How to Worship Without Distraction (John 4:20-26 & Hebrews 12:18-29)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.280 --> 00:00:04.839 Please remain standing if you're able, and let's turn to John. Two passages 2 00:00:04.919 --> 00:00:12.230 this morning. First a John Chapter Four, verses Twenty through twenty six, 3 00:00:12.429 --> 00:00:17.469 and then Hebrews. If you feel you need to sit down, that's that's 4 00:00:17.510 --> 00:00:22.460 fine. It's a little bit longer this morning. John Chapter four a twenty 5 00:00:22.539 --> 00:00:28.579 through twenty through twenty six. This is where Jesus is meeting this woman, 6 00:00:28.739 --> 00:00:33.899 the Samaritan woman, at the well and he has just confronted her about her 7 00:00:33.899 --> 00:00:39.530 sin and she asks him this question about worship, something will consider this morning. 8 00:00:39.570 --> 00:00:47.649 John. For Verse Twenty, she says, our father's worshiped on this 9 00:00:47.890 --> 00:00:51.799 mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to 10 00:00:51.840 --> 00:00:55.960 worship. Jesus said to her. Woman, believe me, the hour is 11 00:00:56.079 --> 00:01:00.079 coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the father. 12 00:01:00.119 --> 00:01:04.870 You worship what you do not know. We worship what we know, for 13 00:01:06.109 --> 00:01:10.069 salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now 14 00:01:10.230 --> 00:01:15.629 here, when the true worshippers will worship the father in spirit and truth, 15 00:01:15.469 --> 00:01:21.500 for the father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit and 16 00:01:21.659 --> 00:01:26.739 those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. The woman said to 17 00:01:26.780 --> 00:01:30.700 him, I know that the Messiah is coming, He who is called Christ. 18 00:01:30.260 --> 00:01:34.609 When he comes, he will tell us all things. Jesus said to 19 00:01:34.650 --> 00:01:41.049 her. I who speak to you, am He. And now Hebrews Chapter 20 00:01:41.209 --> 00:01:51.400 Twelve, verses eighteen through a twenty nine. Here that mountain, or the 21 00:01:51.519 --> 00:02:00.159 place of worship that Jesus speaks of is is described here in contrast to Mount 22 00:02:00.319 --> 00:02:04.790 Sinai, the mountain that God brought his people when he brought them out of 23 00:02:04.870 --> 00:02:13.710 the out of Egypt, so he says here, Hebrews Twelve, verse eighteen. 24 00:02:15.110 --> 00:02:20.539 For you have not come to what maybe touched. He's speaking of Sinai. 25 00:02:20.659 --> 00:02:24.219 Here a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound 26 00:02:24.300 --> 00:02:29.900 of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further 27 00:02:30.009 --> 00:02:34.449 messages bespoken to them, for they could not endure the order that was given. 28 00:02:34.490 --> 00:02:38.330 If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned. Indeed, 29 00:02:38.530 --> 00:02:43.849 so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, I tremble with fear, 30 00:02:44.879 --> 00:02:47.319 but you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the Living God, 31 00:02:47.840 --> 00:02:55.120 the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels, infestal gathering, and to 32 00:02:55.240 --> 00:02:59.949 the assembly of the first boar and who are enrolled in heaven, and to 33 00:03:00.150 --> 00:03:04.389 God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made 34 00:03:04.509 --> 00:03:08.430 perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to 35 00:03:08.550 --> 00:03:15.379 the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. See 36 00:03:15.500 --> 00:03:19.620 that you do not refuse him who was speaking, for if they did not 37 00:03:19.659 --> 00:03:23.099 escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we 38 00:03:23.219 --> 00:03:29.569 escape if we reject who warns from Heaven. At that time, his voice 39 00:03:29.770 --> 00:03:35.009 shook the earth, but now he is promised yet once more, I will 40 00:03:35.050 --> 00:03:39.009 shake not only the Earth but also the heavens. This phrase, yet once 41 00:03:39.090 --> 00:03:45.840 more, indicates the removal of things that are shaken, that is, things 42 00:03:45.960 --> 00:03:50.840 that have been made, in order that the things that cannot be shaken may 43 00:03:51.000 --> 00:03:55.590 remain. Therefore, let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be 44 00:03:55.789 --> 00:04:01.909 shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and 45 00:04:02.310 --> 00:04:13.740 awe, for our God is a consuming fire. You may be seated so 46 00:04:13.900 --> 00:04:18.620 just Jesus meets this woman, as we've been considering for a few weeks, 47 00:04:18.699 --> 00:04:28.050 now this discussion that they have between one another, this question about worship comes 48 00:04:28.129 --> 00:04:33.370 up. We say, she says, speaking of the Samaritans. We say 49 00:04:33.490 --> 00:04:38.170 that you have to worship here, that's on Mountain Garozemas, that she has 50 00:04:38.209 --> 00:04:42.639 in mind. But you Jews, she says to Jesus, think that it's 51 00:04:42.680 --> 00:04:49.839 in Jerusalem. and Jesus says kind of two things, maybe three. One 52 00:04:49.920 --> 00:04:55.709 thing he says is you don't know what you're talking about. He says, 53 00:04:55.750 --> 00:05:00.910 you're wrong. You worship what you do not know. This tells us that 54 00:05:00.029 --> 00:05:04.029 there is a right way to worship and a wrong way to worship. She 55 00:05:04.230 --> 00:05:10.339 is worshiping the wrong way. She's thinking about it incorrectly. It's not just 56 00:05:10.740 --> 00:05:15.339 whatever we get to choose, for our God is a consuming fire. We 57 00:05:15.379 --> 00:05:18.019 are to worship him with reverence and Ah, the things that we do in 58 00:05:18.139 --> 00:05:21.649 worship really matter. And he says that to her. You worship what you 59 00:05:21.689 --> 00:05:28.529 do not know. We worship what we what we know. But at the 60 00:05:28.610 --> 00:05:33.089 same time Jesus qualifies this and says, but this is all changing. He 61 00:05:33.209 --> 00:05:39.519 says this, the system in which we operate right now is about to undergo 62 00:05:39.560 --> 00:05:44.560 a significant change where we are not going to be worshiping at that mountain, 63 00:05:44.879 --> 00:05:48.160 the wrong one, or at that mountain, the right one, but another 64 00:05:48.240 --> 00:05:58.829 one altogether. What does he mean? Well, what he means is described 65 00:05:59.110 --> 00:06:04.019 for us in Hebrews twelve and other parts of Hebrews, in the book of 66 00:06:04.139 --> 00:06:11.740 Hebrews, we learn that the earthly Jerusalem, it's Temple, the mountain, 67 00:06:12.139 --> 00:06:20.089 the priesthood, all of that was actually patterned after heavenly things. We learned 68 00:06:20.170 --> 00:06:26.370 that it's the things in heaven that determined the pattern for the things on earth 69 00:06:27.730 --> 00:06:32.319 and that the things on earth are really just a model, a shadow, 70 00:06:33.199 --> 00:06:40.600 a way of helping us understand a little bit more about the greater thing that 71 00:06:40.879 --> 00:06:49.629 in heaven, and this heavenly kingdom is described for us in Hebrews twelve through 72 00:06:49.829 --> 00:06:58.110 this contrast with yet another mountain. Sometime we'll have to talk about the importance 73 00:06:58.149 --> 00:07:01.180 of mountains in scripture. That's fun one. But this other mountain, Mount 74 00:07:01.379 --> 00:07:05.899 Sinai, as I mentioned before. Mount Sinai is the mountain that God brought 75 00:07:06.060 --> 00:07:10.860 his people to after he brought them out of Egypt. All right, we 76 00:07:10.980 --> 00:07:15.129 saying in and can it be about God? I'm releasing us out of our 77 00:07:15.209 --> 00:07:20.050 bondage. My chains fell off right I was set free, I went forth 78 00:07:20.129 --> 00:07:26.730 and I followed him. This is describing, and I exodus. It's describing 79 00:07:26.769 --> 00:07:30.120 in some ways what God did when he brought his people out of Egypt and 80 00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:33.839 when he brought him out of Egypt. He brought them to establish them as 81 00:07:33.920 --> 00:07:39.319 a people and as his people, and he did that at Mount Sinai. 82 00:07:40.759 --> 00:07:45.509 What happened there is described at various places in scripture and this is one of 83 00:07:45.550 --> 00:07:51.269 them. He's talking to them about something that they are he assuming that they 84 00:07:51.350 --> 00:07:55.149 remember, and yet we have a lot of details here. So it's helpful. 85 00:07:55.189 --> 00:08:00.540 Even if this is if this is new to you, listen to it 86 00:08:00.660 --> 00:08:05.019 again. He says you have come, not this is now. He's going 87 00:08:05.019 --> 00:08:11.459 to describe Mount Sinai with what maybe touched a blazing fire, a darkness, 88 00:08:11.500 --> 00:08:16.050 a gloom, tempest, trumpet and a voice who made the hearers bag, 89 00:08:16.490 --> 00:08:22.370 made the heros bag, that no further messages bespoken to them. Today I 90 00:08:22.490 --> 00:08:28.040 want to consider with you what it means to worship God, what it means 91 00:08:28.480 --> 00:08:33.679 to hear him, and how that, because of what he says and because 92 00:08:33.720 --> 00:08:39.200 of who he is, how that affects our responses, how it affects what 93 00:08:39.360 --> 00:08:43.309 we listen, how it affects how we worship this woman. You do not. 94 00:08:43.429 --> 00:08:46.950 You worship what you do not know. You worship in the wrong place. 95 00:08:48.110 --> 00:08:52.909 You're waiting for the wrong things. How does who God is and what 96 00:08:52.070 --> 00:08:58.059 he said as affect us? Well, we see the effect that his words 97 00:08:58.179 --> 00:09:03.860 had on his people at Mount Sinai. They begged him not to say anything 98 00:09:03.899 --> 00:09:09.250 else. So many people say, if I could only have a word from 99 00:09:09.289 --> 00:09:13.169 God, right, if I could only hear more from God, if I 100 00:09:13.250 --> 00:09:18.370 could, they assume that that would just be okay. Right. These people 101 00:09:18.850 --> 00:09:26.159 received a word from God and they said please stop. Even Moses, the 102 00:09:26.240 --> 00:09:31.279 scripture says, was terrified. Even Moses, the one who had been talking 103 00:09:31.720 --> 00:09:37.120 with God in a very intimate way for a quite a while before this moment. 104 00:09:37.720 --> 00:09:43.549 He was terrified. CAN YOU BE? Can you imagine standing at the 105 00:09:43.590 --> 00:09:48.029 foot of a mountain that was shaking by the power and Voice of God? 106 00:09:52.230 --> 00:09:54.980 I'm trying to imagine anything that is even come close in my own experience to 107 00:09:56.100 --> 00:10:03.980 that. The roar of the waves maybe gets a little bit there. I 108 00:10:03.019 --> 00:10:09.409 mean, I really can't even think of how scary that would be to stand 109 00:10:09.490 --> 00:10:13.610 at the base of a mountain that looks like it's about to fall apart, 110 00:10:15.730 --> 00:10:22.960 and that is shaking and trembling and on fire and and the Voice of God 111 00:10:22.759 --> 00:10:30.080 saying, touch it and you die. If even a beast touches this mountain, 112 00:10:30.399 --> 00:10:33.799 it shall die. And this was all to communicate to them that he 113 00:10:33.559 --> 00:10:41.269 is holy, perfectly holy, that he determines what is right and what is 114 00:10:41.350 --> 00:10:45.990 wrong, what is just and what is unjust, what is true and what 115 00:10:46.149 --> 00:10:50.340 is not. You remember that it's on Mount Sinai that he would then give 116 00:10:50.379 --> 00:10:54.419 them the ten commandments, the ways in which they are supposed to love God 117 00:10:56.059 --> 00:11:03.059 and love their neighbor. With all of this holiness, with the Great Law 118 00:11:03.299 --> 00:11:07.529 of God being proclaimed in this powerful and memorable way, it terrified them, 119 00:11:09.769 --> 00:11:13.490 not just because it was powerful, but because they understood, as we all 120 00:11:13.649 --> 00:11:20.240 understand, that there is a big difference between God's holiness, his Justice, 121 00:11:20.360 --> 00:11:28.639 his righteousness, is goodness, and us. We understand, we know, 122 00:11:28.840 --> 00:11:35.870 our consciences tell us that we can't approach God if he stands before us and 123 00:11:35.909 --> 00:11:45.110 says you must be holy, we know that we're not. Now sometimes we 124 00:11:45.230 --> 00:11:48.580 forget this and this affects how we treat him. When we think of God 125 00:11:48.940 --> 00:11:52.740 is just a power, that it is available when we think of God as 126 00:11:54.100 --> 00:12:03.529 a sort of as a vending machine or as a buddy, when we think 127 00:12:03.610 --> 00:12:07.970 of him as our servant. And of course we don't treat him in these 128 00:12:09.049 --> 00:12:11.409 ways, you know, we don't treat him with reverence and awe. We 129 00:12:11.529 --> 00:12:16.960 don't treat him we don't have any sense of fear in ourselves because we're fine 130 00:12:16.440 --> 00:12:20.720 the problems with him, because he's not given me what I want. Right. 131 00:12:20.799 --> 00:12:28.000 That's all backwards. It's all very backwards. So that's what that's how 132 00:12:28.080 --> 00:12:33.870 the scriptures describe what happened there at Mount Sinai, when the law was given. 133 00:12:35.470 --> 00:12:37.710 There was a separation between God and his people. There was fear, 134 00:12:37.789 --> 00:12:46.740 there was trembling. But that's not where the Christians of the new covenant have 135 00:12:46.899 --> 00:12:52.259 come to. That Old Testament Mountain, that Mount Sinai, was the Old 136 00:12:52.419 --> 00:12:56.899 Covenant Mountain. It was where the old covenant was established, where the law 137 00:12:58.059 --> 00:13:03.409 was given. Do this and you shall live, God said. But there's 138 00:13:03.450 --> 00:13:09.809 been a change, there's been a new covenant that has been made. Remember 139 00:13:09.889 --> 00:13:16.440 what Jesus, what Jesus says and what the word says here and says that 140 00:13:16.840 --> 00:13:22.080 we have we come to Jesus. This is verse twenty, for the mediator 141 00:13:22.320 --> 00:13:26.190 of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood. That speaks a better 142 00:13:26.230 --> 00:13:31.789 word than the blood of Abel. But this is pointing to is this is 143 00:13:31.990 --> 00:13:39.269 reminding us of this sacrifice that Jesus made. The blood that Jesus sprinkled is 144 00:13:39.389 --> 00:13:46.379 an allusion to the Old Testament language of the Holy Spirit sprinkling our hearts clean, 145 00:13:46.259 --> 00:13:52.100 something will consider about with August baptism next week. This way in which 146 00:13:52.220 --> 00:13:58.330 the Lord cleanses us and he does it by his own blood. Jesus, 147 00:13:58.450 --> 00:14:01.169 who is now standing in front of this woman at the well, says I 148 00:14:01.450 --> 00:14:07.289 am he, I am the Messiah who's come as one who is better than 149 00:14:07.330 --> 00:14:11.240 Jacob, one who is better than Moses, one who is going to establish 150 00:14:11.360 --> 00:14:15.960 a new covenant, and he's going to do it on the basis of his 151 00:14:16.320 --> 00:14:22.879 own blood. He's going to take our sins upon himself. Our Holiness are 152 00:14:24.000 --> 00:14:30.269 our unholiness, to cleanse us so that we can come together with God, 153 00:14:31.549 --> 00:14:35.350 so that, though we continue to fear him because he never stops being a 154 00:14:35.509 --> 00:14:39.779 consuming fire, we relate to him in a different way. Yes, there's 155 00:14:39.860 --> 00:14:45.259 trembling, yes there's fear, and yet bold eye approach right. We see, 156 00:14:45.379 --> 00:14:50.299 we go before God and we go before His throne boldly, not because 157 00:14:52.340 --> 00:14:56.009 you know, I guess I'm okay and I've got my act together and I'm 158 00:14:56.009 --> 00:15:03.289 not sinning anymore. We go before God because he's given us forgiveness, he 159 00:15:03.490 --> 00:15:09.919 has removed the separation and doesn't say don't touch the mountain or I will strike 160 00:15:09.960 --> 00:15:15.720 you dead, but says come up upon my Holy Hill in my name, 161 00:15:15.759 --> 00:15:24.029 I've provided for you a mediator, and so verse. Twenty two you have 162 00:15:24.230 --> 00:15:28.629 come to Mount Zion, to the city of the Living God, the heavenly 163 00:15:28.710 --> 00:15:37.019 Jerusalem. When Jesus establishes the new covenant, Things Change in the worship of 164 00:15:37.179 --> 00:15:41.580 God. I noticed none of you brought animals with you this morning for sacrifices. 165 00:15:41.179 --> 00:15:48.419 That was a good decision and that's for a particular reason, because the 166 00:15:48.539 --> 00:15:54.450 sacrifice has been completed, because that old system that was pointing and pointing forward 167 00:15:54.490 --> 00:16:00.409 to something else, that was patterned after something heavenly, has has gone away, 168 00:16:00.610 --> 00:16:04.159 not in a way that leaves us vacant with nothing to do, no 169 00:16:04.440 --> 00:16:11.840 God to worship, no way to serve, no but with something greater. 170 00:16:12.159 --> 00:16:18.909 God hasn't left us, hasn't departed, and know he's made himself health known 171 00:16:18.149 --> 00:16:23.350 all the more in such a way that we didn't have to travel to Jerusalem 172 00:16:23.509 --> 00:16:30.110 this morning to worship. We traveled to the heavenly Jerusalem. This is where 173 00:16:30.110 --> 00:16:33.700 we have come, this is where we stand, this is where we are, 174 00:16:36.059 --> 00:16:42.379 how because, of course we're here in Tucson well, by the spirit 175 00:16:42.419 --> 00:16:48.690 of God, who unites us to him and draws us up into the heavenly 176 00:16:48.809 --> 00:16:55.009 places. It's true, our physical bodies are here, just as Jesus is 177 00:16:55.210 --> 00:17:00.490 physical body is not here. Nevertheless, by the spirit of God, we 178 00:17:00.690 --> 00:17:07.079 are united to him and we are united not only to him, but we 179 00:17:07.279 --> 00:17:11.319 come into this place. You have come, he says. He's not saying 180 00:17:11.640 --> 00:17:18.309 this will happen sometime in the future, he says right now to these Christians, 181 00:17:18.349 --> 00:17:19.710 even in the past. So this is past, past, past, 182 00:17:21.190 --> 00:17:23.269 he says to these Christians in the past and to us in the present, 183 00:17:23.750 --> 00:17:29.710 you have come to Mountain Zion, the city of the Living God, the 184 00:17:29.829 --> 00:17:34.420 heavenly Jerusalem. And then he describes that by saying to innumerable angels and festal 185 00:17:34.579 --> 00:17:40.740 gathering, Wow, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in 186 00:17:40.859 --> 00:17:45.410 heaven, and to God, the judge of all and to the spirits of 187 00:17:45.450 --> 00:17:48.329 the righteous made perfect, and, of course, to Jesus, the mediator 188 00:17:48.410 --> 00:17:52.450 of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word 189 00:17:52.490 --> 00:17:56.730 than the blood of Abel. This is where we are, this is where 190 00:17:56.769 --> 00:18:04.440 we stand. That changes things, as he goes on to say, he 191 00:18:04.559 --> 00:18:08.920 says in Verse Twenty Eight, therefore, let us be grateful. That's one 192 00:18:08.960 --> 00:18:14.150 of our responses. Right. Be Grateful for what? For receiving a kingdom 193 00:18:14.230 --> 00:18:19.750 that cannot be shaken. That word about shaking their describes the versus we read 194 00:18:19.829 --> 00:18:25.990 earlier where he describes this kingdom right. So he says Mount Sinai was this 195 00:18:26.150 --> 00:18:30.259 mountain and it was shaken in a way that was terrifying in a way. 196 00:18:30.380 --> 00:18:38.660 was that was frightening in a way that separated God from unholy things. Mount 197 00:18:38.700 --> 00:18:45.009 Zion, however, is doesn't shake, because there's there's no need for a 198 00:18:45.130 --> 00:18:52.369 separation anymore. Here all is right with God, his people, his angels, 199 00:18:52.490 --> 00:18:56.559 his creation, it's all there and it's all solid. And in a 200 00:18:56.640 --> 00:19:03.799 way that certainly has a lot of mysteriousness to it. He describes this mountain, 201 00:19:03.960 --> 00:19:07.640 this Mount Zion, this this city that's heavenly, Jerusalem, it's something 202 00:19:07.680 --> 00:19:15.670 that's already existing, at the same time that this world exists. And he 203 00:19:15.710 --> 00:19:19.869 says there will come a time when all of this will be shaken, this 204 00:19:21.069 --> 00:19:26.339 world will be shaken in such a way that it just falls apart and one 205 00:19:26.420 --> 00:19:36.859 thing will be left, the heavenly city which you now belong to. So 206 00:19:36.980 --> 00:19:44.210 it's saying you are solid, you are protected, you are secure that even 207 00:19:44.369 --> 00:19:51.690 as the world falls apart, as it is shaken by the Justice and Wrath 208 00:19:51.849 --> 00:19:59.119 of God, you're okay, you will remain. Why? Because you have 209 00:19:59.160 --> 00:20:06.480 been made holy, you have been made clean through this blood that Jesus has 210 00:20:06.680 --> 00:20:15.109 shed. So when God speaks to us from this mountain, we don't say 211 00:20:15.190 --> 00:20:22.460 stop, we don't say I can't take it any more, I'm going to 212 00:20:22.619 --> 00:20:26.980 die if you talk to me any more, because we've already died. In 213 00:20:26.099 --> 00:20:33.019 Christ we stand as those who are alive, those who are permanent, those 214 00:20:33.059 --> 00:20:37.490 who are eternal. Instead of saying, don't talk to me any more, 215 00:20:38.170 --> 00:20:42.690 I can't bear it, we say more and more and more and more and 216 00:20:42.809 --> 00:20:52.200 more. Let's worship more and more and more and more. Let us, 217 00:20:52.480 --> 00:20:55.240 he said, the author says in Verse Twenty Eight, let us offer to 218 00:20:55.359 --> 00:21:08.390 God acceptable worship with reverence and awe. So you can see, then, 219 00:21:08.750 --> 00:21:14.069 this word that has spoken to us here is a word that is consistently spoken 220 00:21:14.150 --> 00:21:18.509 throughout the Bible, and all of it ties up together in this place around 221 00:21:18.509 --> 00:21:22.819 Jesus. And that's why God says things like he said in proverbs seven that 222 00:21:22.940 --> 00:21:30.059 we read are earlier. Treasure these things. Hide them in your hearts, 223 00:21:30.140 --> 00:21:36.569 write them down on the tablet of your heart. That's why Isaiah says, 224 00:21:36.970 --> 00:21:41.569 come by, you have no money, come by and eat. Listen diligently 225 00:21:41.809 --> 00:21:51.400 to me, he says, for the benefit of your own soul. The 226 00:21:51.559 --> 00:21:56.240 word that we received from the heavenly Jerusalem, the word of that we receive 227 00:21:56.440 --> 00:22:00.200 from Jesus, as he speaks to us from this mountain and calls us up 228 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:06.430 to it, in his in by his sacrifice and in His grace, is 229 00:22:06.470 --> 00:22:11.950 a word of grace. It's not a word of of threatening, it's a 230 00:22:11.069 --> 00:22:17.099 word of invitation. Come by, e enjoy. I'm giving this to you, 231 00:22:19.460 --> 00:22:26.740 but of course it does have a warning, a warning to those who 232 00:22:26.779 --> 00:22:36.529 refuse the gift. If, if God's invites you, out of your wretchedness, 233 00:22:36.690 --> 00:22:38.690 out of your sin, out of your poverty, out of your want 234 00:22:38.809 --> 00:22:44.250 and he says, come, here are my gifts, I give them freely 235 00:22:44.400 --> 00:22:49.440 to you. Not a different God, the consuming fire God, still him. 236 00:22:52.200 --> 00:22:55.519 He gives these things to us. And if we stand and we say 237 00:22:56.200 --> 00:23:06.029 I'm not interested, he says this, see that you do not refuse him, 238 00:23:06.029 --> 00:23:11.549 who is speaking verse Twenty Five. For if they did not escape when 239 00:23:11.589 --> 00:23:15.539 they refused him, who warned on earth, much less will we escape if 240 00:23:15.579 --> 00:23:22.140 we reject him who warns from Heaven. So when Jesus stands in front of 241 00:23:22.180 --> 00:23:23.660 the woman at the well and when he stands in front of us and says 242 00:23:25.220 --> 00:23:30.730 I am he of whom you speak, our ears should open up. We 243 00:23:30.769 --> 00:23:37.730 should say, tell me more, we should want to hear his words and 244 00:23:37.049 --> 00:23:47.640 hear them with faith, listening, ready prepared open. At that time, 245 00:23:47.839 --> 00:23:49.839 his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised yet once more, 246 00:23:49.920 --> 00:23:56.470 I will shake not only the Earth but also also the heavens. My friends, 247 00:23:56.990 --> 00:24:00.470 you do not want to be one of the people that remain when he 248 00:24:00.670 --> 00:24:07.950 shakes the earth. If you don't belong to the heavenly places, if you 249 00:24:07.990 --> 00:24:12.339 don't belong to Jesus, if you haven't had your heart sprinkled clean, if 250 00:24:12.420 --> 00:24:18.579 you don't belong to the new covenant, people of God. Then you will 251 00:24:18.619 --> 00:24:25.329 be consumed with the Holy Fire of God. See to it that you do 252 00:24:25.569 --> 00:24:32.690 not refuse him, hear his word. It's offered to you graciously, wonderfully, 253 00:24:32.769 --> 00:24:37.210 with full of promises that are to be treasured. Jesus tells a parable 254 00:24:37.289 --> 00:24:41.480 about a man who goes into a field and he finds a treasure. What 255 00:24:41.599 --> 00:24:45.920 does he do? Buy The whole field. Right, just buy is the 256 00:24:45.960 --> 00:24:48.519 whole thing. Immediately. Why? He doesn't care about the field. He 257 00:24:48.599 --> 00:24:55.789 wants the treasure. Get the treasure. That's what God's Word says to us 258 00:24:56.589 --> 00:25:03.230 this morning. receive it then, with eagerness, examine it, according to 259 00:25:03.269 --> 00:25:07.380 the scriptures here that it is true, it is the voice of your savior, 260 00:25:08.539 --> 00:25:12.619 and know that when you do receive it, when you don't refuse it, 261 00:25:14.339 --> 00:25:18.500 when you take it in and you say with gratefulness to God, thank 262 00:25:18.579 --> 00:25:22.609 you, thank you for saving me, thank you for changing me, thank 263 00:25:22.690 --> 00:25:27.730 you for opening my ears so that I could hear your word. It will 264 00:25:27.849 --> 00:25:36.480 change it'll change you and it'll change the way you worship. When you understand 265 00:25:36.640 --> 00:25:45.680 yourself as an unholy person, as a sinner who has been saved by God 266 00:25:45.880 --> 00:25:55.349 himself. It's always it changes the way you think. It becomes difficult, 267 00:25:55.470 --> 00:25:57.950 when we have those kinds of thoughts in our minds and written on our hearts, 268 00:25:59.069 --> 00:26:03.380 to treat God as just another friend or someone we could ignore, or 269 00:26:03.500 --> 00:26:08.900 someone who is on there to do our bidding and follow our will. No, 270 00:26:11.420 --> 00:26:17.220 instead, we come to him with joy and gratefulness and reverence and awe. 271 00:26:19.849 --> 00:26:23.410 My prayer for you is that you would know God in this way, 272 00:26:25.769 --> 00:26:30.089 that you would know him not according to the way that you imagine him, 273 00:26:30.289 --> 00:26:34.559 but the way that he is and the way that he offers himself to you 274 00:26:36.480 --> 00:26:40.240 in the sacrifice of his son. Let's pray