Psalm 130:3-4 If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared.

1. There are two religions in the world: the religion of _____________ and the religion of _________________.

2. By nature we don't trust that God is ____________ and ____________ and so we tend towards the religion of ______________.

3. Christ has _________________ the list that stood opposed to you and has written your name in the _________________ of ______________!

Scripture Readings
Isaiah 64:1-9
1 Corinthians 1:3-9
Mark 1:1-8

Take It With You!

Here we will offer thoughts and meditations on the message to help us as we contemplate and discuss and wrestle with what we are hearing.

When we feel this weight of judgment against us, we all tend to slip into the slavery of self-salvation: trying to appease the judge (friends, parents, spouse, ourselves) with hard work, good behavior, getting better, achievement, losing weight, and so on. We conclude, "If I can just stay out of trouble and get good grades, maybe my mom and dad will finally approve of me; If I can overcome this addiction, then I'll be able to accept myself; If I can get thin, maybe my husband will finally think I'm beautiful and pay attention to me; If I can help out more with the kids, maybe my wife won't criticize me as much; If I can make a name for myself and be successful, maybe I'll get the respect I long for." But, as is always the case, self-salvation projects experientially eclipse the only salvation project that can set us free from this oppression. "If we were confident of ultimate acquittal", says Zahl, "judgment from others would not possess the sting it does."

The Gospel announces that Jesus came to acquit the guilty. He came to judge and be judged in our place. Christ came to satisfy the deep judgment against us once and for all so that we could be free from the judgment of God, others, and ourselves. He came to give rest to our efforts at trying to deal with judgment on our own. Colossians 2:13-14 announces, "And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross."

Tullian Tchividjian, http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tullian