Speaker 1: 0:08

I'm glad to be in God's house with you. As always, I love being in God's house with God's people on the Lord's day, best day of the week. We're going to come back to 1 Corinthians. Some of you may have thought I forgot about the love chapter. I've actually not forgotten about it, but I didn't want to come back to the love chapter. Then in February we do our forward in faith campaign for the month break and then come back to first Corinthians again. I thought this would be a good time as any for us to begin the new year and to look back at our church membership vows. I want to emphasize the fact that membership matters and some of you took these vows years ago and it'd be good to blow the dust off them and think about them again, maybe a little bit more deeply, and some of you have never taken them. So I hope this will be a profitable time for you, a time of reflection and renewal.

Speaker 1: 1:01

But when we look at our Bibles, we see some fascinating metaphors God used to describe his people. We see he calls his church the family. We see he calls it the body. We see he calls it a temple. Other metaphors are used and these are important metaphors because all of them are corporate in nature. All of them are corporate in nature. They assume that we're a part of something larger than just ourself. Think about, for example, a family. It doesn't just simply operate a person on their own. A family, they have others within that family. It implies relationships, it involves deep bonds, it involves sharing life together. Think about the idea of the church as a body. My ear is not going to do me a whole lot of good if it's just off by itself, as the apostle Paul reminds us right. Even my heart or my brain is not going to do me any good if it's not connected to the body. And so it's a powerful corporate metaphor. Also, the church as a temple. No one ever walks up and says, wow, look at that brick. No, but you do walk up and you say, wow, look at that temple, look at that beautiful cathedral. You see, when the bricks and stones come together, they form something majestic. And that's how God thinks about his church bonded together not with mortar but by the Holy Spirit, united in Christ. We see this corporate nature of the Christian faith.

Speaker 1: 2:33

Yes, it's personal, but it's also corporate in nature, because you'll notice in your New Testament when Paul writes his letters he'll typically say to the saints in such and such a city, to the saints in Corinth, say to the saints in such and such a city, to the saints in Corinth, ephesus, rome, galatia, philippi and so forth. Sometimes you have in these letters Paul will say for example, in Romans 16, he refers to the church that meets in Priscilla and Aquila's house, or over in Colossians 4, the church that meets in Nympha's home. And so it's both explicit and assumed in these New Testament letters that Christians gather together and are committed to one another for worship, spiritual encouragement, for discipleship and for ministry and mission. It's Greg Strawbridge that pointed out that as you read through the New Testament you'll notice several things. One you'll see that God calls church members to be responsible for one another. You see that in Romans 12, for example. You also see leaders' responsibilities to the church members, as we have in 1 Peter 5. And then you also see church members' responsibilities to their leaders. You see that, for example, in Hebrews 13 and other places. You have letters of recommendation and reference in the book of Acts with Apollos. You see that in Acts, chapter 18. You also see letters of reference for others who affirming that they have a credible testimony of faith, and you see that with Phoebe in Romans 16. You see it over in Philippians 2, and you see it embedded in Paul's logic in 2 Corinthians, chapter 3.

Speaker 1: 4:11

The author of Hebrews Hebrews as a book. It's a series of sermons. In chapter 10, verses 24 and 25, it talks about the importance of Christians assembling together, listen and let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near. So what you see when you put it all together in the New Testament is you see, there's several layers, overlapping layers, about these relationships Christians have with one another. We have a spiritual relationship with one another. We also have a personal relationship with one another.

Speaker 1: 4:56

And then there's a third element. There's a formal, or you might even call it a legal aspect of relationship when we're committed to one another in the local church. Where do we see that? Well, you see, in 1 Peter 5, the third verse, peter exhorts elders, to quote not be domineering over those in their charge. And then he assumes they know who is in their charge and who is not in their charge. So you see the apostle John's third letter.

Speaker 1: 5:27

He speaks of those who have been put quote out of the church. They were put out of the church. We see the same idea in Matthew 18, where our Lord describes the formal process of putting someone out of the church. No one gets put out of the church because they sin. They only get put out of the church if they persist in unrepentant sin. But nevertheless it raises the question how can you be formally put out of the church if you were never formally in it? And so the New Testament has this idea that goes beyond just a spiritual and personal relational commitment to one another. There's an official accounting, with clear boundaries, of who is in the local church and who is not.

Speaker 1: 6:10

Hebrews 13, 17 commands Christians to submit to their leaders. It goes on to say the leaders will have to give an account for how they kept watch over the souls of those under their official care. I'm a pastor. Am I responsible for every Christian in Westchase? Or just the ones on three blocks out? Or those on Gunn Highway too? And of course that's absurd, right. But you can see that common sense tells us that leaders God, he expects leaders to keep charge of their flock and to know who's in it when God saves her.

Speaker 1: 6:46

Man and woman. The New Testament says they are united in Christ. They're united with an unbreakable eternal bond in Christ. They're spiritually united to him. But then in the New Testament, you see, in fact it's explicitly stated, and then also assumed basically everywhere, that they're brought into God's church. When we're united in Christ, we're brought into his church, baptized, not just into faith but also into the institutional church.

Speaker 1: 7:18

This emphasis is so strong that early church fathers like Cyprian and St Augustine, and even some of the 16th century reformers like Calvin and others, they would state it like this those who will not have the church as their mother cannot have God as their father. Now, does that mean God never saves anybody that never joins the church? Yeah, I mean he can save a person and they die the next day. Yeah, that's not what it's saying. What they're trying to say is in the New Testament. When you read it, it's virtually unthinkable that a person could be committed to Christ and not be committed to his church. As you read your New Testament, notice that strong emphasis. Why is that? Because to have Christ as Savior and Lord, we have Him as Savior. And so then he calls us, not just to save us, to get us to heaven, but he calls us to grow us in faith. Well, where do we grow and get nurtured in the faith? It's in our church. It's in the church, which they would call the church, is our mother. It's where we get nurtured, just like a mother nurtures.

Speaker 1: 8:28

What are the means of grace? The preaching of God's word, the sacraments, prayer and oversight, right Of the leadership and one another. And then, of course, jesus is our Lord. Well, how does he exercise his lordship in our life? Well, he certainly exercises it through his word, but he also we see in the New Testament exercises it over us through his officers. Elders and pastors and deacons are officers of the kingdom of God. He's the king of kings. The officers help rule his kingdom. We do it imperfectly, but we're supposed to do it according to the word of God, to the best of our ability. And so God calls us to Christ under his lordship, and that lordship is expressed as he, by his spirit, raises up qualified people to lead people spiritually in the church.

Speaker 1: 9:20

And so I say all these things to say that Christianity is about being reconciled to God. Yes, it's about growing in grace in the local church, with God's people joining God's mission. But it's very important we realize that when we become a Christian God has called us to, he's joined us together in Jesus Christ. Whether we realize it or not, he's joined us. When we're joined in Christ by faith, we're actually joined with one another spiritually, and so that's due to the work of the Holy Spirit in our life, in our hearts and lives. And so what is the church? Well, it's the family of God, it's the body of Christ, it's the temple of the Holy Spirit. That's just simply New Testament Christianity. Isn't it true that, if we know ourselves that we need accountability as well as encouragement, we need both, don't we? We need that. We need the love of other Christians to thrive. We need to come together to use our spiritual gifts to make the body everything.

Speaker 1: 10:25

It can be that the church might be more effective in her mission, that we might have a brighter witness in worship. It's one of the most underrated things, I think, today. It is so powerful when Christians come to worship and make that public witness, because when someone comes in, our culture is beating people up out there in many ways, and when they come in and see all these people praising God. That is a very, very powerful thing. Don't underestimate the importance of your witness just by being in worship on Sunday. So, membership in the local church, it matters. It matters spiritually, it matters relationally and it matters formally, or we could even say legally.

Speaker 1: 11:14

In the PCA, the Presbyterian Church in America, the denomination we're in, there's five vows of church membership. And all these vows do you just heard them? They just simply reflect what it means to be a New Testament Christian, to be a biblical Christian, to be committed to those things that God expects us to be committed to. And so, over the next five weeks, you folks that have already made church membership vows and it's going to be a time for you to review and reflect, hopefully to recommit Some of you may be wondering what it means to be a Christian. Well, these five weeks, I think, will clarify for you, by God's grace, what that means. Some of you, children and youth, have been in the church for a good many years.

Speaker 1: 12:03

I want you to listen over the next five weeks, I want you to think about these vows and then I want you to go before God and ask is it time for you to commit to the Lord for you to publicly profess your faith, to repent of your sins and put your faith and trust in Christ for your salvation. Parents, I want you to talk to your children about every one of these vows when you go home this afternoon, maybe at halftime. Talk to your children about sin. Better yet, leave that TV off and talk to them about sin. But whatever you have to do, think about it with them and pray with them.

Speaker 1: 12:44

Our God's a covenant God. It means he's a God of promises, he's a God of his word, he's a God of commitment. He's a God of unwavering faithfulness. Aren't you glad for that? And you see, when we commit to these vows, when we're unwavering in our faithfulness, when we're true to our word, when we uphold the promises we've made to God and to one another, what we're doing is reflecting the character of our God. That's the importance of these things.

Speaker 1: 13:15

And so, with that brief introduction to the whole series, I'm going to ask you. If you're able, I invite you to stand. I'm going to read just a few verses here. If you're able, I invite you to stand. I'm going to read just a few verses here. This is the inerrant, infallible holy word of the living God.

Speaker 1: 13:37

First, I'm going to read you three verses. The first from chapter 3 of Romans, verse 23. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Secondly, from Romans 2, verses 1 and 2,. Therefore, you have no excuse, o man, every one of you who judges, for in passing judgment on another, you condemn yourself because you, the judge, practice the very same things. We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who do such things. And lastly, romans 5, verses 6 and 8. For while we were still weak, at the right time, christ died. For the ungodly Verse 8, but God shows his love for us and that while we were still sinners, christ died for us.

Speaker 1: 14:24

While I'm at it, let me just throw in verse 10. For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life? The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of the Lord endures forever. God's people said amen. Thank you, you may be seated.

Speaker 1: 14:44

So the first membership vow is this If you can sincerely answer this, do you acknowledge yourself to be a sinner in the sight of God, justly deserving his displeasure and without hope, save in his sovereign mercy. You see, in this first vow there's three main ideas Sin, judgment and mercy. Let's look at them one at a time. First, do you acknowledge yourself to be a sinner in the sight of God? Romans 3.23,. Biblically, this is what it sounds like. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

Speaker 1: 15:28

Bible says in Romans 5 that we all sinned in Adam at the beginning of time, after the creation of Adam and Eve, the garden. Adam and Eve fell. But see, adam was not just an individual who sinned. Adam was appointed by God to be our covenant representative. And so when Adam failed, we failed in him. We call that original sin. So he was the head of the whole human race to come.

Speaker 1: 15:56

And Adam failed, he sinned, and he sinned against God. He transgressed God's holy law, you see, and he did so because he questioned God's graciousness and goodness, god's graciousness and goodness. Rc Sproul says he committed cosmic treason. That's what sin is Cosmic treason. He's the king of kings, he's the creator, and when we sin we're spitting in God's face. And so we were conceived and born guilty, legally guilty because of what Adam did on our behalf as our representative, and then through ordinary generation. Our nature was corrupted. We're born not only legally guilty, but polluted practically. We're legally guilty due to Adam's sin. We're polluted by nature and due to our sinful nature from conception.

Speaker 1: 16:51

What do we do? We go on to prove the doctrine of sin. Someone has said, and I agree, it's the easiest doctrine in the Bible to prove is the doctrine of sin. You parents know this. Do you have to teach your children to be good or to be bad? We just inherently know, don't we? We know that there's something wrong with us. There's a certain good in humanity. We're stamped with the image of God. There's a royal stamp. We're made in the image of God. There's a certain dignity to humanity, but it's humanity gone wrong.

Speaker 1: 17:27

And when Paul says all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, what we have here the second half explains the first. This statement's more radical than it first appears. To say that we have sinned means we've fallen short of the glory of God, we might be tempted to think. What does everyone seem to be willing to admit in our own day, out there in the culture? Well, we're all imperfect. But that's not really doesn't take a whole lot of humility to admit that you're not perfect. But the minute you speak about sin now, you're dealing with God. You're really. You're admitting just that I'm. You can talk about being imperfect with no relation to God whatsoever, but the minute you talk about sin now you're talking about you failed somehow in your relationship with God. It takes you into heaven and how you're related to him. It's not just that we fell a little short of the mark, that's not what Paul's saying here.

Speaker 1: 18:28

Martyn Lloyd-Jones, the great British preacher of the 20th century, he said when Paul says all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, what he means is is that we were created by God with a purpose, and that purpose is to behold the glory of God, that is, to behold his greatness and to behold his majesty and to rejoice in it. Or, as John Piper likes to say, to delight in him. Or, as the Shorter Catechism says, to enjoy God. We're to see him and actually enjoy him, but sin messes all that up. That's not what we're doing before we become a Christian. A lost person does not behold the glory of God, does not see his greatness, does not rejoice in him and does not delight in him. And so this is what's wrong with us we're separated from God. How do you enjoy a God that you're not sure loves you? How do you enjoy a God that you're not sure you're accepted by? And the answer is you can't. And so sin messes this relationship up.

Speaker 1: 19:42

And so Lloyd-Jones points out this falling short, this coming short of the glory of God. It's the same word used in the parable of the prodigal son when the prodigal, it says, he began to be in want. The prodigal went off, lived wildly, and he began to be in want, in want, fallen short. We're born in want of the glory of God. We lack it, we don't see it, and we don't want to see it. It's not just that we're blind to the glory of God, we're willfully blind to the glory of God. You ever see a kid stick their fingers in their ears? They don't want to hear. It's not just that they can't hear, they don't want to. That's what sin is. I don't want to see the glory of God because, if I see it, that creates problems in my life, or at least that's my conception.

Speaker 1: 20:35

And so somewhere along the way, when a person becomes a Christian, you begin to realize I'm not living for the very purpose for which God created me. That's what happened to me. I remember, in the early 90s, sitting in my car, shutting the engine off and just sitting there for a little bit, and I can remember saying to myself Cole Ravey, you weren't created to live like this. I knew it. I wonder if you've come to that place where you realize you've missed the whole point of God's creating you. It isn't just you fall a little short, but you've missed the whole point of it. The whole point of your existence is to be to enjoy God and to glorify him and to honor him, to make much of his greatness and his majesty. And you see, when you come to that moment where you realize you've missed the whole point of your existence, it's horrifying Because then you begin to realize I've sinned against God with my whole life. The author of Hebrews puts it this way anything done apart from faith is sin. And so it's even more horrifying when you realize this has all been done in God's sight and I will give an account to God, it's all been done in his sight, and you begin to feel the guilt and the shame of how you've lived. And so, yes, the church is a temple and it's a body and the church is a family. But thank God, it's also a hospital for sinners and for who are forgiven and struggling sinners. It's a place where people can find the forgiveness that they need from God through Christ, and not just at the beginning, but again and again and again.

Speaker 1: 22:37

You remember the old Times London newspaper question. I may have mentioned it to you before, but it's quite good. They had an essay contest what's Wrong with the World? And GK Chesterton. He wrote a letter People had written in all these long essay answers on what was wrong with the world. He responded to the editor this way dear sir, I am Yours truly, gk Chesterton. That story never gets old to me because it's always a reminder. The problem with the world isn't just out there, is it? It's in here, in each one of us. It's in here. Chesterton was admitting I'm part of what's wrong with the world. Do you realize that your sin is part of what's wrong with the world?

Speaker 1: 23:37

The political discourse in our country is pretty rough right now, isn't it? I want to warn you if you listen to talk radio or however you get your, be careful. You can be right in principle, right on policy and wrong in your attitude toward those who disagree. And all the while you're getting fed yeah, that's right, yeah, that's right. Those people, those people, yeah, that's right, those people, yeah, those people.

Speaker 1: 24:05

And pretty soon you start to believe it that the problem is over there and we become arrogant. Talk radio can train you to be a Pharisee. Even if you agree with the policy, even if the policy is right, be careful. That's why Jesus told the Pharisee he who is forgiven little loves little. Interesting, isn't it? Because see the logic he applied to the woman who was there that the Pharisee was criticizing she loves much. How can I tell she's been forgiven much? I can tell because she loves much. You know, sometimes people think it's more loving never to discuss sin.

Speaker 1: 24:53

But Jesus is teaching us that is not so. When we don't deal with sin, when we don't have confession of sin in our public worship, when we don't have songs that talk about sin, when preaching never deals with sin, we become an arrogant religious people that no one wants to be around. Why? Because we begin to believe our own gospel. Why? Because we begin to believe our own gospel and we need to remember that we're sinners saved by grace. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound. That saved a pretty good guy like me. That saved what A wretch. That stings a little bit, doesn't it? What's Newton saying? John Newton, the former slave owner, saying there he came to realize the vileness of his sin and how he had fallen way short of the glory of God. That's the point.

Speaker 1: 25:56

So the first part of the vow deals with sin. The second deals with judgment. Do you acknowledge that you justly deserve his displeasure, god's displeasure? Now I have to say I'm tempted to submit to the General Assembly, through our Presbytery, to change this word displeasure, because in modern parlance we don't feel the weight of it. I'm going to try to show you in just a minute.

Speaker 1: 26:17

But in Romans 12, it sounds like this Therefore, you have no excuse, o man, every one of you who judges for in passing judgment on another, you condemn yourself because you, the judge, practice the very same things. We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who do same things. We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who do such things. You see, we see wrong in others. We know there's a right and wrong, and yet we do the same things, the same things that we condemn in other people. We know there's a right and a wrong, know there's a right and a wrong. And there's a right and wrong because god exists. And we know inherently, having been made in the image of god, that the judgment of god rightly falls on those who do such things.

Speaker 1: 27:08

A true christian understands what that sin must be judged. A true Christian understands sin must be punished. Why? Because God is holy and he's just and he can't just ultimately overlook sin. Think about it for a minute. We long, don't we, for the world to be right. Don't you long for everything to be right, to have things settled up, to have justice? Yes, in one sense we do want that, do we not? We do want it. But for that to happen, god has to put it right. And to put it right there has to be an accounting. And so we know the sin has to be dealt with.

Speaker 1: 27:53

We know the Christian realizes the judgment of God rightly falls on me. I deserve to be cast into hell forever, and the thought's horrifying. The Christian knows in the depths of his heart that God would be right, apart from Christ, to throw him into the depths of hell. Therefore, you have no excuse, o man. Paul says so what is the Christian? The Christian is someone who's run out of excuses. They've run out of excuses. It's not my upbringing, it's not my fallible parents, it's not my genes, it's not my circumstances To become a Christian. You need to come to realize that in the core of your being. I have no excuse for my sin. I own it. Lord Jesus was under all kinds of pressure. He never sinned, even on the cross. We have no excuse. God would be just to plunge me into the depths of hell and I say this phrase in the vow justly deserving his displeasure. It's not wrong. It's just that we hear it a little different than they used to hear it back in the day, this word displeasure. Let me try to show you what I mean.

Speaker 1: 29:09

Remember Jonathan Edwards. In the first great awakening he preached a very famous sermon sins in the hands of an angry God. He usually preached on the loveliness of Christ and the joy of Christ, but this is the one people always remember, right? But I want you to hear 1741. Listen Now, who is he preaching to? People that he felt were dug in and unrepentant and lost. Preaching to people that he felt were dug in and unrepentant and lost.

Speaker 1: 29:41

The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider or some loathsome insect over. The fire abhors you and is dreadfully provoked. His wrath towards you burns like fire. He looks upon you as worthy of nothing else but to be cast into the fire. He is of pure eyes than to bear to have you in his sight. You are 10,000 times more abominable in his eyes than the most hateful, venomous serpent is in ours. You have offended him infinitely more than ever a stubborn rebel did his prince, and yet it is nothing but his hand that holds you from falling into the fire every moment.

Speaker 1: 30:21

It is to be ascribed to nothing else that you did not go to hell last night, that you were suffered to awake again in this world after you closed your eyes to sleep, and there's no reason to be given why you have not dropped into hell since you arose in the morning, but that God's hand has held you up. There's no other reason to be given why you've not gone to hell since you sat here in the house of God, provoking his pure eyes by your sinful, wicked manner of attending his solemn worship. Yea, there's nothing else that is to be given as a reason why you did not, this very moment, drop down into hell. O sinner, consider the fearful danger you are in. It is a great furnace of wrath, a wide and bottomless pit full of the fire of wrath that you were held over in the hand of that God whose wrath is provoked and incensed as much against you as against many of the damned in hell. You hang by a slender thread with the flames of divine wrath flashing about it and ready every moment to singe it and burn it asunder. That is God's displeasure. You ever go to the mountains. I remember we lived in Colorado. Sometimes you get a little too close to the edge and you go Ooh, I think I'll step back over here. Have you ever feel that Sometimes we take God for granted, don't we?

Speaker 1: 32:11

A man who God converts has come to the place where he marvels at why God has not plunged him into the abyss. He knows what he deserves. And why do I say this? Because if we don't understand what we deserve, we will not understand what Jesus was doing on the cross. What did Jesus drink on that cross? He drank the cup of God's wrath for our sins. He experienced God's just wrath poured out, which is what people experience in hell itself. And he did that, so you and I can be reconciled with God and, when we think about the final judgment, know that it will be a good day for us, that we might not fear being condemned by God. Isn't God good? This is what Christ has done for us. John calls it the hour or the cup in his gospel.

Speaker 1: 33:18

You hear it Romans 2,. Paul knows people flatter themselves and they lean into the goodness of God and they say, well, god is love, god is love. And they just keep repeating God is love and he's good, he is all those things. But I want you to listen to what Paul says. Verse four of Romans two Do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

Speaker 1: 33:46

But because of your hard and impenitent heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed. Every day someone rejects Christ is a day. They're storing up wrath for the judgment day. It's a horrific thought. John Stott says God's kindness is intended to give us space in which to repent, not to give us an excuse for sinning. Don't mistake the patience and kindness of God. The Bible says he will by no means clear the guilty.

Speaker 1: 34:28

Have you ever come to that place, as Edwards talks about in his sermon, where you realize you're living your life walking across an old wooden bridge with rotten planks and at any moment it could give way? That's the condition of the unbeliever A spider hanging by a slender thread over the flames of hell, as Edwards puts it. Do we not take God for granted? Isaiah calls says that you know, all of our good works, apart from the Lord, are filthy rags. They're not filthy rags in the Lord, but apart from the Lord they're filthy rags and they would have no more influence to uphold you and keep you out of hell than a spider's web would have to stop a falling rock. Let us not kid ourselves about our own goodness. So it's important that we see in this first vow we deal seriously with sin and judgment, but, thank God, the third part's mercy. Third, you acknowledge you are without hope. Save or accept in God's sovereign mercy.

Speaker 1: 35:39

Listen, this is the best part I promise Romans 5, for while we were still weak, at the right time, christ died for the what Ungodly. Christ in love died for the ungodly, not after we cleaned ourselves up. He died for the ungodly. God shows his love for us, and while we were still sinners, christ died for us. This is why Luther said God loved me even when he hated me. God loved me even when he saw how vile and repugnant I was in my character and in my heart and in my life. That's why Sproul says we are saved by God from God. We're saved by the love of God from the wrath of God, and we do it through faith in Christ. Christ died for me while I was still a sinner and ungodly, and verse 10 says while I was still an enemy of God. That's when Christ died for us. The love of God, there's nothing like the holy love of God. He sees us for what we are, and yet he loves us into the kingdom. He sees what we deserve and then he goes and drinks the cup for us. What a good God he is.

Speaker 1: 36:59

Let me just end with a short story. There's a story from the old Daily Bread devotional. It's from the Revolutionary War. There was a pastor named Peter Miller and the bottom line is Peter Miller had a really obnoxious neighbor His name was Michael Whitman and he'd intensely mock that pastor as well as all those that were in his flock. This man violently opposed him. And one day this unbeliever was found guilty of treason. He was about to be hung.

Speaker 1: 37:30

Well, pastor Peter Miller found out about it and he took off on foot to intercede for the man's life. Guess who? His friend was George Washington. So the general listened to his friend Peter Miller, his earnest plea, but he told him he didn't feel that he should pardon his friend. And Peter Miller said my friend, he's not my friend, in fact, he's my worst living enemy. What said Washington? You've walked 60 miles from Ephratah, pennsylvania, to Philadelphia to save the life of your enemy. Well, that puts the matter in a different light. And so he pardoned that man, michael Whitman. And that day Whitman and Miller walked back to Ephratah, not as enemies but as friends. Christ did something even better. He didn't come with a pardon on a piece of paper. He went to that cross and he drank the cup of hell that you and me deserve, that we can have life, that we can live in the love of God forever, that we can now enjoy God, because we know he loves us, and he proved it 2,000 years ago.