The Day of Atonement
Jeremy MacDonald · Tidal Church Moncton · March 29, 2026 · For Our City series
Jeremy MacDonald looks at the Day of Atonement in Leviticus 16 and the scapegoat as a window into Good Friday. Jesus' blood does more than cover sin. He cleanses us from the inside out, cleansing our consciences and restoring our relationships.
More from Jeremy MacDonald · The For Our City series
Topics: Grace, Forgiveness, Easter
Transcript
[0:00] And so as we get into this morning's message, I think the question I want to wrestle with is going to launch us into thinking about Easter weekend perhaps just a little bit different. But to get there, we have to start with something that maybe feels a little bit weird or awkward. I want to ask you a question. This is rhetorical for you to think about. You don't have to shout it out. What parts of the Bible would you ban, if you could ban a part of the Bible? Some people would like to ban parts of the Bible. And to be honest, in this room, and I know people listening, you're downloading this podcast later, there's lots of folks that would say, "Hey, I don't necessarily believe everything that Christians believe. I don't believe everything that this church might teach." And so there's parts of the Scriptures that you would say, if you had a chance, you would love to cut it out and to get it out. And to you, I would say we're happy that you're here, we're glad that you're a part of things, because our hope is that we would open up the Scriptures and that it would be able to speak to you, to me, to all of us, no matter where you're at in your faith journey.
[0:57] But for Christians that have been following Jesus for any length of time, of course, we would say there's no part of the Bible that we should ban. There's no part that we don't believe in. We believe in Genesis all the way through to maps at the very end, or if they're at the front. The whole thing is the Word of God. We trust and give our lives to this Word that the Lord has maintained and preserved for us all the years. But if you're like me, I grew up in church, I've been a Christian for pretty much my whole life. And there's parts that although I trust and believe in it, I've functionally perhaps cut out of my life just because it's difficult to get into. There's parts of the Bible that if you do your Bible reading in a year plan, you get to, and it's like, this is the only time that you come to it, because it's challenging and it's hard to understand exactly what's going on here.
[1:50] And in those sections, sometimes, although we still think it should be there, it's hard to know, well, why is it really there, and is it actually helpful for you or for me? And so this morning, I'd love us to actually go into one of those sections, because for me, for the last number of years, it's been a challenge for me to wrestle with a particular part of Scripture, and that part of the Scriptures is the sacrifices. The sacrificial system that we find throughout the Old Testament, throughout my life, I haven't fully grasped or fully comprehended and definitely had lots more questions than answers and responses. And what happens basically in the sacrificial system, if you've been around, if you've read some of the Old Testament, you read there's these instructions, very detailed, on what you do with the goat or the bull or the offering. We have the grain. We have these doves.
[2:41] Blood is spilled, and it's like, what's happening here? Because we don't do anything like that today. There's no goats in the building, no doves, nothing like that today. A lot because of what happens on Easter weekend for Christians, is what, of course, we believe. But for me, what's happened is that the sacrificial system, kind of loosely I'd understand it over the years, is there's sins on one side, and that creates this barrier. There's sinfulness, I grew up understanding. "For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." And so there are things that I've done wrong in my life that count as sins, and there's this sinful state and these sinful expressions and thoughts, and who I am can be sinful. And because of that, I need somehow to get through to the other side, which is forgiveness.
[3:26] And so my expectation and understanding was that the sacrifices were a part of that. The challenge or the problem is that when you go through life, you discover that your sins seem to be much more complex. And even the sacrifices, when you read them, seem to be so much more complex. So for example, an easy and safe personal sin, I've got lots that I could pull from in my life, as I'm sure you do too. The one that is easy to talk about publicly just because it gives us a bit of a framework is, a couple of months ago, I was at an event and my friend Robert was coming in. Robert's a little bit older than me and is a lovely gentleman, but he came in wearing a cool bowler hat that was very distinguished looking. And for some reason, again, this is just me, it's probably not you, but I was just absolutely ridiculous in that moment. I was trying to find a funny comment.
[4:16] And so it was just me and him. There's nobody else around. But I basically made fun of him for wearing it and said that he looked really old, which is terrible. Really terrible and awful, because I love Robert. He's a good friend, and we've had a good relationship. And so I left that interaction, again, trying to be funny or do something that make a few people chuckle or make him chuckle. And you don't do this, but then I start replaying the conversation. I'm like, "Man, I am such a doofus. Why would I do this? Who am I?" And I've just said something bad to my friend. And so I realize that, and I go back to Robert the next day and I'm like, "I just need to apologize. Would you forgive me? Because I just cannot believe why I said what I said to you yesterday." And he was very gracious, and he's like, "Didn't think anything of it." And that was kind enough, and that was it.
[5:04] And so in that moment, that was kind of like, okay, I've just done something that is very low-key but sinful. Calling out, making fun of a friend. I've asked for forgiveness. If I was in the Old Testament, would I have to go kill a dove for that? Where does this all lead, and what is going on here? What's the heart and the point of that? And then if we're actually thinking about it, then for those of us that aren't in that system anymore, and that's all of us, then I wrestle with the idea, okay, if everything's changed at Easter, then what actually happened when Jesus died on the cross? What actually happened that that stuff doesn't have to happen anymore?
[5:54] And by asking that question, walking into the Easter weekend, it maybe gives a sense that for you and for me, that we can take seriously this role as Christians here in 2026, that when we reflect and walk into Easter, that we should do so with open hearts and open minds to understand all that Jesus has done for us as we celebrate this and declare it for the world around us. And what I've done in the last just little bit in trying to prepare for this message and learning all sorts of different things is that I've been reading in Leviticus, which is not the section of the Bible that you go to necessarily when you're looking for all sorts of good feelings and like, "God, tell me something," and it's like, "You kill a dove." And again, I'm like, "What's the point of all of that?" And what's interesting is when you start reading in a place like Leviticus, and then asking people that understand and know what's going on and do the reading, is you discover that all of these different Old Testament sacrifices carry a purpose.
[6:53] And that purpose, in fact, connects to what Jesus did. Put this way, one of the commentators for Leviticus, John Hartley, he says, "The variety of the Old Testament sacrificial rituals, each in its own way, bears witness to the dimensions of Jesus' work on the cross." And so every little part of the Old Testament sacrifices give you and me a lens into what Jesus is doing on Good Friday, and gives us a lens into how we might be able to celebrate and honor and reflect and remember even heading into this Friday. And so for today, I'd love to take just a little bit of a glimpse at one section. We're not doing all of it, but at this point, I'm pretty fascinated. So I'm going to be looking at it all over the next little while, and maybe you might too. But there's a little section in Leviticus 16 called the Day of Atonement. And the Day of Atonement is really interesting. It's still celebrated to this day.
[7:49] The Jewish people call it Yom Kippur. I'm mispronouncing that likely. And for the Day of Atonement, which God mandates in Leviticus 16, early Christians cared deeply about what was going on because of Good Friday. Or put this way, John Hartley says specifically about it, he said, "For the early Christians, the Day of Atonement played a significant role in their interpretation of Jesus's death." You see, Good Friday became the Christians' Day of Atonement, so to speak. And so let's just take a look at it. This is kind of interesting. At least I think so, and hey, you're here, and so you come along for the ride. Leviticus 16, let's take a look and see what happens. "This is to be a lasting ordinance for you." Again, no longer lasting because of the changes, so don't do this exactly. "Atonement is to be made once a year for all the sins of the Israelites," which brings up all sorts of questions already.
[8:43] What is atonement? And atonement is this word that is used to describe the idea of restitution. You have to atone for your sins. You do something wrong and something needs to happen. There's an idea that you have to pay. It's not quite retribution, but there's something that should go beyond forgiveness. And at this point, we also say the atonement sometimes is used as a term to describe what Jesus has done overall. What does the death of Jesus mean? His death, His sacrifice is the atonement for us, and so we're discovering a piece of what that is. At this point, there's the atonement for the people of Israel. Now, I'm also wondering, okay, once a year? That seems like not a bad deal. Does that mean you go like, what are they doing for the rest of the year? You do whatever you want, and then once a year, we just make things right with everybody, and then you're good to go.
[9:34] And that's not quite what's happening here because there are still so many other opportunities for the people of God to come before the Lord to ask for forgiveness, to bring Him thanksgiving. There's different types of sacrifices. And so this is certainly just one of them, but this one is doing something really specific. This one is doing something very particular. And for the people of God, this one is going to, again, give us a glimpse of one of the things that Jesus does when He dies for you and for me. So the writer of Leviticus goes on. He says, "This is a permanent law for you," and this is the fascinating thing, "to purify the people of Israel from their sins." Purifying, being something maybe a little bit different than simply forgiveness.
[10:19] But to purify the people from their sins, making them right with the Lord each year, once a year. And the idea of purification is interesting because I think inherently you and I know what that looks like when we think about the examples of our own brokenness and sinfulness. So if I go to the example of me and my buddy Robert, he offers forgiveness, which is very kind, a great, wonderful thing to do. But even though he would offer forgiveness for something simple as an off-putting joke, something has changed in the nature of our relationship. So even though he says, "Jeremy, you're forgiven," all of a sudden, he knows and he's experienced my brokenness. Something has changed in our relationship because he recognizes that that's something that I'm capable of and that I have done.
[11:13] And so even though forgiveness happens, there's some type of brokenness that works its way into the relationship. All sorts of other examples. Maybe you're a parent, and you fly off the lid, and anger's your thing, and so you yell at your kids inappropriately. And so you go to them humbly, hopefully, and you ask for forgiveness. But something has changed in your home when your kids recognize and realize that you're capable of that kind of anger. And so all of a sudden, a little bit of impurity. It's not the same as it was before. Something has changed in this relationship. Same thing. Your greatest regret likely connects to a fault or an issue that you've brought into relationship with somebody that you cared about.
[12:02] So your greatest regret, sure, maybe it hurt you, but even deeper than that, it's actually hurt some of the people around you, which is why it's so great of a regret. It was that thing that you just wish you hadn't done because now you can't go back and undo it, and you would almost give anything to go back in time and not do that thing. Because although maybe you've moved on or you've done something to kind of move past it, at the same time, you're still left with this frustrating change of state, this change of relationship, this change of the people with the people around you because some type of impurity, sinfulness, has entered into this relationship, and it's not the same as it was before. Now, the Lord recognizes this, and the people of God knew this, and so the Day of Atonement was this chance at not simply just talking about forgiveness, because throughout the course of the year, you could come and offer your sacrifices.
[13:00] You could come, and there were some sacrifices that weren't even for sins. You would bring sacrifices to thank God for His goodness to you, a peace sacrifice for the peace of God, and you were so grateful. And you could celebrate that with others, and you could enjoy some of the meal together with it. And then there are these sin sacrifices. You'd come and you'd ask for forgiveness for the things that have gone wrong in your community. But once a year, the Lord made clear something had to happen to purge the people and the community, the temple, to send out these impurities, to remove the brokenness and get it out of here, to make pure and clean the inside, to make pure and clean the people, to show that it's not just about offering the forgiveness, but it's actually getting back to that state that God so desperately wants you and me to be in, that state of being cleansed and clean and clear.
[14:00] Because you remember what it was like when your conscience was clear. What a beautiful thing it is when your conscience is clear. What a life of peace it is when you recognize and know that your conscience is clear. And so the Lord says, "Here is an opportunity to purge from, to remove, and to send away." And it's a surprising kind of day and a surprising kind of sacrifice. Just to kind of showcase this, there's a picture here of how the system would work, and it's detailed in Leviticus 16. It's really interesting. There's six points of sacrifice, and they're from the center, from where the Lord would dwell, from the ark, and it pushing its way all the way out, and then all the way out to the altar, and then, you'll see here in a moment, even beyond that, which is a different direction than the way the sacrifices would usually take. Usually, you would come to the Lord, and He would bring in and deal with your sinfulness.
[15:02] But on one day, it was like there was this sign, and everybody could see it, that the high priest, Aaron, would be pushing out the sinfulness and moving it away from the Lord and purifying things, and then eventually, we're going to see actually sending it into the wilderness. So this is what it would look like. This is the Day of Atonement, Leviticus 16. Just a few verses to give you a snapshot. Let's take a look. So he, the high priest, Aaron, in this instance, is to cast lots. Now, casting lots is what happens kind of throughout. There's a lot of different examples in the Old Testament of casting lots, and it was a way to try and pray and ask God to give clarity on a particular decision. Now, interestingly enough, it seems like the last time we had casting lots in the Scriptures is right before the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit comes and actually now resides in the hearts of all believers.
[15:53] So if you've chosen to put your faith and trust in Jesus, the Scriptures are clear. The Spirit of God actually lives in you, the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, and can speak to your conscience and give you the wisdom you need to make your decisions in community with the other Christians. And so you no longer need to cast lots, and the last example we have of it is, again, right before the Holy Spirit comes on the day of Pentecost. But at this point, the way that they would cast, I don't know exactly, but the idea is you're trying to offer a couple options, and then you do something that's kind of like a chance kind of thing to see which one gets rolled out or which one gets flipped over, whatever the thing is. It's an opportunity for the Lord to speak through these lots. And so he casts lots for the two, and there's two goats. We don't have any goats here today, but there are two goats in this instance.
[16:40] We don't do this anymore. We're not planning on doing this. There's no any kind of illustration of this at any point, just in case anybody's nervous. He's cast lots for, there's two goats as a part of this. There was also a bull earlier. You can read about it. Personal sin offering for the high priest. And then for the people, two goats. Okay, interesting. Haven't seen a goat lately. Not really important. Okay, so he's casting lots for two goats. One lot for the Lord, so there's one goat that you'll see will be sacrificed, and the other for the scapegoat. Huh, you've heard this word before. This is where we get it, scapegoats. It describes this exact experience, the scapegoat. The scapegoat that wasn't responsible for these things, but is going to take on these things. Interesting. Okay.
[17:26] One lot for the Lord, one for the scapegoat. Aaron shall bring the goat whose lot falls to the Lord, and he sacrifices it for a sin offering, and it's participating in that last picture of its blood is helping to signify the removal and pushing out of the sinfulness from within the temple. Okay, next verse. But the goat, and this is interesting, at least to me, maybe to you, hopefully to you, the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord to be used for making atonement by sending it into the wilderness as a scapegoat. This goat doesn't actually die. And so I used to think, and this was my expectation, when you do something wrong, you've got to kill something.
[18:12] That's the price, the penalty that has to be paid. And what we're experiencing in the Day of Atonement is this invitation to maybe view your sinfulness a little bit, and the sacrificial system, a little different. You see, the Lord sees the brokenness and the sinfulness of the community and says, "It has to get out. You have to push it out. This can't stay in you anymore. I am the Lord, the good God who's created you on purpose, for a purpose. And if you keep returning to this sinfulness, this is exactly the opposite of what I would have for you. And so where you recognize the sinfulness and brokenness in your community, you have to push it out. You have to get rid of it."
[19:01] And as a sign and a symbol, we have the scapegoat. We read on in Leviticus, "He is to lay both hands," Aaron, "on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites, all their sins, and put them on this goat's head." And the symbolism here is so strong. The two hands, the confession out loud of sins. I don't know how long that would take. There's been seasons, and if they actually pulled this off, seasons of the nation of Israel that there's a lot of wickedness among them. And to be honest, if we did something like this today, which we obviously don't do in the same kind of way, but if we did this as the people of Tidal Church Moncton today, there's a lot of wickedness amongst us.
[19:48] And I know that only because I recognize the wickedness and the rebellion that can even creep up in my heart. And so I know you've got that in your heart. And there's something here where the Lord's like, "This needs to get out. You need to confess it and get it out, and we're going to put it on this scapegoat." And then what happens to the scapegoat? Well, the goat will carry on itself all their sins to a remote place, and the man shall release it into the wilderness. The goat doesn't die. The goat has to get out. You don't want the goat to die. In fact, just the opposite. You need to get it away, because if it's carrying the sin, we need this relationship to remain pure. We need to get this goat away and these sins way out of here. And you can just imagine the picture of your own home.
[20:35] In your own home, the brokenness and the difficulties and the challenges and your own broken sinfulness. You're like, "I need this place to be different. I need these relationships to be pure. I want the Lord to do a healing work in my home, or in my marriage, or with my kids, or with my family, or with my coworkers, or the people around me. I need this to be the way the Lord would have it to be." And so to purge and get it out is the hope. Because you know when you think about your own brokenness and your own sinfulness, it's like, "I don't know what it is inside of me. Why did I say it that way? I don't want to do that." The Apostle Paul would talk about this. "I do the things I don't want to do, and the things I want to do, I don't do." It's this internal wrestle where you experience, man, I wish I could live out all that I know, but it's just, there's something inside of me that wrestles with me.
[21:34] And that's this sinfulness, this sinful state. The Lord says it needs to get out from our homes and from our community, from our church. We need to send it away into the wilderness. And this is more than just a list of good and bad things. In fact, the Bible Project, if you track them on YouTube, fascinating scholars who do really wonderful work and put these videos together explaining different biblical concepts and from the scriptures. And they'll write this, they said, "Contrary to some popular assumptions, when the biblical authors talk about sin, they're talking about something much deeper and more complex than just a regulatory list of good and bad behaviors, or good guys versus bad guys." They go on to say, "They're talking about a corruption of God's good world that shows up in human relationships and choices, something that we do and something that happens to us."
[22:29] And it's recognizing that there's so much more at stake when we talk about sin than just making fun of a friend in a short conversation. There's so much more at stake that when Jesus goes to the cross, He is dealing with and changing and transforming and breaking the powers of darkness around us, that we might experience all that God would actually want you and I to experience. And so the sacrifices, as much as they are an absolutely critical part throughout the Old Testament, they're just different than sometimes I would've thought. And we get these examples, and now you start to kind of see and recognize it, like, oh, the Lord, yes, there's something about the sacrifices, but there's so much more that He's interested in. And the psalmist would say this in Psalm 51, trying to wrap our minds around this, "You do not," speaking to the Lord, "delight in sacrifice." The Lord doesn't delight in sacrifice.
[23:25] Or he says, "I would bring it. You do not take pleasure in burnt offerings." He's setting up this as an understanding of what God is actually looking for. He says instead, "My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart You, God, will not despise." And I was talking to my friend Dan, and he's like, "Yeah, you read this, and you realize this kind of confession and contrite heart is what comes first, and then you're able to offer the sacrifices that the Lord asks." And so when you realize that the whole system is actually built around so much more than at least I realized, it starts to reframe or at least gives me a different kind of understanding, or not even a different kind, but just maybe a broader understanding of perhaps what happens on Good Friday.
[24:15] Put this way, Ron, who's one of the commentators on Leviticus, he says, "God is concerned about redemption of human beings, not only from morally faulty acts, but also from this human state of mortality represented by ritual impurity that has resulted from sin." Or put this way: He wants to restore the relationships. He wants to bring the purity back into your relationship with Him and your relationship with others. It's more than just a forgiveness, but it's actually a restoration and a healing. It's actually purging and getting rid of this thing inside of you and me that draws us away from all that God has for us, and instead, we recognize our brokenness and our sinfulness, and we get rid of it so that we can actually live into what God has asked us to do.
[25:06] And the writer of Hebrews would help us understand this because, for Christians, they had this wild experience in the early first century where you experience Jesus's death and resurrection, and then everything changed. This whole system that was built up, the sacrificial system, was all of a sudden different in light of Jesus' sacrifice. And so the writer of Hebrews, trying to explain to you and to me what's going on, he says this: "He," Jesus, "did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves, but He entered the Most Holy Place where the Father dwells, once for all, by His own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption." And it's this idea, the commentators explain this best.
[25:51] It's this idea that for Jesus, He was both the high priest and an offering, free from blemish. And so His death actually consummated the entire Old Testament sacrificial system. This idea that we can go through the Levitical system and laws and find intrigue and interest because it gives us more of a picture of what Jesus has done for us, for you and for me. And so I find that fascinating, and in this instance, I find it so interesting that it could actually change what you and I think about and the way that we respond to the Lord heading into this Friday. Hebrews goes on. He says this: "The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean," speaking of what would happen through the system, "would sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean." And then says, "But how much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself unblemished to God..." And this is what He does.
[26:54] And he's going to explain it here in just a moment, and as we go through it, what happens, at least in these kinds of settings, is that we have so many songs as Christians that speak about the blood of Jesus. And sometimes for people who are pastors and put together services, one of the challenges is, if you're new, it sounds wild when you come in and you hear people celebrating somebody's bloodshed. And you're like, "What is going on here?" And so one of the things that will happen here at the end of the service is we're going to sing one of those songs that celebrates what the blood of Jesus has done and what we want to do as we walk into Good Friday singing this song. It is a celebration, but it's a celebration because of this verse. It's a celebration because of what that represents.
[27:39] It's a celebration because of how it changes you and how it changes me. It's a celebration because the power of what Jesus did is so much more than we could possibly even imagine. And so we center ourselves around the truth of what the Word of God says in the Scriptures, so that when we respond, we allow and invite the Spirit to do what we know the Spirit of God wants to do because of the power of Jesus's blood. And listen, if you're here and you're like, "That's a lot. I don't know. I'm not interested," or, "I'm not in," I would just invite you to recognize that for thousands of years, Christians have found hope, Christians have found healing, Christians have found restoration in not just this message, but in this act and sacrifice of Jesus. And our hope is simply that you, too, would experience what we have experienced.
[28:33] But also, and Christians, listen for this, that we would exemplify what that actually looks like. That we would actually lean into that. That this would be more than just, hey, I get my quick fix of I'm forgiven and I'm good to go, but that we would actually experience the fullness of what God wants to do in our hearts, as Hebrews is a book to tell us. You kind of get it when you see people get baptized, and you're like, "Man, they're fired up." Yeah, they're fired up. They just went from death to life. They're, "Whoo, this is awesome." Life is completely different for them. And that's the point, is that if you've been living in this life following Jesus for so long, sometimes we forget the dramatic nature, and we don't take the time to pause and remember and reflect on what God has done. And if we're not careful, we can actually stop short of all that He actually wants to do for us.
[29:28] And so Hebrews says, "How much more is the blood of Christ," of Jesus, going to do this? It's going to cleanse. It's going to cleanse. It's going to do that purity kind of work. It's going to do that cleaning kind of work. It's going to come in and wash away. What is it washing away? Oh, that's interesting. What is it washing away? Well, my sins. What are my sins doing that's making my state different? It's going to get deep into me. It's going to get deep into you. The blood of Jesus actually cleanses, changes, heals. Cleanses what? Cleanses our conscience. Because for here, for us, you've got to recognize this is deep in your soul.
[30:15] This is not just a surface-level kind of thing. This gets really at the core of who you and I, who we are. You recognize that the deepest part of you is where you have these struggles and frustrations and difficulties, and where does this all come from? Where does my brokenness and my sinfulness, it just shows up. And it's like, yeah, Jesus wants to get all the way to your conscience. And when your conscience is clean and when it's pure, imagine the peace. That the relationship's been made right. That you can move forward knowing that God has healed all of the things that you have made broken, and that He's going to go with you. He's going to cleanse our consciences from acts. Because when we talk about the sinfulness, it comes out in thoughts and actions and things that we do or say, it changes things.
[31:12] And these are specific things. You can actually point to them. It's things that we live out or we do, and these acts, these are not just any acts, but they're ones that lead to death. And you see that even in the simplest of ways. You think about my friend Robert and if I go down that road of trying to just make fun of a friend, it brings death into the relationship. The relationship shrivels up. You remember that. The relationships that shriveled up, they shrivel up most often because of acts that led to the shriveling up and dying of it. The gossip or the calling somebody names or the spreading of lies or whatever it was, or the infidelity. It brings the death into that relationship. And the Lord says, but He'll cleanse our conscience from the acts that lead to death so that, and this is the beautiful thing, His payment for us actually changes things and gives us purpose and meaning.
[32:07] And this is the beautiful gift. When you've been following Jesus, not only do you experience a change in who you are, you get an assignment that brings purpose to your days. Yeah, you got to do the things, like you got to pay the bills, and you got to go here, and you got to get to work. You got to follow through on that commitment. But friends, you've got a higher purpose because of what the Lord has done. So that what? We may serve the living God. And this is the hope that you and I can serve Him fully and cleanly and clearly because the purposes He has for you and for me. Now, if this is a little bit like, "Oh, this is complicated, there's a lot. Did you say something about goats? And where were the doves? They didn't come back in to play at any point." And so what's happening here? Here's the bottom line as you come into Easter and Good Friday. The thing that I hope that you catch and realize and that we can wrestle with as a community, the blood of Jesus doesn't just cover sin, but it cleanses you from the inside out.
[33:04] This is what we celebrate. This is what we sing about. And in fact, we're about to sing a song that talks about how the blood of Jesus actually changes us and like on the Day of Atonement, purges things from within our community and out, and it's this perfect sacrifice that allows us to be in right standing with God, but it also gives us the power to be in right standing and in right relationship with others. This song, "Thank You Jesus for the Blood," it's going to sing, we're going to have these lyrics, and they'll be on the screen. You can sing along, and then we'll sing it on Good Friday. We'll sing about how sin separated and the breach was far too wide. Our brokenness created the separation, yes, from God, but also from others around us. It creates sin, just brings this death that destroys the relationships around us.
[33:50] And this breach and this chasm is just so far and so wide. And so yes, the Lord wants to be reconciled to you, but the Lord wants you to be reconciled to the people around you, and He gives you the power for that. Goes on, "And there at the cross, You paid the debt that I owe." Because I'm the one that got us into these situations. I'm the one that has caused these things. I'm the one that blew up and messed up, and I'm the one that continues down this road. But at the cross, You broke my chains. Sorry, I'm going to go back to that. "Freed my soul for the first time I had hope." And this is the story of Christians everywhere, the hopefulness that comes. The world is so desperate for hope, and here it is in Jesus' name, in His sacrifice, and in His blood.
[34:41] And so we'll sing, "Thank You, Jesus, for the blood applied." Because He is the ultimate sacrifice. "Washes me white." This is the purification. This is the work of changing who you are from the inside out. This is recognizing that, yes, you need the forgiveness, but also you need to be different. You need to restore that relationship. And so because of that, thank You, Jesus, You have saved my life. You've brought me from the darkness into the glorious light. And when you live in that, you realize how profound and powerful it is. But not just from the darkness into glorious light. See, there's nothing stronger than the wonder working power of the blood that call us sons and daughters.
[35:28] We are ransomed by our Father. This song, in the same way that the Day of Atonement was an act of the community, these songs are acts that we sing as a community. Because the Lord didn't just do His work so that individuals could be set free. He did it so that the community could be set free. Remember the Day of Atonement, you come together, pledge the sins of the community onto this goat, and send it out. Well, together as the Church of Jesus Christ, we are the body of Christ. And when you gather in this way, you are actually a part of a family, a spiritual family. You become adopted into God's family, where you're amongst brothers and sisters, and we sing these songs as a community to reflect for ourselves and so that the world around us may recognize this is not just me and God.
[36:21] This is us together, honoring and practicing out our faith as a community. And that's why we do this together. That's why you got to be here. That's why you got to gather. That's why you got to saddle up next to. That's why you got to rub shoulders with. Because this relationship together as brothers and sisters is how we express and live out our faith. So let me pray for you and pray for me. Because as we sing this song, the hope and the prayer is always that as we honor the Lord, that He will come and do what He can do to speak through our hearts and continue to shape and change and form us. So let me pray. Heavenly Father, we're grateful, grateful that You've preserved these texts for this long, for thousands of years, that the story of Your goodness could be handed down from generation to generation. As You've entrusted us with this message, Lord, would we not give it up.
[37:21] Would we always keep it in front of us and keep it in front of the people around us. But as we do this, Lord, let it be that we would recognize the fullness of what You've done for us. As we take steps towards Easter and Good Friday, would we recognize that You are doing so much more than just forgiving us. Lord, You are changing us from the inside out. You are cleansing us from the inside out. And Lord, I know in a room like this, there's lots of people, and we desperately need that cleansing. Because as we think about our own brokenness and sinfulness, when we think about the things that we've done, Lord, it has changed our lives, and we just ask, would You come and change us? Would You reshape and reform us? Would Your sacrifice be not just the thing that gives us the forgiveness, but would Your sacrifice be the thing that gets to the inside of our soul and would we be different?
[38:15] Would we become people that carry Your Spirit fully? God, we would be the kinds of people that those around us would say, "What is happening to you? You are different." Because we are, and only because of Your sacrifice. And so, Lord, we're grateful that You make a way to purge things from our hearts and from our community. And Lord, as we sing this song, would You continue that work in our hearts today? That we could worship You fully and You could call us to all the things that You would call us to. We pray these things in Jesus' name.