wearing Christ.
[00:38:31] Boy, it's hard to cuss your spouse out when you're wearing Christ.
[00:38:34] Boy, it's hard to be rude when you're wearing Christ.
[00:38:37] It's hard to be mean when you're wearing Christ.
[00:38:40] The sin of the crime is your?
[00:38:44] Crime.
[00:38:44] So He makes us pure.
[00:38:46] In the courtroom, He's our righteousness.
[00:38:49] In the temple, He's our holiness.
[00:38:51] He's our purity.
[00:38:53] Look at this.
[00:38:54] It is from Him that you're in Christ Jesus who became wisdom from God for us.
[00:39:00] Our righteousness, our sanctification, courtroom, temple, and now redemption, that's the slave market.
[00:39:08] Why does the God do it?
[00:39:09] In order that as it is written, let no one who boasts, boast in the Lord.
[00:39:15] Let's move to the next metaphor.
[00:39:18] His sacrifice didn't cover sin temporary, it removed it completely.
[00:39:25] Number three, Jesus is your Redeemer in the slave market.
[00:39:33] I want you to picture this.
[00:39:37] All of us are enslaved.
[00:39:39] Let's start with death.
[00:39:41] One out of one people die.
[00:39:44] Listen, you can have all your green smoothies, do your little CrossFit, have your little treadmill at the office, but you're gonna die and so am I gonna die.
[00:39:54] So check this out.
[00:39:55] Every day that you breathe is one day closer to dying.
[00:39:58] So my mentor, his name is Alan Bacon, that man, he's pastoring you right now even though he's in heaven because of the way he influenced me.
[00:40:06] And he said this, we're all in the checkout line, we just don't know where we are.
[00:40:10] And a few years ago I was calling him and he wasn't calling me back.
[00:40:14] And his wife called me and said he passed away and here's how he passed away.
[00:40:17] He was at home and he had had some heart issues and he had a massive heart attack and he was in her arms now they started dating in their teenage years they've been married over 50 years and the last face he saw was the person he loved the most on this side of eternity but the next breath he took Jesus was holding him in his nail pierced hands when you take your last breath whose arms are you gonna be in
[00:40:44] If you say, I'm gonna be in Jesus' arms because I did this, this, and this, and this, you're not.
[00:40:51] The only people that end up in Jesus' arms are the ones who said, I need mercy.
[00:40:57] Let's talk about sin.
[00:40:58] Sin means to miss the mark.
[00:41:01] To miss the mark.
[00:41:03] And what is the mark?
[00:41:05] If you want to know what a beautiful life looks like, just look at Jesus.
[00:41:08] Even if you don't like Jesus, you got to go, man, that dude was forgiving people who was lying on him.
[00:41:13] He was feeding people.
[00:41:15] Man, he was doing all, he was making shriveled hands grow, and what did he get for it?
[00:41:20] He got killed.
[00:41:21] Well, none of us match that, so we intrinsically know.
[00:41:24] So I'm gonna throw a big word on you here, okay?
[00:41:27] Existentially, you know.
[00:41:29] What do I mean by that?
[00:41:30] You know something's wrong.
[00:41:32] That's why we're always trying to do self-help books.
[00:41:36] That's why we're always trying to work on something, because inherently, we know something's wrong and something's missing.
[00:41:43] So for example,
[00:41:46] On Christmas, if you open up a gift and you get the remote control and you try to make the remote control car go, but it won't go because the batteries were not included.
[00:41:58] That's us.
[00:41:59] And Jesus is going, I'm the battery that never runs out of life, that never runs out of love.
[00:42:06] Learn to trust me.
[00:42:08] So here's the deal though.
[00:42:09] We are enslaved to sin and death.
[00:42:12] We need somebody to purchase us.
[00:42:15] The first time that we see this word, as the word is redemption, we gotta go back to the children of Israel.
[00:42:21] They were in slavery.
[00:42:23] In Egypt to Pharaoh and God used ten plagues to break the back of the Egyptians to let his people go so Jesus would be born.
[00:42:31] The last plague was called Passover because the blood was placed over the door and the angel of death passed over and they were set free.
[00:42:39] That's the word redemption and so God wants to set us free.
[00:42:44] How does he do it?
[00:42:46] It is from Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became wisdom from God for us, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
[00:42:56] Courtroom, temple, slave market.
[00:43:00] In order that as it is written, let no one boast, let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.
[00:43:11] So I want you to picture this.
[00:43:14] You're in chains.
[00:43:17] You can't get away.
[00:43:21] And Jesus rolls up.
[00:43:23] And there's an auction.
[00:43:26] And he goes, that one.
[00:43:30] I want that one.
[00:43:32] I want that one, I want that one, I want that one.
[00:43:33] Matter of fact, I want them all.
[00:43:36] Well, you don't have enough money to pay for it.
[00:43:39] You're right, because I don't need money.
[00:43:41] You need to know sin and death.
[00:43:43] I got something greater than money.
[00:43:46] I got a sinless life.
[00:43:48] I've got righteousness.
[00:43:49] I've got sanctification.
[00:43:51] I've got redemption.
[00:43:52] I'm gonna buy them with the greatest treasure there is in the universe, myself.
[00:43:57] And so Jesus steps on the slave block.
[00:44:00] He looks at you, he looks at me, and he says, I'm gonna set you free.
[00:44:04] And the way he does it is the cross that belonged to you, he took it.
[00:44:09] The cross that belonged to me, he took it.
[00:44:11] And upon that cross, there was a great exchange.
[00:44:14] He says, I'm gonna enter your slavery so you can have my eternal freedom, but don't get it twisted.
[00:44:19] By the way, that's what it says in the Hebrew.
[00:44:21] Don't get it twisted.
[00:44:23] I'm only gonna be dead three days and I'll rise again.
[00:44:30] He set us free.
[00:44:35] At the slave market of sin and death, Jesus didn't negotiate.
[00:44:40] He paid in full.
[00:44:42] He paid in full.
[00:44:43] So let me give you a pastoral application here.
[00:44:49] Why is your self-esteem so low?
[00:44:52] Why are you always beating yourself up?
[00:44:54] Here's why.
[00:44:56] Because you don't think enough about what Jesus did for you.
[00:45:00] It's like, yeah, okay, he died for me, okay, that's good.
[00:45:03] But then you stress and have anxiety and you're always worried about what people are thinking about you.
[00:45:08] What does it matter what people thinking about you when God paid for you?
[00:45:12] Who cares what people say about you when the living universe, the God of the living universe purchased you with his life.
[00:45:18] He didn't use cryptocurrency.
[00:45:19] He didn't use gold or silver or precious gems.
[00:45:22] He used his blood.
[00:45:24] Can't nothing anybody do strip me of that new status and that new dignity.
[00:45:30] That'll set you free this Christmas.
[00:45:39] I'm trying to give you a spiritual antidepressant
[00:45:43] Y'all laughing, I'm serious.
[00:45:46] Y'all, do you guys think I'm just up here preaching?
[00:45:49] I hope you're getting something out of it.
[00:45:50] This is for me.
[00:45:51] If you get something out of it, great.
[00:45:52] Like, this ain't a show or performance, this is life.
[00:45:56] Like, this ain't a, well, Derwin did a message this week.
[00:46:00] Dude, this is life.
[00:46:02] I refuse to go back into slavery.
[00:46:05] I've been there.
[00:46:06] I know what the anxiety and the self-absorption and the selfishness and the pettiness is.
[00:46:13] No, no, I ain't going back to that.
[00:46:15] Vicki don't deserve that man no more.
[00:46:16] That man dead.
[00:46:18] He's been set free in the courtroom declared righteous, in the temple made whole, and at the slave block set free.
[00:46:24] I ain't going back.
[00:46:25] Hey, this Christmas, you ain't gotta go back.
[00:46:32] You ain't got to go back.
[00:46:36] I want to read you something here.
[00:46:38] This is Romans 10, 9.
[00:46:42] This is how we enter into the free gift that God gave us.
[00:46:48] It says, if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Kyrios, Lord.
[00:46:53] That's the Greek word for the Hebrew word Adonai.
[00:46:57] Lord God.
[00:46:59] And believe in your heart.
[00:47:00] Let's pause here.
[00:47:00] This word believe is the Greek word and it means allegiance.
[00:47:05] For many of, oh yeah, I believe that.
[00:47:07] If you were drowning and you had no more oxygen in your lung and somebody reached their hands down and you grabbed it to save your life, that's what that word means.
[00:47:15] Pistos.
[00:47:17] Like allegiance.
[00:47:19] One of the dangers of living in the south is this fake believism.
[00:47:22] Oh, praise God, brother, praise.
[00:47:24] Yeah, right.
[00:47:25] No, I'm talking about the way your lungs need oxygen.
[00:47:29] That's what that word belief means.
[00:47:31] And believing your heart isn't the muscle.
[00:47:33] That's the Hebrew way of saying your whole being.
[00:47:36] That God raised them from the dead, you will be saved.
[00:47:40] Sotso, you will be rescued.
[00:47:42] The one who's your righteousness in the courtroom, your cleansing blood in the temple, and your deliverer and redeemer at the slave market says, confess, believe.
[00:47:54] This is what I want to do.
[00:47:55] I believe that there are many of you that it's time for you to receive this gift.
[00:48:02] Man, unwrap the gift.
[00:48:04] Will you pray with me?
[00:48:06] Let's pray.
[00:48:09] Lord, the Scripture is very clear that if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
[00:48:18] Hey, if that's you right now online at Lake Wylie,
[00:48:24] Indian land you're going you know what pastor I'm ready to believe this Christmas I'm drowning and his hand is extended to me and I'm ready to grab it by faith if that's you right now in the silence of your heart say this I confess with my mouth that Jesus is Lord and I believe in my heart
[00:48:51] that He died for my sins, He took my place.
[00:48:55] God raised Him from the dead.
[00:48:57] I receive the free gift of salvation and I choose to follow Him.
[00:49:04] In Jesus' name, amen, amen, amen.
[00:49:08] Let's give God a round of applause, fam.
[00:49:11] All right, check this out.
[00:49:14] There's a connection card in the seat in front of you.
[00:49:17] Would you grab it if you prayed with me to receive Christ?
[00:49:20] Would you check, I prayed to receive Christ?
[00:49:23] Let us know, we wanna walk alongside of you in your newfound faith, okay?
[00:49:32] All right, guys, here's our soul tattoo.
[00:49:34] What that means here is what do we think about throughout the week?
[00:49:36] Here it is.
[00:49:38] By faith, let Jesus be your substitution.
[00:49:42] That simply means a holy awareness that He's my righteousness.
[00:49:48] He's the one who makes me pure.
[00:49:50] He's the one who purchased my freedom.
[00:49:53] You're living from what He's done for you.
[00:49:57] And our action step is this.
[00:50:00] We want you to participate in our Preparation Sunday service.
[00:50:04] Preparation Sunday.
[00:50:07] is going to be a time for us to prepare for 2026.
[00:50:12] I didn't want to rush through Christmas because I'm super excited.
[00:50:17] I believe this series is going to help us immensely.
[00:50:21] It's called Thriving.
[00:50:23] We're going to learn how to thrive instead of just survive.
[00:50:28] As a matter of fact, take a look at this video clip.

[00:51:02] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Let's pray.

[00:51:09] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]:
Yes, yes, let's be excited about that, all right?
[00:51:14] So that's starting January 4th, all right?
[00:51:17] And if you attend the 11 o'clock service, I really want to encourage you to hit the 815 or 1145 because it is going to be packed.
[00:51:26] And so however much room you create at 11 will be the capacity by which we can grow, and TC Lake Wiley is going to experience incredible growth as well.
[00:51:34] But did you see those topics?
[00:51:37] I plan my sermons a year in advance.
[00:51:39] And so as I prayed, I'm like, these are areas where we need to learn how to thrive.
[00:51:45] Singleness after divorce, mental health, marriage, finances, our faith.
[00:51:51] Okay?
[00:51:52] So this Sunday, Preparation Sunday, it's going to be a short service where we're going to worship and I'm going to walk you through prayers to prepare for January 4th.
[00:52:04] Okay?
[00:52:04] Can you welcome our location pastors?

[00:52:11] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
Thank you so much, Pastor Derwin.
[00:52:13] What I'd like to do now is ask everyone to stand.
[00:52:16] Make sure you have your candle in hand.
[00:52:18] And what we're going to do is our ushers are going to be coming down the aisles and lighting the candle on the end.
[00:52:23] If you'll pass that light down.
[00:52:26] During that time, we'll be closing with a song.
[00:52:29] And after the song, we'll have our benediction.
[00:52:32] So if everyone can stay right here, go through the song and wait through our benediction.
[00:52:38] And we just want to take this time to honor the Lord today.

[00:52:54] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
O holy night, the stars are brightly shining It is the night of our dear Savior's birth
[00:53:24] In sin and death repining till He appeared and the soul felt His worth
[00:53:48] The weary world rejoices, for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
[00:54:14] Fall on your knees, O hear
[00:54:17] The angels' voices all are derived
[00:54:44] O night divine O night when Christ was born Sweet hymns of joy
[00:55:15] In grateful chorus raise we Let all within us praises
[00:57:09] O night divine!

[00:57:27] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
O night divine!
[00:57:29] Okay, time for a picture.
[00:57:30] Everybody hold their candles up.
[00:57:33] Say Merry Christmas.
[00:57:37] Awesome.
[00:57:38] Okay, blow the candles out.
[00:57:40] And after our benediction, please drop the candles off into the boxes at each of the doors because we have one more service that we need to use candles for that as well.
[00:57:50] All right?
[00:57:51] For our guests, our benediction is a good word.
[00:57:53] Our good word is our vision.
[00:57:54] And our vision is upward, inward, outward.
[00:57:58] Upward for loving God completely.
[00:58:00] Inward for loving ourselves correctly.
[00:58:03] And outward for loving our neighbors compassionately.
[00:58:05] I point at you, you point at me, and we say, Transformers, roll out.
[00:58:10] Why?
[00:58:11] Because this is just the... And now it's time to go play the... Alright, on the count of three.
[00:58:17] One, two, three.
[00:58:19] Upward, inward, outward.