The Bible Story

Introduction

Good morning. We have a bunch of visitors with us this morning. We are very thankful you’re here. I understand school is starting tomorrow. Jobs are always going. And we’re glad that everyone took their time to be with us this morning to worship and serve the Almighty God. Now, with Josh coming back, I needed to uphold the Bumby tradition, it seems, of the month of August, of making sure one preacher is out of the office. So I will be flying to Oregon tomorrow morning, or tomorrow afternoon, I should say, to be with my fiance for several days there. So if you’ll pray for my flight. But before I get to go do that, I get to do something even better, even this very evening. At 5 o’clock, we will have a 20s and 30s class, and that is for college-aged kids and up through you can designate whether or not you fit into the 20s and 30s category.

And we’ll be meeting here at the building at 5 o’clock, and we will be learning more about the scriptures, reading the Word of God, and spending some time together, getting to know one another. Now, one advantage of being 21 years old and just out of college is that right now most of what I learned is fresh. A lot of it, not so much, but some of it is very fresh. And being a communication major, I studied a lot of different facets of communication, but one of the most notable classes I took was called Rhetorical Approaches to Media. And what we did was we examined what are the messages in a given book, in a given TV show or movie. And of course, that leads to some very good observations that really help us think critically as people and also as Christians.

And examining what exactly it is that we are taking in to our minds and applying to our hearts. But it also has some absurd reaches. An example of both is the movie Planet of the Apes that came out in the mid-1900s. It was a very clear. It was a very clear sign of the time of which Christians were being persecuted. It’s this Stone Age mentality that has the chimpanzees who are the religious officials. They are the ones who are Christian. They follow the sacred scriptures. And they ignore the facts of the kind-hearted evolutionist scientists who just want to point out that men are a development, they were pre-ape, if you will. Of course, it’s a commentary on the reverse of our society saying that Christians are close-minded.

They don’t want to have any part in scientific fact. And of course, everyone here this morning knows that Christians want nothing more than to show the scientific facts that God is, if you just look around, you realize there is a creator. But certainly understanding that film writers and actors and all those who participate in a film of that likeness have an agenda to push. In that case, it was an anti-Christian agenda. Now, an absurd reach of that is many people who criticize Planet of the Apes for being anti-Christian also claimed that Disney’s Beauty of the Beast is simply, I quote, feminist propaganda because of Belle’s relation to the beast and her submission to an angry male figure. And of course, Gaston’s clownish bullheartedness. Of course, that is certainly a reach.

But we understand that with movies in America being a nine billion dollar industry, we are watching them. We are renting them. We go pay to see them in a special theater with a large screen, and we even watch them and now stream them into our homes. We are a movie going, movie watching culture. We enjoy stories. Perhaps one of the most interesting facets of any type of speech delivery, and even in some acting, some TV shows have been some TV show actors, excuse me, I’ll get it out yet. Have been asked, how do you memorize your lines? And some of them quite honestly say, Well, when we went through it, we had our lines written on index cards. And that developed our character, it was our lines, and it was even our reactions.

1. In the Beginning, God Created

So I ask you this morning to consider what is on your index card. And we’ll come back to that thought. But this morning we are going to fully examine the Bible story. Of course, being the person up here with the microphone, I am the director of this story, and so I will be cutting as much of the Bible through it as I can, hitting the important events. But please open your Bibles with me and examine the Bible story. Let’s look at what does God say? What does God want? What is his agenda in giving us this wonderful story? Of course, any story involving the Bible begins in Genesis chapter 1, beginning in verse 1. In Genesis chapter 1 and verse 1, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

Now, with my first and the last time I will announce this license, we’ll now going to go from the fact that God did create all the heavens and the earth to Genesis chapter 1 and verse 26 to day six of creation. In verse 26 of Genesis chapter 1. Then God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. God just finished creating the whole world and he completes it by creating man. But look at Genesis chapter 2. We see that God rests from his work. In Genesis chapter 2 and verse 2, and on the seventh day, God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from his work that he had done.

So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. And from verse 9 forward, man, given a name Adam in Genesis, is put in charge of this utopian garden. I’m going to draw in the picture to Genesis chapter 2 and verse 9. And out of the ground, the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. I want everyone to imagine for just a moment this morning how picturesque, how beautiful this garden must have been. That God spoke it into existence. It had yet been messed up by man.

It was perfect. Everything was beautiful. Imagine the gorgeous flowers that you would walk around in this utopian garden. You’d see deep blue, very crimson, red roses, yellow, daisies, green and pink tulips, and even, of course, the dreaded baby’s breath, perhaps without the stench. But you can walk a little further in this garden and you can see the trees that are described in verse 9 as good for food. As a 21 year old, I can’t help but notice that God says, These trees were good for food. Imagine not only how beautiful everything was, but how succulent it tasted. This truly was a perfect world. It was a perfect creation. And we marvel at the creation we see today. We think about the majestic mountains of the west.

We think about the beautiful bodies of water that we enjoy here, even in the state of Florida. And perhaps we enjoy the sand of the beaches, the cold air of the north. And we say, this is surely beautiful and intelligent design. But imagine walking through the Garden of Eden just once. But of course, the story doesn’t end there. We are just in the very beginning. We are setting the tone for the Bible story. So look with me in Genesis chapter 2, now down in verse 17. After being told he may eat of any tree of the garden, God finishes it with this statement, verse 17, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat. For in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die.

So now we have the grounds for a story. We have this perfect society, and as we are coming into it, you see all the beauty therein. You can imagine how wonderful it all tasted, but there is a rule that man must abide by. God, from the very beginning of this story, in the first two chapters of the Bible story, lays out a law. But notice he also gives the penalty for transgressing that law. Look at the end of verse 17. For in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die. So the stakes are high, and the instruction is clear. If Adam were to disobey, or Eve as well, were to disobey God’s command, they would have earned death. It was that simple. And then, of course, even more simple than that, we understand that this was going to be put to the test.

2. The Scene of the First Crime

So we come to the scene of the first crime in Genesis chapter 3. Read with me the first six verses. Genesis chapter 3, beginning in verse 1. Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, Did God actually say, You shall not eat of any of the tree in the garden? And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden. But God said, You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die. But the serpent said to woman, You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be open, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. And she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate.

Standing right by the one tree in the entire utopian garden that they were not to partake of.

Red flag number two, guess who’s there? Satan in serpent form. And what does he do immediately? He knows he has her. She’s so close. He’s basically telling her, Why don’t you eat of this? And Eve knows the command. She gives it back to him. She says, We cannot eat of it lest we will die. In fact, she adds to it. She says, In the day of which we even touch of it, we will die. Perhaps that had been God’s revelation to her, but it’s certainly not recorded. So Eve understood the implications. But Satan says, It will just make you wise. God doesn’t want you to have it. You see, he’s rapid firing with all these different ways to get her. And even said, he even has her look at it.

And what does it say? What does the text say in verse 6? And when she saw that it was desirable to her eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise. She took of its fruit and ate. And because of the sin of Adam and Eve, the course of humanity has forever been altered. Look in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 16. To the woman, he said, I will surely multiply your pain and childbearing. In pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you. And to Adam he said, Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, you shall not eat of it.

Cursed is the ground because of you. In the pain you shall eat of it all the days of your lives. Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth to you, and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken for your dust, into dust you shall return. And the beginning of our story concludes thusly. Women would have pain, multiplied, and childbearing. Men would have obstacles that we can determine from the thorns and thistles in their work all the days of man’s life. But perhaps most importantly, the end of verse 19, death surely did enter into the picture. But most importantly from this story, it’s not just some depressing introduction to the Bible story.

We do have hope. There is a reason. There is a cause. There is something coming. Look in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15. Before pronouncing those sentences to man and woman for their transgressions, he says, I will put enmity between you and the woman that is to the serpent. And between your offspring and her offspring. He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. Who would bruise the head of the serpent? Whose heel would be bruised by the very same serpent. It’s Jesus the Christ. God has made up in his mind from before the foundation of the world. Look with me in Ephesians chapter 1. That this would not be the end of man, that their first transgression would not be the last, and that he would make a way for us to be saved.

Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love, he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will.

Before Adam and Eve sinned. This wasn’t a mistake. This wasn’t an audible call by God. This wasn’t him fixing a wrong. This wasn’t God not having perfect wisdom. It was God showing perfect grace, setting the stage for perfect mercy to be exercised. God had a plan. God has always had the plan. It has not changed. It is not changed, and brothers and sisters, it will not change. God’s will is eternal and perfect in nature. So we come to the end of our scene. We come to the end of the Garden of Eden, and we realize that the course of humanity has been set. But to what end? And this is where we come in to the thicker of the Bible story. We reach our first conflict.

3. Our First Conflict: Cain and Abel

Look in Genesis chapter 4. In Genesis chapter 4, beginning in verse 1 and 2. Now Adam knew Eve, his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord. And again she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. In the course of a time, Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. The Lord said to Cain, Why are you angry?

Why is your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it. So even here in Genesis chapter 4, we see an example of someone who has obeyed the law of God, has served God as the Almighty, recognized his perfection, recognized his almighty nature, and is offering to him as such. But we also see Cain, someone who clearly did not fully understand or choose to act in obedience with God’s word. And look at verse 8. Cain spoke to Abel his brother, and when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. Cain followed in the religious footsteps of his parents, transgressing the will of God, brutally murdering his brother Abel.

This is an example of what we see in the rest of the Bible, as well as in our lives today. We see God telling us, Here is what I want, here is what I expect, and we say, This will be good enough, right? This works, right? This makes sense to me. Why is this not good enough, God? Surely God will accept this sacrifice. We see that. Don’t we think to ourselves, surely God will accept the fact that I come to church two times a week, and I don’t curse and I don’t swear, and I don’t even lie to get out of work at the office. Isn’t that good enough? Some men say, if we just believe only, that is good enough. But Cain even offered a sacrifice, but it wasn’t what God wanted.

4. Noah Found Favor in the Eyes of the Lord

And so God was not pleased. And Cain made his matters worse by sinning all the more, killing his brother Abel. But now look at Genesis chapter 6. Genesis chapter 6, beginning in verse 1, we see this pattern did not stop with Cain. When man began to multiply in the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. Verse 5.

And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the Lord said, I will blot out man, whom I have created from the face of the land. Man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them. But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. Does verse 5 remind you of any time? Let me read it again. The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Does anything come to mind? Perhaps Sodom and Gomorrah? Perhaps the Middle East through most of time? What about America today? Could we say honestly and truthfully that we don’t see at least the beginnings of the wickedness of man laid out in verse 5 of Genesis chapter 6?

It’s not because we live in a wicked society and we are just horrible people. It’s because man always has chosen from the beginning of time to transgress God’s law. And as we drift away from God, we will drift further and further into more and more wickedness. That’s what happened in Genesis. That’s what happens in the books of the kings, the chronicles, the minor prophets, and that’s what happens in the New Testament, and that’s what happens today. But there is a solution. Once again, verse 8. But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. God continues his promise. In our movie this morning, realize that the Bible story always shows God having favor for those who obey him, those who find favor in his sight. Look with me in verse 11.

Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt. For all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said to Noah, I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make yourself an ark of gopher wood, make rooms in the ark and cover it inside and out with pitch. And he goes on to explain to Noah the dimensions, the specifics of the boat that we know as the ark. Let me ask everyone a question. Did God expect obedience from Noah? God had found favor in the eyes of this man who clearly was doing something that was worthy of God’s favorable look.

Noah clearly adhered to the will of God. But just because Noah loved God, and Noah had previously found favor in the eyes of God. Was Noah expected to build the ark with gopher wood? Of course. Was Noah expected to build the ark to the exact dimensions and with the exact rooms and the exact alignment that God prescribed. Yes. Why? Because that was God’s way of saving him. Noah didn’t say, this is not smart. God, why am I making this out of gopher wood? This wood over here that I have is way better. I could do this. In fact, if I made it smaller, then it would be more aerodynamic, and we could go faster, it’d be more fun. God had to do what Noah said. It sounds ridiculous when we talk about building a large ark, but we’ll see as the Bible story unfolds, it gets less funny and more real as we get closer to our day and time.

5. He Punished Judah, He Punished Israel

If we look at Amos chapter 2, we’re not going to read it, but in Amos chapter 2, verses 4 and 5, God is pronouncing through Amos judgment upon the people of Judah. In verses 6 through 8, judgment on the people of Israel. But do you know what’s before that in the book of Amos? Judgment on all the other nations. All is probably a bit of an exaggeration, but most of the other nations that were around the people of Judah and Israel. And you look at them, some of them said that these foreign wicked nations ripped open pregnant women. And this was one of the faults for which they would be punished by the Almighty God. But notice if you go home and study Amos chapter 2 and verses 4 and 5, Judah is condemned by God.

They are marked for the same destruction as the other nations. Because of their religious adherence to God’s ways. Because their worship was in vain. The people of Israel had a host of other problems. They trampled the poor, they were greedy, they took bribes, they did all sorts of wickedness. But even then, does that compare to some of the wickedness of the other nations? Maybe it does. Maybe it doesn’t. The point is, God established that he would even punish them. He punished Judah, he punished Israel. He blotted them out. Look in Jeremiah chapter 16. We’re gonna look at a few passages in the book of Jeremiah. We have fast forwarded from the very beginning of God’s creation, past the new beginning of God’s creation, with the newly created, newly cleansed earth that we spoke about, that Mr.

Wilman spoke about in reading from 1 Peter chapter 3 earlier today. Look at Jeremiah chapter 16. This is after Israel, God’s original chosen nation as a whole, was taken away into Assyrian captivity. Now look at Jeremiah chapter 16. The word of the Lord came to me, you shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place. For thus says the Lord, concerning the sons and daughters who are born in this place, and considering the mothers who born them and the fathers who fathered them in this land, they shall die of deadly diseases. They shall not be lamented, nor shall they be burned. They shall be as dung on the surface of the ground, they shall perish by the sword and by famine, and their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth.

Why? Why such horrible judgment? Why such destruction? Why would God do that? The answer is the same as with the time of Adam and Eve. We saw it with Cain and Abel. We’ve seen it with Noah. We’re seeing it with God’s chosen people in the terms of nations now, because they didn’t do exactly what God said. And the further and further they got away from doing exactly what God said, the less they did anything that even resembled what God said. But notice the strong language in Jeremiah chapter 44. Perhaps one of the most perverse and sad scriptures, in my estimation, in all of the Bible story. And verse 16, as for the word that you have spoken to us, this is the people speaking to Jeremiah, in the name of the Lord, we will not listen to you.

But why? Verse 17, but we will do everything that we have vowed, make offerings to the queen of heaven, and pour out drink offerings to her as we did, both we and our fathers, our kings and our officials, in the cities of Judah, in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food and prospered and saw no disaster. But since we have left off making offerings to the queen of heaven, and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have been lacked, we have lacked everything. They’ve been consumed by the sword and by famine.

They said that the sword and the famine that God had been prophesying would happen to them for hundreds of years was because they stopped making offerings to the Queen of heaven. They didn’t do what God said. Because of that, God would utterly destroy them. Babylonians came in, and in perhaps one of the saddest records in history, wiped out virtually all of Jerusalem. Wiped out virtually all of the people of Judah and their land, taking the remaining with them, leaving nothing but the poorest of the poor, and even killing and taking some of them. But note, in a continuation of our story, Jeremiah chapter 31. Even to these people, God says, I have something coming. Verse 31 of Jeremiah chapter 31. Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.

Skip down to verse 33. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I will put my law within them. I will write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know me. From the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more. God’s plan from before the foundation of the world to make us sons of redemption in Christ Jesus is taking part here again. The new covenant would be better. Why? Because God would put the law on our hearts.

Why else would the new covenant be better? Verse 34. For I will forgive their iniquity and I’ll remember their sin no more. God stayed with his plan for man, despite individual, couple, familial, and even national transgression. But notice with me one final point on wickedness in our Bible story. Look in your New Testament now. 2 Timothy chapter 3. In 2 Timothy chapter 3. Beginning in verse 1. But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty, for people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness but denying its power.

Now I ask again, what time does that remind you of? Brothers and sisters, that time is now. We see all of those things in our society now, today. In Jude chapter 7. Jude mentions the calamity, the horror of the homosexuality in Sodom and Gomorrah. What nation does that remind you of? What nation are we imitating as a country? Or how about the fact, just very simply, that this Christian nation, America is slowly doing everything it can to encourage and support the rights of every single group that is not Christian? What times are we living in? Brothers and sisters, what people are we surrounded by? What people are we acting like? Who are we around? We are of the world. We’ve seen the story. We read it from the beginning.

6. Jesus Died So That We May Live

Man transgressed God’s law. Sin deserves death. We are surrounded in it. We are waiting in sin today. But as within a movie, there’s a climactic rise. Something must be done. The problem of our biblical story is death. There’s always a good side, and I promise to you, ladies and gentlemen, the good side is always God’s side. And because of God’s plan, his promise from before the foundation of the world, because of his promise to Abraham in Genesis chapter 12, of the seed through which all families of the earth would be blessed, we see the seeds of what’s to come. If you’re like me, you like to sit back and watch movies and you like to try to predict how they’ll end up. But imagine with me.

The passages like Romans 3.23 that says, For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And Romans 6 23 that begins, for the wages of sin is death had no answer. We didn’t know about Jesus the Christ. Sin deserves death, and we’ve seen that from the very beginning. In the law in Leviticus chapter 17 and verse 11, we understand that blood of animals was to be taken, not because God has no care for animals, but because life is in the blood. Verse 11. Through the blood of the animals, an atonement would be made for the transgressions of the law for the people who offered the sacrifices.

Today, imagine. No Jesus. Imagine a time where we didn’t understand what God’s plan was. In the movie, you always understand that there is some sort of plan to come. There is some sort of dire need. Oftentimes in today’s apocalyptic movies, we see that it’s some sort of end of the world coming. Someone has to do something. Man rallies together, nation with nation, enemy with enemy. And usually someone steps up and makes the sacrifice. Imagine if we were all in here as humanity today and we were praying to God, to whoever we could, God deliver us. God, we are at the end of our time. We have no other option. If we don’t fix this soon, we will burn forever. We need atonement. We need something to alleviate our sin.

What can you do? And through the door, Jesus, the Son of God comes, shining forth. Jesus, the Son of God is presented, and he comes up before you this morning and he says, I will do it. Through my blood you can be saved. Would we cheer? Would we applaud? Or would we perhaps do what Peter did? And say, Lord, no, not you. You are the Son of God. Jesus said to him, Get behind me, Satan. Because it was God’s plan from the very beginning that Jesus, the Son of God. This isn’t something that was just always gonna happen. It didn’t have to happen. God chose, Jesus chose to make it happen, to have it happen to him, to be beaten, to be scourged, to be mocked, to be hung up on the cross and to be crucified because of our problem.

Christ died and shed his blood for our sins and our iniquity. He saved our souls. There was no war we could fight, no sum we could pay, no muscle we could flex to earn our salvation, to gain any type of salvation or any forgiveness. Jesus gave it to us. But it took a high cost. It took the Son of God to come and be crucified on the cross for our sins. Jesus says, I’ll do it. I will pour out my blood for the redemption of sins. Christ was his life. Christ was his blood. His body. The fact is, our life is dependent upon Christ’s death. And the Bible is clear. We all sin. The wages of sin is death. So what do we need? We need the life of the blood.

We need the perfect sacrifice. Open your Bibles. Look with me. We have it. Romans chapter 6. And Romans chapter 6. Look with me, beginning in verse 3. Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried, therefore, with him by baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead, by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like this, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. Now look at Romans chapter 5 and verses 8 and 9. But God shows his love towards us, and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Since therefore we have now been justified by blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. Jesus died so that we may live.

The crosshairs of the satanic world of which Satan is the ruler and king of. The crosshairs are on us as Christians. He’s going to pick us off one by one. And without Christ, there’s nothing we could do about it. God doesn’t want some sort of half-hearted sacrifice like Cain offered. We read that from the beginning of our story. God doesn’t want us to do anything but pay attention to the exact details like Noah did. That’s what saved him. Not because Noah made an ark of gopherwood, was he spared from the wrath of God that purged the entire earth, but because God said it and Noah did it. That’s it. Noah did exactly what God said was needed of him to be saved. We reached the climactic part of our story where Jesus the Christ came, he was crucified.

Conclusion

It was horrible. He was beaten, scourged, hung on a cross, nails went through his hands. Why? Because of our sin. Jesus didn’t die so that we could look nice on Sunday mornings. Wednesday nights, and not say some mean things. Jesus died so that we may live. Jesus shed his blood so we could have atonement for our sins once and for all. Take two things away from this lesson this morning, please. First and foremost, the time is now. It matters what God says. Richard Dawkins was mentioned this morning. He was asked what he would say if he met God at the day of judgment. He said, first, I would ask God, which one are you? For you have come in many forms. And second, why did you go to such great lengths to conceal yourself?

Let me make one thing abundantly clear. That is a pile of garbage. That man will no sooner say that to God than pigs will fly up here and infest our stage. He will be cowering in the face of the Almighty Heavenly Father, begging for his eternal life. Because God will say, Did you do what I said? And he will have to argue. Nothing. He has no argument. He has to tell God, I spoke against you, I belittled you, I made fun of you. He will be weeping. He will be horribly frightened as he’s on the doorstep of eternal damnation. But let me explain something for both myself and everyone here. It doesn’t matter that Richard Dawkins preached atheism. It matters that he didn’t do what God said.

And so if we read the Bible, it says Jesus died for us. God sent his son to save us. The only way that we can come into contact with his blood is through baptism. Because God chose to make water the means by which we could be put under, immersed into the death of Christ, raised again in the resurrection that Christ was raised from, and come into contact with his blood. That way, there is no choice. The time is now. Judgment is coming. God says in 2 Peter chapter 3, He’s not going to come with water again. He’s going to burn the world.

The big deal is that the entire Bible story, God had a plan. Unfortunately, he was to send his son as a man and to be crucified. So that his blood could blot out our sins. Let me ask everyone a question. Do you ever been baptized? What will be on your index card? Leave you with this thought. A preacher once had a dream of which he said, I had a dream that I was in a room with two filing cabinets, one of which had just a few little notes and a few pieces of paper, one of which had a lot inside of it. And he saw someone who he realized had to be Jesus walking up to it. And Jesus was looking at it and writing something.

But he had no utensil. Turns out the cabinet that didn’t have much in it was the things he had done for God and done with his new life for Christ. The things that he had lots of were his transgressions. And Jesus was signing each one of them in his blood. The truth is, our filing cabinet will be revealed. God knows all. Judgment day is coming, but unless we have had our sins washed away, Jesus cannot wipe out our sins. He has done all he can do. God has shown us all that he can. He has given us all that we need, and then a thousand times, a thousand times more. If you haven’t been baptized, your cards will not be signed, your sins will not be forgiven.

There is no other way to come into contact with the blood of Christ. There is not one scripture that suggests otherwise. What will you say to God? Has your sin been blotted out by the blood of Christ? If you wish to make your life right with Christ this morning, recognize you can be saved. You can have your sins all entirely washed out. There is no reason to wait. We have possibly no more time. The end of our time is now. Come forward right now. Make things right, unless you have a reason why not to. Come forward now as we stand and as we sing.