You do not need to carry the weight of a guilty conscience when you understand the power of Jesus' blood. Instead of relying on your own good works, run to God in faith knowing His atonement is enough to cleanse you completely. Embrace the freedom of grace today and let His love drive you to live holy rather than fearfully.
Welcome to the Real Church podcast. Our mission is for you to know the love of Jesus and live out your God given purpose. Now join us and listen in to the latest message from pastor David John Phillips.
So my name is David John Phillips. I have the honor of being the pastor right here at Real Church. If this is your first time, as Angie said in the beginning, we do pray that you felt welcome and loved from the time that you drove into the parking lot until the time that you made it to your seat. If you're watching online for the first time, or maybe you've been watching for a while, we consider you a part of the family, and we pray that 1 day you get to visit here as well. And speaking about online, something that would help would be, if you're comfortable, if you're okay with it, if you'd pull up your Facebook page, yes, can pull up Facebook in church and click share to the live feed, man, that would be like inviting all your friends to church right now.
How cool would that be? You know? So that would be awesome. We have a live feed going right now. Praise the Lord for technology.
Praise the Lord for John Krueger. Yeah. He's awesome. We, 2 years, 2 year anniversary, we started this thing. Courtney and I moved here a little over 3 years ago, and praise the Lord, really God started this church 2 years ago.
We have many, many people in this room, many people whose lives have been transformed because God has impacted their lives through real church. And I'm super grateful, and I'm super thankful for your guys' just commitment, your guys' being a part. It's because of Jesus through you. It's not if it was just me, may maybe I would reach 10 or 12 people, 3, 4, 5 people, but because it's the church coming together, we have greater impact into the community. So once again, thank you for that.
We are starting a new series today. A new series is called asking for a friend. How many of you guys were a part or you got to see some of the asking for a friend last time we did it about a year and a half ago? Okay. Quite a few people.
Good. So the Asking for a Friend series is we're finding answers to tough questions. And the beauty of the series is that the beauty of the series is that you guys really write the messages. You guys are able to "ask anonymous questions", and what I do is whether you ask 1 of the questions from the survey online, we have an anonymous survey, or in the service, you'll have the opportunity, Those those connection cards that are under your seats, there's a prayer card on there. If you have any question about life, God, religion, your relationship with Jesus, you know, how lifestyle, anything, any kind of question that you're always like, man, I wonder what Jesus I wonder what the bible says about that.
You can ask it, it can be anonymous, you can put your name on it, it doesn't matter. I will take the hardest questions and the most asked questions, And those questions will be the topic of the sermon for the next month or so, maybe 2 months, depending on how many questions we have. It'll be about 3 to 5 questions per service. That way, can really hone in and focus in. Sound good?
Alright. So before we get to the first question today, I want to pray. Father, I just I thank you. You're amazing and you're wonderful. You're good.
You love us. Father, we thank you for that. Lord, we thank you that you're here. Father God, it's because of you that we live and move and have our being. Lord God, I can't preach a message.
I can't answer these questions in any way that would change people's lives. I know that. But, you can, Lord. And, your word says, you're you live in me. You live in us.
So, Father, I I I ask it to be you speaking because if it's your words coming through my mouth, then every single person under the sound of my voice, whether they're watching online or they're in the room, every single person will have the opportunity to to receive what you're saying and shift for eternity, to grow in their understanding of of your love, to grow in their understanding of how you see them, to grow in their understanding, to choose you. Lord, I pray that's the case today. Lord, I pray every single person walks away a little different. In Jesus name. Amen.
She's just saying amen to me over there. That's it. No big deal. So in the questions, I just I thought these would be appropriate to start out the series today, and you'll see why. So we're starting with these questions.
We have all kinds of questions coming in, and I'm excited about it. But question number 1 is why does God love us? You ever thought about that? Like, really? Why?
Why is it? Bible says God loves us. Why does God love us? I'm a I'm a approach it from this direction. In Proverbs-27:19, it says, as water reflects the face, so one's life reflects the heart, being who 1 is.
Right? The the output of some someone's actions, you can really see who they are. *Matthew-7:16-19*, an aspect of them says, you will know you will know them by their fruit. Same thought process. Right?
Like, you will know who someone is by the results of of who they are, by by what they do. Now, logically, if we if we take that and we flip it, if you really understand and know the ins and outs of the identity of a person, if you really if you flip it and you really know who someone is, like their character, their nature, you know that, then you can for sure know what the results will be coming from that person. For instance, if you have a if you "know beyond a shadow of a doubt" that this right here, you see this tree, this is an orange tree. Everybody see the tree? It's beautiful, isn't it?
We know this is an orange tree. It would be weird to get lemons coming from an orange tree. Right? Because I know what this is. I know the nature of it.
I know the character of it. Therefore, the fruit of this tree will be oranges. Period. In the same way, the bible is very clear about who God is. So if we know beyond a shadow of a doubt who he is, then we know that the fruit, results of who he is coming from him will all flow from who he is.
Because what someone does comes from who they are. Right? The bible says in 1 John-4, you've heard it almost, probably almost every message since we've been a a church. 1 John-4 says, **God is Love**. Love.
God is love. Therefore, the fruit of what he does flows from love. That not that doesn't necessarily mean that you understand it. Some things that you attribute to him might not be really from him. Some things that you think, well, that's not love might be love, but we know that everything that flows from him is love because God is love.
He created you out of love. He created you for love, and he created you to experience his love, to walk in his love, and to show his love to everyone around you. Amen? And God doesn't just love those who love him back. That's inconsistent with the narrative of scripture.
God loves the whole world. John-3:16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever would believe in him would not perish but have **eternal life**. And as you know, eternal life meaning, Jesus defined eternal life as knowing God. So God loved you so much that he made a way so that you could know him, and experience him, know his love, and then show his love. Jesus prayed in John-17 says, then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them, even as you have loved me.
Therefore, *Jesus* is praying and saying that the father loves the world as much as he loves Jesus. Even before you come to know him. God loves you. The father loves you as much as he loves Jesus, based on who he is. Because who he is, what he does flows from who he is.
So why does God love? Because it's who he is. He is love. Amen? Okay.
So that's question number 1. Why does God love? He loves because it's who he is. Question number 2. As as soon as this 1 was asked, I read it, and I was like, I know who wrote that.
I asked the person later, and he's like, how'd you know? I know you, man. I know you well. I spent a lot of time with this person, get to man, we just get to talk about Jesus a lot. But he asked this question.
He says, what what does atonement mean? You ever heard that word in church? I mean, sure, you know, if you've grown up in church, you've you've heard atonement, you know atonement. If you haven't grown up in church, like, maybe you don't like, maybe you've heard it a couple times, you're like, what really does atonement mean? And it's so important, but it's not a word that we use in our normal daily language.
Right? Like, I'm I'm not going to be hanging out with my my new friend that I met, you know, at this place, and say, hey, man, you know, atonement. You know, atone. I'm probably not gonna use that because it's not normal language that we use in in English today, but at the same time, it's very and vitally important that we understand what atonement is. And in our communication with people, it's vitally important that we're able to explain it in such a way that is easily understood because it is the crux of the gospel.
*Atonement*. We answered, why does God love us? Answering the definition of atonement is really answering, how does God love us? *1 John-4:10* says, this is love. Not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent an atoning *sacrifice* for our sins.
*Atonement*. Webster's dictionary, I love looking at Webster's dictionary, just makes things clear. Right? Webster's dictionary says this about the word atonement. It says, it's "reparation for an offense" or injury, or repairs for an offense or injury that you did to someone.
It also says satisfaction. If we use it in a sentence, it says, he wanted to find a way to make atonement for his sins. Alright. You have to understand that sin is an offense to God. Sin is an offense to God.
And God is a loving God, and he is a just God. He is a very legal God. And he punishes *sin* to death. Every sin, small, medium, or large. A little white lie, or murder.
Pedophilia. He punishes *sin* to death. Every sin must be paid for, and the only payment is death. Period. He is a loving God, and he is a legal God.
How can he be a loving God, and a legal God? How is that possible? See, the the religious mindset, just like the definition of atonement used in a sentence, he wanted to find a way to atone for his sins, to to repay for his, you know, for his offense to God. And every religion or a lot of religions, they try to find a way to do something in order to pay for your sins. Right?
Catholicism would say that I need to say this many Hail Marys in order to to pay for my sins, so I don't have to spend as much time in purgatory. That is not biblical. There's nothing that you can do to pay for your sin. Because the payment for sin is death, and God is a legal God requiring death. Period.
But yet, he's loving. The payment for our not choosing God is death. And and if God is life, death means "separation from God". And and and if God is love, joy, peace, patience, the the results, the fruit of who he is is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, meekness, faithfulness, self control. If that is the result of him, then therefore, separation from him results in the opposite of love, which is hate.
The opposite of joy, which is despair, and peace, which is angst, and anxiety, and pain. The opposite of all of those things. So if we're separated from him for eternity, it results in hell. So you can't have love without the choice not to love. So he gives you the choice to walk in love, and he makes a way through atonement, which we're gonna define.
But what you choose in this life, would it be loving for him to make you be with him in eternity? No. He gives you your choice. You can choose to be with him or not. Period.
So our sins must be dealt with. When sin happens, our problem is when sin happens, separation from God happens. So what is the answer to the problem? The answer, once again, is *atonement*. *Leviticus-16* describes you know, everything in the old testament is a physical happening of what Jesus did spiritually in the New Testament.
It shows physically what our relationship with God looks like in in many ways and and looks like in in in bad and in good ways in the New Testament. So in Leviticus-16, it talks about the day of atonement. What was the day of atonement? On that day of atonement, 1 of the things the high priest would do, and it had to be the high priest. It couldn't be any anything else.
It had to be the high priest. He would take a goat, and he would slay the goat. He would sacrifice the goat, and spill the blood on the altar in order to atone for the sins of Israel. Because the payment for sin is death. Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin.
So the high priest would pour out the blood to atone for the sins of Israel. As a a picture of what would happen, and it could only be the high priest. Why? Because it was a picture showing that Jesus as the perfect and sinless high priest later would become the spotless lamb that would pour out his blood to atone for our sins, not just 1 time, not just for a year, not just for a couple of days, but once and for all. Period.
Jesus' blood was sacrificed for your sins to repay the offense of your sin, and his blood satisfied the legal requirements. Requirements. **God is satisfied** because of Jesus' payment. Everybody say, God is satisfied. God is satisfied.
That is so vital to understand. Our God is satisfied. Remember the definition of atonement, reparation or repair for an offense or injury. Satisfaction. God is satisfied by the blood of Jesus.
*Romans-4:8*, blessed is the man whose transgressions are covered, covered by or forgiven. Blessed is the man whose sins are covered. Covered by what? Covered by his blood. Covered by the blood of Jesus.
Once and for all, it *satisfies* God. Question. How long and this is important because a lot of people struggle with this. This is this answers part of the questions, even not indirectly. How long is God satisfied by the blood of Jesus?
Like, think about that now. How long does the blood of *Jesus* satisfy God? Oops. Let me get that. *Hebrews-10:10* says, and by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Right? So his blood satisfies once for all, which brings me to the third question. So the first question is, why does God love us? The second question is, how do you define atonement or what is atonement, which is really answering how does God love us? And the third question was asked by the same guy.
He put 2 questions down, so I'm giving him kind of like a bonus question. But the third question is, how does *atonement* affect us after we give our lives to Jesus? How does Jesus' repayment for our sin affect us after we give our lives to Jesus? Because of sin, we have separation from God, but also because of sin, there's a "guilty conscience" from ourselves. Make sense?
Anybody ever struggle with a guilty conscience? A couple people? A lot of people? Yeah. Struggle with a guilty conscience?
Okay. So after you receive Jesus, what happens? Right? After you receive Jesus, you're born again, and and it's like, all of a sudden, your conscience is cleared. Your conscience is clean.
It's made new. Right? There's some things that you do now after you've received him, after he's washed you clean. There's some things that you do that you used to do. And when you do it now, it's like, oh my gosh, I didn't even realize that this is wrong.
All of a sudden, you feel, like, dirty for doing the things that you used to do all the time, and it not even didn't even matter to you. But now, there's something happening, something going on something going on. You sense this sin, and you sense and know because of your relationship with him that it's an offense to God. Especially especially if there's this 1 sin, you know, that 1 thing that you just can't get over? Those 1 or 2 things that you just can't get over, and then all of a sudden the guilt piles up, and it's almost crumbling, and it makes it seem almost sometimes as if maybe, just maybe, the blood of Christ isn't as effective as as he said it was?
Anybody ever felt that? Subconsciously? Maybe? The problem is, if that's the case, we're trying to feel the effectiveness of the blood of Christ instead of knowing it. The feeling comes and goes, but the truth of his word stays the same.
God says that the blood was valuable enough to pay for our sin. The blood *satisfies* God completely. *1 Peter-1:18 and 19, and it's so important that you understand the blood satisfies God completely. I'll tell you why in a second. But 1 Peter-1:18* and 19 says that God redeemed you by his precious blood.
God values the blood as precious. For some reason, I thought of smeegle there. No. Yeah. God values the blood.
Side note, sidetrack. Sorry, guys. God values the blood as precious. Blessed is the man, Romans-4:8, whose sins are never counted against him. So if you've received Jesus, God never counts your sin against you because the blood of Jesus has completely and totally washed us clean.
Because he said so, not because you feel it. "faith comes" by hearing and hearing by the word of God, so you heard it. Now, let that raise your faith and believe it. And if his blood completely satisfies God, if that is the case if it really is the case, then shouldn't it satisfy us? You catch that?
If his blood completely satisfies God, then shouldn't his blood completely satisfy us? We are *cleansed* once and for all. Alright. I just want to show you a few scriptures on that, and then really make that practical, really help that to hit home. Hebrews-10:1-3 says, the law is only a shadow of things that are coming, not the realities themselves.
For this reason, it can never, by the same sacrifices, repeatedly and endlessly, year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. Right? Talking about the the goat that the the priest sacrificed on the day of atonement, it it would never really cleanse them. It was just a shadow of what Jesus was gonna do. It was a physical showing of the spiritual reality that was gonna happen in Jesus.
Make sense? Okay. Otherwise, oh my gosh, otherwise, would they not have been stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. So if you're cleansed once for all, you no longer have to feel guilty for your sins is what it's saying.
You hear that? Alright. *Hebrews-10:10, and by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. He was the perfect sacrifice that cleansed* us once for all. You follow me so far?
Alright. Stick with me. Verse 19, Hebrews-10:19. Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the most holy place, which is into his presence, to approach him by the blood of Jesus. That's the only way we have confidence.
It's not by our efforts, it's not by our works, it's by his blood, period. By a new and living way opened for us through the curtain that is his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, verse 22, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with full assurance that faith brings. Right? It's faith, not feeling. Feeling's important, but when I don't have feeling, I can have faith.
Yeah. Yeah? Having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience. What are our hearts sprinkled with? The blood of Jesus.
Our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience. We have to remember that the blood completely satisfies God, therefore, should completely satisfy us and wash us clean every time of a guilty conscience. So we must ask ourselves. Here it is, we must ask ourselves, what is the basis of our approach to God? Everybody say this, what is my what is the basis What is the basis of my approach to God.
Am I seeking his presence by faith in what his blood has done for me, or by something else? It's so tempting to think that because God has used me today, because I got to pray for this person and they got healed, because I got to witness to this person, because I spent a little extra time in the word this morning, and something jumped out on the page. Now, 3 hours later, I feel like I can really approach God because I'm feeling super spiritual. What's the basis of that approach to God? Did you catch that?
I did something. That's religion. We never approach God based on our good works. We always approach approach him based on his finished work. Based on what Jesus did for us.
Because I'm washed by the blood of the lamb, I can always walk into his presence having my guilty conscience sprinkled clean by his blood and not by my effort. His *atonement* allows me to enter into his presence initially, but his atonement allows me to continue to enter in his presence day after day, moment by moment, even if I just messed up. Because here's what happens. The enemy wants to say, you just lied. Why would you approach God?
You just lied. Why would you approach God? You can't do it. He's mad at you. The accuser of the brethren wants to poke at you and bring guilt, and because of that guilty because of the blood of Jesus, your *sin* will never separate God from you.
But it will cause you to have a guilty conscience and separate yourself from God. Amen. So what you do is you mess up over and over and over. You have this guilty conscience, and now you forget that you're forgiven. And so instead of running to God, you run away from him because you've messed up over and over.
But it's because of a lack of understanding of atonement, and what atonement, his what Jesus' blood means continuing on after salvation. It means we can continue to "run to him" no matter what happens in our life. And the more that we run to him, the more that we spend time in our in his presence despite our mistakes, the more we're gonna be spending time with him. And the more we spend time with him, the more we're gonna imitate him. And the more we imitate him, the more others are gonna see his love, joy, and peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, meekness, self control flowing out of our lives, and they're gonna see his love and goodness through us.
But the more that we allow guilt to cause us to run from him, then the more that we don't look at him because we're ashamed like Adam was, and the less that we imitate him on our daily life, and the more we get sucked into the same old sin patterns over and over and over and over again. I've been messing up. I really shouldn't go to church. That's what a guilty conscience says. I've been messing up.
Just don't think I can read my bible right now. I'm just I've really screwed up. I probably shouldn't pray. That's religion. Religion, your approach to God is based on your works.
Oh, I've really got it right. Oh, you know what? I woke up feeling good, so I happened to pray this morning. So now I can go to church. So now I can pray.
So now I can preach. That still works. It's still religion based, and we need to shift our mindset to a bigger picture, a better evaluation of his blood. I'm not making light of sin. Religious person say, you're making light of sin.
Shut up. No. Sin's nasty. It deserves death. But Jesus died and that was good enough.
And seeing how precious the blood of Jesus was doesn't make me want to sin. It wants makes me want to live holy. If the person in here is saying, well Jesus paid for all my blood. I can just I can just go and do whatever I want. I can go and have sex with that.
I can go live with my girlfriend. I can go do this and do that, and it's fine. I'll just ask for forgiveness later. You don't understand who Jesus is. You need to be born again.
*Grace* grace empowers you to live free. Born again Christians that I know, which is you guys, that's not your mindset. When you when you make a mistake, you're like, oh, man. That's not okay. Lord Jesus, thank you that I'm forgiven.
I can get up and I can keep moving. And if you keep making that that mistake, repentance repentance is saying, I wish that would have never happened. If I could go back, I would never do that again. And and you're clean because you understand his love, and the more that you put your eyes on his love, the more you want to walk with him.
*Atonement*. Thanks for listening to the Real Church podcast. If you have questions, comments, or I'd like to get to know us, be sure to check us out on social media by searching real church Clearwater or visit us online at www.realchurch.us. If you'd like to play a part in what we're doing, you can do so right where you are. Your prayers are powerful and effective.
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We'll see you next time.