Gregory Dickow - The Face of Redemption
Great! That’s it right there. That’s it. That’s it. That’s what I was going to say. Amen. She just said it better and faster. You know, the first saint-this was the first canonized saint in history. Canonized simply means that the church fathers declared this person to be a saint; the church recognizes their life as holy and worthy of imitation. I want you to think about this. They’re believed to be in heaven. They are given the official title of saint, and they’re recognized for their life as holy and worthy of imitation. To be canonized is to be publicly honored by the church as someone who is with God and can be looked on as an example.
So who was the first saint to be canonized by Jesus and the church? Well, in Luke 23:39, we’re introduced to him. And one of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Jesus, saying, «Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us.» But the other answered and rebuking him, said, «Do you not even fear God since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?» Condemnation, there’s a big one. That’s the devil. The devil is a condemner. You are under the same sentence of condemnation, and we indeed justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds. But this man has done nothing wrong. And he was saying, «Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.» And Jesus said to him, «Truly, I say to you, today you shall be with me in paradise.» Today you’ll be with me in paradise.
Now people wonder, «How could he be with him in paradise today?» Because isn’t he going to rise on the third day to go to heaven? Absolutely! But heaven isn’t paradise. Paradise wasn’t heaven. Paradise was Abraham’s bosom. It’s where old covenant people who were believing for the Messiah to come were held. They were in paradise. They were in Abraham’s bosom, a place that kept. We know that there was a rich man and Lazarus, a poor man; and Lazarus died, and he was in Abraham’s bosom. And the rich man died, and he was in Hades, Sheol-not even the final hell. Sheol. They could see one another; they could hear one another. And he said to Abraham, «Father Abraham, please let me come over there.»
«You can’t cross,» he said. «You can’t cross from here to there. We can’t cross from there to here. You can’t do it. It’s not possible.» «Well, could you at least send Lazarus over to dip his finger in some cold water and soothe my hot, burning tongue?» «I’m sorry. We can’t. We can’t we can’t do it.» «Then would you please send him up to warn my brothers of coming to this evil place?» And Abraham said, «They have Moses and Elijah and the prophets. If they don’t listen to them, they’re not going to listen to Lazarus, even if he rose from the dead.» This is paradise. This is Abraham’s bosom. And so Jesus rightly said, «Today you’re going to be with me,» because that’s the first place Jesus went-dropped Lazarus off in Abraham’s bosom, went down to hell, defeated hell and death, took the keys of hell and death, took the keys from the devil.
God gave the keys to Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve bowed their knee and believed Satan. They stopped believing what God said, and they believed what the devil said about them, what the serpent said. And ever since then, Satan had legally had authority in the earth. He had authority. He’s called the god of this world. It’s not the whole world or the universe, but it’s this world system. That’s the authority that Satan got legally from Adam and Eve. That’s why Jesus came and legally paid for it-yeah, paid for Adam and Eve’s sin. Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He took the sins also, but he took the sin of the world. That’s right, and went down and said, «Hand over my keys.» And the Bible says in Revelation that that’s exactly what Hades had to do-give him the keys.
And thank God Jesus even said to Peter before he died, «I’m giving you the keys of the kingdom.» He didn’t even have them yet, but he knew he would because he knew he was going to go all the way and pay the price. He got those keys back, gave them to Peter, and said, «Give them to everybody else too. Whatsoever you guys bind on earth is bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth is loosed in heaven. Behold, I give you authority to trample upon serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means harm you.» Woo! We have that power! Jesus took it rightfully and paid for it with his precious, spotless, blameless blood.
I want you to think about this. The first canonized saint wasn’t a priest, wasn’t a prophet, and wasn’t a miracle worker. He was a thief. His name was Dismiss. He was the criminal next to Jesus, and no baptism. So that throws out that argument. «Well, if I’m not baptized, am I really saved?» The thief on the cross was what God does for one; he can’t hold back from another. He is no respecter of persons. Stop listening to every Instagram preacher. You have a God-given pastor assigned to teach you. It doesn’t mean you don’t learn yourself, and it doesn’t mean you can’t research, and it doesn’t mean you can’t; but you can’t go out and listen to everybody’s opinion and then ask me something I already answered in church. Oh, you’re coming to me on social media to answer a question you learned from somebody else on social media when you could have learned it by coming to church, and you wouldn’t have had to listen to that nonsense. So I’m not going to fix it on social media. Come to church. That’s just my attitude right now. God will straighten me out one day.
No baptism, no last rites, no good works-just a dying man who said, «Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.» Jesus didn’t hesitate. He didn’t think about it. He didn’t say, «I’ll get back with you.» He didn’t say, «Not possible -you’re on a cross dying, and you deserve it.» He said, «Truly, today you’re going to be with me in paradise.» How could he do that? This man was a sinner. This man broke the law. This man broke the law of man, broke the law of God, broke the law of the universe, broke every law, and he’s justly and rightly being hung on a cross based on the laws at that time in that culture. How could Jesus just dismiss his guilt?
Because the lawmaker is above the law. Just like the time maker is above time -he’s in time, and he’s outside of time. He’s under the law, and he fulfilled the law, but he’s outside of the law too. He’s above it. He’s above it. And we should be thankful today that he’s above it because above the law, what exists? Above the law, mercy. Amen. Because the Bible declares in James chapter 2, one of my favorite verses-and some of you already know what I’m going to say, but it says, «Mercy triumphs over judgment.» He’s saying judgment is final, and judgment is the law, but mercy is above the law. Mercy is higher than the law, and mercy triumphs over the law. Glory to God! That’s our great lawmaker who redeems us from living under the curse of the law and redeems us from living under the Mosaic law but actually writes the new law in our hearts -the law of love, the law of grace. Amen! That’s the gospel! That’s our savior! That’s our Jesus!
I want you to think about the face of Jesus. We’re going to take communion at the end of the service. The Bible calls communion in the Old Testament. And I’m going to get into some teaching this year that’s going to help you and really help us understand how to understand the Bible, how to read the Bible, how to interpret the Bible. There are so many disastrous teachings out there. We have to rightly divide the word of truth. We will together do that. Become a disciple. Get involved. Get plugged in. Be at church. Open the doors. Don’t just come to church when the doors are open. Be one of those who opens the door. I’d rather be a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord. And I’d rather have a day in the house of the Lord than a thousand years outside. Woo! Who’s with me on that? Be a door opener. Be a bringer. Be a lover of people by inviting them to the table. Be one of those who’s inviting people to come and celebrate this wedding. Everybody else that was invited turned down the invitation.
So we’re going to everyone in the highways and byways, and the Bible says compel them to come in. Could you think of somebody between now and Sunday that you could compel to come in? Now, it’s easy to -it’s the easiest day to ever invite somebody to church. But if you don’t do it, come still. If you invite someone and they can’t come, come nevertheless. But we want to learn how to be lifestyle bringers- that it’s not just something we invite somebody to do on a Sunday, but we open up our home to them in a life group, or we go out with them. We buy them something. We give them a gift. We show interest. We pray for somebody. The people in our lives that nobody can reach, they can be reached by you. Amen. They’re in your life because maybe you’re the one that God created so that that person could be reached by someone that no one else could reach. I’d like to believe that’s true about everyone here, and everyone watching, and everyone on earth who bows their knee to our great savior, Jesus.
But when we take communion, the Old Testament description of communion is the showbread. And it’s in Leviticus-or, excuse me, Exodus 25:30. «Put the bread of his presence"-the NIV calls it «the bread of his presence"-"on this table before me at all times.» Now, other translations call this the showbread. What does it show? It shows the face of Jesus. It is the bread of his presence or the bread of his face. The most beautiful face on earth, the most beautiful face in the universe, is Jesus' beautiful face. And whether it’s his features that are stunning and Middle Eastern, a little like mine, or no, not this old nose that’s been broken five times-the last time by my child who’s in college now-I forgive him, though. We’re playing. But this is Jesus. This bread is the face of God.
We don’t understand when we’re taking communion, we are fellowshipping with the face of God. We are facing him, and he’s facing us. He’s not rejecting us. He’s facing us, accepting us, embracing us, kissing us. He’s accepting us-no more rejection. This is the face of God. Jesus said, «If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen God.» That’s right. He said, «I never do anything that I haven’t seen the father do. I don’t say anything that the father doesn’t tell me to say, or whatever I hear from the father, I say it.» The only time he kind of held back was he said one thing to him, and they were like, «Well, we can’t understand this Jesus.» And he said, «If you can’t understand this, wow, this is just a natural earthly thing that I’m saying. If I tell you earthly things and you can’t understand, how am I going to tell you heavenly things?»
There’s so much more that Jesus has to say to you. There is so much more that Jesus wants to say to you. But you got to come to fellowship with him and realize that he’s given us a way to access his face, his beautiful face, the face of God. It is the bread of his face. It is the bread of his presence. Could I have the communion elements up here just to have up the bread of his face? This is Jesus. He is our holy communion. He is our holy communion. When you eat this bread, you’re eating him. When you drink this cup, you’re drinking his blood. I know there are many misunderstandings about the elements of communion. The Eucharist- the Eucharist- it’s the grace in Christ. It’s the Eucharist. It’s the giving thanks for what Christ has done for us. It is the giving of thanks, eucharist. The word caris is gift. It’s gift. It’s Eucharist. It’s the gift of Jesus in our lives.
Make no mistake about it. Something happens when you recognize and honor this table called the Lord’s Supper- my body and my blood, my new covenant. Jesus had to die so his last will and testament could go into effect. Hebrews chapter nine, I think it’s verse 16, where he says, «Unless the person who writes the will-the person whose will it is-has to die before the people in the will can receive what is willed to them.» The testator has to die. «For where a covenant is,» it’s the word testament. It’s not the New Testament or the Old Testament. Those are two collections of books that are holy scriptures. But we’re talking about a new covenant-not necessarily just everything in the New Testament. And everything in the Old Testament isn’t the Old Covenant. There are many things in the Old Testament that are actually new covenant truths. And there are many things in the New Testament that are actually Old Covenant truths.
But there is a new-there’s an Old Covenant man’s approach to God through the animal sacrifice every year, and then the Lamb of God-the new covenant-which is one time forever for all eternity. The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world once and for all-never has to be done ever again. You wonder, «Will he forgive all my future sins?» All of your sins were future sins when he died on the cross. We got to stop warping ourselves into this time limit as if Jesus just suddenly died for your sins. It was 2000 years ago, and it will last throughout eternity. And even when we get to heaven, we will see the marks in his hands. We will see the marks in his feet. We will see the hole in his side. He will wear those scars for all eternity to show his love for his people, for you. For you!
When we speak of Jesus today, this is the bread of his presence, the bread of his face. They were to set 12 loaves of bread continuously placed on a special table in the temple in Jerusalem as an offering to God. It was a symbol of God’s provision and a form of thanksgiving from the Israelites. The phrase «bread of his face» or «bread of his presence» signifies that the bread was placed before the divine presence of God, and the bread was an exchange of the presence of God. And when we speak of this bread and this blood-and we sang about it, and we will again-I want you to understand who this person is. I want you to understand how beautiful he is.
When we speak of Jesus, here’s who I’m speaking of from the Passion Translation in the Song of Solomon, chapter 5, verses 10-16: «He alone is my beloved. He shines in dazzling splendor yet is still so approachable, without equal as he stands above all others, outstanding among ten thousand. The way he leads me is divine. His leadership so pure and dignified as he wears his crown of gold. Upon this crown are letters of black written on a background of glory. He sees everything with pure understanding. How beautiful are his insights without distortion. His eyes rest upon the fullness of the river of revelation flowing so clean and pure. Looking at his gentle face, I want you to hear this. I want you to see this. Looking at his gentle face, I see such fullness of emotion, like a lovely garden where the fragrant spices grow. What a man!
No one speaks words so anointed as this one. Can you imagine being there when he was speaking these words? When he was speaking the words of God that he spoke? No one speaks words so anointed as this one-words that both pierce and heal -words like lilies dripping with myrrh. See how his hands hold unlimited power, but he never uses it in anger, for he is always holy, displaying his glory. His innermost place is a work of art, so beautiful and bright! How magnificent! I want you to see this-this is the Jesus we’re talking about here! Amen! From the children in the room, amen! How magnificent and noble is this one covered in majesty! He is steadfast in all he does. His ways are the ways of righteousness based on truth and holiness. No one can rival him, but all will be amazed by him.
This is the Jesus we’re talking about tonight. This is the Jesus of the showbread. I want you to see how beautiful this face is, how beautiful this body is. I’ve seen the imprints of his body on the shroud of Turin. We know that something supernatural happened. Only a current of some form of electricity could have marked the cloth that was so neatly folded by Jesus because he’s so clean and neat and tidy, and everything has a place and everything’s in its place. And whatever’s out of place, he’s going to put in its place. Whatever has no place, he’s going to create a place. Whatever’s broken, he’s going to heal. Whatever is bruised, he’s going to soothe and ease and nurture. And a bruised reed he will not break. And a dimly burning wick he will not extinguish. This is our gentle lamb, lion savior. None can rival him, but all will be amazed by him.
The battle at Armageddon will not be a long, drawn-out battle. It will be momentary as we see the glorious king defeat and dismantle and dispose of the Antichrist and the beast with one stroke of his hand. That’s the Jesus that we’re worshiping here tonight. I want you to see his face like this: „Most sweet are his kisses, even his whispers of love. He is delightful in every way and perfect from every viewpoint. If you ask me why I love him, oh brides to be-that’s us -it’s because there’s none like him to me! Everything about him fills me with holy desire. And now he is my beloved, my friend forever.“
But Isaiah gives us a different picture of Jesus' beautiful face. It says, „Many were amazed when they saw him.“ In verse 14, „His face was so disfigured, he seemed oddly human, and from his appearance, one would scarcely know he was a man.“ Thus he will sprinkle many nations. What is he sprinkling them with? His blood! Kings will shut their mouths on account of him, for what had not been told them they will see, and what they had not heard they will understand. We’ll all understand. The margin rendering of this verse says, „Just as many were stunned and silenced by him, their breath stolen by the sight.“ So disfigured, so battered, so broken was he that he no longer seemed a man. His face was unrecognizable. His body shattered by sorrow. His back torn open by stripes that brought our healing-his soul poured out to death!
I want you to see the contrast of the beautiful face of Jesus. Whoever looked in his face in his earthly ministry saw love, saw grace, saw mercy, saw peace, saw healing, saw depth of care that no one could ever imagine: above and beyond your highest hopes, dreams, or imaginations -that’s how his face looked! Now it was unrecognizable. He didn’t just carry a cross; he carried every curse, every sin, every blow meant for us, every judgment, every bit of God’s wrath-all on Jesus, as grace already shared so eloquently that the reason he looked this way is because he had to take the full weight of every single sin that has ever existed in the universe for all eternity. Not a few here and there, and you’ve got to clean yourself up after that. Every single sin he not only took upon his body, he became it!
The greatest, most pivotal scripture of your life should forever be 2 Corinthians 5:21. „For God, he who knew no sin, was made to be sin.“ He who knew no sin-that’s Jesus! „He who knew no sin was made to be sin on our behalf, that we would become the righteousness of God in him.“ Nothing is more important than this! Nothing is more pivotal than this! Nothing matters more than what he became! This is what Good Friday is. It’s the day he became sin. It’s the day he took it all-all the wrath, all of the anger, all of the pain, every cancer, every sickness, every blindness, every broken heart, every shattered dream, every lustful thought, every behavior, every action-every bit of violence, every murder. He took the punishment for every murderer. He took the punishment for every rapist.
He took the pain that the victim of rape had to experience. He experienced it too, so that that person-it would not be the final sentence in their life. But he became that also, and he took it upon his body also so that those who have become those who have been victims could be redeemed from what victimized them. And the trauma from which they were forever imprinted with-Jesus redeems it and becomes it to absorb it. The Bible says princes turned away in horror. Even the heavens seemed to shudder. Onlookers were seized with awe and grief because what they saw was not just a man. It was God in human form, willingly unmade so that we could be remade. He became unhuman so we could become fully alive. He was marred beyond recognition so we could be recognized by God as sons and daughters. The Father himself no longer recognized Jesus. The Father himself no longer loved Jesus. The Father himself hated Jesus in that moment on that cross. Yes, he hated him! He had to because he hates sin.
And Jesus wasn’t just carrying our sins; he became sin! He was so hated by God, he died of a broken heart. He didn’t even die from the pain in his body-couldn’t breathe! He was desecrated so we could be made holy. He was unholiness. He was every bit of filth, every bit of sin, every crime, every wrong act, every sinful act, every evil act-every bit of it he was punished for! This is why it couldn’t be an easy death. It had to be every sin; it had to be every blow; it had to be every judgment! Some believe that his intestines were literally coming out of his rib cage, that his back was open and exposed, the muscles and the nerves and the blood vessels spurting blood-holy blood!
Isaiah 53 goes on to say and picks up here: „He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.“ Do you see it now? He was despised and rejected so that you would be loved by God-a man of sorrows, so you wouldn’t have to live that way! Acquainted with grief-fully acquainted! It’s not even a good enough word to describe how grief had overtaken his soul. We know how bad it was in the garden of Gethsemane. And that wasn’t even half of what he endured on the cross! And we hid our faces from him. This beautiful savior is now marred in such a way that we literally have to hide ourselves from the horrific sight. We see this on the news; we all watch too much of it. If it’s just a little bit, it’s most likely too much.
But we see people who commit these evil, these evil atrocities. Jesus knew it would happen, and he took it on the cross! The hate that you could have for somebody that would do that to another human being is unfathomable. That’s the hate that the Father had towards Jesus on the cross. He was despised, and we did not esteem him. „Surely our griefs he himself bore, and our sorrows he carried. Yet we ourselves esteemed him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was pierced through for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities. The chastening for our well-being and our peace fell upon him, and by his stripes we are healed.“ By his stripes we are healed. Don’t you see it? He had to become the fullness of sin!
He had to-he never sinned! He never committed a sinful act, thought, or attitude at all. But he became every one of them, and he absorbed it all and took it all! That’s why we can lift our hands and say, „Thank you, Jesus!“ That’s why we can receive our healing by his stripes! That’s why we don’t have to say, „Well, if I wouldn’t have done all those sinful things, if I wouldn’t have done this and done that, then maybe I could get healed. Maybe I would be worthy of being healed.“ No one is worthy of being healed except Jesus, who took all of the pain and all the suffering and every-of all the sickness, every disease, every sin, every curse, every imaginable curse, every curse written in the book and every curse that is not written in the book. He took it all on him! This is the substitutionary sacrifice of our savior!
This is why we can say, „I know that I know that I know that I am forever secured in the salvation that he so desperately paid and so dearly paid for me!“ Not so that I can frivolously lose it because somehow I’m capable of harming something that he became so that I could become the righteousness of God! I can’t undo what I am now! I can’t undo what I am now! You can’t undo what God has done! You can’t undo it! The gifts and callings of God are irrevocable without repentance; they will never be taken away! He’ll never take his salvation from you. It’s because he-the price is fully paid! The only people that won’t experience it are people that just choose not to receive it.
This is not just a story or ritual. It is the great exchange! This is justice and mercy meeting together on the cross. This is justice and mercy kissing and making a covenant. This is grace bleeding! Jesus took our ugliness so we could wear his beauty. He became unrecognizable so we could be fully known. He became sin so that we could become the righteousness of God in him. You cannot write a more tragic story than the story of Jesus' death. It’s impossible to come up with any story more tragic than this story. It is the story of everything people are afraid of. One translation says, „Just as many were amazed over him and princes on his account shuddered, were astonished, appalled, amazed, and frightened. His visage, which is his face, was so marred, unlike to a man, and his form unlike to the sons of man. So deformed was his appearance not to be a man, and his figure no longer resembled a man.“
No death was ever more painful than crucifixion -that’s why Romans invented it! It was slow; it was an agonizing death by suffocation and dehydration and exposure-something Jesus experienced every bit of. That’s pain! Plus, you know it’s coming! Jesus knew it was coming! Plus, one of your best friends betrays you! Plus, your people turned against you! Plus, you’re a victim of the Roman Empire! Plus, you’re completely innocent! Plus, everybody knew it! Plus, they chose to release a criminal instead of him, knowing how guilty the criminal was, and they knew Jesus was innocent! In the same way that you can’t write a more tragic story, you cannot write a more beautiful story!
It’s a story of freeing you from everything that you’ve ever been afraid of! There is no life more beautiful than a life with Jesus in Christ, in the bosom of the Father. John 1:18 says, „No man has seen God at any time at that time.“ John 1:18, „The only begotten Son at that time, the Son which is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him.“ The phrase „in the bosom“ conveys this eternal intimacy and communion between the Father and the Son-the communion that we have been invited to be a part of! We have been paid! Our seat has been paid for, preserved before the world began, in doubt in the first years of all of our lives, but never in doubt in the mind of God! He knew you would come! He knew it! He waited for it!
In the same way there was no painful, no more painful death than crucifixion. Plus, Jesus knew it was coming! Plus, one of his best friends betrayed him! Plus, his people turned against him! Plus, he was a victim of the Roman Empire! Plus, he was completely innocent! Plus, everybody knew it! Plus, they chose to release a criminal instead of him! Plus, they knew how guilty the criminal was! Plus, they knew how innocent the Lamb of God was! And in the same way, you cannot write a more beautiful love story where you’re freed from everything that you’ve ever been afraid of! Plus, you know he’s making a home for you in heaven! Plus, you know he’s coming back for you! Plus, he now considers you his best friend! Plus, you are now no longer a victim of this world’s system of Adam’s sin! Plus, you are now completely innocent!
Though you were guilty, you are now completely innocent! Plus, there’s no condemnation for you! Plus, you are now the righteousness of God! Plus, all the demons in hell know it! And plus, all the demons on earth know that you are the righteousness of God now because they know that Jesus was innocent and he was made guilty! He was holy and sinless; he was made sin! And the devil knows it! And every demon knows it! And all of hell knows it! And all of heaven knows it! And all the earth is going to know it! And everybody’s going to know it! Because that’s the Jesus that we get to love! That’s the Jesus that calls us his best friends! Plus, you are released from whatever has tormented you! Plus, you can now be healed from all the trauma that has been in your life! Plus, he gives you a true family that will have no end! Plus, he’ll never remember your sins ever again! Plus, he’s looking at our face 24 hours a day! His face is turned toward us! His face is smiling at us! His face is in adoration of you!
How could we be loved this much? Because Jesus was hated this much! To that degree which he was hated, to that degree to which he became sin for us, to that degree we’re loved! To that degree we’re the righteousness of God! Now to that degree, as beautiful as he was, and as marred as he became, is how beautiful God sees you now, because it is what you have now become. He became what we were so that we could become what he was, so that we could now be called sons and daughters of God! Jesus is no longer the only begotten of the Father, but now he’s the firstborn of many brethren! Did you hear that? The gospel starts in John 3:16: „God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever should believe in him should not perish but have everlasting life.“
Eternal life will not perish, but have everlasting life! He was his only begotten son in John chapter 3, but in Romans chapter 8, verses 15-16, Jesus becomes the firstborn of many sons and many daughters! He was the only begotten. Now he’s the first begotten of the Father! We are his children now, as much as Jesus! We are in the bosom of the Father because we are where Jesus is. And if he’s in the bosom of the Father, we’re in the bosom of the Father! This is the one who has come! This is the one that has invited us to his table. This is the one who prepared a table for us in the presence of our enemies. This is the one that 1 Corinthians 11:26 says, „For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.“ You proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes!
What are you proclaiming when you proclaim his death until he comes? You’re proclaiming that you have a covenant with God! You’re proclaiming that death is your life! That sin-that Jesus became-you are now the righteousness of God! You’re proclaiming the Lord’s death! You’re proclaiming! You’re proclaiming the Lord’s death until he comes-until Jesus comes again! Every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you’re proclaiming to sickness that Jesus' death has made you whole! You’re proclaiming to fear that Jesus' death casts out all fear! You’re proclaiming to Satan that Jesus' death defeated all of Satan’s power! You’re declaring and proclaiming to sin that it is no longer your master. And even when you do something wrong, sin has no control over you still, because it will never have a grip on you ever again! That reality in and of itself will eventually change your behavior. Amen!
But it is not a requirement! It is a requirement to believe that it is enough! It is enough! Peter said, „They’re coming to get you, Jesus, but we got two swords. I got this one-I got this other one from one of those! I got two swords here!“ Jesus said, „It’s enough! It’s enough! Two swords! All we need is the one God says, and then we say what he says.“ Two swords is enough! We don’t need much more! We don’t need anything more! We’re proclaiming the Lord’s death! Do you have communion elements? Do you have the body and blood? Do you have the bread of his face? Do you have the bread of his presence today? Do you have the cup of his blood?
You see, when you proclaim the Lord’s death, when you eat this bread and drink this cup, you’re proclaiming the Lord’s death! You’re not even proclaiming his resurrection! We know the resurrection’s coming, but we’re not proclaiming that. We’re proclaiming his death when we take communion, because his death brings you into the will! His death makes you the recipient of the will of God! His death makes you the heir and joint heir with Jesus Christ! When you proclaim his death, you’re showing-the King James actually says you’re showing the Lord’s death until he comes!
Who are you showing it to? You’re showing the Lord’s death to the devil, and he runs! You show the Lord’s death to your pain and it will eventually subside! If it doesn’t immediately, it will! You’re proclaiming to your mistakes the Lord’s death washed those mistakes away! You’re proclaiming! You’re showing the Lord’s death to the sickness trying to keep you! You’re showing the Lord’s death to the lack! You’re showing the Lord’s death to your anxiety! It’s not your anxiety anymore! You’re showing the Lord’s death to anxiety that tries to lie to you and tell you that it’s yours!
We heard from Big Rob: stop saying it’s mine! It’s not my anxiety anymore! Amen! So I had to really dig deep for a word from God after that! Last Sunday I even made some slides! I don’t know if they were putting them up when I was talking-they probably didn’t! I was like, „I got to up my game after Big Rob!“ So true! We’re in good hands! I’m showing anxiety the Lord’s death! You hear that, anxiety? You hear that, devil? Showbread, showbread, show my bread, show your bread! Showbread! You’re showing disease! See the blood! See the bread! See the body! See the blood! With his stripes, I’m healed! You’re showing fear! See the body! See the blood! Glory!
This is love! This is perfect love! And guess what? It casts you out-fear! That’s what you’re doing. You thought you were just getting a snack! Some of you double-dipping! I see some of you taking a couple! You know, it’s like, „I’m really hungry. I was fasting today. I took about three pieces.“ Take as much as you want! As long as you use it as showbread to show the universe you belong to him-to show that stubborn nagging thing in your life! Show the bread to it! Show the cup to it! Until he comes! What if that stubborn thing just stays? Keep showing it! Keep showing it! Until he comes!
You say, „What if I eat this and I got some sin in my life?“ Well, you’ll probably die tonight! Just kidding! The only way to eat this bread and drink this cup in an unworthy manner is to say, „It’s not enough!“ That’s not enough! I’m going to need something more, God! No-that’s all you’re getting! This is all I’m getting? A piece of bread and a little? It’s not even a swallow! I got more mouthwashing going on every day than this little itsy-bitsy cup! Think about it-God’s like, „It’s enough! It’s enough!“
It’s just -it’s just bread, and it’s just a cup! It’s enough! It’s a covenant! Yes, it’s so-it’s silly! It’s a covenant! It doesn’t make sense! It seems foolish! The foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of man! It’s showbread! Show it to your body! Show it to your emotions! Show it to your finances! Say to that bank account, you ugly thing! You broke, debt-ridden thing trying to keep me in bondage! Enemy of my happiness! You freaking money that’s not there! I want to show you, bank account! Something’s coming! I don’t know how; I don’t know when, but victory is coming! Abundance is coming! Blessing is coming! It’s going to come upon you! It’s going to overtake you! Not one bank’s not going to be enough for you! One house isn’t going to be enough! God’s going to give you goodly houses!
God’s going to give you more than enough! Why is he going to give you more than enough? Because he’s just that good! Why is he going to do more than you need? Because he’s just that good! Why is he preparing a mansion for you in heaven? Wouldn’t you take a little cave under a rock? We’d be happy with just a cave under a rock in heaven, but he’s making a mansion for you, and he went up there to prepare it for you! And he sent the Holy Spirit and said, „You just got to stay right there and preach the gospel! When I’m ready to take you, when your house is ready, I’ll let you know!“
„Lord, it’s taking so long!“ People have loved ones and they’re holding on; they just don’t seem to die. God’s not done with their house! Jesus is working on something! Hallelujah! I want you to say this: „Say in the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus, it is enough! It is enough! Jesus' body! Jesus' body! In Jesus' blood! Jesus' blood is enough! It is enough! From this day forward, I am walking with God! I’m connected to God! I’m loved! I’m beautiful!“ Jesus took all the ugly! Jesus took all my sin! He became sin! I am now the righteousness of God! In Christ, I can stand before God without guilt, without fear, without shame, without inferiority, without condemnation!
That’s what it means to be the righteousness of God! And I am that, because Jesus became sin for me! I am now the righteousness of God! I’m showing this bread and this blood to every demon trying to attack me or my family! Every demon trying to attack my home! Every devil! Every problem! In the name of Jesus, I’m showing each and every one of them the body and the blood! And I’m proclaiming the death of Jesus over everything in my life-so that everything in my life, everything in my life begins to conform to the image of God, transformed day by day, more and more of his glory!
In Jesus' name, receive the body of the Lord Jesus Christ today! Hallelujah! There goes the pain! There goes the fear! There goes the anxiety! There goes that thing that has been attached to you for years and years! There goes that habit you just couldn’t break free from! God has just come into your situation because you proclaimed the Lord’s death until he comes! He’s going to come again, but he’s also going to come into that situation! You’re inviting him into that situation! Let’s receive the cup of his blood! Jesus, so worthy! Jesus, you’re so worthy! Jesus, you’re so worthy! Jesus, you’re so worthy! We love you, Jesus! We love you, Jesus! We love you, Jesus! If you never received Jesus into your life, if you say, „I want this! I need this in my life! I’ve never had it! How can I be sure?“
You can be sure because as sure as you ate that bread and drank that cup, that is how sure Jesus came into your life today! You know you ate that bread in faith. You drank that cup in faith! You wonder, „Can I be sure I’m saved?“ You can be sure now! You can be sure now! „Well, I came here and I wasn’t sure.“ You can be sure now! He did it all! All that’s left for you to do is receive it! Anybody that hadn’t received it, just say, „I receive it!“ I receive it! Everybody say, „I receive it! I receive the gift of salvation by grace through faith! It’s the gift of God, the gift of God! I am saved! I’m in the family of God now! I am forever a part of God’s family! God’s family! I was his idea! And now I’m his child! I’m his child! I’m a joint heir with Jesus! Everything he is-As he is, so am I!“