In order to leave a mark, you must ask the question, what kind of mark do I want to leave? This weekend, we celebrate what's known as Memorial Day. And I love to dig into the history behind holidays. And I don't know if maybe you're joining us online. You're in the room.

Have you ever looked at where Memorial Day began? Or if you have, maybe it's been a while, but. May 30, 1868, under the leadership of General John Logan, set aside a day to commemorate the sacrifices of Civil War soldiers. And when it was instituted, it was originally called Decoration Day. And so what they would do is they would go out and they would decorate the graves of those men who had lost lives.

The Civil War conflict. Now you're post Civil War. You're in the reconstruction phase. This was one of those things that kind of helped bring a country back together. On that date, at the site of Arlington National Cemetery, Ohio Congressman James Garfield, who would later become the 20th president of the United States, shortest tenured president as he was assassinated, led 5,000 participants to decorate the graves of more than 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers.

Memorial Day, Decoration Day. And I think it's important because a lot of times we talk about, even with people around us like, what's the difference between Veterans Day and Memorial Day? There's a huge difference. Today is the day that is set aside to recognize men and women who have lost their lives in and protected the United States of America. There's a huge difference.

Some of you in this room joining us online, you have lost brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles, possibly even parents to a conflict. In fact, as time passed, it didn't become widely recognized to recognize all of these conflicts until World War I. And then in 1971, Congress passed what was called the Uniform of Monday Holiday Act. Why didn't they just call it Memorial Day Act? I don't know.

But they set aside the last Monday of May as a day of recognition for those who have lost their lives fighting for our country. And I think today would be a great time for us to just stop and pause. I know we prayed, but I want to pray for those who still grieve, who still grieve the loss of those who they lost. I couldn't imagine the grief that would enter my heart now that I have a high school son, if he were to ever be drafted. And then to get that letter coming home saying that he's not coming home.

I can't imagine that the pride that I have in my son or even my daughters for that fact, I don't know what that would feel like. So I think it would be fitting for us today to ask the Lord to touch them and bless them. Father, in Jesus name, as we bow our heads, we ask that you would give peace, grant peace to those who continue to grieve, the ones that have been taken from us way too soon in ways that we can't even fathom. I pray that you would let your spirit touch them and move on them in such a way that you would bring peace to their lives. And Lord, as we stand here, let us be thankful.

Not for the loss of life. That's not what we're thankful for. We're just thankful that we live in a country and we get to benefit. We get to benefit from those who sacrifice so much for me to be able to stand up here and preach. For us to be able to come in and worship without the government's interference.

Lord, those are things that these conflicts have been fought to bring about. So, Lord, thank you for our freedom. Let us not take it for granted and touch those today who still grieve. In Jesus name, Amen. So you think about Memorial Day and you think about maybe special dates in your life.

To the best of my memory, August 6th is an important day in my life. I don't know if it's an important day in your life, but it is for me. Because that day at North Georgia College, at the end of finals, this young lady named Laura Thomas agreed to let me follow her home.

And I followed her home. And at the time, Laura worked at Betty's in hell. Anybody been to Betty's lately? Joe, you been to Betty's? Look at you.

Did you get one of those big old cookies? No? Okay. But I followed her, and she showed me where she worked, and we drove and I met her mom and. And 20 something years later, it's been awesome.

Awesome. We have fallen in love more and more every year with each other. But that day is special to me. And when I look back at that date, there's reflection, there's celebration, but there's also, in that reflection, things that I remember that I probably wouldn't repeat. See, that's why we have days like 9 11, Memorial Day and others.

Because when we look back at history, we need to reflect deeply on it so we can celebrate it, but also so that we don't repeat the things that brought about tragedy and harm. In fact, on the Virginia Tech College website, they summarize it best. And you know this phrase, when I read it, you've Heard this quote before, but I've got three different ways it's worded. One man by the name of Edmund Burke, who was an Irish statesman, said, those who don't know history are destined to what, repeat it? Spanish philosopher George Santillana, that rolls off the tongue.

No, it does not. Is credited with a different version of that by saying, those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. While British statesman Winston Churchill said, those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. You see, we learn from the past, and it affects our present and it affects our future. And as a people of faith, as the people of God, we need to look back at not only our own lessons, but lessons that have been passed down through generations, all the way back to the creation of this world.

There have been faith lessons passed down over and over and over again, and we're going to dig into one of those today in Joshua, chapter three. Now, this is one example of many. But what I'd like for us to do today in this short time is look at this narrative. I hate using the word story. Story implies something that's not true.

Looking at the narrative of Israel crossing into the promised land, and from that I want us to glean principles of faith. All of this is about the legacy of faith. But as a people of God, what is it that we're modeling? What is it that we are expecting that we can pass down to those who come after us? Because if we don't, our legacy is nullified.

Our legacy will end. Or we'll have a legacy that does not line up with what God intends. In fact, Paul reflected On this in First Corinthians, chapter 10, 1:6, when he says, I don't want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were under the cloud when they passed through the sea, baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, drank the sustained spiritual drink, drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them, and that rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them, God was not well pleased, for they were laid low in the wilderness. Now, these things.

Listen, these things happened as examples for us so that we would not crave the same evil things that they craved. In fact, as the Israelites are standing here at the precipice of passing into the Promised Land, we know from Numbers and from Exodus that they had come through the Red Sea. In fact, if you remember from the narrative, I'm really going to get rid of the word story from the narrative. They were freed from slavery and left. And they were Following a cloud by day and a flame by night as God was giving them direction.

But as soon as they left, Pharaoh had a change of heart. And he was like, what in the world? We just lost our labor force. Let's go after them. And so they're marching, a million plus people marching as they're following the cloud.

And the cloud led them to the Red Sea. And then all of a sudden, they hear the sound of hoof prints and of clanging metal as the army is coming after them. And they're like, oh, my gosh, what are we going to do? They're like, we're going to die right here. We're going to die right here.

God spoke to Moses and told him, tell them to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. And Moses raises his staff and divides the sea. And as the Bible talks about, they didn't cross over in a muddy mess. They crossed over on dry ground with walls of water on both sides. Million plus people.

If that wasn't enough, God proved himself mighty, as after they got through, the sea closed itself up on the Egyptian army and vanquished them. Now, you and I hear that story, we're like, gosh, that is awesome. I would never have an excuse to never disbelieve God. But what did they do? They immediately begin to grumble and complain and grumble and complain.

And they come near to the promised land, and Moses sends out 12 spies, two of whom named Caleb and Joshua. They go to the land and they spy it out and they say, it's good, it's fruitful. There's milk and honey, and I don't know how many of you like milk and honey. I mean, I like honey on my peanut butter, but I mean, it was an abundance. It was a blessing.

And so they come back and you would think they're like, let's go. We just saw God wipe out the Egyptians. We got this. What did they do? We can't do it.

There's giants in the land and the people are massive, and we just can't do it. We can't, we can't, we can't. Well, the operative word there is we forgot about the God who turned the river into blood and sent locusts and frogs and all the plagues that he brought on to Egypt and then killed the firstborn. They forgot about God parting the Red Sea and making a way for the Hebrews to become the nation of Israel. And now in numbers, they're doubting.

So what happened? God said, you know what? This generation will die out. And will not see the promised land, including Moses.

There were two men, though, that survived, they lived through it, Caleb and a man named Joshua.

Now they've been wandering in the wilderness of sin for 40 years. Someone asked me earlier, said, well, do you know why? Do you know why that God made them listen? God said, you disobeyed and you're going to wander. So the cloud would just lead them in circles.

How many of you are 40 plus years old?

I'm 50. That's 4/5 of my life.

And now they're standing at another body of river and they've got a new leader named Joshua, who's a little bit more of a take charge, let's go get them kind of guy. And the legacy of this people, who watched their loved ones die, who saw the river plagues, who saw what happened in Egypt, who saw the Red Sea split, now they're going to go into the promised land and God's going to do something miraculous and awesome for them to know. I am the Lord who goes before you to fight your battles and to lead you. And what better legacy can we lead to the next generation than an extreme faith that will trust God no matter what? I want you to pick up with me in Joshua.

I jumped ahead of myself. I want you to pick up with me in Joshua chapter three, verse number one. And as we read through this text, there was just some little nuggets that I saw that helps me to know, you know what, here's some things that if I want to pass down as a people, as a people of faith, this is what I want the next generation to see in us sitting here today. Because about 2/3 of you raised your hand, what are we leaving for the next generation to follow? In verse number one, it says, then Joshua rose up early in the morning and he and all the sons of Israel and set out from Shittim and came to the Jordan and they lodged there before they crossed.

And at the end of three days, the officers went through the midst of the camp and commanded the people saying, let's check this out. When you see the ark of the covenant, the Lord your God with the Levitical priests carrying was actually the Kohathites who were supposed to carry that ark as they journeyed. For the last 40 years, the Kohathites had carried it, but now the priests are carrying it. That's significant here. The mediators are carrying the very thing that represents two things, the covenant of God and the presence of God.

And he tells them, when you see it, get up, go after It. And he says, however, there shall be between you and it a distance of about 2000 cubits by measure. That's about a kilometer, about two thirds of a mile. That's pretty. That's a fur piece, as they say in the country, right?

But listen to what he said. He says, do not come near it. That you may know the way by which you should go. Direction, for you have not passed this way before. First thing I want to say that we need to do and to model and to pass down in our legacy is that we need to trust God, that his directions will lead to his intended destination.

You see, sometimes God doesn't give you the end of where you're going to be. What God gives you are the steps. The psalmist wrote. Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. I've hidden your word in my heart that I may not sin against God.

Kind of stuff. Like sometimes he doesn't tell you exactly where that end result's going to be. What he wants to know is, can you keep yourself pointed in the direction that he's calling you to go? You see, there are two things to note here. Number one, we are called.

They were told, when you see the Ark, leave with the Levites, go. And they would know it because this was different. Here's these priests probably decked out in their robes, carrying the ark of the Covenant. You see, for us, our high priest and our only priest is Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ is not only the mediator of the covenant that allows us to approach God, he is the means by which we approach the presence of God.

And, and it was going before them. You see, what happens in our lives a lot of times is God says, I need you to go this way, and we start bargaining with God. Well, you know God, that's a good idea, but it stinks. My idea is this, or we get ahead of God. We in our impatience, we can't be satisfied to just step back like the Israelites and say, just stand and see the salvation of the Lord.

We set out and we pass him. Well, why is that a problem? Because now the favor and the presence of God, you have trumped that. And that's what gets us in trouble. And sometimes that's what we model to the next generation, is that I know better than God.

We get in trouble when we choose our own direction or we try God's direction and make it better.

What would it look like if you said, today, you know what, Lord, starting today, I'm going to recommit myself to basic, complete obedience to whichever direction you point me in. And I'm going to trust you've got the results, not me. I mean, look at the specificity. He said, do not get any closer than a kilometer. So you can keep your eyes.

You know why? Because something cool's going to happen for one.

And when what is going to happen happens, they're far enough back to go, whoa, that's incredible. That's amazing. I mean, listen to this. In Hebrews 11:8, the writer of Hebrews said this about Abraham. By faith, Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance.

Listen. And he went out not knowing where he was going. How would your life differ if you just trusted God in the steps and stopped waiting for this big moment to happen where you're like, okay, God's on the mountain. There I go. God has got a detail, too.

And if we won't obey God in the little details, we certainly won't obey him in a mountaintop experience. We need to be fixed on the direction where he leads. I will obey, follow, no matter what may come during that journey. No matter what may try to steer me off path. My goal is to be fixed, to fix my eyes on Jesus and follow that direction and trust him for the destination.

How many of you, when you started college, finished college with your intended degree that you started with? I changed majors four times. Some of you didn't change. That's good. But back in my day in the 90s, they said that a college graduate would change their major an average of five times.

I didn't know what. Listen, we point ourselves in the direction, and sometimes we don't know what the end result is, but we trust the process to get us to where we're supposed to go. And some of you, today, you're just going like, I can't. I can't even get. My compass is spinning and my.

And I can't get a bearing on which direction I can go. Why don't you start by confessing and saying, lord, I don't know what I'm supposed to do.

I don't have the ability to figure this out. God, would you please take over? How different would it be? Because the second point is this, because when we follow the direction, there has to be some anticipation that God's going to make up the difference. We need to anticipate God is able to act miraculously by remaining faithfully obedient.

Now, listen, he didn't say if in your obedience he would act miraculously he acted miraculously. Regardless, God has a plan and he's going to work out that plan. He's inviting us to come along and to witness what it is he's going to do. Listen to verse number five. Joshua said to the people, consecrate yourselves.

Did you consecrate this morning? It sounds like you're laying rock and brick. The word consecrate here means to sanctify yourself, set yourself apart, make yourself holy, get ready. You see, a lot of times we think that if I go through the checkboxes and I do all the things that that somehow makes me holy. We need to prepare every day in order to be able to obey.

Our first step of obedience is preparation. In fact, I saw a meme, I think it was yesterday, where this lady said, every morning I get up, I ask God to enter my thoughts before all the bad stuff has a chance to.

How different would your life be if you woke up in the morning and you anticipate that God is already at work? And you may not see it. God works in the little things as much as he does the big things. But sometimes we get caught up waiting for the big things that we don't see God at work in the little things. God is always at work.

And anything God does is miraculous. When I get in line with that, when I prepare myself, when I consecrate myself, then I can see it unfold. Peter told us to prepare our minds for action, to keep sober in spirit, to fix our hope completely, not partially, completely. On the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. How we prepare to obey matters as much as the substance of the obedience.

This last quarter, Randy led a book study book called Foreign to Familiar. And I took one with me and I read it on the plane. It's a really quick read, but I remember reading a part when he was talking about open versus hot versus cold climates. And sometimes the way people behave in that. And one story in particular that jumped off the page that meant something to me was this idea that years ago, especially in the south, people would get ready to go run errands.

How many of you had. I remember growing up and I'd walk outside and my Granny Ruth would be outside and she'd have a bonnet on her hair and roll little rollers all up in her hair. But she didn't have a little granny that rolled her hair. I mean, she was like. This was like 7 o' clock in the morning and she's out there with this thing on her head and I'm like, what are you doing?

She said, I'm going to get groceries. I'm like, it took her two hours to get ready to go get groceries. How many of you take two hours today to get ready to go get groceries? Do you know why she took two hours to get ready to go get groceries and went in there with that comb and come on, you 80s girls, y' all know what I'm talking about. Y' all had some stuff that went like this Crab Nebula right on top of your head.

You know why she did that? She didn't just go to shop. She went anticipating that somebody was going to be there. She knew she went anticipating she was going to have conversations. She went anticipating that she wasn't just going down the aisles, pull cans off the thing, put them in her cart, get back in the car and run back home as quick as she could.

She anticipated relationships. That's why she got ready. And yeah, it took her all day to go grocery shopping. Not because she went to get the groceries, but because she went to engage people. Maybe Walmart pickup orders is not such a good thing.

Caroline kept tabs. One time I went to Walmart, and how many people did I see before I left? Thirteen. That's my record. It took us two hours.

What's wrong with that? What if one of those people you engaged was having an issue and a problem? You got to minister to them. When you and I live in anticipation, God shows himself powerful. And we as a people of faith, we as a people of God, need to expect these things.

Pick up with me in verse number. Let's say verse number eight. Here. You shall, moreover, command the priests who are carrying the Ark of the Covenant, saying, when you come to the edge of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in, not outside, not on top of, not near it, but in the Jordan River. And he said, and by this you will know that the living God is among you and that he will assuredly dispossess before you.

The Canaanite, the Hittite, the Hivite, the Parasite, the Girgashite, the Amorite, and the Jebusite, he gonna part the river again.

And here's the beautiful thing. People are standing back and they're watching. They had consecrated themselves. They're mentally and they're physically prepared, and they're watching this unfold as God once again makes a way when there is no way. And he said, I want to prove to you, because the last generation didn't believe me.

I want you to believe me. You know what he told Them to do. This is how specific God got. He said, I need you to get 12 men. And as they're passing through, the Levites are standing there for a long time.

Y' all know what I'm talking about. You go down to, like, see a Braves game, and there's like 30,000 people leaving the stadium. It takes you two hours. They're standing there as over a million people walk across that river. And he told a representative from each tribe to grab a stone as they walk through, grab a stone.

And they took these stones and they set it up at what would be called Gilgal. And by the time we get to the end of chapter four, here's what it says. When your children ask, what are these stones here for? You shall tell them, the Lord made a way. When you and I remain faithful to obey and follow the direction that the Lord has set in front of us.

He is already working miraculously. And then we get to see the awesome moments. How many of you today came into this room expecting God to do something miraculous? You know why you didn't? Because it's easy to get into the routine of, let's go to church.

Let's go to church. Let's go to church. Let's go to study. Check, check, check. You have to prepare your.

As much as it took you to doll yourself up today for church, it takes me about 25 minutes. Some of you are probably going. You need to spend about 40.

But I press my stuff in advance. That's why it doesn't take me that long. If you prepared yourself as much in anticipation for what God would do during this hour that you're here as you did getting ready in the morning, what would God do? What could God do? The greatest miracle to this date is still when a spiritually dead person crosses into life.

Did you come wanting that? Let me tell you what will happen if you'll start praying that way every Sunday morning. God's going to give you a hunger for lost people. And you know what's going to happen? He's going to give Ebenezer a hunger for lost people.

And when he gives us a hunger for lost people, then we're not satisfied. Going home every Sunday morning and someone leaving lost, that's what will happen. That's the kind of fire that we want. That's the kind of fire that God wants to light inside of us. And the reason we have memorials and the reason we have holidays is for this very reason.

We can then speak proudly about how God moved in the past to fuel faith in Our present and our future. That's why when you get into the holidays, people say, hey, don't forget the reason for the season.

Because we do. We dress up in our Easter best and have the Easter egg hunts and we get the candy and the chocolate bunnies and we forget about the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And there our stones of memory, that is our 12 stones that are stacked up. It's the cross of Jesus Christ that reminds us of the gospel and what God has done for us. That's why at the end of chapter four, he said, set it up.

So that when your children ask, what do you have in your house, in your life, where your kids are going, hey, dad, what does that mean? Hey, mom, what does that mean? Hey, Pop, what does that mean? Do they look at your nightstand and see that Bible and it's covered with dust? Or do they see it alive with marks and writing?

What do they see? What legacy are we leaving? Because if we don't have stones of memory, the next generation has nothing on which to draw. And it's on us. The legacy of a people.

And one of the greatest things, and you see it before you today. This is how we're going to worship. This is how we're going to remember things today. Yes, it's Memorial Day. Yes, let's thank God for our country.

Let's thank God for those who died. So we have religious freedom. But what about those friends and brothers and sisters around the world who don't have a Memorial Day, who don't live in the United States, who can't go to church today out of fear that they might have their life taken? You see, when I read the Bible, when I read the Bible, there's only one thing Jesus said to do in memory of him. Only one thing.

He said, do this in remembrance of me. That word's only used four times in the whole scripture, and it's in reference to this right here. You see that last second to last point? How we recall God today, how we recall God each time we step in this room, How I recall God each morning when I wake up affects the substance of what we will remember tomorrow. The tragedy of scripture that we read is subsequent generations forgetting what the previous generation experienced.

How, Ebenezer, how are we leading the next generation to know the gospel? How are we living the Gospel? Because you are a living stone stacked on another stone stacked on another stone. So that when our kids come through, they ask, like, why is. Why is that sister so and so always raising her hands on Sunday morning?

Because she's got a deep emotional connection with her Lord Jesus Christ.

We. We are the example. And here's the thing. Here's the truth. Last point.

When we reflect, right or right reflection will lead us to focused following. Right reflection will lead us to focused following. You know the beautiful things at the beginning of chapter five, they had heard about the Israelites coming out of Egypt, but now it's been refreshed and all the peoples in that land are scared to death. Let me ask you a question. Do you think the demons of hell are scared of Ebenezer?

I'm just asking a question. Do you think the demons of hell are scared of Ebenezer? They should be, but only if we're letting the Lord lead us. Following our high priest with the presence of God, going before us to fight our battles, dying to ourself and remembering the beauty of communion, Our King and our Lord. So I want to ask Fred to come on up and join me at the end of the service today.

You know, we'll have Fred and I'll be around if you want to come and talk to us. And we're going to have a song at the end if you want to come to the altar and pray. But right now, I want to ask you to kind of analyze yourself. I think you always need to be given a chance to confess your sins and weigh out your heart. See where you stand with the Lord.

And don't take this communion if there's sin in your life. Don't take this communion if you're lost. That's actually dangerous. According to scripture, if you've got a child in the room and they haven't come to that place where they put their own faith and knowledge in Christ and don't have a relationship with them yet. Teach them what it is, but don't give it to them yet.

They're not there yet. It's okay. You can say, hey, someday you'll be ready. And that's a good thing to celebrate. But as we're working through this, how.

How are we doing this in such a way that it will fuel our faith right now? And if the gospel doesn't light our fire, there's nothing else that will. So, Fred, lead us, bro.

What do these elements mean? Paul wrote, for I received from the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord, on that same night in which he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, take, eat. This is my body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me.

Anchored back in the wilderness wanderings that pastor was telling us about a few moments ago was a time when the very scared people of Israel were afraid that they were just going to die in the desert. And so they cried out against the Lord. Gentlemen, go ahead. They cried out against the Lord. And they said to Moses, if only the Lord had killed us back in Egypt.

There we sat around pots filled with meat and ate all the bread we wanted. But now you have brought us into this wilderness to starve us to death.

Then the Lord said to Moses, look, I'm going to rain down food from heaven for you. Each day the people will go out and pick up as much food as they need for that day. On the sixth day, they will gather enough for the two days. So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, by evening you will realize that the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, in the morning you will see the glory of God because he's heard your complaining against him. And as Aaron spoke to the whole community of Israel, they looked out towards the wilderness and they could see the awesome glory of God in the cloud.

Then the Lord said to Moses, I've heard the Israelites complaining now. Tell them in the evening you will have meat to eat, and in the morning you will have bread. All that you want. So that evening, vast numbers of quail flew in and covered the camp. And the next morning, the area around the camp was wet with dew.

And when the dew evaporated, a flaky substance as fine as frost blanketed the ground. And the Israelites were puzzled by it. And they looked and pointed and said, manna, which is the Hebrew word for what's this?

Moses said, it's the food that God has given you to eat. These are the Lord's instructions. Gather and eat. Years later, Jesus would say, truly I say to you, it's not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it's my father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven, and he gives lifes to this world.

And then they said to him, lord, always give us this bread. And Jesus said, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall never be hungry. And he who believes in me shall never thirst. I am the bread of life.

Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and now they're dead. But this bread which comes down from heaven, one may eat of it and never die. I am the living bread which comes down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live forever. And the bread I will give is my flesh that I live for the whole world.

On that night that he was betrayed, Paul would later write, for I received from the Lord that which I also deliver to you. That the Lord Jesus on that night took the bread and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, take, eat. This is my body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me. Father, we remember the Son at that last meal that Jesus had with his disciples as they were about to take of the very last cup of wine, the cup of fellowship, he said, this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

It was way back in the Garden of Eden that man first understood what sin really was.

You see, sin in its essence is man declaring that his will will exceed God's will. It's man declaring, I want what I want and I'm going to have it. Adam and Eve followed their own will rather than the the clear stated will of God.

And sin entered the world and death entered because of sin. To cover their sin, God sacrificed an animal. We don't know what animal it was. But a sacrifice had to be given so that then he could clothe Adam and Eve covering their sin. From that time on, God made a way through sacrifice that blood could cover the sin of mankind.

But you see, even though blood could cover the sin, it couldn't change the heart. It couldn't change the bent that you and I have to do what we want to do to have our way even over God's way. Sin is a stubborn stain and it became rooted in our DNA. So the sacrifices were necessary to cover it. But from before the foundation of the world, our triune God, God the Father, God the Son, God, God the Holy Spirit had decided on a way that there would be a sacrifice.

There would be a blood that would not only cover the sins of the world, but change the heart of mankind. And so in the dark one night, God the Son folded his eternal incredible nature into the a tiny, tiny babe in Mary's bosom. And the Son of God became the Son of Man.

He lived the perfect life. He died a cruel death, the death that took my sins and yours upon himself. But then he rose again on the third day, declaring victory over life and death so that he might give to us the gift of eternal life. Paul would say, almost all things by the law are purged with blood. And without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins.

But we have redemption through the blood of Christ, even forgiveness. Peter would add, we are not redeemed with silver and gold and precious stones, but with the precious blood of Christ. And John would later say, towards the end of his ministry, the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sins.

Paul would write in the same way Jesus took the cup after supper, saying, this is the new covenant between God and his people. The agreement confirmed in my blood. Do this in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this wine, you proclaim my death until I come again. Father God, we remember the blood of the Son.

Jesus said, as often as you eat this bread and drink this wine, you proclaim my death and resurrection until I return again. You have just preached a sermon. You've just proclaimed to the world, Christ is my Savior. My sins are covered and my eternal life is secured. And now we will do as they did.

Even on that night night we'll stand together and we'll be dismissed in song.