Right Worship

As we rejoin our study on the Book of Exodus, Pastor Jeff reminds us of what's happened up to this point. We then finish out chapter 20 by looking at Jesus as our Mediator and the importance of worshipping God as He desires to be worshipped.

Discussion Questions:

Read Exodus 20:18-26

1. What is a mediator? Why did Israel appoint Moses as their mediator? Who is Moses pointing towards? And in what way? (Deut. 18:15a)

2. Read Hebrews 12:18-29. Compare and contrast verses 18-21 with verses
22-24. How is Jesus a greater mediator than Moses?

3. Discuss the idea that Jesus “bridges the gap by raising us up”. How does this reality impact you?

4. You might hear people say that they like the God of the New Testament
better than the God of the Old Testament. Why do you think people might
say this? Do you think God’s character changed from the Old Testament to
the New? Explain.

5. Read Hebrews 12:28-29 again. What do these verses teach us about who
God is? What is the fundamental motivation for our worship? How do these
verses describe what that worship is to look like?

6. How would you define fear of the Lord? Can you think of verses in the Bible that teach us about it? What is a “right” fear of the Lord? What does this look like in your own life? Is it ever possible to have an unhealthy fear of the Lord? Explain.

7. God’s grace covers all our sin, but does His grace give us license to sin?
Why or why not? What if you yourself, or someone else says, “I want to obey
Jesus in my own “personal” way”, but this “personal” way involves
disobedience to God’s Word? What does God’s Word teach us about this?

8. What is one area of obedience that God is transforming in this current
season of your life? Can you recognize God’s grace and a healthy fear of the
Lord at work in specific ways?


Transcription (automatically-generated):

Well, when God Rock and New Hope began holding church services together, God Rock was in the middle of studying the Gospel of Matthew while New Hope was in the middle of going through the Book of Exodus. And what BJ and I decided to do was just go back and forth sharing the teaching load until we get through. Both studies will go through a chunk of Matthew, a chunk of exodus until we get through both books, at which point we'll start a new Bible study together.

And we've been through the Olivet Discourse in Matthew. And now we're jumping back into the Book of Exodus. We're in Chapter 20 and something massive has just taken place. God has given his people the Ten Commandments. But before we continue with our study, I need to bring you up to speed, because a lot has happened, especially if you haven't been with us for the first part of our journey through Exodus.

The Book of Exodus is simply a continuation of the Book of Genesis.

It's a fact that doesn't help you at all if you haven't read the Book of Genesis. Genesis ends with the death of Joseph, an incredible man of God, one of only two men in scripture who are not God incarnate, of whom the Bible records no sin. Joseph was an incredible man of God who rose to become prime minister of Egypt through some incredible events.

And Exodus opens by telling us that several generations after the death of Joseph, a pharaoh arose who did not know or did not care about what Joseph and his family, the Hebrews, had done for the nation of Egypt.

This new pharaoh was very pro-Egypt. He was a nationalist who didn't like the wealth and prosperity that he saw in the hands of the Hebrews in his land. So he enslaved them and the Israelite people lived as slaves for generations. Through another miraculous set of circumstances, a Hebrew boy ends up being adopted by the daughter of Pharaoh, and he's raised as an Egyptian prince.

His name is Moses. And Moses is special because God chose him to be the deliverer of Israel. God chose Moses to represent him before Pharaoh and bring about the liberation of his people from slavery.

But before that can happen, God had to prepare Moses.

He had to go through training. He had to get ready for the task. And so Moses goes through his own journey that is full of setbacks and failures and disappointments and even outright rebellion against God.

But Moses finally makes it so there's hope for you and I. And the day finally comes when God says, OK, we're ready.

Let's go talk to Pharaoh.

Now, in the least surprising reaction of all time, Pharaoh's not interested in voluntarily giving up the massive and free labor force that is powering his booming economy. He tells Moses and God basically to get lost. And this sets up a back and forth where God steps in to show his power through the famous plagues of Egypt, delivering supernatural and devastating judgements on the people, land and animals of Egypt.

But still, Pharaoh refuses to let them go until.

Until the final and most horrific plague, the death of the firstborn son in every household in Egypt, including Pharaoh's, the Israeli homes and families are spared because they follow special instructions given by God to paint their doorposts with the blood of a lamb because the lamb's death would be accepted by God in place of their sons.

And this event will go on to be celebrated by the feast known as Passover, because it marked the night when God passed over the homes of Israel during that final plague.

And all of that, to give an incredibly brief summary, pointed to Jesus, the lamb of God who died in our place to save us from death. And after this final judgment, Pharaoh's will is broken and he decides to let the Israelites go. And so they set off.

They leave Egypt in one day, an entire nation comes out of the nation of Egypt and is freed from slavery.

And the thing you need to understand about Exodus is that it is not the story of Moses. It is not the story of Israel. It is the story of how God works in our lives brings us to the place of freedom and makes us into his own people. God is the star of the Book of Exodus.

Egypt is a picture of the world. Pharaoh is a picture of Satan. Slavery is a picture of our spiritual bondage to sin the bondage we're all born into. That puts us under a death sentence. And Moses is a picture of Jesus. And in this whole first section of Exodus, we read the story of how God sets his people free. It's the story of how God sets us free from our slavery to sin and death by sending a deliverer.

Our deliverer is, of course, Jesus Christ. That's right. Now, once they're out of Egypt, the next section, the next part of the story begins to unfold.

When you become a follower of Jesus, you're your focus, your heart, your destination, your treasure is no longer in this world.

It's in heaven because that's where Jesus is.

And the call to follow Jesus is also the call to move your citizenship from earth to heaven. And so God has to get his people out of Egypt, which he does. But the next part of the story deals with the even bigger challenge of getting Egypt out of his people.

Which is a whole different deal, and like us, they've got to learn what it means to be the people of God, they've got to learn a new way to be human because God's ways are nothing like the ways of the world. And so God takes a two pronged approach to this challenge.

Firstly, God's people need to know and understand who their God is. They need to see his character and they need to see his power.

Just as we can only really develop real faith if we understand that there is a God who loves us, cares about us, and not only wants to help us, but is able to help us.

We need to understand his character and we need to understand his power that he has the power to back up his character.

Secondly, God's people need to know what it means to live as God's people. Practically, you're the people of God. Now, that's that's great.

Is there is there a book?

Is there a being God's People for Dummies? Something like that we could read.

The answer's going to be, yes, there is. But they need to know what does it look like to be the people of God in everyday life? What does it look like in worship, in work, in marriage, in family? Well, shortly after letting them go, Pharaoh has a change of heart and he gives chase and the Israelites find themselves trapped against mountains and water with nowhere to go.

To make a long story short is the recurring theme here. God moves in a miraculous way. The waters part Israel walks through on dry land. Egypt gives chase, God closes the waters in on Pharaoh and his army, and they drown all of them, all of them.

And so God was teaching Israel about his character that he cares about them and he cares about their safety. But he was also teaching them about his power. He can do whatever he wants and he can be powerful enough to act on their behalf.

And that's what the Lord wants to do in your life as well.

He wants you to experience and encounter his character and his power, because when you do, it will change everything about the way you trust him.

The Israelites go on to see more of these demonstrations of God's character and power as God miraculously provides water and food for the whole nation while they're in the wilderness, and he gives them a miraculous military victory over the Amalekites.

But God's people still needed the second part of that two pronged approach.

They needed practical instruction on what it meant to live as God's people on an everyday basis.

So God led his people to Mt. Sinai, the Mount of God, and there the very presence of God came down upon the mountain in an overwhelming way. God called up Moses and gave him the Ten Commandments, ten timeless moral laws written by the finger of God himself on two tablets of stone laws that form the foundation of how we are to interact with God and with each other. Laws that, like God, are our perfect, perfect.

And that's where we find ourselves in Exodus 20, the Ten Commandments, the Decalogue, if you take one thing away from this message to make yourself feel smarter, call the Ten Commandments the Decalogue, OK?

The Decalogue has just been received by Moses. And now we pick up our study. And I taught through some of these verse is several months ago. But there's a few additional things I want to share with you about them today. So let's jump in. Exodus, chapter 20, verse 18. It says now all the people witness the thunder rings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking. This is what they're seeing as they look at Mount Sinai and the physical presence of God.

The Shekinah glory of God rests on this mountain. And for those of you who have studied the Book of Revelation, you may notice that these are similar elements to John's description of Jesus in Revelation.

Chapter one, we keep reading and it says, And when the people saw it, they trembled and they stood a far off. Then they said to Moses, You speak with us and we will hear, but let not God speak with us lest we die. Moses has been up the mountain with God, and while he was up there, the people were terrified by what their senses were experiencing as they saw God's power physically manifest. And I can tell you this, their reaction entirely appropriate, entirely appropriate, because we're talking about the almighty God pulling back the curtain for just a minute and letting his people get just a glimpse of his actual glory.

It was, in a word, overwhelming, overwhelming. And the people's fear came from their immediate understanding, immediate. No need to develop a theology here, an immediate recognition that God is not like us. He is not like us. He is other he in a millisecond, they understand he's not our buddy.

He's not our pal. He's not a cosmic vending machine. It's not a little idle that we've carved with our own hands. He is something else entirely in Israel's immediate reaction is. If we get too close to him, we're going to die if we're going to die. We don't know much, but we know that because he's not like us, there's sin in me.

And if God can't be in the presence of sin, I need to get very, very far away from God.

I wonder if they began to think about all the times they'd complain to Moses about God since they came out of Egypt. I wonder if they thought about all their questioning of him, all their accusations. I wish we could be back in Egypt. God's not going to take care of us. God's not powerful enough to act. I wonder if they thought about all the times they implied he actually wasn't good. It would be like trash talking, somebody who's incredibly big and strong and there without you realizing it.

They've walked up behind you while you've continued to talk trash about them.

And you turn around and they're just right there. And this is what's happening to them.

They're like they're like, yo, do you... Do you think God remembers all that stuff we said, you know, I don't know. Yeah. And they're like, well, I wasn't complaining. I mean, you were complaining. I, I thought everything was fine.

I had faith the whole time. The whole time. I'm speaking into the microphone the whole time, Lord.

So write this down. Israel recognized that they could not interact with God directly. They needed a mediator. They needed a mediator. That's their conclusion. And unsurprisingly, they looked to Moses because Moses had been in the presence of God and somehow had lived. They were like, we can't talk to God. You talk to him, pass on the message and we'll stay far away from God and live.

This is the deal. They recognize they need a mediator, Verse 20. And Moses said to the people, well, do not fear for God has come to test you. And that is fear may be before you so that you may not sin.

So Moses says the purpose of God's display here is not to destroy you, it's to help you understand who God really is so that you will take him and his word seriously.

So that you'll understand this is not one of the gods of Egypt, we're talking about this God is real and you know why that's a good thing.

Do you know why having a fear of the Lord is a blessing seven times in the Bible? Fear of the Lord is directly linked to wisdom in Joe, Psalms, Proverbs and Isaiah, a fear of the Lord is directly linked to wisdom, real wisdom, the kind of wisdom that helps you make decisions that lead to a fulfilling and a meaningful life.

That kind of wisdom only comes from God. And the way to walk in it is to live according to the word and ways of God. And when you have a right fear of God, it makes you take his words seriously and it makes you let the word of God actually guide your life.

And you find yourself enjoying the flavor and the goodness of God in your life in incredible ways. But the converse is also true. When you don't have a fear of the Lord, you will not take his words seriously, you will not take sin seriously. And let me tell you one thing you can always count on. Sin leads to death, always death in relationships, your mental health, your self-esteem, you name it. Sin destroys life in every area of life.

And so this is why Moses says this isn't the fear that leads to death. This is the kind of fear that leads to life that helps you live wisely. This is why when we find ourselves not experiencing life. In an area of our life, we need to ask ourselves difficult questions like am I displaying a right fear of the Lord in this area of my life?

What do I mean by that? What I mean is, am I taking what God's word says about this area of my life seriously? Or am I saying, no God needed, we got one right here, I'll call the shots. You see, God's not even the manager of that area of our lives, but we want to complain to him like he's the manager. Can I talk to a manager, please, about my love life? Because it's trash right now.

God's like I don't know what you're talking about. I'm not the manager of your love life. A fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, the wisdom that leads to life Verse 21.

So the people stood a far off, but Moses drew near the thickness, the thick darkness where God was.

Remember the picture we talked about? Moses is a picture of who? Jesus, not a trick question. You're like, Jesus, Jesus, yes, yes, you can say with confidence it's not going to change between 10 minutes ago and now. And what do we see here, Moses, who's a picture of Jesus, we see Moses being the only one in this instance.

Who approaches the presence of God, we see Moses acting as the mediator between God and people who hold on to that thought.

Moses is a picture of Jesus, but Jesus is our greater than Moses, the writer of Hebrews, I believe. Paul, I'll fight with you.

Bible students later explains to us why this is the case in Hebrews 12 as he lays out why our situation is different to the Israelis who were gathered around Mount Sinai back in Exodus.

This is a New Testament counterpart passage. I put it on your outlines or you can turn them in.

Your Bibles will begin in Hebrews 12 18. We read this speaking to us as believers, for you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire and the blackness and darkness and tempest and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words so that those who heard it begged that the words should not be spoken to them anymore, for they could not endure what was commanded. And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow.

And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, I am exceedingly afraid and trembling. If you're wondering where Moses said that, it's a whole different discussion.

I don't want to get into today. But if you're that interested in it, come ask me about it after the service and I'll tell you so.

The writer of Hebrews describes the reaction we've been talking about of God's people to the revelation of God's glory physically manifesting on Mt. Sinai.

But the right of Hebrews says this to the believer, to you and I, he says. But that's not your situation. That's not your reality. You haven't come to Mt. Sinai. He says this in verses to see if I can get through this. But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the General Assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven to God, the judge of all, to the spirits of Justman made perfect.

The writer says you haven't come to Mt. Sinai. Now, you've been given access all the way to the throne of God in heaven. And how is that possible? How is that possible? Well, it's because the writer tells us that we've also been given access for 24, underline this to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.

You see, Moses was the mediator of the old covenant known as the law. Through Moses, God gave man the list of laws that lay out what a man or woman would need to do, how a man or woman would need to live in order to meet God's standard and gain access to heaven through being a good person.

The bad news is that the standard of the law is perfection. It is unattainable for any mortal man or woman, we're doomed under the law, we're doomed. But the good news is that after Moses came a better mediator, a mediator of a new covenant, and in the new covenant, the deal is not be perfect and you'll be welcomed in. That's not good news in the New Covenant, the deal is Jesus has been perfect for you. So come in.

Come on in. And not only that, but Jesus are greater than Moses also died in our place as our Passover lamb so that all the sins that we've committed. Every sin we will commit has been paid for.

You see, under the old covenant, there had to be sacrifices, the blood of animals and those sacrifices didn't actually pay for any since they simply pointed ahead to the only blood that could pay for since the blood of Jesus. So make a note of this, Jesus are greater than Moses is our mediator. He's our mediator. And as the Lord would design it, Moses actually prophesied about Jesus in Deuteronomy 18, it's on your outlines.

And he said to the people of Israel, the Lord, your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren, is speaking about Jesus, even though he didn't know it. Probably. Now skip down to verse 28 and Hebrews 12, it says. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.

And then underline Verse 8 29. Notice the tense. It's present tense for our God is a consuming fire. I want to correct one of the most common misperceptions in the church, there's this perception that, man, aren't you glad that we get New Testament God, the nice kind God and not Old Testament cranky kill everybody?

God, there's this perception in the church. There's this perception that that God changed like around the time Jesus came, like God went to a life coaching seminar and changed his outlook on the human race and became a softer, gentler version.

Here's the reality. We do not have access to God because God diminished. Or reduced his glory in some way. We do not have access to God because he he turned down his glory so that we could be around him. OK, I'll turn it down a little bit so I can be around you sinners.

He is just as glorious and powerful and overwhelming as ever. Bible says the Lord does not change. He's not a man. He does not change. And the writer of Hebrews in the New Testament under the New Covenant tells us that present tense, our God is a consuming fire.

What changed is not who God is. What changed is who our mediator is. Our brother Paul tells us in First Timothy, two five, there's one God and one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus. And you know what our mediator did for us, do you know how he bridged the gap between God's glory? And sinful humanity, let's say, God's glory and sinful humanity, he didn't say God, would you? Take it down a notch.

He raised us up. That's how we bridge the gap, Paul tells us this about the Lord in Romans eight. These are all in your outline.

Speaking of men and woman believers, he says, whom he for knew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, that he Jesus might be the first born among many brethren. I won't get into it, but it's one of my my favorite things to talk about in the world. Underline that word, brethren, because if you're not aware of this, what it's literally saying is the idea is that when Jesus was raised from the dead, that he would be the first born of many brethren.

It's describing us when we're raised up by the Lord as the brothers and sisters of Jesus.

That's what it's talking about. It's a scandalous as it sounds.

Moreover, whom he predestined DC also called whom he called thesea also justified and whom he justified.

DC also what he glorified, he glorified. What then, shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

And our brother John tells us, beloved now we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. But we know that when he is revealed. Wrap your mind around this, we shall be like him. We shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Yes, Jesus lowered himself and came to the earth as a man, but he didn't lower himself so that he could stay low with us and spend eternity down here.

He lowered himself so that he could reach us and elevate us with him to join him in glory. That's what he did.

He didn't solve the gap between us and God by bringing God down and staying there. He said, I'm going to come down and get you and raise you up with me.

Look at Hebrews 12 28 again, it talks about how we've received it, says Grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.

And I want to ask you to meditate on this some more this week, maybe talk about it in your groups, because there's a heresy sweeping through the church and no heresy sweeping through the church is new, by the way.

It's been going around since the church was born and they pretty much all took place in the first century and they cycled through over and over again.

But this heresy wrongly teaches that the purpose of God's grace is to allow us to do whatever we want. Sin however we want, live however we want, because, hey, Jesus is taking care of our sins. It's a moral credit card with no limit. Jesus pays it off no matter what we throw on there. But what does this first tell us? Hebrews 12, 2008 that God's grace empowers us to do it says serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.

At Mount Sinai, the people saw God's glory and they were given the law.

But inevitably, inevitably, they couldn't live up to it, just like we can't.

And inevitably they failed over and over and over again. But we're under the new covenant. We've been covered by the blood of Jesus.

We've been given the Holy Spirit. That means two massive things have taken place.

Firstly, under the new covenant, nothing is based on our performance. Our righteousness comes from Jesus in our sin has been paid for by Jesus.

And our performance is not part of the equation. Throw the equation for salvation on the board. You're not going to find our works anywhere on their. Secondly, we've been given the Holy Spirit, which actually gives us the power to obey God, it gives us the ability to hear from God and be led by him should we so choose moment to moment.

You and I experienced the character and the power of God at the cross. His outstretched arms, the nails in his hands and feet, the wound in his side, the stripes on his back, tell me everything I need to know about the character of my God tells me everything I need to know about how he feels about me.

And when you combine that revelation of God's love for you. With the freedom of understanding that nothing is based on your performance. And the power of the Holy Spirit in your life. That's Grace, that's Grace, because it makes you want to live in such a way that Jesus is blessed because you love him. You love them. What real Grace does is produce a love for Jesus, the one who saves you. That's what Grace does, it doesn't make you say, oh, how can I hurt him some more?

How can I take advantage of this? It makes you say, Lord, Lord, thank you. And if the grace of God does not make you want to live for God. And please hear me on this, I'm not saying live from perfectly, I'm saying if the grace of God does not make you want to live for God, then let me be real honest. I don't think you've encountered the grace of God. I don't think you've come face to face with the Lord's love for you, because when you do.

You can't help but love them, you can't help it. Real grace is not a license to sin, it's the means by which were actually able to serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.

Let's jump back in to Exodus 28, verse 22, it says, then the Lord said to Moses, thus you shall say to the children of Israel, you have seen that I have talked with you from heaven. You shall not make anything to be with me. Gods of silver or gods of gold. You shall not make for yourselves an altar of earth. You shall make for me and you shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings in your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen.

In every place where I record my name or just wherever I cause my name to be remembered, I will come to you and I will bless you.

And if you make me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stone. For if you use your tool on it, you have profaned it.

Nor shall you go up by steps to my altar that your nakedness may not be exposed on it. So let me explain that last verse, because I don't want to end the message with it. And then we'll go back and talk about the rest of that section of scripture.

You see, God didn't want he didn't want any altars that were that were elevated, that had steps leading up to it. And I suspect there's two main reasons for this. The first reason is mentioned in verse.

Twenty six people didn't really wear underwear at this time. Men wore robes, put two and two together. Ain't nobody want to see that.

You see, when you show up to worship God, you shouldn't have to learn that much about your pastor. Right.

All right.

Secondly, if you study ancient Near Eastern cultures or you just read the the Old Testament, you're going to figure out really quick that that all the other pagan religions in the area, this is a challenge to talk about with kids in the room, all the other pagan religions in the area at that time, Inc, let's just say physical rituals into their culture, worship, or more likely, it's just wicked people who want to do wicked things.

And they're like, yeah, I just had a revelation from Ball that when we have religious ceremonies, we should be doing this.

Everyone's like, cool, that sounds great. And so what God is saying, he's saying, I just want you guys to stay as far away from that as possible in your worship of me.

So just keep everything on the ground floor. Nobody needs to climb any steps. Let's just keep it all copasetic. But the main point of this text is that God gives specific instructions as to how he wants to be worshipped.

Later on in Exodus, God is going to give incredibly detailed instructions on the building of the Tabernacle, the special tent that would become a portable temple for the people of Israel. He'll give instructions about sacrifices and feasts and all kinds of things related to how he wanted his people to worship him. And it's so easy for us to say, well, you know, all those laws and regulations were were done away with Jeff when Jesus fulfilled the law perfectly as a man.

And now there's just there's just freedom. Just freedom. And it's true that our performance, our works has nothing to do with our salvation. But remember. God is still a consuming fire, he's still holy, he's still worthy. And we do not speak truthfully when we claim or act as though the New Testament is not loaded with practical instruction on how we are to live as the people of God, as the church. We mislead ourselves and one another when we act as though the New Testament is not full of counsel on how to live in a way that is pleasing to God and blesses God, the message of the New Testament is not do whatever you want.

It's not that, it's that God loves you, he's saved you. And if you understand that, then you belong to him now go and live as though you belong to Jesus. I'm just going to find my place with a dramatic pause for a minute right here, so just indulge me as I do that. Our whole lives are intended to be acts of worship. There's a way of living today that is pleasing to God and there's a way of living that is not there's a way of living that is worship to God and there's a way of living that is not as we talked about.

And we're speaking about Grace just a few minutes ago, if we've really encountered the grace of God, it will produce a deep love and affection for the Lord, which will naturally make us say, I want to live in a way that blesses him. And in this passage in Exodus, God says that any stones used to build an altar for him must be used as is.

Don't cut them, don't shape them, don't chisel them in any way. Now, why is that? Because God says if you use your tool on it, you have profaned it. And I really want to understand us the big lesson that God is trying to teach the Israelites. It's not that God says, listen, I'm part of a union that's fully committed to using only natural products.

That's not what's going on here.

There's something big he's trying to teach them when it comes to what is right, when it comes to what is good, when it comes to what leads to life, when it comes to how we are to worship God, we are not invited into the discussion to offer our opinion.

It is not God and us sitting across the table offering 50 50 input, having a negotiation. Well, you know, Jeff, what do you think it means to live for me? Oh, I'm glad you asked. God, I've got some notes about what I think it should mean. That's not what happens in the Christian life. God says there's some things that I decide unilaterally.

Because here's my trump card card, I'm God, I'm God, I got to know I'm God, that's why I can do this. And God says when you try and add your opinion. All you do is profane, whatever we're talking about. That's all that happens if Israel said, you know what, though, Lord, I think some some nicely decorated stones, maybe just in the corners would really beautify this altar. We can get, you know, this sort of wilderness chic thing going on.

God says, listen, all you're going to do, all you're going to do is profane it. Why in this case, because God wants them to understand he's looking at the heart, he's not looking at how tricked out their altar is, he's not looking at how great their works are.

He's looking at their hearts.

And if they got into building alters how they thought altars should be built, it would not take very long before they convinced themselves, as we would, that the key to pleasing God is building really great altars and temples.

I mean, could you imagine if you believe that you would just spend countless amounts of money on building the most elaborate structures you could all over Europe and play, I can't imagine what would happen if you if you believe that.

So I want to suggest to you that in our context, in our day, we face a similar battle of wills because we're all faced with the temptation to say, well, you know what, I here's our cop out.

You ready for this? This is going to hurt. Brace yourself. You know, I just believe that my relationship with God is it's just it's just so personal, you know?

And I don't mean just personal in the sense that that it's between me and Jesus, but I mean in the sense that, you know, what worshipping God looks like for me is personal between me and God. What what living for God looks like. It's it's personal for me.

It's personal for me. You know what? Scriptures need to be obeyed and which ones don't. That's that's really something personal. It's very special to me. I'm not comfortable talking about it.

And God says that's profane. That's profane. Because the truth is that if God has spoken in his word, if he's given clear revelation and instruction on how he wants us to do something, on how he wants to be worshipped and how he wants us to relate to each other and love each other and be the church, if God has spoken on a subject in his word, then then the conversations over.

There's a period at the end. Not an ellipsis, not those three dots, because he's waiting for our input and any attempts to amend or revise what God has said, they're just profanity.

It's profanity, because when we do that, what we're really saying is there's a higher authority now, Lord, there's a greater wisdom that can be added to the conversation.

Mine, mine.

And when we do that, we're not really worshipping the Lord, are we? We're worshipping ourselves because we've elevated our desires and our opinions. Above the Lord's. So would you write this down when we worship God according to our opinions and desires instead of his word?

Our worship becomes profane. When we worship God according to our opinions and desires, instead of his word, our worship becomes profane. If we love, the Lord will express that love by doing our best to worship him, live for him, honor him as he desires to be worshipped, lived for and honored. If we love the Lord will want to worship him in a way that blesses him and the way that we learn how to do that. Is by reading what he has said and revealed in his word.

By being a part of his church, by being around our brothers and sisters and saying, can you help me do that? Whoever we are, whatever your position is in the church with you being a Christian a short time or a long time, say I want to live in a way that blesses Jesus. Even if we have good intentions.

The point is that we cannot improve upon God's work, we cannot improve upon God's ways when it comes to our salvation, the work of Jesus on our behalf, his life, death and resurrection.

It's perfect. It's perfect. It cannot be improved in God's plan of salvation. It's his work and it's our faith. But what is Hebrews 12 to tell us about?

Our faith says Jesus is the originator and the perfecta of our faith. Why is our faith even acceptable, because it was crafted by Jesus. It was crafted by Jesus, not by us. Jesus did all the work and Jesus gave us the faith to believe in that finished work.

And if we try and add anything. Oh, this is a nice salvation, let me let me just spruce it up with some of my good works. Gas is you just profaning the work of Jesus? Everything that's from the Lord is perfect as it is. Make a note of this God's ways and God's word are perfect and cannot be improved. They're perfect and cannot be improved. I'm going to end with a verse spoken by the prophet Samuel in correction to Israel's first King Saul.

It's a verse every Christian should memorize. It is a verse 8 we should teach our children because it is crucial to the Christian life, it is crucial to understanding the authority of God in our lives. Speaking rhetorically, Samuel asked Saul. Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice and to heed then the fat of Ram's. Samuel said, Saul, listen, even if you have good intentions.

Even if you have good intentions, the Lord delights in obedience. Because obedience says, Lord, I recognize who you are. I recognize your character and I recognize your power and I recognize that well, my role is. Is to gratefully. Gladly and lovingly obey. Not to offer a revised plan for your consideration. The Bible says. Who has been the Lords councillor, the answer, all of us. But we're not we are not as counselor, we are not his advisers, we are children of a perfect father who is wise beyond our comprehension and good beyond our wildest imagination.

We love them, we surrender to him, we offer our whole lives to him gladly because he has loved us completely and it's our desire to live our lives in the footsteps of Jesus by saying, Father.

Not my will, but yours be done, yours be done. Every day, every moment, that's the goal, that's the goal for those who love the Lord, would you buy your head and close your eyes? Father, thank you for our time together in your word.

And Lord, we we are overwhelmed, we are overwhelmed by your spirit and by your word with how good you are and as your word lays it out. With just the reality that you don't need our counsel or our opinion, Lord. You are a faithful friend that sticks closer than a brother, you hear every word, we pray, every word, we cry, every word. We speak to you, Lord, and you do speak with us through your spirit and through your word.

But, Lord, where you have spoken clearly. It cannot be improved upon. And so, Father, we asked that you would put in all of us a heart that has rightfully submitted to you as God in the truest sense of our lives.

Lord, now your authority reign over our lives, Lord, not because we've come to Mt. Sinai and we're terrified, but because we've come to Mount Zion. We've been given access to the throne of God. We've already been forgiven. We've already been received. We've already been accepted. We've already been welcomed, Lord. And so our obedience does not come from a place of fearing your wrath, Lord, but it comes from a place of being overwhelmed by your kindness and your love.

And Lord, we do love you. We love you, Lord.

And so we ask right now that by your spirit, you would just shine a light on any area of our lives where we're not walking and living under your authority because we want to. Lord, we invite you, we give you access, Jesus. And we ask you to speak.