1 00:00:02,560 --> 00:00:08,119 Thank you, James and Jim for reading for us in I presume 2 00:00:08,119 --> 00:00:14,960 that's Mandarin and Mandarin and Australian and and good old 3 00:00:14,960 --> 00:00:21,000 fashioned American It is. It is great to be with you. 4 00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:23,360 My name is Andrew Evans, I'm one of the pastors here at Church of 5 00:00:23,360 --> 00:00:25,800 the Resurrection. Let me encourage you to turn in 6 00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:31,040 your Bibles to John chapter 16. We'll actually look at all of 7 00:00:31,040 --> 00:00:35,520 the passages that we heard read today, but we'll spend the most 8 00:00:35,520 --> 00:00:40,520 time in John chapter 16. It's on page 848 in the Pew 9 00:00:40,520 --> 00:00:44,520 Bibles in front of you. Today is the last day of our 10 00:00:44,520 --> 00:00:47,240 sort of abbreviated time of celebrating the season of 11 00:00:47,240 --> 00:00:51,400 Pentecost. We are, we've taken 3 weeks to 12 00:00:51,600 --> 00:00:53,080 to celebrate the coming of the Spirit. 13 00:00:53,080 --> 00:00:57,400 It's worthy of celebrating the Spirit coming to God's people. 14 00:00:58,400 --> 00:01:01,400 Today is also Trinity Sunday. The day after Pentecost is 15 00:01:01,400 --> 00:01:04,920 always in the church calendar. Trinity Sunday, when we consider 16 00:01:05,319 --> 00:01:08,440 the Trinity, God's nature, as three in one. 17 00:01:09,920 --> 00:01:12,280 So before we get started, let me pray. 18 00:01:15,040 --> 00:01:18,440 You are worthy of our praise and our worship. 19 00:01:18,520 --> 00:01:24,160 Oh God, you are three and one, one and three, a mystery that 20 00:01:24,160 --> 00:01:28,360 you invite us to marvel at even while not comprehending it. 21 00:01:30,360 --> 00:01:33,680 So I pray, would you pour out your Spirit on us afresh here 22 00:01:33,680 --> 00:01:37,880 this morning so that we would know you and love you more? 23 00:01:39,320 --> 00:01:42,400 I pray this in the name of Jesus, your Son, Amen. 24 00:01:44,200 --> 00:01:46,880 So I want us to think for a minute about a phenomenon that 25 00:01:47,080 --> 00:01:50,840 we often see in this city and other cities as well. 26 00:01:50,840 --> 00:01:52,640 Maybe you've participated in this phenomenon. 27 00:01:52,640 --> 00:01:54,760 You certainly have seen people or know people who've done it. 28 00:01:55,000 --> 00:01:58,960 And this is the phenomenon of working late. 29 00:02:00,960 --> 00:02:02,680 Have you ever done that? Have I ever done that? 30 00:02:04,320 --> 00:02:06,520 You know, it's, it's, it's common in this city as well 31 00:02:06,520 --> 00:02:09,919 known in the city and burn the midnight oil working on on this 32 00:02:09,919 --> 00:02:13,160 or that project, this or this or that paper report. 33 00:02:14,800 --> 00:02:16,520 We might not have all experienced it. 34 00:02:17,800 --> 00:02:20,520 Maybe we have actually, we'll think about that in a second. 35 00:02:20,520 --> 00:02:23,800 But we definitely have known people who've done that before, 36 00:02:23,800 --> 00:02:26,880 right? Why do people do this? 37 00:02:28,760 --> 00:02:31,520 The simplest answer, right, is that there's work to do. 38 00:02:32,040 --> 00:02:35,160 Something's got to be done. That's certainly part of it, I 39 00:02:35,160 --> 00:02:38,560 think, but I think it's actually the least interesting part. 40 00:02:39,400 --> 00:02:43,480 Why would people sacrifice their sleep, their health, certainly 41 00:02:43,480 --> 00:02:48,560 their time with family and friends in order to work on some 42 00:02:48,560 --> 00:02:52,480 report? I think the more interesting 43 00:02:52,760 --> 00:02:59,600 reason is that in many cases this work, doing this work, 44 00:02:59,600 --> 00:03:03,400 demonstrates that you were needed. 45 00:03:05,080 --> 00:03:08,360 Other people are relying on you. Other people are relying on me 46 00:03:09,480 --> 00:03:12,440 to get this work done. If you've ever got an e-mail 47 00:03:12,440 --> 00:03:15,640 from me too late at night, you know that I'm as guilty of this 48 00:03:15,640 --> 00:03:19,920 as anybody else. CS Lewis writes about this 49 00:03:19,920 --> 00:03:23,440 phenomenon in his essay called The Inner Ring. 50 00:03:23,840 --> 00:03:29,200 The Inner Ring, he writes, men tell not only their wives but 51 00:03:29,200 --> 00:03:33,440 themselves that it is a hardship to stay late at the office or 52 00:03:33,640 --> 00:03:37,400 the school on some bit of important extra work which 53 00:03:37,400 --> 00:03:41,040 they've been let in on because they and so and so and the other 54 00:03:41,040 --> 00:03:45,440 two are the only people left in the place who really know how 55 00:03:45,440 --> 00:03:50,960 things are run. It is tiring and unhealthy to 56 00:03:50,960 --> 00:03:57,120 lose your Saturday afternoons, but to have them free because 57 00:03:57,120 --> 00:04:02,160 you don't matter, that is much worse. 58 00:04:04,680 --> 00:04:06,520 How many of you recognize yourself in this statement? 59 00:04:06,520 --> 00:04:08,560 How much do I recognize myself in this statement? 60 00:04:08,680 --> 00:04:09,880 Probably more than I would like to say. 61 00:04:10,040 --> 00:04:14,440 There's a sense in which all of us should recognize ourselves 62 00:04:14,440 --> 00:04:19,120 here because we all want to be in the inner ring. 63 00:04:19,720 --> 00:04:23,880 Maybe for you it is work. Maybe you you want to get that 64 00:04:23,880 --> 00:04:26,360 office, you want to get that promotion, or you want to get 65 00:04:26,360 --> 00:04:31,000 that dream job in that office. Or maybe for you, it actually 66 00:04:31,160 --> 00:04:34,520 isn't work. Maybe your work is is actually 67 00:04:34,520 --> 00:04:38,680 just a chore, but there are other places in your life where 68 00:04:38,840 --> 00:04:42,880 you want to be in on the inside, maybe with that group of 69 00:04:42,880 --> 00:04:46,040 friends. Maybe it's that social circle CS 70 00:04:46,080 --> 00:04:48,720 Lewis describes at another point in this essay, A group of 71 00:04:48,720 --> 00:04:53,760 artists gathered around a stove in an attic, hidden away, and 72 00:04:53,760 --> 00:04:58,800 they, and only they understand what they are actually making 73 00:04:58,800 --> 00:05:02,120 together. It's so enticing, isn't it? 74 00:05:02,560 --> 00:05:06,920 It doesn't have to be work. We all feel this desire to be on 75 00:05:06,920 --> 00:05:10,440 the inside. It pops up everywhere. 76 00:05:11,160 --> 00:05:14,720 No matter what we do, where we are, there's always an inside 77 00:05:14,920 --> 00:05:18,280 and an outside. And we all want to be on the 78 00:05:18,280 --> 00:05:20,120 inside. And we all are afraid of being 79 00:05:20,120 --> 00:05:23,480 left out in the cold on the outside. 80 00:05:26,280 --> 00:05:32,480 There's something that's just so delicious about making it being 81 00:05:32,480 --> 00:05:36,600 LED in, right? We all want this. 82 00:05:37,840 --> 00:05:40,680 Now think about this in in relationship to God. 83 00:05:41,560 --> 00:05:44,520 There's a real sense in which we all want to be on the inside 84 00:05:44,640 --> 00:05:46,760 with God, don't we? Right. 85 00:05:47,120 --> 00:05:48,960 We certainly want God on our side. 86 00:05:49,040 --> 00:05:52,440 That's certainly true. We long for God to guide us in 87 00:05:52,440 --> 00:05:54,920 our lives. We all want to be with God when 88 00:05:54,920 --> 00:05:57,880 we die. These are good desires. 89 00:05:58,000 --> 00:06:00,440 In fact, God has given us these desires. 90 00:06:00,440 --> 00:06:03,840 He made us in order to be with Him. 91 00:06:04,120 --> 00:06:09,720 Our first parents experienced intimate fellowship with God in 92 00:06:09,720 --> 00:06:12,840 the Garden of Eden. And in fact, this reality that 93 00:06:12,840 --> 00:06:18,120 God made us for him to be with Him sets up one of the bitterest 94 00:06:18,320 --> 00:06:22,160 ironies of the fall in Genesis chapter 3. 95 00:06:22,680 --> 00:06:24,400 What did Satan offer Adam and Eve? 96 00:06:24,400 --> 00:06:27,280 He offered them fruit. He offered them through that 97 00:06:27,280 --> 00:06:29,040 fruit and knowledge of good and evil. 98 00:06:29,040 --> 00:06:32,360 But what is that knowledge? It's a kind of secret insider 99 00:06:32,360 --> 00:06:35,760 knowledge, isn't it? It's a sort of entrance into the 100 00:06:35,760 --> 00:06:38,720 inner ring. You will know, just like God 101 00:06:38,720 --> 00:06:46,040 knows, exclusive access. But what began as a temptation 102 00:06:46,040 --> 00:06:50,800 to join this inner ring resulted not in entering that inner ring. 103 00:06:50,800 --> 00:06:53,960 Yes, they had knowledge of some sort now, but but the result was 104 00:06:53,960 --> 00:06:56,120 that they are cast out from God's presence. 105 00:06:58,400 --> 00:07:03,440 You could even say, in fact, that all sin in a sense is an 106 00:07:03,440 --> 00:07:10,840 attempt to be on the inside with God wrongfully, to to be like 107 00:07:10,840 --> 00:07:14,960 God, to claim for ourselves what only God can do. 108 00:07:15,800 --> 00:07:20,440 We want to be on the inside, even with God. 109 00:07:22,560 --> 00:07:25,880 Our passages that we read today are the appointed lessons in the 110 00:07:25,880 --> 00:07:30,120 Lectionary for Trinity Sunday, and it's striking how all of 111 00:07:30,120 --> 00:07:34,560 them are about, in one way or another, being on the inside 112 00:07:34,800 --> 00:07:39,680 with God. And while we might say in the 113 00:07:39,680 --> 00:07:42,440 abstract in theory that we want to be on the inside without, we 114 00:07:42,440 --> 00:07:46,680 want to be with God, right? These passages show us that to 115 00:07:46,680 --> 00:07:51,480 be on the inside with God should, to put it mildly, 116 00:07:52,480 --> 00:07:58,560 overwhelm us, overwhelm us. To be with God, to behold God in 117 00:07:58,560 --> 00:08:06,240 his glory, in his nature, is an awesome and even a terrifying 118 00:08:06,400 --> 00:08:08,240 thing. Let me read to you again from 119 00:08:08,280 --> 00:08:13,720 Psalm 29. The voice of the Lord is over 120 00:08:13,720 --> 00:08:17,120 the waters. The God of glory thunders the 121 00:08:17,120 --> 00:08:20,960 Lord over many waters. The voice of the Lord is 122 00:08:20,960 --> 00:08:24,760 powerful. The voice of the Lord is full of 123 00:08:24,760 --> 00:08:27,600 majesty. The voice of the Lord breaks the 124 00:08:27,600 --> 00:08:31,240 Cedars. The Lord breaks the Cedars of 125 00:08:31,240 --> 00:08:34,080 Lebanon. He makes Lebanon to skip like a 126 00:08:34,080 --> 00:08:37,679 calf in Syrian, like a young wild ox. 127 00:08:37,679 --> 00:08:42,039 The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire. 128 00:08:42,039 --> 00:08:44,480 The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness. 129 00:08:44,480 --> 00:08:47,560 The Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. 130 00:08:49,080 --> 00:08:53,040 The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth and strips the 131 00:08:53,040 --> 00:08:58,960 forests bare. And in his temple all cry glory. 132 00:09:00,280 --> 00:09:03,960 The Lord sits enthroned over the flood. 133 00:09:04,560 --> 00:09:09,520 The Lord sits enthroned as a king forever. 134 00:09:11,840 --> 00:09:19,000 God speaks in the earth. Quakes, mountains move, skip. 135 00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:22,840 God merely gives a word and it's like a hurricane comes ripping 136 00:09:22,840 --> 00:09:27,560 through the earth. Trees break or a stripped bare 137 00:09:28,560 --> 00:09:33,800 animals are thrown into labor. Such is the awesome power of 138 00:09:33,800 --> 00:09:35,680 God. And all anyone can do when 139 00:09:35,680 --> 00:09:42,320 confronted with this reality is to cry out glory, glory, glory 140 00:09:42,320 --> 00:09:46,080 to you. This is our God. 141 00:09:47,640 --> 00:09:52,480 He's enthroned, He is king, He is glorious. 142 00:09:54,160 --> 00:09:59,800 And what happens when we encounter this God as he really 143 00:09:59,800 --> 00:10:05,840 is, when we enter the inner sanctum and behold God in his 144 00:10:05,840 --> 00:10:07,960 glory? We actually read about exactly 145 00:10:07,960 --> 00:10:13,400 this in Isaiah chapter 6. Isaiah is is brought up into the 146 00:10:13,400 --> 00:10:17,040 inner sanctum where he beholds God in His glory. 147 00:10:17,520 --> 00:10:23,600 And what does he say? Woe is me, for I am lost. 148 00:10:24,800 --> 00:10:28,920 I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people 149 00:10:29,320 --> 00:10:34,960 of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of 150 00:10:34,960 --> 00:10:39,680 hosts. Woe is me, for I am lost. 151 00:10:41,480 --> 00:10:48,040 To encounter God is to be overwhelmed not only with God's 152 00:10:48,040 --> 00:10:51,120 greatness, but with our unworthiness. 153 00:10:51,840 --> 00:10:54,960 This is the God who not only made the world, who sustains it 154 00:10:55,360 --> 00:10:58,400 by the power of His Word, but who is righteousness and 155 00:10:58,400 --> 00:11:03,840 holiness and purity itself. To encounter God means to be 156 00:11:03,840 --> 00:11:07,040 confronted with every wrong thing that we've ever done, 157 00:11:07,040 --> 00:11:11,000 because they're right there, present and exposed to Him. 158 00:11:13,160 --> 00:11:16,320 And He is so holy that everything that is evil and 159 00:11:16,320 --> 00:11:20,520 impure is liable to be burned up instantly in His presence. 160 00:11:20,520 --> 00:11:25,680 Woe is me, for I have seen the Lord of glory. 161 00:11:27,560 --> 00:11:32,160 So let me ask you, do you want to be on the inside with God? 162 00:11:32,840 --> 00:11:39,080 Really and truly, you were made for it, but neither you nor I 163 00:11:39,080 --> 00:11:41,960 can abide being in God's presence. 164 00:11:44,280 --> 00:11:47,680 This should actually be our attitude when we come into 165 00:11:47,680 --> 00:11:50,480 contact with the doctrine of the Trinity. 166 00:11:51,400 --> 00:11:55,320 The Trinity isn't just some mysterious Christian puzzle that 167 00:11:55,360 --> 00:11:58,400 we confess once a week, and the Nicene Creed we then struggle to 168 00:11:58,400 --> 00:12:00,760 defend with our Muslim and Jewish friends and colleagues. 169 00:12:00,760 --> 00:12:04,040 Right. The Trinity is actually God's 170 00:12:04,280 --> 00:12:07,320 inner nature. It's his inner being. 171 00:12:07,320 --> 00:12:13,440 It is who he is in himself. God is 3 and one, one in three. 172 00:12:15,000 --> 00:12:19,960 When we consider the Trinity, we are entering the Holy of Holies, 173 00:12:22,040 --> 00:12:27,760 the God who is a consuming fire, who makes the mountains to skip 174 00:12:29,000 --> 00:12:34,320 just by his word. This God in his inner being is 3 175 00:12:34,320 --> 00:12:38,080 and one, one and three. When we encounter the Trinity, 176 00:12:38,680 --> 00:12:44,920 we should all cry glory, glory. But even in being able to 177 00:12:44,920 --> 00:12:48,720 confess the Trinity, we're seeing more than just God's 178 00:12:48,720 --> 00:12:51,760 mysterious inner nature. We're actually encountering 179 00:12:51,760 --> 00:12:54,440 God's graciousness. Think about it this way. 180 00:12:54,720 --> 00:13:00,080 Who you are in yourself is a sort of deeply held piece of 181 00:13:00,080 --> 00:13:02,520 information, right? It's something who you are and 182 00:13:02,520 --> 00:13:05,080 yourself, your your, your dreams, your desires, your 183 00:13:05,080 --> 00:13:07,680 fears, your anxieties, the things that have shaped you most 184 00:13:07,680 --> 00:13:10,080 deeply, those are things that you do not share with just 185 00:13:10,080 --> 00:13:12,320 anybody. There's a reason that when you 186 00:13:12,320 --> 00:13:17,160 come to to talk to a pastor or talk to a counselor, you expect 187 00:13:17,200 --> 00:13:21,040 confidentiality. It's required because you're 188 00:13:21,040 --> 00:13:23,880 sharing aspects of yourself that that you don't want other people 189 00:13:23,880 --> 00:13:26,800 to know. You share this kind of thing 190 00:13:26,800 --> 00:13:30,440 only with your closest friends, only with the closest of 191 00:13:30,440 --> 00:13:32,800 confidants. To share this information about 192 00:13:32,800 --> 00:13:36,880 who you are in yourself, your deepest self, is to be 193 00:13:36,880 --> 00:13:38,840 vulnerable. It's to invite people into 194 00:13:38,840 --> 00:13:42,920 knowing the real you. And there's actually something 195 00:13:42,920 --> 00:13:46,960 analogous going on here with God's revelation of the Trinity. 196 00:13:47,800 --> 00:13:54,800 God wants us to know him. He wants us to be on the inside 197 00:13:54,800 --> 00:13:57,680 with Him, to join His inner ring. 198 00:13:57,680 --> 00:14:02,400 And so He's actually revealed to us in Scripture His inner 199 00:14:02,400 --> 00:14:05,280 nature. We get a peek into this 200 00:14:05,280 --> 00:14:08,280 revelation in our gospel lesson, John chapter 16. 201 00:14:08,280 --> 00:14:10,640 Look there with me, verses 5 and seven. 202 00:14:10,640 --> 00:14:14,640 He says in verse 5 that he's going back to the one who sent 203 00:14:14,640 --> 00:14:18,320 him. So Jesus was sent by the Father. 204 00:14:18,720 --> 00:14:22,040 Then in verse 7, he says that when he returns to the Father, 205 00:14:22,320 --> 00:14:26,520 he will send the Spirit, the Paraclete, the helper. 206 00:14:27,640 --> 00:14:30,360 Now this spirit isn't a force or some emanation. 207 00:14:30,360 --> 00:14:34,320 This this spirit is a person. He says in verse 8 that he will 208 00:14:34,320 --> 00:14:36,520 convict. The Spirit will convict. 209 00:14:36,560 --> 00:14:39,720 Then in verse 13 he says that the spirit will guide. 210 00:14:40,640 --> 00:14:44,240 Forces don't convict and guide. These are words of agency. 211 00:14:44,360 --> 00:14:48,800 People do these things, so the Spirit is a person. 212 00:14:48,800 --> 00:14:52,320 So here we have the building blocks in this tight passage of 213 00:14:52,320 --> 00:14:54,680 the Trinity. Three persons, a sender, the 214 00:14:54,680 --> 00:14:58,160 sent one and then another one who was sent by the sender and 215 00:14:58,160 --> 00:15:00,680 the sent one. These are all mutually 216 00:15:00,680 --> 00:15:03,360 interrelated. They all have one purpose which 217 00:15:03,360 --> 00:15:05,480 points us to their ultimate unity. 218 00:15:06,040 --> 00:15:11,120 They are three and they are one. This is who God is in Himself. 219 00:15:11,400 --> 00:15:15,200 This is his inner nature, friends. 220 00:15:15,200 --> 00:15:19,040 What intimate details about God that he has revealed to us about 221 00:15:19,040 --> 00:15:23,680 Himself? God wants us to know him who he 222 00:15:23,680 --> 00:15:28,920 is at his deepest level. But we can go further here. 223 00:15:29,600 --> 00:15:33,160 We only know God as Trinity because it has revealed his 224 00:15:33,160 --> 00:15:38,240 nature to us in salvation. One theologian puts it this way. 225 00:15:38,840 --> 00:15:42,920 Faith in the Trinity rests on God's revelation of himself in 226 00:15:42,920 --> 00:15:48,640 the economy of salvation. Put it in another way, we know 227 00:15:48,760 --> 00:15:54,240 God as Trinity because God saves us as a Trinity. 228 00:15:55,680 --> 00:15:58,800 Now, to be sure, we have, we have hints of of the Trinity in 229 00:15:58,800 --> 00:16:02,360 the Old Testament, but we got God has definitively revealed 230 00:16:02,360 --> 00:16:06,040 his, his nature in this way to us in the sending of Christ and 231 00:16:06,040 --> 00:16:08,600 then in the sending of the Spirit to save us. 232 00:16:09,200 --> 00:16:10,920 That's what's going on in this passage as well. 233 00:16:11,000 --> 00:16:13,520 When Jesus talks about coming and then going back to the 234 00:16:13,520 --> 00:16:16,840 Father, he's talking about being sent to earth to live and then 235 00:16:16,840 --> 00:16:21,560 to die and then to return to the Father after rising from the 236 00:16:21,560 --> 00:16:23,720 dead. Right after this passage, right 237 00:16:23,720 --> 00:16:26,280 after this monologue, Jesus is betrayed and killed. 238 00:16:27,240 --> 00:16:31,880 Jesus came to save. So we know the Son because he 239 00:16:31,880 --> 00:16:36,000 came to save us, but we actually know the Spirit for the same 240 00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:38,840 reason. The Spirit points us to the 241 00:16:38,840 --> 00:16:43,440 Son's saving work. When Jesus says in verse 8 that 242 00:16:43,440 --> 00:16:47,000 the Spirit will convict the world over three things. 243 00:16:47,480 --> 00:16:50,560 Each of these three things has something to do implicitly or 244 00:16:50,560 --> 00:16:55,360 explicitly with Jesus. And when the Spirit speaks in 245 00:16:55,360 --> 00:17:00,320 verses 13 and 14, what he says he will have heard from the 246 00:17:00,320 --> 00:17:05,280 Father and the Son in order to glorify the Son. 247 00:17:06,040 --> 00:17:09,480 The Spirit is constantly pointing back to the Son. 248 00:17:12,119 --> 00:17:16,720 We know God as three because God saves us as a Trinity. 249 00:17:17,400 --> 00:17:21,640 God the Father sends the Son to die for us, who then with the 250 00:17:21,640 --> 00:17:25,319 Father sends the Spirit to draw us back to the Father through 251 00:17:25,319 --> 00:17:27,760 the Son. The Spirit is actually an 252 00:17:27,800 --> 00:17:31,960 intimate and crucial part of God's salvation plan. 253 00:17:33,160 --> 00:17:36,960 He points not to himself as some sort of independent power center 254 00:17:36,960 --> 00:17:38,440 apart from the Father and the Son. 255 00:17:38,440 --> 00:17:44,400 He points us to Christ, the one sent by the Father. 256 00:17:46,280 --> 00:17:53,200 The Spirit draws us deeper into God's triune nature by saving 257 00:17:53,200 --> 00:17:57,920 us. Friends, It is a fearful thing 258 00:17:57,920 --> 00:18:03,880 to enter into the presence of our God, But God wants us inside 259 00:18:04,040 --> 00:18:09,320 with Him, and He wants us there so much that by saving us, He 260 00:18:09,320 --> 00:18:12,400 revealed Himself to us as triune. 261 00:18:13,680 --> 00:18:16,240 And friends, if you're looking to God through faith in Christ, 262 00:18:16,920 --> 00:18:20,120 you have the ultimate insider status. 263 00:18:20,120 --> 00:18:24,000 You have come into the greatest, the most central inner ring. 264 00:18:24,000 --> 00:18:27,400 You are beholding God as he really is. 265 00:18:28,600 --> 00:18:31,560 You have a knowledge of God that he has of himself. 266 00:18:31,560 --> 00:18:36,040 Not to the same degree, but you have knowledge that God has of 267 00:18:36,040 --> 00:18:39,200 himself. And here we can actually see how 268 00:18:39,360 --> 00:18:42,000 God is undoing the curse of the fall. 269 00:18:42,680 --> 00:18:44,560 Adam and Eve wanted to be inside. 270 00:18:44,560 --> 00:18:46,720 They wanted to have insider knowledge. 271 00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:49,640 But they lost far, far more than they gained. 272 00:18:50,320 --> 00:18:54,360 They became outsiders, left out in the cold, kicked out of the 273 00:18:54,360 --> 00:18:57,280 garden. But see what God has worked for 274 00:18:57,280 --> 00:18:59,760 us as He has revealed His triune nature. 275 00:19:01,120 --> 00:19:04,960 Not only do we now have insider knowledge of God's true nature 276 00:19:04,960 --> 00:19:08,360 is triune something that Adam and Eve likely never had. 277 00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:12,600 Not only do we have greater knowledge of good and evil in 278 00:19:12,600 --> 00:19:17,040 the revelation of Christ, far beyond what they could have 279 00:19:17,040 --> 00:19:22,360 imagined, we are actually brought back into God's 280 00:19:22,480 --> 00:19:27,960 presence. We can behold God's nature, come 281 00:19:27,960 --> 00:19:31,960 into this holy of holies, and cry out glory without being 282 00:19:31,960 --> 00:19:35,640 undone. We've been purified by the blood 283 00:19:35,640 --> 00:19:39,440 of the Son, sent by the Father in the power of the Spirit, so 284 00:19:39,440 --> 00:19:43,640 that we can then join the throng of those who are standing before 285 00:19:43,640 --> 00:19:46,720 His throne. Friends in Christ, we are 286 00:19:46,800 --> 00:19:52,640 ultimate insiders and the result is that our motivation for 287 00:19:52,640 --> 00:19:55,680 seeking to be insiders in this life should change. 288 00:19:56,320 --> 00:19:59,000 Why do we want to be insiders? Why do we want to get into that 289 00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:02,280 inner ring? Why do we want to work late to 290 00:20:02,840 --> 00:20:06,000 try to get into that office or or do that report well, be in 291 00:20:06,000 --> 00:20:07,720 that meeting, have coffee with that person. 292 00:20:07,720 --> 00:20:10,160 See see if our art is noticed by that person. 293 00:20:11,040 --> 00:20:14,840 Look for that. Like on Instagram, is it not in 294 00:20:14,840 --> 00:20:17,280 part? In part this is the only reason, 295 00:20:17,280 --> 00:20:20,560 but in part. Because we want the validation. 296 00:20:22,360 --> 00:20:26,800 There's certainly other reasons, but is this not a part we want 297 00:20:26,800 --> 00:20:30,160 to have? The glory that comes from being 298 00:20:30,160 --> 00:20:32,080 on this inner ring, in this inner ring? 299 00:20:32,320 --> 00:20:39,120 Fundamentally, it is about me. What happens when we enter this 300 00:20:39,360 --> 00:20:43,120 ultimate inner ring with God? Think about this passage from 301 00:20:43,120 --> 00:20:46,760 Revelation. The elders, 24 of them, are 302 00:20:46,760 --> 00:20:50,120 sitting on Thrones around God's throne. 303 00:20:50,120 --> 00:20:53,720 And what do they do when the time comes? 304 00:20:54,040 --> 00:20:56,440 They rise up. They take off their crowns, 305 00:20:56,560 --> 00:20:59,400 their real, true crowns that they have, and they cast them 306 00:20:59,400 --> 00:21:03,760 before God. Their attention turns from 307 00:21:03,760 --> 00:21:08,520 themselves, from their own status, their own glory, and 308 00:21:08,520 --> 00:21:16,560 turns to God to give glory to the one who truly and most fully 309 00:21:16,560 --> 00:21:20,120 deserves it. In a word, the result is 310 00:21:20,120 --> 00:21:23,400 worship. And if we are looking to Christ 311 00:21:23,400 --> 00:21:27,120 in faith, worship should be our primary posture. 312 00:21:28,880 --> 00:21:31,520 Are you letting this reality about you, that you are an 313 00:21:31,800 --> 00:21:34,600 insider, that you were in this inner ring? 314 00:21:34,600 --> 00:21:39,120 Are you letting this reality turn you away from a constant 315 00:21:39,120 --> 00:21:43,880 consideration of yourself and your status and your needs and 316 00:21:43,880 --> 00:21:46,040 your wants? Are you letting this, this 317 00:21:46,040 --> 00:21:49,120 reality that Christ has worked in your life, turn you away from 318 00:21:49,120 --> 00:21:52,840 yourself and turn you toward God in worship? 319 00:21:53,880 --> 00:21:59,520 Are you fixing your mind, even for a short period, on God's 320 00:21:59,600 --> 00:22:04,600 glory and majesty? Here's an exercise to do this 321 00:22:04,600 --> 00:22:08,400 week, every day, the next week. Take a minute. 322 00:22:08,400 --> 00:22:12,560 You can do it for longer, but take one minute and praise God. 323 00:22:13,440 --> 00:22:16,080 Don't thank Him. Don't say thank you. 324 00:22:16,080 --> 00:22:18,160 That's that's viewing Him in relation to yourself. 325 00:22:18,680 --> 00:22:22,040 Try to take yourself out of the picture and praise Him for who 326 00:22:22,040 --> 00:22:25,400 he is. Praise Him for his attributes. 327 00:22:26,400 --> 00:22:29,720 Praise Him for his glory, His power, His goodness, His 328 00:22:29,720 --> 00:22:35,720 graciousness, His righteousness. Praise Him and see what happens. 329 00:22:39,040 --> 00:22:41,640 In a life formed by worship, ideally a couple things will 330 00:22:41,640 --> 00:22:46,920 happen. 1 is that you will have more peace, particularly in 331 00:22:46,920 --> 00:22:51,440 precisely those places where you have been so anxious to enter 332 00:22:51,440 --> 00:22:55,120 the inner ring. You can still strive for that 333 00:22:55,120 --> 00:22:58,040 promotion. You can still network for the 334 00:22:58,040 --> 00:22:59,520 dream job. Sometimes you can even work 335 00:22:59,520 --> 00:23:04,080 late. But you can do so with a piece 336 00:23:04,480 --> 00:23:08,000 and a confidence about you, because any affirmation that 337 00:23:08,000 --> 00:23:12,240 comes from the world, from the inner rings of this world, will 338 00:23:12,240 --> 00:23:16,000 pale in comparison to the inner ring that you have been brought 339 00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:17,960 into by the blood of our Savior Jesus. 340 00:23:18,960 --> 00:23:25,640 God has drawn you to himself. Worship Him and be at peace. 341 00:23:27,920 --> 00:23:31,280 And one of the thing that should happen as we worship God is that 342 00:23:31,280 --> 00:23:35,200 we should actually become more like the Holy Spirit. 343 00:23:36,760 --> 00:23:40,760 See, the Spirit has a mission. God sends the Spirit not to draw 344 00:23:40,760 --> 00:23:44,040 attention to himself as the Spirit, so that, but so that we 345 00:23:44,040 --> 00:23:47,480 would then look to Jesus, we would look at Jesus. 346 00:23:47,840 --> 00:23:51,200 The Spirit is always pointing away from himself toward the 347 00:23:51,200 --> 00:23:54,320 Son, to draw people to the Father through the Son. 348 00:23:56,360 --> 00:23:59,000 This is the mission of the Spirit. 349 00:23:59,880 --> 00:24:03,080 And we too, as we worship and as we have the peace that comes 350 00:24:03,080 --> 00:24:07,200 through this worship, will be drawn into this mission as well. 351 00:24:07,720 --> 00:24:11,520 We'll no longer need the praise of others as much, but we will 352 00:24:11,640 --> 00:24:15,920 long for these people, the people around us, to be drawn to 353 00:24:15,920 --> 00:24:19,360 the Father through the Son in the power of the Spirit. 354 00:24:21,080 --> 00:24:25,240 Worshiping God and the power of the Spirit draws us into this 355 00:24:25,320 --> 00:24:28,960 mission, the mission of the Spirit, pointing away from 356 00:24:28,960 --> 00:24:32,760 ourselves and toward the one who has saved us. 357 00:24:34,080 --> 00:24:35,800 We'll become more like the Spirit. 358 00:24:36,520 --> 00:24:41,440 Friends, this is our Triune God. To approach Him on our own is an 359 00:24:41,440 --> 00:24:46,240 awesome and a terrible thing, but is precisely in revealing 360 00:24:46,240 --> 00:24:50,840 Himself to us as Trinity, as Triune, that he has brought us 361 00:24:50,840 --> 00:24:56,600 safely to Himself. What love he has shown us. 362 00:24:57,320 --> 00:25:01,680 So let's worship Him today and every day, in the name of the 363 00:25:01,680 --> 00:25:03,320 Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. 364 00:25:03,640 --> 00:25:03,960 Amen.