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[0:00] Welcome everyone. Handouts, pens at the back, Bibles as well.

[0:22] ! Come on in. Hey Patrick, good to see you man. Thank you.

[0:37] Thank you. Thank you.

[0:55] Thank you. Thank you.

[1:10] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[1:25] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[1:40] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[1:51] Thank you. Great. Have a seat. Grab a hand out at the back. Good to see everyone. Let me pray to start and we'll jump straight in.

[2:07] Lord God, we thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ, our prophet, priest and king. Thank you for his glorious saving work for us. And we pray that as we consider your word today, that you would help us to better know and appreciate and appreciate and love what Christ has done and is doing for us right now in heaven.

[2:28] Help us to understand these wonderful things. And we ask that your spirit would be with us in Jesus name. Amen. So this series we're in, in adult Sunday school, is all about the work of Christ.

[2:40] And we've seen over the past few weeks that God saves through offices, through prophets, priests and kings. So God doesn't just zap this thing called salvation down.

[2:54] No, he saves by providing three types of men, three offices, three people with duties, which are given. These three offices are given to solve our three problems of sin.

[3:09] So if you remember, prophets cure ignorance, priests cure guilt and kings free the enslaved. And last week we saw that priests bring us to God.

[3:20] So we can't come to God in any old way. Because of our sin, there's this huge burden that hangs over us that separates from, separates us from God.

[3:33] His wrath and his justice is stopping us from approaching him. And so we need a, we need a priest to help us approach God, to propitiate that wrath, to end it, to divert it, to subdue it.

[3:50] And so priests in the Old Testament would sacrifice an animal. And so that animal would die instead of the human, instead of the Israelites. And so God's wrath would be propitiated because it had gone on to the animal.

[4:04] And so there would now be atonement between man and God. And then the priest would represent the people and bring the people with him into God's presence. And so we can only have eternal life and know God and be with God.

[4:22] That's what we need for eternal life. We can only do that through a priest. And all that is fulfilled and achieved in Christ. So in the Old Testament we have three different offices.

[4:38] And one of which was a priest. So priest and sacrifice were wrapped up together. But in the Lord Jesus Christ all these three offices kind of collapse into each other. And he is the prophet, priest and king.

[4:49] And so on the cross Christ offered himself as the perfect sinless sacrifice. And so Christ was a priest offering something, offering himself.

[5:03] And so his death has now and forever ended God's wrath over his people. It's propitiated God's wrath. We now have perfect atonement and reconciliation with God.

[5:16] But today I want us to see that Christ's priesthood didn't end on the cross. Because when we think of Christ's priestly work or his sacrifice.

[5:30] We can think, okay, it's just the cross. Like our minds only go there. But that's not the whole picture. But I want us to see today his priestly work continues to happen in heaven today.

[5:46] And right now Christ is acting as our priest on our behalf. As he is before the Father in heaven. I want us to see, well, first of all, how that is the case.

[5:59] Like what's that all about? But I want us to see why that is so important for us. And so first we need to see this. Christ isn't only a priest on the cross.

[6:11] Christ is a priest forever. And this is the first point today you can follow along on the handout. Christ is a priest forever. So look at the language of Hebrews. Hebrews is this glorious book that's all about the priesthood of Christ.

[6:25] And just look at the verses I've got there for you. Look at when it says Christ is a priest. When is Christ a priest? Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens.

[6:41] Jesus, the son of God, let us hold fast our confession. Hebrews 8.1. Now the point in what we're saying is this. This is the big point of Hebrews. We have such a high priest.

[6:54] One who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in heaven. So just look at that. When is Christ a priest? Right now.

[7:06] Seated in heaven. We currently have a high priest doing priestly work for us for his church. So he didn't die on the cross.

[7:17] And then that kind of ended his priestly work. He stopped being a priest then. No. There's this ongoing priestly work. Because what does it say? He is a priest right now.

[7:30] And so if we remember to last week. That shouldn't be too much of a surprise. Because what was one of the problems of the Old Testament priests?

[7:41] Look at Hebrews 7. The former priests were many a number. Because they were prevented by death from continuing in office. But he holds his priesthood permanently.

[7:55] Because he continues forever. So we always need a priest to come to God. But the problem with the Old Testament was that. What was it?

[8:06] The priests kept dying. So they weren't really bringing us to God. It was kind of the illustration I gave was like. You remember Wallace and Gromit in the wrong trousers. Gromit's on the little train.

[8:18] And he's constantly laying track in front of him. Right? He's kind of going nowhere. He's just having to put one thing down. Just to get a little bit further. But he's not really going anywhere. And that was like the Old Testament priesthood.

[8:31] You put one priest down. You try and get toward God. But he dies. You've got to put another. And you're constantly laying track. Constantly laying track. But you're not really getting to God.

[8:44] But what do we have in Christ? He holds his priesthood permanently. He's still right now a priest. Doing priestly work.

[8:55] Because he continues forever. He'll never die. And so that's why the Father says to Jesus. You are a priest forever. After the order of Melchizedek.

[9:08] So from now on. That's when you just think about this. From now on. And forever. We now have a high priest. That we come to God through. And I want us to see.

[9:22] Why that is so important. Why it's so important. That we have a priest forever. But in particular. Why we have. And need a priest. Who's in heaven.

[9:34] Right now. So I want us to. Absolutely hold firm. To the importance of the cross. It is. Incomparably. Unrepeatably important.

[9:45] But also. I want us to see. That there is more. To his priestly work. Than that. And so the next thing. To see is this. Our second point today. We need.

[9:57] A priest. In God's presence. Break out into groups. And look up. And look up. Leviticus 16. And Hebrews 9. And. These passages.

[10:08] Are referring to the day of atonement. And. This one special day of the year. In the Old Testament. And I want you just. To figure out. What did the.

[10:19] The old. Old Testament priest. Well in particular. It's the high priest. Need to do. With the blood of the sacrifice. And. Where did he need to go. So break out into groups.

[10:30] And just figure out. Those two things. In the middle.

[10:54] In the middle. In the middle. In the middle. In the middle. In the middle. In the middle. In the middle. There's a lot of information in these passages, but just try to focus on those two questions.

[11:53] Thank you.

[12:23] Thank you.

[12:53] Okay. What do we have? Fernando, what did the Old Testament priest, what did the high priest need to do with the blood of the sacrifice?

[13:04] Yes. On the mercy seat, right? Yeah, yeah. It's talking about the Ark of the Covenant.

[13:15] So the lid on top of the Ark of the Covenant, that's the mercy seat. And so where did he need to go to do that? Where is the mercy seat? In the Holy of Holies.

[13:29] So this is in the temple, but in the back of the temple of the tabernacle into the Holy of Holies where God most intensely dwelt. So the high priest, once a year, had to bring the blood of the sacrifice into the most holy place, the Holy of Holies.

[13:48] And that's where God's presence was kind of most directly present. And what did he have to do? He had to sprinkle the blood on the Ark of the Covenant, on the mercy seat on top of it.

[14:02] And in the middle of the mercy seat, that's where God was meant to dwell most intensely. And so what was he doing there? He had to present the sacrifice to God.

[14:17] So let's try and picture this. It's always better to do that. All right. Just look at this left side for now, right? It's not quite.

[14:28] I don't think they're basketball courts in the Old Testament. We don't know. Okay. So what you had, just look at this side for now. So what you had is, so this is the tabernacle here.

[14:42] So you had the most holy place, which was a square. And in there, you had the Ark of the Covenant. And on top of that, the living was called the mercy seat, right? And right in the middle, that's where God was meant to dwell most intensely, right?

[14:58] Okay. You had a veil there, a big curtain. Then you had the holy place. There were other things that were in here, but just, we don't need to keep that up now. Then you had the holy place.

[15:08] You had the entrance into that. So this is the tabernacle or the temple, right? So it's just there. And then, around it, you had here, the courtyard.

[15:20] So for the tabernacle, it was like just a big curtain wall around it, okay? You had the courtyard. And just in front of the entrance of the tabernacle, you had the altar.

[15:33] A big barbecue, right? And then, just, and then here you had the entrance into the courtyard. This is where all the preaching work would happen, all in this courtyard.

[15:46] And outside of it, all around here, all around, you would have Israel's tents and dwelling places. All the different tribes would be dotted around, okay?

[15:57] Okay. So, what would happen in the sacrificial system? So, you would bring an animal into the courtyard. It would be killed here, from the bloodshed there.

[16:13] The priest would bring it onto the altar, burn it on the altar. Then, that's not the end of the sacrificial process.

[16:23] He would then, the priest, and if we just think about the day of atonement, the high priest, would take the blood of that sacrifice, enter into the tabernacle, and not only into the holy place, he would go through the veil, the curtain, into the most holy place, right into God's presence, right to the Ark of the Covenant, on into the mercy seat, and sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice onto the mercy seat.

[16:54] So, kind of, over the years, blood would be, kind of, building up, caked onto that mercy seat, right? So, that's the process.

[17:06] So, coming through here, kill, burn, enter, through the veil, onto the mercy seat, with the blood.

[17:19] And that, that whole process, that completed the process of atonement. So, all of this, all of this, not just the blood and the burning and the killing, all of this was involved in the process of atonement.

[17:40] You need to do all of that for forgiveness to be achieved, okay? And this is an important thing, but we don't often realise about what priests needed to do to make atonement.

[17:52] So, there was two stages, if we simplify it, there were two stages for atonement and forgiveness to really be achieved. First, the priest had to sacrifice, so remember last week, laying on of hands, kill the animal, burn the animal, okay?

[18:08] That's the sacrifice part. That's when all, kind of, the judgment and the demands would fall on the animal instead of the sinner. That's propitiation. We looked at that last week.

[18:19] But then, that wasn't the end. Then, the blood of that sacrifice needed to be brought to God. And offered before God into his presence.

[18:34] So, I just want to see here, just that, okay? But both of these things are needed. Both the sacrifice and both the offering, the presentation to God.

[18:46] You need the death and you need the presentation. Both are needed for forgiveness, atonement. Okay? Are we all on board there? But let's ask, why this second part?

[19:01] Well, because any sacrifice is made to God. Right? It's for him. It's to be received by him.

[19:14] If there was to be a right relationship between man and God, and our sin is before God and it needs to be covered and forgiven, then that sacrifice needs to go to God and be before God.

[19:31] So, in one sense, if the animal was killed on the altar, killed and burnt on the altar, but it just stayed there, that was it.

[19:43] In one sense, it wouldn't be any use. It wouldn't make atonement because God never received it. So to speak, he's never seen it, right?

[19:58] So, our sin and guilt is before God in heaven. It's in front of him. His wrath is in heaven with him. And so the sacrifice needs to be in heaven to cover that.

[20:13] It needs to be kind of in front of him to propitiate that wrath. So, or you can think of it this way. The tabernacle or the temple, it was like a path to God.

[20:26] So, a pathway for the sinner to come to God. And you can kind of even see it, can't you? Right? You kind of come from the outside, from the wilderness. And each stage, you're kind of approaching toward God more and more.

[20:42] Right? It's this direct line going to God's presence. And so, with every stage closer toward God. And the sacrifice, you kind of think it paves the way to get to God.

[20:56] Kind of, it makes it safe for the sinner to get there. So, it's killed in the courtyard. Paves a safe path all the way into God's presence. And so, where does it need to end up?

[21:09] It needs to end up in God's presence. Otherwise, the path isn't paved all the way there. It needs to go into God's presence so that we can stand in God's presence.

[21:24] So, if the sacrifice wasn't brought there, we couldn't stand there. But there's a problem with the Old Testament system. Look at Hebrews 9. Into the second, the second section, the most holy place.

[21:39] Into the second, only the high priest goes. And he but once a year. And not without taking blood. Which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people.

[21:52] According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifice are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshipper. So, there's a lot going on here. But just see this.

[22:03] The high priest would only go to God once a year. Right? And he would sprinkle the blood of an animal. And then, what would he have to do?

[22:15] He'd have to go out again. And then, he would need to come back the next year. Bring more blood. And then, go out again. And then, wait another year. Then, he would go back. Okay, I've got to offer more blood.

[22:26] Okay, but I need to leave now. Okay, I'll leave. And then, I'll come back again next year. And so, if that priest was meant to bring us into God's presence.

[22:36] To pave that way. Could he really do that? No. No. Because, well, firstly, we saw this last week.

[22:49] He would only bring the blood of an animal, which wasn't good enough to offer to God anyway, to take away sin. But, on top of that, he also had his own sins. Which definitely means that his offering wasn't good enough.

[23:02] He was offering it with dirty hands. But, on top of that, the priest wouldn't even stay in God's presence. He would come to God for a little bit.

[23:14] And then, bring the people in for a day, so to speak. But then, he'd have to leave. So, he wasn't really paving the way to God. It's like he would have a path for a day.

[23:27] But, then, even then, it's not really working. And, even then, it would disappear. He'd have to leave. And, come back next year. This whole system was showing this isn't good enough.

[23:42] It was showing we need something else. What do you think we need? We need a sinless priest to enter God's presence with clean hands.

[23:54] We need him to present a sacrifice good enough to pay for the sins of the people. And, we need that priest to enter God's presence with that sacrifice.

[24:11] Sit down and stay there forever. To permanently pave a way to God.

[24:21] And, that is exactly what Christ has done. But, he hasn't entered into the tabernacle. He's entered into heaven itself.

[24:33] So, look at Hebrews 9. So, look at Hebrews 9. 11 to 12. But, when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come.

[24:47] Then, through the greater and more perfect tent. Not made with hands. That is, not of this creation. It's not a tabernacle. He entered once for all into the holy places.

[24:59] He's talking about heaven here. Not by means of the blood of goats and calves. But, by means of his own blood. Thus securing an eternal redemption.

[25:11] And, look at Hebrews 9.24. For, Christ has entered not into holy places made with hands. Not into tents and temples. Which are copies of the true things.

[25:23] But, he's entered into heaven itself. Now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. And, Hebrews 10. But, when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins.

[25:38] He sat down at the right hand of God. So, look what it's highlighting here. What did Christ do with his sacrifice? What does every priest need to do with the sacrifice?

[25:53] He went into God's presence. And, presented that sacrifice to God. But, it wasn't into the temple's holy place.

[26:04] Or, the tabernacle's. That was just a copy. A picture of God's dwelling place in heaven. Or, all the temple and the tabernacle. It's just meant to be like a mini picture of heaven.

[26:16] But, it's not the real thing. And, so where did Christ present his sacrifice? In heaven itself. And, what was this sacrifice?

[26:28] It wasn't a goat. No, something infinitely better. Himself. 40 days after his resurrection. He went into heaven itself.

[26:41] And, he stood before the Father and said, Here I am, Father. Here is the sacrifice that all your huge demands require. And, look at these scars.

[26:53] I've paid it all. And, now the atonement is complete. Jesus entered into heaven. And, he paved the way.

[27:04] Made it safe to go into God's true presence. And, he brought us there with him. So, think of it like this. Jesus.

[27:16] He came from among the people. He was identified with the sinner. He came from among the people. He went to the altar of the sacrifice.

[27:30] And, from there, what did he do? He entered into heaven. And, presented that sacrifice to God.

[27:43] And, what is he doing in heaven? He sat down. Not going anywhere. He is there to present his sacrifice permanently, forever.

[27:59] So, not only is the sacrifice, the death itself, perfect. But, also, he's now presenting it before God, always.

[28:10] Permanently. So, let me just summarise this. Because, this isn't a familiar topic. A sacrifice to God can't just be done in the past.

[28:24] And, then kind of forgotten by God. It's kind of a transaction done in the past. And, then, okay, fine. I'll forget about it now. No. For real atonement, the sacrifice needs to be made.

[28:37] And, in Christ, it needs to be made once. But, it can't be forgotten in the past. It needs to be constantly, just like in the tabernacle.

[28:49] It needs to be constantly and continually before God. It's kind of as a reminder, constantly there before God, to be effective. To complete the process.

[29:00] Now, this is not to say, let me clarify here. This is not to say that the cross wasn't enough. No, absolutely not.

[29:11] Never, ever think that. No. The cross was the once for all payment for sin. Never to be repeated. Perfect. Glorious. No more sacrifices.

[29:21] Never again. Jesus' death was good enough, okay? But, that payment, it needs to be handed to God. It needs to be before him, in his presence.

[29:34] And, when that is done, when that process is complete, then atonement is complete. And, so, you need both, right?

[29:46] You need the sacrifice, and you need the presentation. And, that's what Christ has done. You need the cross, and you need the entrance into heaven. And, this isn't just some kind of abstract Bible knowledge.

[30:02] An interesting thing in Hebrews that we're being taught. No, this is so important for us every single day. Because, Christ presenting himself in heaven means that there is now unbreakable atonement.

[30:22] Unending forgiveness. And, constant mercy. Unending forgiveness.

[30:57] Unending forgiveness. So, how did they do, forgive us in the Old Testament, if you wanted to give someone assurance, how would you do it there? Or, was there no assurance?

[31:11] You just... I think the comfort, the assurance, you could say is... So, okay. Well, first of all, remember, were you here last week?

[31:22] No. No, you weren't, okay. Well, for everyone at one. Thank you for asking. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll take a register next time. So, okay, remember to last week. What was the priest wearing at all times, whenever he's doing this sacrificial process?

[31:39] He's wearing two stones on his shoulders, and on those stones are all the names of the tribes of Israel. And, he also had a breastplate with 12 stones on them, each with the name of the tribe of Israel.

[31:50] He was carrying the people with him, presenting himself, right? Representing them in whatever he does. And so, I guess you could say the assurance is that when he is entering into God's presence, first of all, he's allowed.

[32:11] He doesn't die when he enters. So, that's what we're at least seeing, as soon as he goes in and then he comes out again. If you're an Israelite, let's say you're an Israelite, and sadly can't be able to peer through on the day of the atonement.

[32:25] What's going on there? You see the high priest enter, and then he comes out again, and he's not dead. You're thinking, wow, God's let him come in.

[32:36] This atonement process, this is working. Of course, we know it's only working because of the cross. We saw that last week. But God is providing atonement.

[32:49] He is allowing humanity to come into his presence. And it's not just one man. When I see him going in, I'm seeing him with his breastplates and these stones on his shoulder.

[33:01] He's going in with me. I'm going in there into God's presence. And so, I guess the assurance is that you can see it.

[33:11] It's kind of this picture of we really are coming into God's presence through this priest. Does that answer your question? Yeah. Let's move on to the third point.

[33:27] A priest in heaven means unending forgiveness. Look what John says having Christ in heaven means. What 1 John 2. My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.

[33:42] But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father. Jesus Christ, the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins.

[33:56] What does John say Jesus is right now? He's our advocate in heaven. Now, an advocate is just someone who argues the case for someone else.

[34:08] Right? So, a lawyer is an advocate. So, someone to plead your defence. Make your case. Protect you. Right? Well, what does John say? Jesus is that for us when we sin.

[34:23] He defends us, argues our case for us before the Father. Making sure that when we sin, our sins are always met with forgiveness.

[34:34] But how can he make that case for us? Well, what case is he making? Well, he has the most perfect and unfailing case to present before the Father.

[34:48] It's himself. He is the evidence that our sins are forgiven. He's the proof that we have the right to be forgiven for every single sin that we commit.

[35:04] And that evidence is now permanently and ever before the Father. And so, yes, we are forgiven on the cross. A hundred percent. That verdict was declared on the cross.

[35:16] So, if you want to know the verdict on you, you Christian, you can look at the cross. That's the verdict. It's all being paid on Christ. But in heaven, kind of think of it like this.

[35:29] That verdict is constantly being declared for you. Which is why, when we sin, that that sin is actively and constantly forgiven.

[35:41] It's like on the cross. Forgiveness was achieved. And now in heaven, he just applies it to every single sin that we commit.

[35:55] So, just think. Whenever we sin, and we do every day. Whenever we sin, Jesus is in heaven right now.

[36:05] We're still constantly and continually and forever pleading on our behalf to the Father. It's like he's saying, as our sins go up.

[36:19] He's saying, Father, all these sins that my people commit, all of them are forgiven. Look at me. Look at my sacrifice. Look at my hands.

[36:32] Look what I've brought to you. Look at all these scars. All these sins have been paid for. That sin that she's just committed there, that she's just done, it's forgiven.

[36:46] All that sin that they're confessing in church every Sunday, that's all been atoned for. Because look at me. And so Jesus being in heaven is so important.

[36:58] Firstly, this means God is never angry at you. Because your sacrifice on your behalf, your advocate, the proof of your forgiveness, is always and forever in heaven before God.

[37:18] It's a permanent reminder in the justice of God that you're forgiven. God isn't actually kind of, he's not actually angry with you, but kind of Jesus is there to kind of twist his arm, kind of plead your case, kind of hoping for a nice response from God.

[37:37] No, because Jesus is in heaven, that is the guarantee that God is now never, ever angry with you. Because he always sees this.

[37:51] Or think of it this way. God never sees your sin because now he only ever sees Christ. But also, this means you can never lose forgiveness.

[38:07] So if our forgiveness is based on Christ being in heaven, remember that's all a part of the process, right? Then that means we can only lose forgiveness if he stops being a priest.

[38:23] But remember back to the beginning, how long will Christ be a priest for? Forever. So how long are you forgiven for?

[38:34] Forever. Our salvation is unbreakable because of this. And finally, let me end on this.

[38:45] Christ being in heaven means Christ can save anybody. So look at Hebrews 7. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him.

[38:57] Since he always lives in heaven. Since he always lives in heaven. He always lives to make intercession for them. Do you see the point here? Because Christ always lives in heaven and he's there to make intercession, to be our advocate.

[39:12] He's now able to save to the uttermost. To the extreme. He's able to save the worst sinner with the most severe sin.

[39:23] Because if that sinner comes to Christ, what does he meet? Unending, perpetual, unbreakable forgiveness.

[39:35] There is now just this unending source of mercy for sinners. There is no sinner too bad to be saved by Christ.

[39:49] But also, this goes for us. Because when we come to Christ with our sin and our weakness and our failures. When we commit that same sin again and again.

[40:04] And we just can't believe we've done that again. And we come to Jesus with our sin and we confess it and lay it before him. What do we meet when we do that?

[40:15] He doesn't say, oh, not that again. No, you can now never reach the limits of his forgiveness.

[40:31] And so this is why it is so important that Jesus is still a priest in heaven. His sacrifice on the cross is perfect. And now Jesus presents that sacrifice constantly in heaven.

[40:46] Ensuring our sins are always forgiven. And so through him, we can now always approach God. Boldly and with confidence.

[40:59] Because he's now paved the way. And we now have a priest forever. I'll end there and open up to questions for a few minutes.

[41:15] Yeah, General. Yeah, two questions. Yeah, yeah. So, um, there's a voice in the intercession. In relation to the appreciation, I guess, the sacrifice has been made.

[41:27] Yeah. To give us that together. Yeah, yeah. It's a really good question. So, um, first question was, uh, what do you think about the confession of sin? Um, what is the purpose of the confession?

[41:40] It's not that the confession that gets us at the beginning is the sacrifice. Yeah. Yeah. Like, there's a very good question. Like, could all that confession of sin? Or, like, yeah, I would. But the second question.

[41:51] Yeah, no, no, no. That's a good question. Um, so, so, so, uh, first question was, uh, what is intercession? How does that relate to propitiation, which happened on the cross?

[42:04] So, so intercession, it means a few things. One is, um, uh, let's keep it kind of specific to today. It is this, uh, advocacy that John's talking about, right?

[42:17] It's, it's pleading on our behalf. It's, it's, uh, uh, the intercession is whenever our sin, whenever we sin, Christ is always there presenting to the father, um, his sacrifice himself.

[42:31] Right? So it's kind of this, uh, it's this constant, um, this is this constant flow of forgiveness, always meeting the needs of our sin. Right?

[42:42] And so how does propitiation, the one time propitiation on the cross relate to that? You can kind of think of it, it's achieved on the cross, right? But, uh, but, but it's in real time as we're sinning, uh, uh, in our lives, it's kind of that what's achieved on the cross is now applied and covered and, and reaches every need of our sin.

[43:06] Okay? So kind of think of achieving it and then applying it constantly. Right? Not to say that it isn't forgiven as we're sinning. And then he kind of, okay, now I need to forgive it again.

[43:18] It's, it's just, it's this constant process. It's like that there's never a, there's never a moment where it's not forgiven because it's always there and flowing. Right? Yeah.

[43:29] Um, uh, second question, what, why confess our sin? Well, firstly, it's not, it's not so that it can be forgiven just for the same reason I've just said.

[43:42] Right? Um, it's, uh, so we, we need to understand sin and atonement is not a mathematical equation. Right? Like we are still in covenant in relation with God.

[43:56] And so what does that require? Like being right with God, it means being open with God. Uh, and so there are two things we can do with our sin, right?

[44:08] We can either hide it. And when that happens, it crushes us. It weighs on us. It eats away at us. It makes the sin worse. We'll likely fall into it again.

[44:18] Or we can bring it to God and be open to God about it. And what do we meet? We meet assurance and forgiveness, his words of comfort.

[44:31] Uh, and, and that burden is taken off us. And so sin dies in the light. Um, and so that's why we confess our sin. It's, it's about this.

[44:42] Yeah. Being right with God every day. Not in terms of we weren't right with him because the cross wasn't good enough. It's about, it's about our conscience. Uh, yeah. Our, our, our relation to him being in covenant with him.

[44:55] Yeah. Is that helpful? Yeah. Great. I'll, I'll close in prayer.

[45:15] Lord God, we praise you for the Lord Jesus Christ. Our priest in heaven forever. Who stands before you with the perfect sacrifice of himself.

[45:29] Who pleads on our behalf. Who meets our every need. Who is the source of unending forgiveness. And so Lord, we, we praise you for the Lord Jesus Christ.

[45:41] And would we be greatly comforted knowing that when we do sin, that our sin is always met with forgiveness. That you are a merciful God, that we have a high priest who has paved the way.

[45:54] And that way can never be ended, can never be broken for us. Would we have great comfort and assurance of that today. And so we thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ, our great high priest.

[46:04] In his name. Amen. Amen.

[46:41]  Say it again. Oh, you've done that.