1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:08,240 Would you find Psalm 130? I'll read this to us and pray 2 00:00:08,240 --> 00:00:11,000 for our time. Psalm 130. 3 00:00:11,920 --> 00:00:14,840 Just get it a a second time before us. 4 00:00:14,840 --> 00:00:18,800 While you're turning there, I should probably issue a warning 5 00:00:18,800 --> 00:00:22,720 for today. I woke up at 10:00 and then I 6 00:00:22,720 --> 00:00:25,080 fell back asleep for about 5 minutes, and I've been up since 7 00:00:25,120 --> 00:00:27,080 midnight. So if I say anything that deeply 8 00:00:27,080 --> 00:00:30,080 offends today, or if it's blasphemous, just please write 9 00:00:30,080 --> 00:00:34,080 me a letter. Be kind, and I'll recant next 10 00:00:34,080 --> 00:00:36,320 Sunday. I'm not anticipating that. 11 00:00:36,320 --> 00:00:40,640 I'm just saying it's a maybe. OK, All right, you're in Psalm 12 00:00:40,640 --> 00:00:43,600 130. Let's read this carefully 13 00:00:43,600 --> 00:00:49,600 together. A song of a sense out of the 14 00:00:49,600 --> 00:00:53,120 depths. I cry to you, oh Lord, oh Lord, 15 00:00:53,920 --> 00:00:57,520 hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to 16 00:00:57,520 --> 00:01:03,400 the voice of my pleas for mercy. If you, oh Lord, should mark 17 00:01:03,400 --> 00:01:06,320 iniquities, oh Lord, who could stand? 18 00:01:07,240 --> 00:01:11,200 But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be 19 00:01:11,200 --> 00:01:15,760 feared. I wait for the Lord, my soul 20 00:01:15,880 --> 00:01:22,040 waits, and in His word I hope my soul waits for the Lord. 21 00:01:22,600 --> 00:01:26,760 More than Watchmen for the morning, more than Watchmen for 22 00:01:26,760 --> 00:01:31,840 the morning. Oh Israel, hope, Indiana, 23 00:01:32,120 --> 00:01:35,160 Yahweh. For with Yahweh there is 24 00:01:35,160 --> 00:01:40,240 steadfast love, and with Him is plentiful redemption, and he 25 00:01:40,240 --> 00:01:45,520 will redeem Israel from all his iniquities. 26 00:01:46,120 --> 00:01:48,400 This is the word of God. Let's pray. 27 00:01:51,320 --> 00:01:57,840 Father, we confess with the psalmist as we have gathered 28 00:01:57,840 --> 00:02:01,880 into your presence today, that if you were a God who was 29 00:02:01,880 --> 00:02:08,199 marking our iniquities, nobody in this room could stand. 30 00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:13,880 And yet with You is plentiful redemption, forgiveness, that 31 00:02:13,880 --> 00:02:18,440 you may be feared. So, Lord, we pray that you would 32 00:02:18,440 --> 00:02:21,720 make good on your promises to your people this morning, that 33 00:02:21,720 --> 00:02:25,920 you would send Your Spirit to be our teacher, that we might see 34 00:02:25,960 --> 00:02:32,360 and savor more the person of your Son who is the author and 35 00:02:32,360 --> 00:02:37,040 perfector of our salvation. We pray for this time that you 36 00:02:37,040 --> 00:02:41,640 would give us sharp minds and humble hearts before your Word, 37 00:02:43,280 --> 00:02:47,080 and that we might be the better for time spent looking at your 38 00:02:47,120 --> 00:02:50,360 word. We ask for a blessing now in the 39 00:02:50,360 --> 00:02:56,200 name of Christ and Amen. So the very beginning of this 40 00:02:56,200 --> 00:03:04,000 Psalm says it's, it's just the word a sense and it's the, it's 41 00:03:04,160 --> 00:03:08,480 one of about 14 psalms in the Psalter that the people of God 42 00:03:08,480 --> 00:03:12,320 would sing anytime they were on their way up to Jerusalem to go 43 00:03:12,320 --> 00:03:16,000 to the Temple Mount. So anytime you see, and it 44 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:22,120 starts in Psalm 120 and it goes to I think Psalm 134, anytime 45 00:03:22,120 --> 00:03:25,480 you see a Psalm of a sense, you need to think about the people 46 00:03:25,480 --> 00:03:30,080 of God gathering, walking up the mountain of God, walking up to 47 00:03:30,080 --> 00:03:32,760 Jerusalem to go to the temple to meet with the holy God. 48 00:03:32,760 --> 00:03:38,080 And so the question is, what kind of things do we do well to 49 00:03:38,080 --> 00:03:43,520 dwell upon when we are coming into the presence of a holy God? 50 00:03:44,120 --> 00:03:48,520 Now this is really, really important because this, this 51 00:03:48,520 --> 00:03:53,600 word here the a song of a sense, it's the same Hebrew word that 52 00:03:53,600 --> 00:03:56,960 is rendered when you're in the book of Leviticus and you come 53 00:03:56,960 --> 00:03:58,880 across all of these different sacrifices. 54 00:03:58,880 --> 00:04:02,520 It's the very same word that is used to describe the, the whole 55 00:04:02,520 --> 00:04:04,800 burnt offering, what's often rendered, the whole burnt 56 00:04:04,800 --> 00:04:08,480 offering, or more appropriately, the ascension offering. 57 00:04:09,280 --> 00:04:13,800 And this is massively important. So indulge me for a moment to 58 00:04:13,800 --> 00:04:16,680 explain why this is so important to us. 59 00:04:16,839 --> 00:04:20,279 Listen to Paul in Colossians 216 and 17. 60 00:04:20,279 --> 00:04:24,880 He says therefore to a Gentile church, therefore let no one 61 00:04:24,880 --> 00:04:28,040 pass judgment on you in questions of food or drink. 62 00:04:28,040 --> 00:04:31,720 And what he's talking about there is the Jewish, the 63 00:04:31,720 --> 00:04:35,320 circumcision judging the Gentile church who've come to faith in 64 00:04:35,320 --> 00:04:40,040 Christ, and they bring with them their love for bacon and pork 65 00:04:40,040 --> 00:04:43,360 butt and those kind of things. And he's saying don't let the 66 00:04:43,360 --> 00:04:47,320 circumcision party sit in judgment over what you eat and 67 00:04:47,320 --> 00:04:51,480 what you drink or with regard to a festival or new moon or 68 00:04:51,480 --> 00:04:53,480 Sabbath. These are all the Old Testament 69 00:04:53,480 --> 00:04:57,440 dietary festival calendar sort of things. 70 00:04:57,440 --> 00:05:01,760 He says don't let anybody pass judgment on you for those things 71 00:05:02,280 --> 00:05:07,520 because listen carefully. These things, those things, 72 00:05:07,720 --> 00:05:12,320 festivals, New moon, Sabbath, dietary code, those things are a 73 00:05:12,360 --> 00:05:19,000 shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to 74 00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:21,400 Christ. So when you're looking at those 75 00:05:21,400 --> 00:05:26,400 things in the Old Testament, you, you are seeing shadow of 76 00:05:26,480 --> 00:05:30,440 the substance who is Christ. So the relationship between the 77 00:05:30,440 --> 00:05:34,200 Old and the New Testaments is not a relationship between bad 78 00:05:34,200 --> 00:05:36,720 and good. It is not a relationship between 79 00:05:36,760 --> 00:05:39,640 dumb and smart like many people want to say. 80 00:05:40,480 --> 00:05:43,760 It's a relationship between a man and a shadow. 81 00:05:45,240 --> 00:05:48,480 When we read the Old Testament, we are meant to see the 82 00:05:48,480 --> 00:05:51,120 silhouette of our Savior Jesus Christ. 83 00:05:51,120 --> 00:05:55,320 And so when we're in Psalm 130 reading about a Psalm of ascent, 84 00:05:55,320 --> 00:05:58,680 we need to understand this has something to do with the way the 85 00:05:58,680 --> 00:06:02,120 New Testament church worships when we gather in the Old 86 00:06:02,120 --> 00:06:06,880 Covenant, there were specific sacrifices that the people of 87 00:06:06,880 --> 00:06:09,320 God were to offer when they came into God's presence. 88 00:06:09,480 --> 00:06:13,480 Things like you had a free will offering, you had sin offering, 89 00:06:13,480 --> 00:06:17,560 grain offering, peace offering, drink offering, whole burnt 90 00:06:17,560 --> 00:06:19,680 offering, all of these different types of offerings. 91 00:06:19,680 --> 00:06:23,880 And each of them had a very special purpose either to 92 00:06:23,880 --> 00:06:29,120 prepare the worshipper to meet with God or to consummate that 93 00:06:29,120 --> 00:06:31,640 meeting. So it's those two ideas. 94 00:06:31,640 --> 00:06:33,680 All of the sacrifices did one of two things. 95 00:06:33,680 --> 00:06:37,440 They either prepared us to meet with God or they consummated the 96 00:06:37,440 --> 00:06:41,080 meeting, our meeting with God. Those are the two purposes of 97 00:06:41,080 --> 00:06:42,880 all of these different sacrifices. 98 00:06:43,120 --> 00:06:47,800 So if Jesus, think about it this way, if if Jesus came to your 99 00:06:47,800 --> 00:06:51,600 house after church today, he just comes and he says, like 100 00:06:51,640 --> 00:06:53,640 Zacchaeus, I'm coming to your house. 101 00:06:54,760 --> 00:06:58,280 How do you get ready for that? How do you welcome Christ in the 102 00:06:58,280 --> 00:07:00,760 flesh into your home? Well, immediately you start to 103 00:07:00,760 --> 00:07:03,560 say, how do I prepare? And you start to think about all 104 00:07:03,560 --> 00:07:06,280 the dishes that you left on the table or in the sink. 105 00:07:06,560 --> 00:07:08,960 You start to think about the fact that you were rude to your 106 00:07:08,960 --> 00:07:10,680 wife or your kids on the way to church. 107 00:07:10,680 --> 00:07:13,880 And so I need to relationally like, I don't want to welcome 108 00:07:13,880 --> 00:07:16,720 Christ into my home when I'm angry at my wife and we can't 109 00:07:16,720 --> 00:07:19,080 talk. We need to we need to do some 110 00:07:19,200 --> 00:07:23,440 some prep work to get our house ready to welcome the Lord of 111 00:07:23,440 --> 00:07:28,560 glory into into our home. All of those would be any any 112 00:07:28,560 --> 00:07:33,960 action there is preparatory toward the consummation of a 113 00:07:33,960 --> 00:07:37,120 meeting with Christ, which which would be at a table breaking 114 00:07:37,120 --> 00:07:39,680 bread with him, sharing food. Does that make sense? 115 00:07:40,520 --> 00:07:43,760 Sacrifices, the sacrificial system were the same way, 116 00:07:44,000 --> 00:07:47,480 somewhere for preparation and then somewhere for perfection or 117 00:07:47,480 --> 00:07:50,880 consummation. The ascension offering did 118 00:07:50,880 --> 00:07:54,480 something very important. And again, ascension, Psalm is 119 00:07:54,480 --> 00:07:56,840 ascension offering. We're coming into the presence 120 00:07:56,840 --> 00:08:00,040 of God. It was a preparation offering. 121 00:08:00,680 --> 00:08:05,400 It was needful to bridge the distance and the relational gap 122 00:08:05,400 --> 00:08:09,920 between the worshipper who is on earth and the worshiped deity 123 00:08:10,120 --> 00:08:15,360 who is in heaven. So again, when when you think of 124 00:08:15,360 --> 00:08:18,000 sacrifice, when I think of sacrifice, a lot of times what 125 00:08:18,000 --> 00:08:21,960 we think of as a sacrifice is something costly that we give to 126 00:08:21,960 --> 00:08:23,960 God. And then we're that, that's it. 127 00:08:23,960 --> 00:08:26,000 Like we just bring our offering, we give it to God. 128 00:08:26,360 --> 00:08:30,560 That's fundamentally an unbiblical way to view a 129 00:08:30,560 --> 00:08:32,640 sacrifice or to view an offering. 130 00:08:33,480 --> 00:08:37,280 When the Scriptures talk about sacrifice, the way that the 131 00:08:37,280 --> 00:08:40,559 scriptures view a sacrifice is that whatever happens to the 132 00:08:40,559 --> 00:08:46,840 sacrifice happens to the giver. So when we lay our hands on a 133 00:08:46,840 --> 00:08:52,240 sin offering and the and the sin offering dies, we die with it. 134 00:08:52,960 --> 00:08:55,520 OK. And the ascension offering, this 135 00:08:55,520 --> 00:08:57,960 is extremely important. The animal, it's very 136 00:08:58,360 --> 00:09:00,480 particularly meted out in the Old Testament. 137 00:09:00,480 --> 00:09:03,480 The animal was killed. It was cut apart and arranged in 138 00:09:03,480 --> 00:09:06,480 its entirety on the altar and it was burned. 139 00:09:07,480 --> 00:09:12,880 And as the sacrifice ascended in smoke into the heavens, they 140 00:09:12,880 --> 00:09:16,480 viewed it as by faith worshippers ascending with the 141 00:09:16,480 --> 00:09:19,000 offering into the heavenly presence of God. 142 00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:20,520 That's what the ascension offering is. 143 00:09:21,800 --> 00:09:24,440 We are rising up into the presence of God. 144 00:09:24,440 --> 00:09:28,040 And if that sounds strange to you, which it probably may sound 145 00:09:28,040 --> 00:09:31,000 strange if you've never heard it before, it's just because we've 146 00:09:31,080 --> 00:09:34,600 we've not thought carefully about all of the different kinds 147 00:09:34,600 --> 00:09:37,640 of sacrifices and what they meant to worshippers in the Old 148 00:09:37,640 --> 00:09:41,880 Testament, which again, where shadows the substance is Christ, 149 00:09:41,880 --> 00:09:44,720 who does all of these things for us in perfection. 150 00:09:45,480 --> 00:09:50,960 So therefore, when we as a church gather, we order 151 00:09:50,960 --> 00:09:55,240 ourselves biblically and biblically speaking, the the 152 00:09:55,240 --> 00:09:58,800 ascension offering, the offering that is the worshipper being 153 00:09:58,800 --> 00:10:02,920 ascending into heaven to meet with God, always comes directly 154 00:10:02,920 --> 00:10:06,400 after the sin offering. When you're going to meet with 155 00:10:06,400 --> 00:10:09,720 the Holy God, the first problem you have, and the first problem 156 00:10:09,720 --> 00:10:13,320 I have is sin that we have violated his commands. 157 00:10:13,320 --> 00:10:15,400 We have not lived up to expectations. 158 00:10:15,400 --> 00:10:17,640 We have missed the mark, and we're going to meet with the 159 00:10:17,640 --> 00:10:19,840 Holy God. And so the very first order of 160 00:10:19,840 --> 00:10:24,800 business is a sin offering. The second problem is spatial. 161 00:10:25,200 --> 00:10:28,640 The second problem is that he is in heaven and we are on earth. 162 00:10:28,680 --> 00:10:31,720 And so it's no accident that this, this psalmist, as he, as 163 00:10:31,720 --> 00:10:35,520 he gives us an ascension offering, as he prepares to 164 00:10:35,520 --> 00:10:39,160 ascend to worship in the presence of God, he is 165 00:10:39,160 --> 00:10:42,840 immediately struck by an overwhelming need for mercy, for 166 00:10:42,840 --> 00:10:45,520 the mercy of God that's brought on by his own sinfulness. 167 00:10:45,520 --> 00:10:49,440 Listen, he says, out of the watch this space, out of the 168 00:10:49,440 --> 00:10:51,880 depths, OK, It's an ascension Psalm. 169 00:10:51,880 --> 00:10:53,720 We're going up into the presence of God. 170 00:10:53,720 --> 00:10:59,560 And he says, out of the depths. I cry to you, O Lord, hear my 171 00:10:59,560 --> 00:11:01,560 voice. Let your ears be attentive to 172 00:11:01,560 --> 00:11:04,760 the voice of my pleas for mercy. Do you see the space there? 173 00:11:04,960 --> 00:11:07,120 He's in the depths. God is in the heavens. 174 00:11:07,120 --> 00:11:09,720 We want to ascend to Him. We need mercy. 175 00:11:10,240 --> 00:11:14,880 Sin is always dealt with first, and then comes the ascension 176 00:11:15,680 --> 00:11:17,960 again. These are shadows. 177 00:11:17,960 --> 00:11:23,440 The substance is Christ, therefore, how this informs our 178 00:11:23,440 --> 00:11:25,720 worship. When we gather as a church, we 179 00:11:25,720 --> 00:11:29,600 are not gathering primarily for any of the following things. 180 00:11:30,240 --> 00:11:33,880 Things like evangelism, education, worship, or 181 00:11:33,880 --> 00:11:36,040 discipleship. All of those are good things, 182 00:11:36,160 --> 00:11:38,960 really good things. All of those good things have a 183 00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:43,000 part in what we do every Sunday. But that's never the whole of 184 00:11:43,000 --> 00:11:48,120 what we do Every Lord's Day. We are gathering together on 185 00:11:48,120 --> 00:11:52,600 earth to ascend into the presence of our heavenly Father 186 00:11:52,840 --> 00:11:55,560 in the name of his Son Jesus Christ, who has been the 187 00:11:55,560 --> 00:11:58,680 ascension offering for us. He has ascended for us and in 188 00:11:58,680 --> 00:12:01,440 the power we do this in the power of the Holy Spirit who 189 00:12:01,440 --> 00:12:03,880 indwells us. This is what we are doing. 190 00:12:03,880 --> 00:12:08,480 If you've ever wondered Grace and I got on a date, we we went 191 00:12:08,480 --> 00:12:12,080 to J DS and our waitress asked us some questions, left and went 192 00:12:12,080 --> 00:12:14,120 into the kitchen. And then she came back and asked 193 00:12:14,120 --> 00:12:16,480 us the same round of questions and she said, when I went into 194 00:12:16,480 --> 00:12:18,880 the kitchen, I forgot why I was there. 195 00:12:19,200 --> 00:12:22,120 I just didn't remember. And you've had that experience 196 00:12:22,120 --> 00:12:24,040 and you may have had that experience in church where you 197 00:12:24,040 --> 00:12:27,240 just start, scratch your head and like, why are we doing this? 198 00:12:27,480 --> 00:12:29,960 Why are we praying this way? Why are we singing these songs? 199 00:12:29,960 --> 00:12:32,160 Why are we listening to a sermon this way? 200 00:12:32,160 --> 00:12:35,040 What are we doing? This is what we are doing. 201 00:12:35,560 --> 00:12:39,120 This is what we are doing. We are gathering into the 202 00:12:39,120 --> 00:12:42,520 presence of God so that God would renew his covenant of 203 00:12:42,520 --> 00:12:46,800 grace with us. And because of this, one of the 204 00:12:46,800 --> 00:12:50,280 first orders of business on every Lord's day is to cry out 205 00:12:50,280 --> 00:12:54,320 to the Lord for mercy, which is why, if you've ever wondered 206 00:12:54,320 --> 00:12:57,080 like, why do we ask, why does an elder always come and say, hey, 207 00:12:57,080 --> 00:12:59,840 what does this command say? What does it require? 208 00:12:59,880 --> 00:13:02,240 What's forbidden? Why do we, why do we do those 209 00:13:02,240 --> 00:13:03,840 things? Why do we look at the law and 210 00:13:03,840 --> 00:13:06,640 then get on our knees and confess our sins? 211 00:13:06,640 --> 00:13:10,560 This is the reason we always read God's law, confess our 212 00:13:10,560 --> 00:13:12,600 sins, receive absolution of guilt. 213 00:13:13,560 --> 00:13:16,360 We meditate on the law of God because it's the mirror that 214 00:13:16,360 --> 00:13:19,240 reveals our own sinfulness to us. 215 00:13:20,120 --> 00:13:24,080 And it also becomes the tutor that drives us to Christ for 216 00:13:24,080 --> 00:13:25,720 mercy. And so every Sunday we hear the 217 00:13:25,720 --> 00:13:30,640 law and we immediately get on our knees and, and the elders 218 00:13:30,640 --> 00:13:33,840 say all who are able. So if you are, if you've had 219 00:13:33,840 --> 00:13:37,080 double knee replacement surgery or something, you've had back 220 00:13:37,080 --> 00:13:39,640 surgery or something, and you can't quite kneel down in 221 00:13:39,640 --> 00:13:42,680 between the pews, you will never be judged here for doing that. 222 00:13:43,120 --> 00:13:48,200 But This is why we get on our knees before the Lord and that 223 00:13:48,200 --> 00:13:52,400 we repent, we, we confess our sins and then we, we receive the 224 00:13:52,400 --> 00:13:57,400 absolution of guilt from those who are over us in the Lord. 225 00:13:57,400 --> 00:13:59,720 And yes, we are New Testament Christians. 226 00:13:59,720 --> 00:14:05,120 We do believe that God has put us under the authority of a body 227 00:14:05,120 --> 00:14:08,400 of elders who are not to use that authority to dominate us, 228 00:14:08,600 --> 00:14:12,040 to rob us to, to, to hard drive us. 229 00:14:12,520 --> 00:14:15,960 They are given that authority by the chief shepherd who loves the 230 00:14:15,960 --> 00:14:19,200 sheep, gave his life for the sheep and says feed my sheep, 231 00:14:19,560 --> 00:14:23,000 shepherd my sheep. And so they have, we have as 232 00:14:23,000 --> 00:14:28,400 elders the profound responsibility and yes, derived 233 00:14:28,400 --> 00:14:31,960 authority from Christ to look you in the face and say you 234 00:14:31,960 --> 00:14:34,880 confessed your sin. And I'm telling you on his 235 00:14:34,880 --> 00:14:40,280 authority, you are forgiven. And you are to hear that on the 236 00:14:40,280 --> 00:14:42,840 authority of Christ and it's glorious. 237 00:14:42,840 --> 00:14:46,560 It's the best way to prepare yourself for worship. 238 00:14:47,320 --> 00:14:52,600 So, so let me just say this, these things are not meaningless 239 00:14:52,600 --> 00:14:56,240 repetition. This is the most fitting 240 00:14:56,240 --> 00:15:00,360 exercise for imperfect humans that want to meet with the holy 241 00:15:00,360 --> 00:15:01,960 God. This is what we should do every 242 00:15:01,960 --> 00:15:07,440 time, and I invite you to press deeply into these things on 243 00:15:07,440 --> 00:15:10,760 every Lords day, for they will prepare you for every other day 244 00:15:10,800 --> 00:15:14,000 of your life. By the way, in case you didn't 245 00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:18,440 know this, we are Christians and so we should not and do not see 246 00:15:18,440 --> 00:15:20,960 Sunday as the end of a weekend, right? 247 00:15:21,440 --> 00:15:24,280 That's American culture. That's not Christian culture. 248 00:15:24,280 --> 00:15:27,920 Christian culture sees Sunday, what we're doing here, as the 249 00:15:27,920 --> 00:15:31,160 very start of every week. This is the first day, it's the 250 00:15:31,160 --> 00:15:34,120 Lord's Day, and this is the day where we early on in the 251 00:15:34,120 --> 00:15:37,200 morning, get on our knees, confess our sins to Christ, 252 00:15:37,480 --> 00:15:40,680 receive his absolution, hear his Word preached, come to his 253 00:15:40,680 --> 00:15:46,400 table, and are fed by God most kind from his very presence, his 254 00:15:46,400 --> 00:15:50,080 heavenly presence. And so that this day is supposed 255 00:15:50,080 --> 00:15:52,440 to inform every other day. So what do you do? 256 00:15:52,440 --> 00:15:56,960 Let me ask you, what do you do if you need God's help and his 257 00:15:56,960 --> 00:16:01,320 presence on a Tuesday? We do the same thing that you do 258 00:16:01,320 --> 00:16:04,400 here. You say I need God, I need your 259 00:16:04,400 --> 00:16:06,320 help. I want to come into your 260 00:16:06,320 --> 00:16:11,240 presence and ask for your help. And I realized like these sins 261 00:16:11,240 --> 00:16:13,400 are standing between and So I just want to confess. 262 00:16:13,400 --> 00:16:15,080 I want to tell you I was rude to my wife. 263 00:16:15,080 --> 00:16:17,000 Would you please forgive me? I'll make it right. 264 00:16:18,120 --> 00:16:20,400 I keep saying rude to my wife. I don't know why. 265 00:16:20,400 --> 00:16:25,400 I'm not too rude, but you get the idea. 266 00:16:25,640 --> 00:16:28,280 This helps us know. How do you pray? 267 00:16:28,560 --> 00:16:31,640 Start with repentance and then draw into His presence with full 268 00:16:31,640 --> 00:16:35,720 assurance He's forgiven you. And we do this every Sunday so 269 00:16:35,720 --> 00:16:37,720 that we will know how to live the Christian life. 270 00:16:37,760 --> 00:16:41,760 These things so so they they prepare us for sin confession, 271 00:16:41,760 --> 00:16:43,240 drawing into the presence of God. 272 00:16:43,560 --> 00:16:47,200 They also prepare us the way that we have organized our 273 00:16:47,200 --> 00:16:48,880 worship services on a Sunday morning. 274 00:16:49,440 --> 00:16:53,160 These things prepare us to worship the Father listen to me 275 00:16:53,640 --> 00:16:59,000 together, together. This is the very part of what 276 00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:02,160 the American church is languishing because we have 277 00:17:02,160 --> 00:17:05,319 embraced a very treacherous error. 278 00:17:06,160 --> 00:17:10,280 The American church, the American culture is rugged 279 00:17:10,280 --> 00:17:14,640 individualism. We are an army of one which is 280 00:17:14,640 --> 00:17:17,079 the weakest army in the history of the world. 281 00:17:17,760 --> 00:17:22,760 And God help us, we bring that that Lone Ranger mentality into 282 00:17:22,760 --> 00:17:27,200 the very church and and churches are individualistic to the core. 283 00:17:27,200 --> 00:17:29,920 So let me give you some examples of this. 284 00:17:30,640 --> 00:17:33,760 How many Christians in our culture gather on the Lord's Day 285 00:17:34,240 --> 00:17:39,400 only to spend the majority of their worship time with their 286 00:17:39,400 --> 00:17:43,720 eyes closed so that they won't be distracted by you people? 287 00:17:44,600 --> 00:17:47,160 You. You are you, you who dwell on 288 00:17:47,200 --> 00:17:49,280 earth and are a distraction to me? 289 00:17:49,520 --> 00:17:52,400 Parenthetical statement. What are you people? 290 00:17:53,120 --> 00:17:55,960 Are you a distraction or are you what God says? 291 00:17:55,960 --> 00:18:01,320 You are the very body of Christ in the world, and I'm going to 292 00:18:01,320 --> 00:18:05,440 close you off and just be me and Jesus because y'all are a 293 00:18:05,440 --> 00:18:08,320 distraction. No, y'all are the manifest 294 00:18:08,320 --> 00:18:12,560 presence of his grace in my life, my brothers and sisters in 295 00:18:12,560 --> 00:18:14,200 Christ. But churches, when they gather 296 00:18:14,200 --> 00:18:18,200 for worship, instead of singing with uplifted faces and eyes 297 00:18:18,200 --> 00:18:23,880 open together, they close off their eyes, they close off their 298 00:18:24,840 --> 00:18:27,560 exposure to other people. They send their kids into 299 00:18:27,560 --> 00:18:32,920 another room, and they sing most often the Me and Jesus songs, 300 00:18:33,520 --> 00:18:36,160 which are not a problem if you're in your truck or your car 301 00:18:36,160 --> 00:18:38,280 driving to work. Sing those songs because it's 302 00:18:38,280 --> 00:18:42,920 you and Jesus. But listen to me, This is not 303 00:18:42,920 --> 00:18:46,800 you and Jesus. This Is Us and the Lord Christ 304 00:18:47,040 --> 00:18:50,760 who called all of us together. And so we want to lay aside 305 00:18:50,760 --> 00:18:54,440 those individualistic gestures and we want to embrace corporate 306 00:18:54,440 --> 00:18:57,960 psalmody. OK, I hear that it's common for 307 00:18:57,960 --> 00:19:03,520 a lot of churches. This is probably, probably well 308 00:19:03,520 --> 00:19:09,720 meaning, but it is a damnable error with the Lord's Supper. 309 00:19:09,720 --> 00:19:12,840 But I'm told that a lot of churches, what they will do is 310 00:19:12,840 --> 00:19:18,600 they will set off to the side, Lord's Supper tables over there 311 00:19:18,600 --> 00:19:23,600 so that when you're ready, if you want to, you can go off to 312 00:19:23,600 --> 00:19:26,280 the Lord's table and you can celebrate whenever you're ready 313 00:19:26,280 --> 00:19:33,520 at any moment in in the worship service, which is antithetical 314 00:19:33,520 --> 00:19:35,760 to what Christ is doing. When the body of Christ is 315 00:19:35,760 --> 00:19:38,680 together, there's one loaf, there's One Cup, and we come to 316 00:19:38,680 --> 00:19:42,840 the table together. It, it, it's the difference 317 00:19:42,840 --> 00:19:46,640 between a family that regularly gathers together over a meal. 318 00:19:46,640 --> 00:19:49,120 We pray with each other, we look at each other, we talk to each 319 00:19:49,120 --> 00:19:53,280 other, we fellowship with each other versus we never have to 320 00:19:53,280 --> 00:19:55,800 sit at table together because the kids just help themselves to 321 00:19:55,800 --> 00:19:58,760 the to the pantry in the fridge and they're never hungry and we 322 00:19:58,760 --> 00:20:02,840 never need a full meal because they're helping themselves to 323 00:20:02,840 --> 00:20:07,360 snacks all day long. This, this individualistic 324 00:20:07,360 --> 00:20:11,360 nature of the American church really is killing us because 325 00:20:11,720 --> 00:20:17,360 when we gather and ascend to worship God, we gather together 326 00:20:17,640 --> 00:20:20,400 and we gather together because he called us together. 327 00:20:20,680 --> 00:20:24,160 We confess our faith together. Let me ask you something. 328 00:20:24,160 --> 00:20:27,040 Are you edified ever? When one of the other says, 329 00:20:27,040 --> 00:20:31,320 Christian, what do you believe? And you hear however many voices 330 00:20:31,320 --> 00:20:34,720 in this room say, I believe in God the Father Almighty, and 331 00:20:34,720 --> 00:20:36,720 you're not alone because I believe that too. 332 00:20:37,040 --> 00:20:39,600 And you're We edify one another in the faith. 333 00:20:39,600 --> 00:20:43,160 We confess our faith together. We meditate on the law together, 334 00:20:43,640 --> 00:20:47,960 we confess our sins together, we kneel together, we receive 335 00:20:47,960 --> 00:20:50,720 absolution of guilt together. We hear the word preached 336 00:20:50,800 --> 00:20:56,360 together and together. Most importantly, we come to the 337 00:20:56,360 --> 00:21:00,920 Lord's Table together, not on our own, but together to 338 00:21:00,920 --> 00:21:03,720 participate in the body of Christ. 339 00:21:04,280 --> 00:21:09,240 When God calls the church to gather to himself, it is not 340 00:21:09,240 --> 00:21:11,760 like he just catches a bunch of fish in a net. 341 00:21:11,960 --> 00:21:19,840 No, we are rather strings of yarn that he is weaving into the 342 00:21:19,840 --> 00:21:22,360 tapestry of His grace. Individual strands. 343 00:21:22,360 --> 00:21:26,520 Yes, a very colored and and varieties that he's weaving 344 00:21:26,520 --> 00:21:29,320 together into a tapestry of his grace. 345 00:21:29,320 --> 00:21:34,040 We are joints and sinews and body parts that he is knitting 346 00:21:34,040 --> 00:21:36,800 together in the womb of our mother. 347 00:21:37,040 --> 00:21:39,880 And who is our mother? It's the church. 348 00:21:40,200 --> 00:21:45,320 That's what he's doing here. He's making one body out of many 349 00:21:45,480 --> 00:21:49,160 parts, joints and sinews that he's knitting together. 350 00:21:49,720 --> 00:21:53,480 We are, to borrow another biblical metaphor, living 351 00:21:53,480 --> 00:21:58,920 stones, each one of us a living stone with a name that that only 352 00:21:58,920 --> 00:22:04,280 he knows, that he takes and he sets together by God into a 353 00:22:04,280 --> 00:22:06,000 temple that he's building for himself. 354 00:22:06,040 --> 00:22:09,640 So, so it may not be a helpful way to say this, but I'm going 355 00:22:09,640 --> 00:22:12,640 to say it anyway. You cannot participate rightly 356 00:22:12,880 --> 00:22:16,880 in wall hood, meaning you take these bricks and you and you 357 00:22:16,880 --> 00:22:19,600 build a wall. You can't participate as a 358 00:22:19,600 --> 00:22:22,840 brick, as a stone. You can't participate in wall 359 00:22:22,840 --> 00:22:27,280 hood when every time you come together all that's emphasized 360 00:22:27,280 --> 00:22:30,240 is stone hood. You're all by yourself here. 361 00:22:30,480 --> 00:22:32,360 close your eyes because it's just you and Jesus. 362 00:22:32,440 --> 00:22:34,480 You can't do it. You can't do it. 363 00:22:34,840 --> 00:22:39,120 So brothers and sisters, we are gathered here together because 364 00:22:39,120 --> 00:22:42,920 God himself has called us to Himself that we might be one in 365 00:22:42,920 --> 00:22:45,840 Christ. So as we ascend to Him, and this 366 00:22:45,840 --> 00:22:50,280 is for today, this is every Sunday as we ascend to Him, it 367 00:22:50,280 --> 00:22:54,200 is fitting that we would take instruction from Psalms of 368 00:22:54,200 --> 00:22:56,280 ascent. So I'm going to give you 4 brief 369 00:22:56,280 --> 00:22:59,200 things from this Psalm that I think are very important for us 370 00:22:59,600 --> 00:23:02,520 as we meditate on what it what it means for the New Testament 371 00:23:02,520 --> 00:23:06,160 Church to gather to the Father in the name of the Son and the 372 00:23:06,160 --> 00:23:08,520 power of the Holy Spirit. What does that mean and what 373 00:23:08,520 --> 00:23:14,360 should we be thinking on? 1st in Christ, God will not mark 374 00:23:14,480 --> 00:23:19,840 your iniquities. In Christ, God will not mark 375 00:23:19,920 --> 00:23:23,880 your iniquities or mine. Listen to verse 3 of the Psalm. 376 00:23:24,720 --> 00:23:29,400 If you, O Yahweh, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could 377 00:23:29,400 --> 00:23:31,600 stand? So let me just pause and say, be 378 00:23:31,600 --> 00:23:33,800 encouraged. You who think that you don't 379 00:23:33,800 --> 00:23:37,720 belong, you who know that if we knew what you've done, we 380 00:23:37,720 --> 00:23:38,880 wouldn't let you in the building. 381 00:23:39,080 --> 00:23:41,920 And I who know that if you know what I've done, you wouldn't let 382 00:23:41,920 --> 00:23:46,040 me preach, right? If the Lord would mark iniquity, 383 00:23:46,160 --> 00:23:50,720 nobody could stand. But with you there is 384 00:23:50,720 --> 00:23:52,960 forgiveness that you may be feared. 385 00:23:53,160 --> 00:23:58,440 OK, this word to mark iniquity. It's a it's a funny way of 386 00:23:58,440 --> 00:24:00,880 saying that right to record, to remember. 387 00:24:00,880 --> 00:24:02,840 We might say any another. Why Mark? 388 00:24:02,960 --> 00:24:04,640 What does that mean to mark iniquity? 389 00:24:05,000 --> 00:24:07,400 And it's one of the coolest Hebrew words in the whole Bible. 390 00:24:07,840 --> 00:24:11,800 It's the word that when God made Adam and his image and he placed 391 00:24:11,800 --> 00:24:14,840 him in a garden, he he placed him in the garden to work it, to 392 00:24:14,840 --> 00:24:20,680 husband it, make it fruitful and to market to Shamar is is the is 393 00:24:20,680 --> 00:24:24,280 the Hebrew word to keep it, to guard it, to protect it, to 394 00:24:24,280 --> 00:24:26,200 watch over it so that nothing attacks it. 395 00:24:26,880 --> 00:24:31,240 And the Psalmist says if God was doing that with our sin, writing 396 00:24:31,240 --> 00:24:34,480 them down, remembering, never forgetting, going over in his 397 00:24:34,480 --> 00:24:38,040 mind how we sinned against him, that he might become our bitter 398 00:24:38,040 --> 00:24:42,760 enemy, reliving all of our faults if that was gone. 399 00:24:43,480 --> 00:24:46,640 None of us could stand if God, let me say it this way, if God 400 00:24:46,920 --> 00:24:50,920 guarded the Ledger of your sin or mine and held you accountable 401 00:24:50,920 --> 00:24:55,360 to it, none of us have any hope. None of us go to heaven if God 402 00:24:55,360 --> 00:24:57,480 does this. None of us are rightly related 403 00:24:57,480 --> 00:25:00,840 to God if he does this. And incidentally, again, This is 404 00:25:00,840 --> 00:25:05,120 why we kneel every Sunday, because none of us could stand 405 00:25:05,160 --> 00:25:09,240 if God holds on to our sin. And so we kneel and we confess 406 00:25:09,240 --> 00:25:12,120 our sins. And again, it's no judgment if 407 00:25:12,120 --> 00:25:15,120 you can't get on your knees, but it is important that we worship 408 00:25:15,120 --> 00:25:18,840 God in a spirit of, of contriteness. 409 00:25:18,840 --> 00:25:21,120 And so no judgment if you cannot bow. 410 00:25:21,160 --> 00:25:24,240 But listen to me, all the judgment in the world, if you're 411 00:25:24,240 --> 00:25:28,760 too proud to bow, if you're too proud to bow and ask for mercy, 412 00:25:29,600 --> 00:25:31,960 that's all that's left to you is judgment. 413 00:25:32,800 --> 00:25:34,640 But it's not from us, it's from the Lord. 414 00:25:34,760 --> 00:25:37,120 So we all kneel, because if He marked iniquity, none could 415 00:25:37,120 --> 00:25:40,080 stand. Listen to Psalm 103 say the same 416 00:25:40,080 --> 00:25:43,080 principle. God does not deal with us 417 00:25:43,080 --> 00:25:47,480 according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. 418 00:25:48,000 --> 00:25:51,840 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His 419 00:25:51,840 --> 00:25:56,120 steadfast love toward those who fear Him, as far as the east is 420 00:25:56,120 --> 00:26:01,080 from the West, so far does He remove our transgressions from 421 00:26:01,120 --> 00:26:02,960 us. And so let me say it again, as 422 00:26:02,960 --> 00:26:09,400 we gather it is, it is essential that all of us remember and rest 423 00:26:09,400 --> 00:26:14,200 in the fact that in Christ God will not mark our iniquities. 424 00:26:15,080 --> 00:26:18,840 Say it this way. In Christ, God has already 425 00:26:18,840 --> 00:26:22,320 marked all of your iniquities. He nailed them to the cross of 426 00:26:22,320 --> 00:26:25,760 Christ and he blotted them out forever by the death of his own 427 00:26:25,760 --> 00:26:28,320 Son. He held Christ responsible and 428 00:26:28,320 --> 00:26:31,600 therefore he will not hold you responsible for the things that 429 00:26:31,600 --> 00:26:36,040 Christ died to forgive. In Christ, you really are 430 00:26:36,200 --> 00:26:40,520 forgiven. And that frankly makes us very 431 00:26:40,520 --> 00:26:44,040 uncomfortable because we especially if we're being sinned 432 00:26:44,040 --> 00:26:46,040 against or if we feel like we've been sinned against. 433 00:26:46,040 --> 00:26:49,400 And there's this idea of like, well, if if you just tell those 434 00:26:49,400 --> 00:26:52,960 people they're just God's just going to be merciful, isn't that 435 00:26:52,960 --> 00:26:55,000 going to lead them to keep sinning against me or maybe not 436 00:26:55,000 --> 00:26:57,760 even against me. But just like, is this not, 437 00:26:57,760 --> 00:27:00,080 shall we go on sinning so that grace may abound? 438 00:27:00,720 --> 00:27:03,560 So let me let me point out the second thing from this Psalm 439 00:27:03,560 --> 00:27:08,080 that's very important in Christ, free pardon, real forgiveness 440 00:27:08,080 --> 00:27:12,560 and mercy leads to the fear of the Lord, not to more sin. 441 00:27:13,440 --> 00:27:17,840 Did you catch that? He says in verse 4, but with you 442 00:27:18,360 --> 00:27:22,760 there is forgiveness, that it's a purpose statement that you may 443 00:27:22,760 --> 00:27:26,200 be feared. So it's the great mystery of the 444 00:27:26,200 --> 00:27:32,880 gospel of grace that you can't, you cannot stop sinning in order 445 00:27:32,880 --> 00:27:34,480 to participate in the grace of God. 446 00:27:34,680 --> 00:27:36,760 That's usually where we all start and we say, man, I'm just 447 00:27:36,760 --> 00:27:38,440 not right. I need to get right with God. 448 00:27:38,760 --> 00:27:41,080 We start to think about I'm going to stop sinning and I'm 449 00:27:41,080 --> 00:27:44,400 going to start doing right. And it always works the other 450 00:27:44,400 --> 00:27:47,520 way around. The worse you are, the more 451 00:27:47,520 --> 00:27:50,480 prepared you are to receive the grace of God, and the greater 452 00:27:50,480 --> 00:27:52,400 the grace of God appears in your eyes. 453 00:27:52,440 --> 00:27:54,320 Jesus said it this way about a prostitute. 454 00:27:54,960 --> 00:27:57,480 She loved much because she was forgiven much. 455 00:27:57,480 --> 00:28:00,400 And they that are forgiven little, which is nobody, 456 00:28:00,920 --> 00:28:03,240 everybody is forgiven much. We just don't realize it. 457 00:28:03,680 --> 00:28:07,080 But when we think that we are forgiven little, we love little. 458 00:28:08,080 --> 00:28:10,480 So when you come as a Sinner deserving death and you know 459 00:28:10,480 --> 00:28:14,520 this and you come to the one who bore your sins on the cross, you 460 00:28:14,520 --> 00:28:17,920 receive grace from him that will certainly produce in you in 461 00:28:17,920 --> 00:28:21,160 God's time, not your own mortification of sin and 462 00:28:21,160 --> 00:28:25,000 progressive obedience and righteousness and holiness. 463 00:28:26,320 --> 00:28:29,720 When you do that, you need to understand all of those that 464 00:28:29,720 --> 00:28:33,320 growth, that mortification of sin, that progress in the faith, 465 00:28:33,400 --> 00:28:39,320 all of that is result. It's not root, the fruit of 466 00:28:39,320 --> 00:28:44,120 works. The the, the fruit is like a 467 00:28:44,120 --> 00:28:46,880 cart. Grace is like a horse and you 468 00:28:46,880 --> 00:28:48,440 can never put the cart before the horse. 469 00:28:48,440 --> 00:28:51,080 Works never bring in the grace of God. 470 00:28:51,320 --> 00:28:54,680 The grace of God always bring in works of righteousness. 471 00:28:54,680 --> 00:28:56,120 So Bodhi Bakkam said it this way. 472 00:28:56,560 --> 00:29:00,600 Faith is all that the gospel requires and that is great news. 473 00:29:01,080 --> 00:29:04,040 What must you do to be saved? Trust in the Lord Jesus and be 474 00:29:04,040 --> 00:29:06,280 saved. Faith is all that the gospel 475 00:29:06,280 --> 00:29:10,600 requires, but it's not all that the gospel produces. 476 00:29:10,800 --> 00:29:13,480 If you want to be saved, repent of your sin and your dead works, 477 00:29:13,480 --> 00:29:15,400 trust in Christ alone for your salvation. 478 00:29:15,840 --> 00:29:19,040 If you want to stop sinning and grow in holiness, then repent of 479 00:29:19,040 --> 00:29:22,560 your sin and end your dead works and trust in Christ alone for 480 00:29:22,560 --> 00:29:26,120 your sanctification. OK, how can these things be? 481 00:29:26,120 --> 00:29:30,760 How can how can grace God? Just saying I'm not going to 482 00:29:30,760 --> 00:29:32,240 deal with you according to your sin. 483 00:29:32,400 --> 00:29:34,320 How can that lead to the fear of the Lord? 484 00:29:35,000 --> 00:29:37,520 Well, forgiveness leads to the fear of the Lord, because 485 00:29:37,920 --> 00:29:40,840 forgiveness is relationally costly to God. 486 00:29:41,400 --> 00:29:42,960 So let me ask you something, Christian. 487 00:29:43,320 --> 00:29:47,280 How did God forgive you? Did he just say ain't no big 488 00:29:47,280 --> 00:29:50,560 deal, I'll get over it? No, he did not. 489 00:29:51,120 --> 00:29:55,440 He sent his Son to take your sin upon himself, to die on a Roman 490 00:29:55,440 --> 00:29:57,480 cross. That was the cost of your 491 00:29:57,480 --> 00:30:00,680 forgiveness. The only way we can view sin 492 00:30:00,760 --> 00:30:05,680 lightly is because we have not seen yet in Christ the full 493 00:30:05,680 --> 00:30:08,160 measure of the cost of our rebellion. 494 00:30:08,160 --> 00:30:11,440 So look to Christ. Forgiveness, real forgiveness 495 00:30:11,440 --> 00:30:13,040 always leads to the fear of the Lord. 496 00:30:13,160 --> 00:30:17,800 Thirdly, in Christ we wait with urgent assurance upon the mercy 497 00:30:18,000 --> 00:30:20,360 of God. Look in verses 5 and 6 He says, 498 00:30:20,880 --> 00:30:26,000 I wait for Yahweh, my soul waits, and in His word I hope my 499 00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:29,200 soul waits for the Lord. More than Watchmen for the 500 00:30:29,200 --> 00:30:31,680 morning, more than Watchmen for the morning. 501 00:30:31,680 --> 00:30:34,440 So don't overthink this one. But how do Watchmen wait for the 502 00:30:34,440 --> 00:30:36,320 morning? There's 2 two ways that I know 503 00:30:36,320 --> 00:30:38,240 of. The first is eagerly. 504 00:30:38,240 --> 00:30:39,920 They've been up all night watching the city. 505 00:30:39,920 --> 00:30:41,480 It's stressful. They're tired. 506 00:30:41,560 --> 00:30:44,360 They want to go home. Come, Mr. Tallyman telling me 507 00:30:44,360 --> 00:30:45,680 banana so that I can get out of here. 508 00:30:45,680 --> 00:30:47,720 Right, eagerly watching for the dawn. 509 00:30:48,640 --> 00:30:52,120 Secondly, they watch for the dawn expectantly. 510 00:30:52,680 --> 00:30:54,560 So they want it to come. They're eager for it to come. 511 00:30:54,640 --> 00:30:58,320 But they also know it's coming, because in all of the annals of 512 00:30:58,320 --> 00:31:01,000 the history of mankind, there's never been a day where the sun 513 00:31:01,000 --> 00:31:04,760 did not rise in the east. So we wait on the Lord the same 514 00:31:04,760 --> 00:31:06,640 way. We hope in His Word in the same 515 00:31:06,640 --> 00:31:10,440 way, with urgent and eager expectation that He will make 516 00:31:10,440 --> 00:31:13,880 good on His word to us if we confess our sins. 517 00:31:13,880 --> 00:31:17,000 He is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us of 518 00:31:17,000 --> 00:31:20,320 our unrighteousness. And if we don't, He won't. 519 00:31:20,920 --> 00:31:24,360 But if we ever do, He never doesn't. 520 00:31:24,920 --> 00:31:29,400 Terrible way to say that if we confess, we know. 521 00:31:29,680 --> 00:31:33,480 We know for certain that God will always forgive our sin. 522 00:31:33,480 --> 00:31:37,760 And so we wait with eager expectation for the Lord, like 523 00:31:37,760 --> 00:31:43,160 Watchmen for the morning. Lastly, in Christ, marvelous 524 00:31:43,160 --> 00:31:46,840 things are already true of us. So as we gather with the body of 525 00:31:46,840 --> 00:31:50,400 Christ every Sunday, we need to remember that in Christ there 526 00:31:50,400 --> 00:31:53,800 are some things that are already true of us that would take your 527 00:31:53,800 --> 00:31:57,560 breath away if you believe them. The problem is you don't, and I 528 00:31:57,560 --> 00:32:02,520 don't listen to these things. He says, O Israel, hope IN the 529 00:32:02,520 --> 00:32:05,840 Lord. By the way, that's an imperative 530 00:32:05,840 --> 00:32:08,880 command and God be praised. It's not an emotion you need to 531 00:32:08,880 --> 00:32:11,800 wait to feel. This is an obedience that you 532 00:32:11,800 --> 00:32:16,240 are to render to God. Hope IN the Lord, put your hope 533 00:32:16,240 --> 00:32:20,200 in the Lord, trust in Him, wait for him, hope IN the Lord. 534 00:32:20,760 --> 00:32:23,480 For with the Lord there is steadfast love, covenant 535 00:32:23,480 --> 00:32:26,800 keeping, love that never dies with him is plentiful 536 00:32:26,800 --> 00:32:30,640 redemption, not just redemption, but an overabundance of 537 00:32:30,640 --> 00:32:34,560 redemption and he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities. 538 00:32:34,800 --> 00:32:38,960 So brothers and sisters, Christ is our new and better if I talk 539 00:32:38,960 --> 00:32:42,240 about the the the the different types of offerings, what they do 540 00:32:42,240 --> 00:32:44,960 for the worshipper and how those things are shadows. 541 00:32:45,200 --> 00:32:47,760 Christ is the new and better sin offering. 542 00:32:48,400 --> 00:32:52,400 Unlike the blood of goats and calves, He dealt once for all on 543 00:32:52,400 --> 00:32:54,720 the cross with our guilt before a holy God. 544 00:32:54,720 --> 00:32:57,600 And we have been crucified with Christ. 545 00:32:57,800 --> 00:33:01,360 We have been buried with him by baptism. 546 00:33:03,840 --> 00:33:08,240 We have died our our our Savior has died and so have we. 547 00:33:08,240 --> 00:33:11,600 He is our sin offering. Christ is also our new and 548 00:33:11,600 --> 00:33:15,840 better ascension offering because he united us to himself 549 00:33:15,840 --> 00:33:19,800 in covenant oneness and then ascended into heaven, passed 550 00:33:19,840 --> 00:33:22,120 through the veil, and he sat down at the right hand of the 551 00:33:22,120 --> 00:33:25,520 majesty on high. And so when he ascended, listen 552 00:33:25,520 --> 00:33:29,400 to the way Paul talks about his the ascension of Christ and our 553 00:33:29,680 --> 00:33:34,880 relationship to it. He says that God raised us up. 554 00:33:34,880 --> 00:33:38,200 Notice Paul does not say he raised me up. 555 00:33:38,280 --> 00:33:41,320 So we all sort of wave at Christ and we wave at Paul. 556 00:33:41,920 --> 00:33:44,400 Paul tells the Gentile Ephesian church. 557 00:33:44,400 --> 00:33:50,920 God raised past tense, raised us up with Christ and seated us 558 00:33:50,920 --> 00:33:56,200 with him in the heavenly places. So when Christ ascended, we as 559 00:33:56,200 --> 00:34:00,680 his bride ascend with him in the heavenly places, so that in the 560 00:34:00,680 --> 00:34:04,440 coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace 561 00:34:04,440 --> 00:34:09,040 and kindness toward us. Joke's on you, believer. 562 00:34:09,040 --> 00:34:12,800 You thought you were coming to church and today you came to 563 00:34:12,800 --> 00:34:16,600 heaven. You have been drawn into the 564 00:34:16,600 --> 00:34:21,520 heavenly realms with Christ. He is our ascension offering, 565 00:34:21,520 --> 00:34:25,400 and in Him we ascend into the realms of glory. 566 00:34:25,840 --> 00:34:28,480 I told you earlier that in the shadows of the old covenant 567 00:34:28,960 --> 00:34:33,719 sacrifices, all either prepared or they perfected us to meet 568 00:34:33,719 --> 00:34:35,639 with God. They were the preparation or the 569 00:34:35,679 --> 00:34:39,800 the action of meeting with God. Sin and ascension offerings were 570 00:34:39,800 --> 00:34:41,719 all preparatory. Both were preparatory. 571 00:34:42,440 --> 00:34:44,120 They dealt with sin. They dealt with guilt. 572 00:34:44,120 --> 00:34:46,840 They dealt with spatial separation from God. 573 00:34:47,560 --> 00:34:50,520 Guilt was always covered first. Then there's ascension into 574 00:34:50,520 --> 00:34:55,719 heaven, into his presence. But these sacrifices all prepare 575 00:34:55,719 --> 00:34:58,960 us to actually meet with the living God. 576 00:34:59,880 --> 00:35:02,040 But you know what the final and the best sacrifice in the 577 00:35:02,040 --> 00:35:03,520 entirety of the Old Testament is? 578 00:35:04,160 --> 00:35:06,480 It's not sin offering. It's not ascension offering. 579 00:35:06,480 --> 00:35:09,720 It's not free will offering everything built toward an 580 00:35:09,720 --> 00:35:14,000 offering called the peace offering and it was the final 581 00:35:14,000 --> 00:35:17,120 and best because it was the offering that worshippers were 582 00:35:17,120 --> 00:35:22,400 to kill and then eat in the presence of God, having had 583 00:35:22,400 --> 00:35:26,560 peace with God restored to them by grace and fellowship with God 584 00:35:26,800 --> 00:35:29,800 now enjoyed as we eat the peace offering. 585 00:35:29,880 --> 00:35:32,720 Peace offerings were the consummation offering of 586 00:35:32,720 --> 00:35:36,320 fellowship with God. Christ is dealt with your sin on 587 00:35:36,320 --> 00:35:39,440 the cross. Christ has ascended for you and 588 00:35:39,440 --> 00:35:42,880 with you into the heavenly realms, and you are brother and 589 00:35:42,880 --> 00:35:45,840 sister. We are seated with him in the 590 00:35:45,840 --> 00:35:48,760 heavenly realms. And Christ has also become our 591 00:35:48,760 --> 00:35:52,440 new and better peace offering, the offering that we eat and 592 00:35:52,440 --> 00:35:55,600 that we drink in the very manifest presence of God. 593 00:35:55,920 --> 00:35:58,160 This bread is His body broken for you. 594 00:35:58,680 --> 00:36:01,720 This cup is His blood shed for the forgiveness of your sins. 595 00:36:01,800 --> 00:36:04,920 He really has forgiven you. He really has drawn you to 596 00:36:04,920 --> 00:36:10,240 Himself, into His heavenly places, all so that He could eat 597 00:36:10,480 --> 00:36:14,400 and drink with you and us together. 598 00:36:15,240 --> 00:36:18,800 You have been received in Christ into the heavenly realms, and 599 00:36:18,800 --> 00:36:22,400 now you shall be satisfied with Him at the heavenly table that 600 00:36:22,400 --> 00:36:27,120 dwells right here on the earth. So come to the table where the 601 00:36:27,120 --> 00:36:30,480 heavenly city has descended from heaven to the earth. 602 00:36:30,920 --> 00:36:33,520 Come to the bread of heaven newly offered to you this day. 603 00:36:33,960 --> 00:36:35,760 Come to the steadfast love of God. 604 00:36:36,080 --> 00:36:38,520 Come and welcome to Jesus Christ. 605 00:36:38,840 --> 00:36:45,320 Let me pray for us. Lord Jesus, we desire nothing 606 00:36:45,320 --> 00:36:49,920 short of fellowship with you. We can do a bunch of things when 607 00:36:49,920 --> 00:36:55,840 we gather as the church, but all of them pale in comparison with 608 00:36:56,000 --> 00:36:59,560 fellowship with you and with the people for whom you died. 609 00:37:00,520 --> 00:37:04,120 And so we ask you, Lord, through the agency of your Holy Spirit, 610 00:37:04,120 --> 00:37:07,200 that you would meet with us at the table, that you would feed 611 00:37:07,200 --> 00:37:13,680 us on your broken body, on your shed blood, that we might be 1 612 00:37:14,120 --> 00:37:17,160 together. That we might look and see all 613 00:37:17,160 --> 00:37:20,280 of the eternal souls that you have called to yourself and that 614 00:37:20,280 --> 00:37:23,520 you have welcomed to the table. And that we would welcome one 615 00:37:23,520 --> 00:37:26,720 another and encourage one another as we come to the table 616 00:37:27,000 --> 00:37:32,080 and be satisfied in everything that you have been to us. 617 00:37:32,640 --> 00:37:36,440 Holy Spirit, would you minister to your people at the table? 618 00:37:36,920 --> 00:37:39,560 We ask it in the name of Jesus, for his sake. 619 00:37:40,120 --> 00:37:40,440 Amen.