Good morning Church family, happy Lord's Day. We're going to go ahead and begin our service with this first song, "You Are My King." Sing it out, "I'm Forgiven." I'm forgiven because you were forsaken. I'm accepted, you were condemned. I'm alive and well, your spirit is within me because you died and rose again.

One more time, "I'm Forgiven." I'm forgiven because you were forsaken. I'm accepted, you were condemned. I'm alive and well, your spirit is within me because you died and rose again. Amazing love, amazing love, how can it be that you, my king, would die for me? Amazing love, I know it's true.

It's my joy to honor you in all I do. I honor you, you are my king. You are my king. You are my king. Jesus, you are my king. Jesus, you are my king. What a place. Amazing love, how can it be that you, my king, would die for me?

Amazing love, I know it's true. It's my joy to honor you in all I do. I honor you in all I do. I honor you. All right, welcome to Bering Community Church. Is Elder Phillip here? Yeah. Okay. All right, we have an announcement from our family ministry. Okay. Okay, from the family ministry, we're going to have a, I'm calling it a seasoned fellowship lunch, and it's for those who are 50 and above.

And if you're married and one of you are over 50, then both of you are invited. And the reason for having this fellowship is, I think, you know, this, the older segment is growing, and I see many of you, but I don't know you because, for one reason or another.

Anyway, we'd like to get to know everybody. I want to try to get everybody together, because I think it'll be encouraging to see that there are many of us who look like me that are at Berean. So it's just a time of sharing a meal together, and having fellowship.

It's going to be a fun time. We're going to have games. The food will be provided. So please come. So it's going to be on March 6th at 1 p.m. It's, the sign-up will be posted on Facebook, as well as right after the service, I'm going to be right outside.

I'll be looking for you, and please sign up. Don't ignore me, okay? Try not to, you know, avoid eye contact. So anyway, please sign up. I really, for the sake of encouraging one another, so if you're 50 or over, whether you're married or single, you are invited, whether you're a member or non-member.

So anyway, thank you, and hopefully many of you sign up. Thanks. Bye. All right, so before, Salt-N-Pepa was started at 40, but we had to move it up, because the 40, there's so many people who turn 40 or are going 40 or are resisting, and so we said, so, okay.

And we have a growing number of people who are 50 and over, so now the Salt-N-Pepa is going to be 50 and over, okay? So you have a few more years to accept the fact that you're also aging, okay? The sign-up table is outside, the physical table. There's going to be a physical table outside, because I'm assuming most of you don't have Facebook, and-- So there's going to be a big neon sign over there.

So as you walk outside, Elder Phil's going to be at the table, so there's a physical signing that will be taking place outside. All right? All right. Family ministry, February 19th, Pastor Peter Chung is going to be leading that workshop that's going to be taking place at 1030 upstairs in the Sprouts Room, okay?

So if you haven't signed up for that, please sign up for that. Church--all church praise and prayer is coming up, not this Friday, but the Friday after. And then a monthly evangelism. Our outreach team has been doing a great job hosting evangelism, street evangelism, that's taking place first-- I think it's the first Saturday of each month, right?

So this--the next one is happening on March 5th. There's one at the Spectrum, and another one at the Source in Brennan Park. So if you haven't signed up for that, please sign up so that they can--they'll know that you're being expected. And again, if you're intimidated by going out on the street, I'm sure they'll pair you up with somebody that can help you.

So even if you just want to come and see how it's done, we encourage you to sign up for that. And then, again, I'll pray for the offering. We'll give you an opportunity to give electronically. Those of you who are here physically-- or, of course, you're here physically. Those of you who are here visiting and you want to give a physical offering, there's, again, an offering basket underneath the big clock over there.

So after I pray, and you guys-- I'll give you an opportunity to give the offering. Our brother Noah An is going to come and give his testimony and be baptized this morning. Okay? Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for sustaining us, even just another week, Lord God, of just living in this fallen world, doing our best to be a light, as you've placed us in the midst of a rebellious world, Lord God.

Help us to focus all our attention on who you are, your glory, your love, your grace, your justice, that all that we do would be a reasonable response to the great mercy you've given us. I pray that our offering, even this, Lord God, would be a reflection of our own heart.

Let it be an action that reflects our true worship in spirit and in truth. It may be multiplied for your use in your kingdom. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Church family, let's all rise together. We're going to try this again. Instead of continuing that, we're going to try it again.

Let's sing it together. And you may be seated. Hi, my name is Noah, and currently I am a student at UC Irvine. I grew up the first five years in California. My parents are both Christian, hence I was also raised a Christian. My dad was a pastor's kid, and my mom became a Christian when she was in college.

While here, I went to a church in Walnut, and there I was introduced to a lot of common Bible stories and sang praises to God. And it was a first taste of what church was like and what living as a Christian was like. When I moved to Hong Kong, I was put in a completely new environment.

However, I still went to church every Sunday, and even participating in events such as the reenactment of Jesus' birth during Christmas service. And as I grew up in a church, I was part of the youth group, and it was during this youth group where I began to really study the Bible and hear messages such as the Sermon on the Mount or just hearing the gospel in full.

I began to piece together the puzzles of the Bible, but I never fully understood the fullness of Scripture or even the true grace of God. I had a lot of fond memories participating in youth group. I believe that was the first time where I had intentional Bible study with other students.

However, growing up in a Christian household, I was always burdened, and I found studying the Bible very monotonous. I never understood or grasped the true concept of perfect grace or why God even had to save us from our sins. I thought sin was just a natural part of human nature, and therefore the need of repentance wasn't very convincing.

I thought I believed because I was convinced through Pascal's Wager where there is no harm in believing, but there is harm in not believing. And if I didn't believe, I would fear it out of hell, basically. And coming to college, I was encouraged to join a Christian fellowship and to continue to go to church.

And as I did, I wasn't very eager to be involved in church or be a part of fellowship with other believers. And so I despised waking up every Sunday, and my lack of faith was evident when the pandemic hit. And after being challenged upon my faith, I realized that I built my faith on other friends and believers and not my own.

And so I kind of fell out of the church. And around my sophomore year of college, I was really struggling through a lot of trials, and it was during this time where a lot of insecurities were prominent in my life. And I had to really make an important decision whether to follow Jesus or be led on by the things of this world.

And through discipleship and reading the Bible more and going back to church, I began to embrace God's word more and more and rejoice in His death and resurrection. I believe that the main thing that really blocked me from believing was my own pride and my own need for a Savior, and I didn't believe that I needed saving.

And learning the gospel and becoming a believer was a very gradual process for me. And I didn't care to realize how great this gift of God was until last year. And my journey to become a believer was very slow, but I now rejoice in God's true grace and rejoicing with other believers.

Thank you. All right, thank you, Noah, for that testimony. If you can turn your Bibles with me to Hebrews chapter 13, we're going to be reading verses 20 through 22 this morning. Okay, Hebrews chapter 13, verse 20 to 22. Hebrews chapter 20, verse--13, verses 20 to 22. "The God of peace who brought up from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight.

Through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. But I urge you, brethren, bear with this word of exhortation, for I have written to you briefly." Let's pray. Gracious Father, we ask for your blessing, illumination. I soften the heart, Lord God, that we may receive your word and to be molded according to what you teach us.

I pray that this benediction would cause us, Lord God, to be stirred toward greater affection for you, and that it would cause us to be true worshippers even more. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right, so let me just give you a brief outline of what's coming in this text.

So if you look at first the three verses--I mean, it is the final benediction, the first two verses of that. And then verse 22 is an exhortation for us to apply and to listen to what He has said, all of the book of Hebrews. So the outline basically is the first 20 is an explanation of who God is.

Verse 21 is an explanation of what God has done. And then verse 21 is an exhortation of what we ought to do in response. So we're going to be covering the first one today. The second and third one we'll be covering the next time I'm up here. So today we're going to be primarily focused on what's happening in verse 20.

Now, as I said, this is a benediction. A benediction is basically a wrap-up of what He's been saying as an exhortation and a blessing upon the congregation. And we'll revisit that. But it begins by saying, "The God of peace." I mean, right now I would say, as long as I can remember, there's been some disturbances.

I remember there was a period when there were so many natural disasters and, you know, hill fires. I mean, it was obviously we're used to, you know, major fires in Southern California. But there was a period, maybe about 25, more than 25, maybe about 27, 28 years ago. It was so bad that people were starting to say that this is unusual.

I would speak to people who are in their 70s and 80s saying they've never seen any natural disasters like this all over the United States. And so there's been periods that I can remember where I say, "Wow, this is--maybe this is it. Maybe we're at the end times, and all these natural disasters are going to trigger other things." I remember when 9/11 happened.

You know, that's--at least in our recent history, first time felt like we were really in war. And so people are saying, like, there's going to be wars and rumors of wars, and maybe this is it. Maybe this is going to trigger a World War III. And so people are on high alert.

Some of you guys may remember just even the year 2000. There was so many prophecies going around that God works in 2,000-year increments. And at the end of the--coming into the new millennium, that there was going to be all this stuff that's going to happen. So I can remember specific periods just in my lifetime where a lot of--there was a lot of talk about disturbance and maybe something's going on.

But compared to what's been happening the last two to three years, almost everybody who lived through all of that would say there was nothing, at least in our lifetime, that comes even close to this. If you've been following the news, we know that the news have been preoccupied with the concern of what's happening with Russia and Ukraine.

And so if they're saying that it's imminent, and we don't know exactly, you know, what's going to happen, but at least on the news they're saying that maybe possibly Russia may invade. There's a buildup of arms there, and they're just saying that it can happen any time now. And so if that does happen, is U.S.

going to get involved? Are the military young men and women going to be sent over there so this could trigger a huge war? So there's a lot of disturbance. It wasn't that long ago where the U.S. started to pull out of Afghanistan, and that was just utter chaos. And there was a lot of disturbance there.

I mean, I don't even have to mention the pandemic because we're still in the middle of that. Remember the riots, right? We couldn't go out to certain places because the riots were breaking out every year. The racial tension that in the last couple years that's been building up. Recently they said that we're under hyperinflation, not just inflation, hyperinflation.

So in other words, people have not seen this kind of inflation in the last 40 years. They said that the political divide, as long as I've been an adult and I follow politics, the divide between the two parties have never been this severe. In fact, this week I read an article saying that the tension between the two parties is so intense that some believe that this is the closest that we've ever come to civil war since the Civil War.

So whether that happens or not, there is a tremendous amount of disturbance. So it's understandable that when we are disturbed by whatever it is that's going on in our lives, that we would actively seek peace. When we don't have peace in our home, it doesn't just affect relationship, it affects everything.

It affects our health, it affects our jobs, our ability to do whatever. When we choose friends, people march and even protest. If you ask them, "Why are you protesting and why are you rioting?" They say, "Because they think that that's the only way that they're going to get peace." And even wars, right?

People go to war, nations go to war, thinking that that's the only avenue to get real peace is to get rid of their enemies. But at the core of what they're looking for is peace. You know, I attended two funerals yesterday, and whenever we have a loved one and we say bye to them, typically we'll say, "Rest in peace." And you'll see that on their tombstone, RIP, "Rest in Peace." So whenever we say that to someone who's passing from this life, there's an understanding that they're going to be at peace.

Meaning that while they're living here, the disturbance, the difficulty, the unrest that we experience while we're living, and we always say, "Rest in peace." But the biggest problem that we have in our culture is where do we genuinely seek this peace? Do you remember when Jesus was walking into, riding into Jerusalem?

There was this huge parade. And the reason why they were excited about that is because they'd been waiting for the Messiah to come in and overthrow the pagan authority, which happened to be the Romans. So they'd been living with this promise that God was going to make them a supernation, but because of their sin, they kept on getting dominated by the Assyrians, the Persians, the Babylonians.

One by one, they would come and they would have to be subjugated against them. And then finally, the Messiah shows up after hundreds and hundreds of years of anticipation. So when Jesus walks into Jerusalem, we're going to be celebrating Palm Sunday in a few Sundays. But when Jesus comes into Jerusalem, there's this stir that finally, this Messiah is going to conquer Rome.

So they were waiting for a battle. But yet, when Jesus sees this, he says he weeps. Remember what Jesus says? "Today, only if you knew what would bring you peace." See, that's an interesting thing to say because that's not what they were expecting. They weren't looking for peace. They were looking for battle.

But yet, Jesus looks right through. The motive behind what they wanted was, he says, "If you only knew peace." I know you're looking for peace, but if you knew that I am the one who will truly bring peace, but because you did not recognize the one who came to bring peace, he said, "Judgment is coming." Jesus himself says in John 14, 27, "Peace I leave with you.

My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, nor let it be fearful." The peace that you and I have been given in the name of Christ is not a peace that we can get because politically, two parties are getting along, because economically, we have money, or everybody, the racial tensions are gone, or that there's no wars or rumors of wars.

He said, "This is the kind of peace that you can only have when you have peace with God." So in the midst of all the turmoil, we have to ask ourselves, "Where are we anchoring ourselves to find peace?" The reason why this is so important, the benediction here in verse 20 and 21 is a summary of everything that he's been saying in the book of Hebrews.

The reason why they were drifting back into their old life is because this new life that they embraced in Christ was becoming increasingly difficult. So initially, once the excitement, just like anything else, the honeymoon period is over, and they realize that this persecution wasn't going to go away, and it became increasingly difficult to raise their children, increasingly difficult to be successful in business.

And their leaders, who started all of this movement, is one by one being knocked out, going to prison, being beheaded. And so the reason why they started to go back to their old life was seeking peace. And so the author of this letter is summarizing everything that he's been saying, is that you're looking for peace in your old life, but God, and God only, is the God of peace.

God is the God of peace. And this is not a new idea to the Jews. Because, remember, what was the Jewish primary greetings? Shalom. Shalom means peace. And so the idea of peace, the vocabulary of peace, was saturated in the Jewish community. Peace. Peace. Shalom. Shalom. Every day they heard it.

Dozens of times they heard it. The idea of the word shalom, the easiest way to understand this is to be complete. Whether it is health, whether it's economics, whether it's family, relationship, whether it's a nation. Peace. Let God's peace reign over your family. Let God's peace reign over our nation.

But the idea of being complete, I think the best way to understand it is our understanding of salvation. Because the word shalom basically means the unrest that all mankind live under because of sin. God's going to restore this back. He's going to bring his blessing back upon the nation of Israel.

Shalom. So in other words, salvation to you, salvation to you. And so if you look at Luke chapter 1, 78-79, when Jesus was declared to come to do his work, it says, "Because of the tender mercy of our God, with which the sunrise from on high will visit us, to shine upon those who sit in darkness and shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace." Jesus Christ came to save us from our sins, and the way that that's described is that he's going to lead us to shalom.

Isaiah 9, 6, it says, "For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us, and the government will rest upon his shoulders, and his name will be called wonderful Counselor, mighty God, eternal Father, Prince of Peace." His very title is the Prince of Peace.

But this God of Peace, the Prince of Peace, the one who's going to lead us into peace, the one who's going to finally bring shalom upon mankind, he didn't just pass it out. He didn't just come and say, "You know what? I'm tired of just kind of contending with you.

I'm just going to give you peace." Scripture tells us that he purchased this peace by his own blood. He said that, "Brought again from the dead are Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant." See, if you're a Jew, if you're a Jew of the Old Testament, you would have lived every day with this tension between the shalom and the judgment of God.

Because the only reason why the Israelites had any success in the Old Testament is because God was with them, and they knew that. They were a tiny speck of a nation. Their beginning was nothing. Their numbers were nothing. I mean, they should have been squashed from the get-go. But they understood it's because God made a covenant with these people that God's favor was with them, that as long as they stuck to God, as long as God went with them, they would be safe.

But the tension is, even though that they knew that their power came from God's presence in their midst, everything about their law taught them that they could not get to God. If you've studied any part of the Book of Leviticus, every part of the Book of Leviticus is not welcoming.

If you've ever studied it, there's a reason why people don't study the Book of Leviticus. One, it's difficult, but it's not very encouraging. We gravitate toward Philippians. We gravitate toward the certain verses that kind of encourage us. How many of you memorize Romans 10? It's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a holy God.

Our God is a consuming fire. How many of you memorize those verses? Most of us end up gravitating to those verses that gives us encouragement in trials, forgiveness and mercy. The whole Book of Leviticus, from the get-go, that without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins.

Every part of the law told them you cannot get to God. Imagine if you're a Jew trying to share about your faith to the Midianites or to the Canaanites, and they said, "Well, what makes your God so special?" "It's because God is with us. He protects us." "Well, how do I get to Him?" "You can't get to Him." "Well, how do you get to Him?" "Well, I go to the tabernacle." "So you go to the tabernacle and you commune with Him?" "No, no, no.

I got to bring sacrifice." "How often?" "Every time I go." "So if you bring the sacrifice, do you get to meet Him?" "No. The priests represent us." "So the priests get to go?" "No. Only the high priest." "So the high priest communes with Him?" "No. Only once a year." "So once a year communes with Him?" "Yeah.

Just He goes in and He comes out." Your whole blessing upon the nation of Israel is based upon having a relationship with this God, and you can't get to Him. So every Jew would have lived with this tension that the only way of life is to have this relationship with God that they can't have.

In fact, after he gives his laws in the book of Leviticus, the very first offering that they give in order for the Israelites to understand that everything God said He meant, Nehdev and Nebihu comes up, and all they did was bring a fire that was not recognized by God.

It was an offering that God did not allow, and as a result of that, capital punishment. This is what happens. Now, you don't have to be a Jew to understand that tension. If you've ever tried to share the gospel with somebody who doesn't know Christianity, and the gospel is new, and you say, "God loves you, has a wonderful plan for your life," right?

In and of itself, that statement is not a wrong statement, but how many of you talk to a friend or somebody who's rejecting the gospels, and how can you say your God is loving? Isn't your God the God who judged the nation? Didn't He go to Jericho and wipe them out?

I mean, look at the story of Noah, how we've kind of, you know, like, inoculated that so that there's no sharpness, there's no judgment. It's just two by two. It's about the saving of the two animals, right? It's about the preservation of creation, how God loves animals. Like, that's what kind of turned into, and the kids grow up, you know, singing these songs, but Noah, two by two, they came to the ark, and they all died.

Everybody else died, right? 'Cause that's the story. It's the story of the judgment of God. Isn't your God the God who created hell? And so, because we live this tension, though we try to present the loving God, and yet the God of the Bible, the accurate God of the Bible, yes, did all of that.

That's not an exaggeration. That's exactly what happened. And every part of the Old Testament story says, "You cannot get to this holy God." So, in order to deal with this tension, some liberals and non-Christians have taken away the teeth of who God is. And they made, again, the story of Noah into a cute story.

They don't know what to do with hell, so we just kind of erase hell and pretend like it's not there. God loves you, and if you don't believe him, you may not go to heaven. And then, you know, that's still the message, but it's not the full message. There's judgment coming.

So, we don't want to talk about the harshness of God. We don't want to talk about that. And so, if we just emphasize the grace and love of God, that would be enough. The problem is, that's not how the Bible presented the gospel to us. So, I mean, let me put it another way so that it would make a little bit more sense.

Imagine, I mean, we already know how important the sun is, and I'm talking about the actual sun, S-U-N, sun, right? What if, I mean, even today, that if we're a little bit too far from the sun, we will freeze to death. If we get too close, we're going to, you know, we burn to death.

What if all the resources are depleted, and all the scientists have figured out that the only way that we can live is to access the energy coming from the sun, and we all have to physically go there, right? That's the only way we're going to survive, right? Is there any hope?

No, automatically, we would be in terror, because if that's the only place that we're going to be able to live, we can't even get there. Surely, we're going to die. In Hebrews, chapter 9, 22, it says, "And according to the law, one may almost say all things are cleansed with the blood, but without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness." Think about that.

They thought that if they gave the animals, because they knew, because the Jews knew, to get to God, the sun, to get to God, somebody needed to die. So they thought that the animals were going to do the job. But that fear of God was embedded into their culture.

They knew. The first thought that they had of God was fear, not love, not mercy, fear, because that's how God presented himself. He said, "Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin." That's the main story in the book of Leviticus. Here's a problem. It says those animals have no power to forgive you.

All it does is to point to the reality that was coming. So how does this tension of God's judgment and his life, his holiness, and his mercy, how do these two things come together? How do we get to the sun so that we can live? This is becoming one of my favorite verses in the Bible.

In Psalm 85, 9-10, it says, "Surely his salvation is near to those who," what? "Fear him." Why is there so much mention of fear in the Bible, fearing God? Because if you do not know what the sun is, if you don't know the power of the sun, you may just naturally think, "Well, let's just get on a ship and get over there.

I heard Elon Musk has a ship, right? I heard Amazon is building one. I'm sure NASA. I'm sure with all our ingenuity we can make a ship and get over there." And then what's going to happen? If you don't understand the power of the sun, you're going to die.

You're going to think, "Oh, that's where life is, so let's go." And as soon as you get close enough, you're dead. So he doesn't say, he says, "His salvation is near to those who fear him, who recognize where life is." That God of the Old Testament, that God who wiped away the earth because of sin, that God.

And if you don't understand the power of who he is, then your cavalier attitude toward God is going to kill you. So first and foremost, he says, "Those who fear him, who recognize him." Think about what the rainbow is today. I mean, the rainbow has turned into a symbol of perversion in our society.

But think about why he gave us the rainbow. Rainbow was after he brought flood and wiped away all sinners. He gave us the rainbow. So that every time mankind, from that point on, when we look at the rainbow as a reminder that God is a God of justice, but he's withholding his justice until the end.

So that rainbow, every time we look at it, it was to remind us where this tension of God's justice and his mercy that he's withholding for the time being. Yet today, the world has turned that into a perversion. And I believe that's symbolic of what's happening in our culture generally.

See, he says, "Surely his salvation is near to those "who fear him, who recognize who he is, "so that the glory may dwell in our land." Right? We couldn't get to this glory. Everything told us to stay away, but salvation to those who fear him, so that God's glory may dwell within us, loving kindness and truth have met together.

And then the next phrase. Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Where life was found at the sun. So imagine if you heard that. Imagine if time by time the only place that you can find life is at the sun. You know what? We found a way. How? How is this going to happen?

If that's the only way to live is to be at the sun, we found a way where righteousness and peace have kissed each other. That's the mystery that 1 Peter is talking about, where the angels and the prophets were looking intently. How did that happen? How did righteousness and peace, truth and mercy, where did they meet?

That's the gospel. Where did that meet? Where did righteousness and peace meet together? Where did they kiss each other? At the cross. At the cross. Without righteousness, there's no need for the cross, because all God had to say was just, "You forgive me. I'm just going to forget it, sweep it under the rug.

Just forget it." If it was just justice, there's no point of the cross, because we're all dead. There's no point. But the cross is where truth and mercy, where righteousness and peace have kissed. And so when he says the God of peace, the God of peace, because of the blood of the new covenant, where we found a place where we can have peace with this holy, holy, holy God.

That's why Apostle Paul describes his ministry as what? Ministry of reconciliation. To be reconciled with this holy God. See, in our generation, we've taken away the teeth of the gospel, so God has become so mundane. He's become a grandfather. He loves me unconditionally. There's nothing you can do, and so we have no fear of God.

We love him. We appreciate him. We adore him. But there's no fear of him, because you don't recognize it's the Son. You try to get any closer to him without the blood of Christ, you will be destroyed. And so without this understanding of God's justice, it affects everything. See, knowing that God of peace and the cross is where righteousness and peace meet is the fuel behind our sanctification.

It's the fuel behind our hope. It's the fuel behind our worship. But when all God is to you is a merciful Savior who just like, "No matter what you do, he loved us so much that he embraced us." And so, yeah, we appreciate that, but eventually it gets old.

Whether you do it or don't do it, it doesn't really matter. Whether you're sober or not sober, it's, "I should be," so you feel a bit of guilt, but it doesn't matter because there's no consequence. If you knew that you were headed to the Son, I think you would take that journey much more seriously.

If you knew where you're going to find life, you would take that journey much more seriously. You would worship much more seriously. It's because our generation, because of the fear of judgment from the world that we have taken away the fear of judgment from God. But the only reason why we are able to know this God of peace is because his justice and his mercy kissed each other at the cross.

Not only is he the God of peace, he said, "We have peace because he is our shepherd. He provided a way for us so that we can have peace." But in Isaiah 53, 6, it says, "All of us like sheep have gone astray. Each of us turned to his own way, but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him." Repeatedly over and over again, we are called sheep in the Bible.

And again, just in the decades that I've been a pastor and just watching human behavior, I think it's a very accurate description. Don't get offended because I'm including myself. I'm a human being, so I'm like just everybody else. I remember there was a period when I was-- the campus ministry that I belong to, we went up to this farm for a couple weeks.

And so all the guys sat near the farm where the sheep were. And there were hundreds of sheep grazing the land, and we would do our quiet time. And I just--observing this sheep--and I remember the thought, I was like, "Man, these sheep are so dumb. They get so easily startled." I go--you can get a hundred sheep to run like that.

Because all you need is the one nearest to you gets startled, and it starts popping and running, and everybody else just pop and run. They're literally constantly frantic, moving around. And I remember watching that one. It's pretty offensive to be called sheep. It's not a compliment. We picture sheep as like this white wool, innocent as-- No, it's because they're dumb.

They're called it because they're easily manipulated. I shared this before, but I brought pictures today. If you can put the next slide up. This is a picture of 500 dead sheep. So what happened in Turkey was a farmer who had a large flock-- I don't know what you call them--herd, flock, whatever they are.

1,500 of them jumped off. Now, they didn't all jump off at the same time. One of them jumped off. Now, we don't know why the first one jumped off. Maybe he's trying to show off to his girlfriend. I don't know what he was doing, but he jumps off. He slipped, whatever, but if you ever watched sheep behavior, they jumped off, and it's like, "Oh, okay," and they jumped off.

1,500 of them jumped off. Just in case you don't believe me, I brought pictures. This happened in Turkey. Now, out of the 1,500, only 500 died. Why only 500? Because the first 500 made a cushion down there. This is how dumb the sheep are. So when the Bible--you can turn the lights back on.

When the Bible says we are like sheep who have gone astray, he's saying, "You dummies." We have a tendency. It's like there's a cliff over there, but we run to it anyway. If you do that, it's going to ruin your marriage, but you do it anyway. A loving God waits for you, but you run the opposite direction anyway.

Why do you do it? Because I wanted to. Because my friends are doing it. Because other people are doing it. That's it. There's no deep theological reasons. There's no contemplating. There's no struggle. It's just, "Uhhh." Yeah, that's our sin. There's no deep theological digging behind our strain. They did it.

It looks cool. There's a reason why billions of dollars are given to--given to rap artists, athletes, movie stars, to sell everything. Right? They literally--you can have the best-looking movie stars sell hemorrhoid cream, and it'll probably sell better. Well, he uses it, so it must be good. Right? The reason why--it sounds dumb when you say it in this room, but there's reasons why they get millions of dollars to sell whatever.

Because sheep, it's like, "Oh, everybody's moving there. Let's go there too." Right? You think, "Ah, he's exaggerating." Observe everybody. Why do we have our hair a certain way? Why do we buy certain cars? Why do we dress certain places? Why are certain things more important than others? How much of that is deep contemplation, and how much of that is the rap star?

They pull their pants up, and it's like, "Oh, me too." I'm pulling my pants up. I put a hole in the side, and it's like, "Oh, me too." Shave the side of the head. "Oh, okay, that's what you're supposed to do." Okay. I'm not just making fun of you because, you know, I'm human.

We went through all of that. Right? But that's sheep. And so sheep without a shepherd is going to die. Wolf's going to come in. It won't survive for long. In John 10, 10 through 12, it says, "The thief comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy. I came that they may have life and then have it abundantly." You know who he's referring to when the thief comes?

The Jewish leaders. That's who he's referring to. These guys want to lead because they want attention. They want the glory. So they're not looking out for you. You're just a pawn for themselves. He says, "But I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them." If you've ever owned a business, you know the difference between hired hand and the owner.

When I was running that business in Vegas, as soon as the machine has a little bit of flaw, it shut down because it's an excuse to go home. As soon as the weather gets cold or we run out of material, they don't try to solve the problem because they're paid workers.

They're not going to sit there and extra time to make this work. It's like, "Oh, I don't have to. What can I do? The machine's broken." He said hired hand, when they come, they're looking out for themselves, even with the best of intentions, if they have to sacrifice themselves, that when the wolf comes, they're going to run.

That's referring to every human leader. That's why I don't ask you to follow me. And don't trust anybody who tells them, "Ask you to follow them." Because I can never justify everything that I do. I can't because I'm human. There are certain things that maybe with good intention, maybe it's a blind spot, maybe I have flaws that I don't see.

I can't ask you to follow me, but I can justify everything that God does. That's why it says John 10, 27 to 29, "My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me." That's why we preach the Bible, so that you can hear His voice. So that you don't fall in love with a version of Jesus that I'm telling you, but the Jesus of the Bible.

So that you don't hear my opinions, my thoughts, that you're hearing the Scripture. That's why when the Scripture is clear, I'm going to make that crystal clear. And when the Scripture is silent, I'm going to stay silent. Because I'm not asking you to trust my judgment. I'm not asking you to follow me.

I'm asking you to hear His voice and follow Him. Because in verse 28 it says, "I give eternal life to them and they will never perish and no one will snatch them out of my hand." We are at peace knowing that He lays down His life for us. We are at peace because He's the one who watches over us.

We are at peace when we hear His voice. And we are at peace because in His hands, no one can snatch us out of His hands. We're in His hands. Not the church leaders, not the people around you, not the politicians, not our bank account, not our knowledge, but Him.

Do you remember the disciples in the storm? It's in all three of the Gospels, right? Storm comes and the disciples are afraid to die. We have to remember the context. Humanly speaking, Jesus is a carpenter. He doesn't fish for a living. So He didn't grow up on a boat.

These are professional fishermen, probably on their own boat. So if they were afraid that they were going to die, this was a serious storm. This was not somebody who made a wave because they dove into the lake. This is a serious storm. And it says in Matthew 8.25, "And they came to Him, woke Him, and said, 'Save us, Lord, we are perishing!'" So they must have, out of all hundreds of storms that they went through, this must have been serious.

And Luke 8.24 says, "Master, Master, we are perishing." And then in Mark, it goes a little bit further. In verse 38, it says, "Teacher, do you not care? We are perishing." That's how serious the storm is. What was Jesus doing at this time? He was tired, right? I mean, He was human.

He was 100% human. And so what was He tired of? He was probably tired of the people that He was around. He was probably tired of His disciples. You know, He was tired. Imagine, defeating of the 5,000, right? That's 5,000 men, if you include the women and children, that's probably 15,000 to 20,000 people just would not let Him be.

So He had to constantly break away. And then we say, "Oh, He broke away so that He wanted to be with the Lord. He needed to pray to be empowered." And we say all of that stuff. You think maybe He broke away because He got tired? And maybe where He found the greatest rest was being alone with His Father, right?

Where the Father ministers to Him and then He ministers to His Father. That maybe that's where He found His greatest peace. It wasn't like to be empowered for ministry, right? I mean, of course, that's what happened when you find rest. But Jesus was that tired that professional fishermen thought that they were going to die, and He was taking a nap.

When they wake Him up, this is the perplexing part because the disciples' response we can understand because we all would act that way. If you've ever been on a plane where the turbulence was really bad, right? You don't sit there and say, "Don't worry. God of peace is with us," right?

Or an initial response. We can understand why they were concerned. It's Jesus' response that's extraordinary. He woke up and He basically rebuked them. And He says, "Where is your faith?" He wasn't saying, "Look at the storm. It's not that bad. We've gone through so many storms. You should know better." Why does He say, "Where is your faith?" What was unique about this situation that was different than any other situation that the disciples were in the past?

Jesus was on the boat. They went through countless number of storms. They probably went through it, maybe have gone through a near-death situation, and this was serious enough for them to be scared. But when He says, "Where is your faith?" He's reminding them, "I am with you, that even as I sleep, I'm watching you.

You're not going to die. Where is your faith?" In the midst of all that's been going on around us, right? Some of us have experienced disturbance like we've never seen before, whether it's financial, whether it's health, whether it's job, relational, whatever it may be. What are you anchored to?

When peace disappears, at least a superficial peace, where do you run to? Are you immediately looking for friends? Are you looking to human leaders? Are you looking for counsel? All of these things are God's grace that He has given us, but is that the first place you go to?

Let me conclude with this. In Numbers 6, 24-26 is probably the most famous benediction. This is called either the priestly benediction or the Aaronic benediction because it comes in the book of Numbers at the end of God giving instructions to the priest of all the things that they are to do.

The priest is supposed to do this, you have to obey this and do that. They're about to get into the desert and begin to march. He says after he gives these instructions, he says, "Aaron, give this blessing to the nation of Israel." He gives this benediction. In the benediction, it says, "The Lord bless you and keep you.

The Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up His countenance on you and give you peace." How many of you have heard this before? Many of you, right? Some of you guys, maybe this was how every service ended from the church that you go to.

We recite this from time to time even at our church, but this is probably the most well-known benediction. In this benediction, in the Old Testament, God would use different literary tools to make a point. Remember in certain parts of the Bible it says there are six sins that God hates, seven He detests.

You ever read that and say, "Well, is it six or seven?" It's a literary tool to emphasize that the seventh sin is a deadly sin. He's not saying, "Well, six. Ah, forget it. I meant seven." But it's a way for emphasis. In this benediction, God uses what's called a synonymous parallelism.

A synonymous parallelism is to say the same things three separate times. It's like saying, "I care about you. I like you. I love you." And so he's basically saying the same thing, but for the purpose of emphasis that he wants to cover all ground. He says, "The Lord bless you." To seek the Lord's blessing.

Blessing basically means that God sees you with favor and to keep you. To keep you means to sustain you. They're about to walk into the desert with millions of people in harsh environment where there's no food, there's no water, there's enemies, they're about to attack. These guys were slaves for hundreds of years.

They don't know how to fight. And he said, "The Lord bless you and the Lord will keep you. The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you." Remember when Moses, when he went to see God, he said, "Let me see your glory." He said, "If I show you my full glory, you will die." So God covers him, passes by, and he sees a glimpse of his glory, and that glory was shining off of Moses' face, where as soon as he came down, people knew he met God.

So to see the face of God-- Remember this tension with the Jews. He says, "No man can see the face of God and what? Live." You cannot. But in his blessing, he says, "Lord, make his face shine on you and be gracious to you." Instead of dying, you experience his grace.

And then third, he said, "The Lord lift up his countenance and what? And give you shalom." Lift up his countenance. What does that mean? I remember years ago, one of my friends, who happens to be a big guy--he's like 6'4", 260, 270 pounds-- and I spent some time with him.

I kind of get to know him better. And he said that once I spent a couple weeks with him, he said, "Man, Peter, your image is so different because when I first met you, you said your countenance was so serious." And I said, "Countenance? What does that mean?" Basically, it means you're not very approachable.

And I understand. It's genetic. It comes from my mom. I've got this deep line here. And I tend to daydream a lot. I tend to daydream when I'm just-- I may be staring at you, but I'm not really looking at you. I may be thinking about something coming up, or something's happening, but I tend to just kind of stare out into space.

And so he said, "Oh, your countenance is serious," meaning-- and I've heard it enough times that I understand. So I'm like that. My mom is like that. My older brother is at another level. Philip is the only one who has a pleasant countenance. And he gets that from my dad.

And so the pleasant countenance is basically like if you wanted to borrow money or something, he's the guy that you want to go to. He's very inviting. If I was a banker, no one would come to me for loans. So when I saw this, the first thing I thought about is like, "Oh, countenance." It's his presence.

He says, "Let him lift up his countenance and give you shalom." Because in our natural state, in his natural state, for his face to shine on us, for his countenance to be in the midst of us, would be death. And yet he says, "Let his face shine on you and be gracious to you.

Let his countenance be lifted to watch us and find shalom." Where righteousness and peace has kissed. I don't know about you, but there's nothing more awesome that I've ever watched, seen, heard, dialogued about, or hoped for that is more awesome than the cross. Don't you want to follow this Jesus?

Don't you want to worship this Jesus? Don't you want to obey this Jesus? Don't you want to honor this Jesus, magnify this Jesus? Where we find life at the sun? In 2 Corinthians 4, 6, "For God who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' is the one who has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ." Let me ask you this morning.

I know that for the most part I'm talking to Christians. But there's some of you in here, even if there's one. You've been to church all your life, and you don't know this God. You know how to repeat the words. You may have served in Sunday school. You know all the things that you're supposed to do, and you know how to act well, but you don't know this God.

And because you don't know this God, you're very cavalier about going to heaven. You're just like, "God, he died for me, so I'm going to go to heaven, no matter what I do, it doesn't matter." Not realizing you're headed toward the sun. And when we die, you're going to meet this holy, holy, holy God.

And as a result, you're going to face judgment instead of life. Do you know this God? Have you received the blood of the covenant? Because without the covering of the blood of Christ, without being able to be in the presence of his countenance and finding shalom, there is judgment, death.

So I encourage you this morning, if you've been playing games, if you've been pretending, to take a step back and ask yourself, "Do you know this God?" Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden. I will give you rest. I will give you peace. I will give you grace.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, for you will find rest for your souls. So my encouragement to you this morning is to find that true rest in Christ. Let's pray. Let's take a few minutes to pray as our worship team comes up.

Again, if you are that individual, that you love the church but you don't know what it means to love God, you love the community, but you're not sure if you understand the presence of who he is, that there's no more serious question that needs to be answered than that.

There is no disturbance that needs to be corrected than that. To come before the Lord, confess him as Lord and Savior, ask him for forgiveness that you also may be covered by the blood of Christ. So let's take some time to pray as our worship team leads us. (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) Let's all stand up for the closing praise.

Let's pray. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance on you and give you peace. Amen.